{"id":1926698,"date":"2026-05-08T15:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1926698"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:20:27","slug":"karl-urban-was-ready-for-mortal-kombat-ii-thanks-to-spending-a-season-of-the-boys-in-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1926698","title":{"rendered":"Karl Urban Was Ready for \u2018Mortal Kombat II\u2019 Thanks to Spending a Season of \u2018The Boys\u2019 in Bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/karl-urban-billy-bucther-boys-season-4-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Mortal Kombat II<\/em> is finally in theaters, and that means getting to really see one of the things that has excited us most about the sequel in action: genre legend Karl Urban as the loveably washed-out nut puncher supreme, Johnny Cage. But we apparently have\u00a0The Boys<\/em> to thank for Urban landing the role\u2014and not really because Billy Butcher has shot the actor up Amazon\u2019s streaming charts.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a new profile, Urban revealed the circumstances that lead to him landing the action-heavy role of Cage. Typically, his schedule running around and getting into scraps on The Boys<\/em> would\u2019ve meant Urban would\u2019ve taken a break after filming. But season 4 of the show saw Butcher spend much of its runtime recovering from a near-death run-in with a drug that gave him superpowers\u2026 which meant that instead of filming tons of action, Urban was lying in a bed for most of production.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to my agent and said, \u2018Listen, I\u2019m ready to go immediately. What do you got?\u201d Urban told THR. \u201cI\u2019d love to do something that was heavy on action. I\u2019ve got fuel in the tank.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily for us\u00a0and<\/em> Warner Bros., the timing lined up with right around when casting was ramping up for\u00a0Mortal Kombat II<\/em>, with Cage a big priority after the 2021 film teased the search for him in its ending. \u201cThere was literally an incoming call, and we\u2019re like, \u2018What? No way, but yes!\u201d Mortal Kombat II<\/em> producer Todd Garner added. \u201cIt was that serendipitous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months of training later, and Urban was ready to go as Johnny Cage\u2014and we thank that\u00a0Boys<\/em> bedrest every day for it.<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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Mortal Kombat II<\/em> is finally in theaters, and that means getting to really see one of the things that has excited us most about the sequel in action: genre legend Karl Urban as the loveably washed-out nut puncher supreme, Johnny Cage. But we apparently have\u00a0The Boys<\/em> to thank for Urban landing the role\u2014and not really because Billy Butcher has shot the actor up Amazon\u2019s streaming charts.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a new profile, Urban revealed the circumstances that lead to him landing the action-heavy role of Cage. Typically, his schedule running around and getting into scraps on The Boys<\/em> would\u2019ve meant Urban would\u2019ve taken a break after filming. But season 4 of the show saw Butcher spend much of its runtime recovering from a near-death run-in with a drug that gave him superpowers\u2026 which meant that instead of filming tons of action, Urban was lying in a bed for most of production.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to my agent and said, \u2018Listen, I\u2019m ready to go immediately. What do you got?\u201d Urban told THR. \u201cI\u2019d love to do something that was heavy on action. I\u2019ve got fuel in the tank.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily for us\u00a0and<\/em> Warner Bros., the timing lined up with right around when casting was ramping up for\u00a0Mortal Kombat II<\/em>, with Cage a big priority after the 2021 film teased the search for him in its ending. \u201cThere was literally an incoming call, and we\u2019re like, \u2018What? No way, but yes!\u201d Mortal Kombat II<\/em> producer Todd Garner added. \u201cIt was that serendipitous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months of training later, and Urban was ready to go as Johnny Cage\u2014and we thank that\u00a0Boys<\/em> bedrest every day for it.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/karl-urban-billy-bucther-boys-season-4-1200×675.jpg”] Mortal Kombat II is finally in theaters, and that means getting to really see one of the things that has excited us most about the sequel in action: genre legend Karl Urban as the loveably washed-out nut puncher supreme, Johnny Cage. But we apparently have\u00a0The Boys to thank for Urban landing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1926698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1926698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1926698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1926698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1926698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1926698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}