A new deepfake video shows us what Jean-Claude Van Damme would have looked like in the 1995 Mortal Kombat. In the first live-action movie adaptation of the popular video game series, Linden Ashby was the actor who played the role. Fans of the movie appreciate his classic performance, especially the way he delivers his line to Goro about $500 sunglasses.

Still, it's hard for other fans not to wonder how Mortal Kombat would have turned out if it were Van Damme in the role. In fact, it was Jean-Claude Van Damme himself who literally inspired the character in the original video game. While the Bloodsport actor would star in the Street Fighter adaptation released the prior year, his casting in Mortal Kombat wasn't meant to be, for better or for worse. In any case, you can see what Van Damme's Johnny Cage would have looked like in the video below.

After Linden Ashby made the original Johnny Cage a standout character in the first Mortal Kombat, the character was unceremoniously killed off in the beginning of the universally-panned sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation with Chris Conrad in the role. A live-action version of Johnny hasn't been seen on the big screen ever since, not even with a new Mortal Kombat adaptation from director Simon McQuoid releasing last month. The character was acknowledged, but Johnny didn't physically appear in the movie.

If Mortal Kombat 2 happens, we will more than likely see Johnny Cage arrive. No actors have been attached to the role at this time, as the sequel is not officially in development. McQuoid has suggested that it's up to the fans to decide if there will be a Mortal Kombat 2, and as of now, it remains hard to say for sure. The movie drew in a lot of fans both in theaters and on HBO Max, but reviews have been rather mixed.

Should Johnny Cage get his chance to debut in a potential sequel, some WWE fans want to see The Miz get the role. This is because The Miz already looks and acts like Johnny, from the cocky ego to wearing his sunglasses indoors at all times. Meanwhile, Kano actor has suggested James Marsden as another option for the part, and many other fans have gotten behind this idea as well. Despite his age, some fans would even be on board to see Van Damme brought in as an older version of Johnny Cage.

Perhaps we won't be seeing Van Damme delivering the Shadow Kick in Mortal Kombat 2, but he's not done beating people up just yet. The actor also stars in the upcoming action-comedy movie The Last Mercenary which is set to be released on Netflix on July 30. Van Damme is also voicing the giant lobster clawed supervillain Jean Clawed in the upcoming animated sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru for Universal Pictures. If you want to revisit the original Mortal Kombat movie with Linden Ashby, it's streaming on HBO Max. The deepfake video comes to us from Stryder HD on YouTube.