The first footage of Mortal Kombat 1’s Jean-Claude Van Damme Johnny Cage skin has been shown

The first footage of Mortal Kombat 1‘s Jean-Claude Van Damme DLC has been shown.

Van Damme appears as a special alternative skin for Johnny Cage, which can be unlocked by players who purchase the Premium Edition of the game.

The skin appears to show Van Damme as he would have looked in the early ’90s, around the time when the first Mortal Kombat was released.

The footage was shown during an interview with series co-creator Ed Boon on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, in which celebrities eat hot wings while answering questions.

Explaining that the Van Damme DLC was “30 years in the making”, Boon said: “When we made the very first game, our intention was to make Van Damme: The Arcade Game.

“We actually wanted to see the words ‘Van Damme’. Bloodsport was big, and so was Universal Soldier, I think.

“So we called his people, and we were like ‘we want to make a game based on Van Damme’, and I don’t know if he declined or just never got to him or something like that.

“But this is, you know, a couple of 20-something-year-old kids who wanted make a video game – I could see how Van Damme would go ‘no, we’re not doing this’.

“So we tried a number of times, going back and forth with him. This time, we hit the lottery, and we got him. We actually have his voice and he’s going to be the Johnny Cage character, and it’s the absolute full circle moment that we had.”

Developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, Mortal Kombat 1 will be released on September 19, 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

Anyone who pre-orders the game will get Shang Tsung as a playable character, while players who buy the Premium Edition will get five days of early access (as well as the Van Damme DLC, early access to DLC characters and 1250 Dragon Krystals).

After launch, six characters will be coming to the game as DLC – Quan Chi, Omni Man, Ermac, Takeda, Peacemaker and Homelander.