Mortal Kombat Theory: Lewis Tan's Cole Young Is The REAL Sub-Zero
The new live-action Mortal Kombat movie will star Lewis Tan as Cole Young – a new character for the franchise who might secretly be the real Sub-Zero. Early story reveals and images for the film, directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by The Conjuring’s James Wan, show that the classic rivalry between Sub-Zero and Scorpion will be central to the story. With some details of the ninjas’ origins being changed, however, there’s a possibility that Cole could be connected to their infamous feud in a surprising way.
The official synopsis for Mortal Kombat released by Warner Bros. explains how Cole joins Lord Raiden and the rest of the warriors of Earthrealm. The film will open with a flashback sequence set in feudal Japan, establishing the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero before either of them wielded supernatural powers. The story then jumps to the present day, where Cole, an MMA fighter, is hunted by Sub-Zero under orders of Outworld’s Shang Tsung – one of the games’ most famous villains. Led by his strange dragon birthmark, Cole eventually ends up training with Raiden, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and others to defend Earthrealm from Outworld at the Mortal Kombat tournament.
A lot of that story mirrors the broad stroke of the early Mortal Kombat arcade games, but the film seems to be making some notable changes as well. The addition of Cole is obviously a big one, but there’s a lot about the Scorpion and Sub-Zero, in particular, that’s being tweaked for the big screen as well. The games have covered an incredible amount of narrative territory over the past three decades, and while not all of that story will be adhered to in the new movie, it does offer some curious insight into Cole’s possible connection to Sub-Zero.
Sub-Zero is one of the original Mortal Kombat fighters, appearing in the first game alongside Scorpion, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Kano, and Raiden. He was introduced as a ninja of the Lin Kuei clan possessing fierce cryomancy abilities, such as the ability to blast ice from his hands or freeze opponents solid. In the games’ story, Sub-Zero, whose real name is Bi-Han, killed Scorpion before the events of the tournament. Scorpion is then resurrected as a wraith and kills Bi-Han in an act of vengeance at Mortal Kombat.
The Sub-Zero who appears in all the later games is actually Bi-Han’s younger brother Kuai Liang, who dons the iconic blue outfit and begins entering Mortal Kombat himself to avenge his brother’s death. It’s a vicious cycle of vengeance that gets twisted and turned around numerous times over the series’ eleven core games. Eventually, Bi-Han is resurrected as the shadow ninja Noob Saibot – an agent of various evil sorcerers and encroaching fantasy empires.
The story of Bi-Han, Kuai Liang and Scorpion is too complicated to adequately outline here, but the gist is that Bi-Han becomes increasingly corrupted as a force of darkness and evil, leading his younger brother to eventually abandon his vendetta and make peace with Scorpion. While Bi-Han was the first Sub-Zero, he spends most of the series as Noob Saibot, leaving Kuai Liang the true heir to the ice powers and striking blue cowl.
From the details that have been revealed so far, it looks like the new Mortal Kombat movie is changing that story in some key ways. First and foremost, the rivalry between Bi-Han and Scorpion will be set in feudal Japan, not the present day. That means that both characters will be dead and presumably resurrected through sorcery by the time the present-day tournament begins. This means that the character of Kuai Liang will likely not be included, and also that Scorpion’s initial act of vengeance at the tournament probably won’t take place.
It’s been revealed that Sub-Zero (Bi-Han) is sent to kill Cole Young as an agent of Shang Tsung and Outworld. In many ways, that mirrors Scorpion’s role in the original game – a resurrected ninja manipulated by dark forces to carry out (likely) some act of vengeance. It’s an interesting flip of the script, but it also leaves some things unaccounted for – namely, how Scorpion fits back into the modern-day plotline, and how the games’ story of two Sub-Zeros will be incorporated.
Since it’s been confirmed that the Sub-Zero in the movie is in fact Bi-Han, it seems probable that his story will be similar to his game story as Noob Saibot – a resurrected wraith working for the bad guys. Assuming that Scorpion is also dead/resurrected, that sets up effectively the same rivalry from the games in a slightly different format. It also sets up Lewis Tan’s Cole Young to possibly fill the missing role of Kuai Liang.
In the Warner Bros. synopsis for Mortal Kombat, there’s a reference to Cole Young unlocking his “arcana” – presumably a source of the supernatural abilities fighters in the tournament exhibit. The synopsis also alludes to a secret heritage for Cole beyond his birthmark and general tie to Mortal Kombat. With the film opening up with and focusing on the Scorpion/Sub-Zero rivalry, all those clues seem to be pointing in one direction.
It’s very possible that Cole will be connected to Bi-Han through some long, forgotten bloodline, and that the arcana he unlocks will give him the ninja’s iconic ice powers. That would allow the film to keep the spirit of the Kuai Liang character while also adhering to the new feudal Japan origin of Scorpion and Sub-Zero rivalry. Mortal Kombat is famous for plotlines of evil sorcerers manipulating warriors into doing their dirty work, often only to realize they’ve been lied to the whole time. That trope would fit perfectly in the movie, with Bi-Han being convinced by Shang Tsung to kill Cole (possibly because he believes he is connected to Scorpion), only to discover that the new fighter is actual a descendant of Bi-Han himself.
The ballad of two ice ninjas has always been a core piece of the Mortal Kombat lore, and incorporating it into the new movie would both be a fun twist for fans and a way to make a brand new character like Cole an important part of the existing story. Fans will be able to uncover the mystery for themselves when Mortal Kombat release in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16.
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