Karl Urban reveals how The Boys forced him into Mortal Kombat II, and the lore is hilarious

Despite having a packed schedule of geeky project after geeky project, Karl Urban chose to sign onto Mortal Kombat II after finishing The Boys season four.

Karl Urban has undoubtedly unseated Pedro Pascal as the king of the nerds, having starred in The Lord of the Rings, Doom, Star Trek, Star Wars, Thor, Dredd, The Boys, and, most recently, Mortal Kombat II. Icon doesn’t begin to describe him.

In Mortal Kombat II, which recieved 88 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, Karl plays Johnny Cage, perhaps the most famous of the champions. An American action movie star with extensive martial arts training, Johnny is often the only thing standing between Earthrealm and obliteration.

Well, we lowly Earthlings might have The Boys to thank for that.

The Boys was boring, so Karl Urban tried Mortal Kombat II

When a season of The Boys wraps up, Karl Urban usually returns home for rest and recuperation with his family, he told The Hollywood Reporter.

However, after finishing filming season four, where Butcher spent most of the season hospitalised with super cancer (it’s a thing on that show, trust me), he was left with pent-up energy.

“I reached out to my agent and said, ‘Listen, I’m ready to go immediately. What do you got? I’d love to do something that was heavy on action. I’ve got fuel in the tank,’” he recalled.

Todd Garner, who was a massive fan of Butcher on The Boys, was thrilled to get the call, and Karl soon joined other stars like Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Lewis Tan, and Ludi Lin.

“There was literally an incoming call, and we’re like, ‘What? No way, but yes!” he said. “It was that serendipitous.”

Long story short: If The Boys season four had actually put their lead star to work, we’d never get to watch Karl Urban doing backlips to – in the Mortal Kombat announcer voice – FINISH him.

Though he’s obviously proud of his work on The Boys, for the first time in a while, Karl Urban’s schedule is looking a bit light in its load; not that he’d want it any other way.

“I feel content to leave it in a good place. It’s not often that you get the opportunity to land the ship on your own terms, before it gets taken away from you,” the actor added. “I’m not an actor who would comfortably sit on a show for 10 or 15 years. I would get bored. What interests me is the challenge of doing something that I haven’t done before.”

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Featured image credit: Amazon Studios/Warner Bros