Mortal Kombat II Has A Lord Of The Rings Easter Egg That Makes Perfect Sense

Over the past 20 years, actor Karl Urban has been fortunate enough to be part of some of the biggest film and television franchises ever made. His run on Prime Video's twisted comic book adaptation "The Boys" is wrapping up, and before that, Urban had the key role of medical officer Bones in J.J. Abrams' rebooted "Star Trek" franchise. In addition, the Australian star played Skurge in "Thor: Ragnarok," as well as becoming the law in the criminally underseen "Dredd." 

However, some might have forgotten that Urban also had a small but pivotal role in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, arriving in Middle-earth in "The Two Towers" and carrying over into "Return of the King."

Warner Bros.

Urban played Éomer, the leader of the Riders of Rohan. You might remember his ominous line, "Look for your friends. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands." There was also his taunting of the dwarf Gimli: "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground."

That's what makes the cheeky inclusion of a "Lord of the Rings" reference in "Mortal Kombat II" so satisfying. In fact, it's Karl Urban's washed up Hollywood action star Johnny Cage who makes the amusing reference to "Lord of the Rings" himself.

In "Mortal Kombat II," a new artifact is introduced into the story that gives the film's villain, Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), immortality, making him impossible to defeat in the titular fighting tournament. Johnny Cage, who isn't actually the main character of the movie, is a reluctant recruit to Earthrealm's team of warriors, who have been tasked by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) to fight against Outworld and keep Earth from being ruled by the evil emperor. This allows him to be snarky and sarcastic about everything happening around him in a very Tony Stark way, which includes making multiple pop culture references.

Initially in disbelief about the mere existence of the tournament, Cage is forced to fight for Earth. Though he ultimately loses his official match-up, there are plenty of other fights to be won, and that includes an effort to retrieve and destroy the aforementioned amulet in order to allow Shao Kahn to be defeated in Mortal Kombat.

After finally stepping up to help Earthrealm's fight against Outworld, Cage teams up with the foul-mouthed Kano (Josh Lawson) and the spirit of Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) in the Netherrealm (basically hell) to retrieve the amulet from the shadow warrior known as Noob Saibot, a resurrected form of the fighter Bi-Han (aka Sub-Zero). After finally getting his hands on the amulet, Kano tells Cage to destroy it, but it's not so simple. 

Cage has no idea how to destroy the artifact, and Kano tells him to look on the back for instructions. Sarcastically, Cage says, "Oh, here it is, 'One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them...'" alluding to the inscription on the Ring of Power that Frodo Baggins must carry to Mount Doom in "Lord of the Rings." The fact that this comes from Urban makes the line that much more amusing. 

It also works as a bit of cross-promotional synergy, as Warner Bros. also owns the rights to the fantasy franchise. They're in the midst of bringing it back to life with a story focused on the ring-seeking Gollum. Is there a chance Karl Urban could reprise his role as Éomer in the movie somehow? We'll have to wait and see. But do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.