Megan Fox is now the official celebrity of videogames where demonic monsters pull people’s guts out. She made her bid for the position with a bizarre Diablo 4 marketing campaign that involved her eulogising player’s deaths. Now, she’s stepping things up by providing her voice and likeness to Outworld vampire Nitara in Mortal Kombat 1. Look, I can’t fault anyone for finding their niche.
Nitara hails from the 3D era of Mortal Kombat games, which Netherrealm seems to be drawing on more than ever before for this new entry. Basically, she’s a sexy vampire lady, though a bit less straightforwardly evil than you might expect.
As celebrity cameos go, Megan Fox is a huge improvement on Mortal Kombat 11’s Ronda Rousey, who turned out to be even worse at voice acting than she is at having opinions. Fox’s role in cult horror film Jennifer’s Body (which of course gets a direct nod) proved she can work in a sinister role like this, and she’s certainly a better actor than you might think if you’ve only ever seen her in Transformers. But this trailer very notably limits how many of her spoken lines it shows, and the ones it does are almost as unconvincing as her soundbites about her great, long-standing love for the Mortal Kombat series. I fear it’s another bit of stunt-casting rather than a natural fit.
Regardless, the character looks brilliantly bloody and brutal in action, with lots of aerial moves, launchers, and juggling potential, and one of those quick and deadly dive kicks you just can’t wait to spam against your best mate. Mortal Kombat 1’s roster is looking seriously healthy at this point—and it won’t be long now before you can try it for yourself, with the release date set for September 19.