In end of 2021's Mortal Kombat, all the characters unlock their arcanas, which gives them special powers.

Therefore, in the Mortal Kombat tournament, which will see Earthrealm's fighters face the best warriors from Outworld and Netherrealm. This is exciting, since Mortal Kombat 2 is guaranteed to include many amazing fights between iconic characters. However, after Cole Young's fight against Goro in the first film, Mortal Kombat 2 needs to fix the franchise's power scale.

Cole Young Defeating Goro That Easily In Mortal Kombat Made Him Way Too Strong

Goro Is One Of Outworld's Strongest Fighters

In the first film, Goro, a half-human dragon man with four arms, tries to kill Cole Young so that he cannot compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament. This is all part of Shang Tsung's plan to make sure Earthrealm loses the tournament so that Outworld can invade it. At the beginning of their fight, Goro is clearly a better fighter than Cole. This makes sense, since Goro is a former champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament and one of the strongest warriors in Outworld. However, he still ends up losing to Cole.

About halfway through the fight, Cole finally unlocks his arcana, which gives him golden armor and a set of tonfas. Additionally, Cole is able to absorb and release the kinetic energy of his opponents' strikes, which leads to many strong attacks. Once he has these powers, Cole is able to easily defeat Goro. This was disappointing, since Cole had basically no training other than his MMA career. The result of this fight scene frames Goro as a disposable bad guy, rather than one of the most feared fighters in the Mortal Kombat franchise.

Cole Young Should Be Even Stronger In Mortal Kombat 2 (And That Complicates Things)

Cole Young Will Represent Earthrealm In The Mortal Kombat Tournament

In Mortal Kombat 2, Cole will likely have much more experience accessing and using his powers. Since they will all fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament, all of Earthrealm's fighters have likely undergone extensive training in between the two films. This is exciting, but also suggests that Cole Young will easily be able to defeat any fighter from Outworld or Netherrealm. Since he defeated Goro, who is usually one of the best fighters in the tournament, if not the best, Cole should easily make it to the final round of the tournament in the sequel.

This is why Mortal Kombat 2 needs to fix the franchise's power scale. After Cole defeated Goro relatively easily in the first film, the sequel needs to do extra work to make his opponents seem more threatening. Cole is obviously a very powerful character, but he should still be an underdog in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Therefore, after his underwhelming fight against Goro, I hope Cole struggles much more against his opponents in Mortal Kombat 2.