Mortal Kombat's Lewis Tan Was Almost Part Of The MCU

Lewis Tan is the face of a big ongoing franchise, playing MMA fighter turned world-saving hero in "Mortal Kombat," which currently has a sequel in the works. It turns out that Tan very nearly landed another huge gig around the same time: Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Indeed, had things gone another way, it could be Tan suiting up as Shang-Chi and not Simu Liu. And it sounds very much like Tan was in the running right until the very end.

Tan spoke about the experience to Entertainment Tonight around the time that 2021's "Mortal Kombat" was coming out. He explained what it was like landing the role of Cole Young, a character created specifically for the movie. Here's what he had to say about it:

"That was a crazy moment. I had just gotten back from Japan. I just lost a crazy job – a really, really high-caliber level job...I heard that news on a plane to Japan, and I was devastated. I did this mediation course, and I came back and then I was on my way to Nashville, Tennessee, to race cars at NASCAR – I was like, 'Maybe I'm the first Asian person to ever be in this place before!' – and all of a sudden I get a phone call saying I got the role in [Mortal Kombat]. I was supposed to drive a car that day and I ended up not doing it because I was like, 'Uh oh! I need to be safe now because I've got an opportunity here.'"

As for what that crazy job was? "It was for the role of Shang-Chi in the Marvel film," Tan elaborated when pressed. "A friend of mine, Simu [Liu] got that part, and I think he's going to do a fantastic job with the material."

Most Marvel fans would probably agree that Liu did, indeed, do well with the material in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." The movie was one of the biggest hits of 2021 as the industry was emerging from the pandemic, with a sequel on the way. It helped give the MCU a brand new hero to help usher in Phase 4 and beyond, in addition to giving an Asian superhero major representation as the face of a solo franchise.

One could easily imagine the success of the "Shang-Chi" movie would be a bitter pill for Tan to swallow. On the contrary, the actor is very happy with the way things worked out and has a very zen feeling about it all.

"Everything happens at the right time [for] the right reason and looking back on everything that played out, I wouldn't change it for an instant. I'm very grateful for the opportunity, and I'm very grateful that just diverse people are leading these amazing films. To see our faces that are usually looked over and looked past and to have that opportunity to be part of that change that I didn't get to see when I was growing up, I'm honored to do that and I'm happy for everybody else."

As for "Mortal Kombat 2," the sequel is coming together with Simon McQuoid returning to direct. More recently, we learned that Karl Urban ("Dredd," "The Boys") is set to take on the role of Johnny Cage in the sequel. Cage, a very popular character from the games, was teased at the end of the first film.

"Mortal Kombat 2" does not currently have a release date.