JK Simmons Opens Up About Process of Recording Omni-Man for Mortal Kombat 1 (Exclusive)

While actor JK Simmons is most well-known for portraying Omni-Man in Prime Video’s Invincible, he has played the character outside the show as well. Specifically, Simmons reprised his role as Omni-Man in the video game Mortal Kombat 1 when the character was added as a DLC fighter in late 2023. To this point, Simmons hasn’t talked much about his experience with Mortal Kombat 1 and what it was like, so ahead of Invincible Season 3 debuting, we picked his brain about the process.

In a recent conversation with ComicBook, we asked Simmons about what it was like to work with NetherRealm Studios on Mortal Kombat 1 and play Omni-Man outside of Invincible. Simmons praised the scripts that NetherRealm had created for the character, saying that it’s always the first thing he looks for before accepting a project. He went on to say that even though Omni-Man was written by another group for MK1 when compared to Invincible, he was thrilled to see how consistent the character’s voice was across different mediums.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Simmons said. “I always say to any offer that comes in, ‘It’s all about the script.’ [It was] really funny. Fun stuff. A lot more grunting and groaning. There’s always a fair amount of fight noises that we save for the end of the recording session. I was pleased with the consistency of who Omni-Man is, even taking him into that different world.”

While playing Omni-Man in Mortal Kombat 1 was a one-off experience, Simmons has a lot of other experience in video games over the years. Perhaps most notably, Simmons played Cave Johnson in 2011’s Portal 2. He’s since reprised the role in a handful of other projects from Valve. More recently, though, Simmons drew acclaim for his part in Baldur’s Gate 3 where he played General Ketheric Thorm. Whether or not he’ll look to appear in more video games in the years ahead remains to be seen, but all of his work so far in the medium has been met with nothing but praise.

Related: Invincible Season 3 Review: Calm Before the War

For now, Simmons can again be heard as Omni-Man in Season 3 of Invincible, which returns to Prime Video today. Season 3 has debuted with a three-episode premiere and will continue to run until mid-March.