The Game Awards 2025 was marked by the release of the first teaser trailer for Street Fighter (2026), a rebooted version of the Street Fighter video game adaptation on the big screen. The teaser featured a wild lineup of music, pro wrestling, and martial artists, in addition to a few seasoned dramatic actors and a couple of comedic stars. More than that, though, the Street Fighter footage teased a movie that is going to be winkingly silly and over the top, while still delivering some impressive-looking combat action in many different fighting styles.
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It just so happens that there is a different video game film also coming to theaters next year, which hypes many of the same elements as Street Fighter. That would be Mortal Kombat II, the sequel to Warner Bros.’ 2021 reboot of that rival fighting game from the 1990s. In fact, the rivalry seems to be alive and well, as during the Game Awards, the Street Fighter cast made jokes about the Mortal Kombat crew. Now, Mortal Kombat’s producer is getting the chance to fire back, and it’s pretty clear he’s looking to strike a fatality blow.
The Cast of Street Fighter Clowns Mortal Kombat II For Not Attending the Game Awards
The cast of Street Fighter (2026) includes comedian Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki, the generic fighter clone of series stars Ryu and Ken. Schulz is one of the more brazen and outspoken comedians working today, and he did not waste the opportunity on the Game Awards stage to body slam Mortal Kombat II.
“Guys, it’s so important that we appreciate you all here for being great patrons of Street Fighter… This movie is not possible without you guys,” Schulz said from the stage. “We are so grateful. And we’re not the only game that appreciates your patronage. There’s another game out there. They also flew from around the world to be here because they appreciate you. So give it up for the whole cast of ‘Mortal Kombat 2’!”
For a moment, the crowd of gamers erupted in cheers, thinking they were about to see a viral moment of stars from two iconic video game movies take the stage together. But it quickly became apparent that Schulz was trolling and was really setting the audience up for a hard punchline. After confirming that the cast of Mortal Kombat II was in fact not there, he said: “I’m just kidding, I’m just kidding. They don’t care about you. They only care about money. We care about money and you. Street Fighter forever!”
Director Kitao Sakurai and other cast members moved things along to reading the actual winner in the “Best Ongoing Game” category (No Many’s Sky), with Chun-Li actress Callina Liang doing some quick damage control along the way: “Schulz cannot be trusted! He’s joking.”
Mortal Kombat II Producer Fires Back At Street Fighter
Todd Garner (Broken Road Productions) is one of the main producers on Mortal Kombat II. When Garner saw the clip of Schulz and Street Fighter cast going around, he had some concise but pointed words to shard in response: “I don’t climb over others to get ahead.”
It is true that Mortal Kombat II has made a single mention of Street Fighter in any of its marketing (so far); however, Garner may be a bit misleading with his statement, in that there hasn’t been anything for the Mortal Kombat team to even mock. Street Fighter‘s biggest marketing push before the Game Awards was the annoucement of its crazy cast, which includes Noah Centineo (Black Adam) as Ken, Andrew Koji (Snake Eyes) as Ryu, Roman Reigns (WWE) as Akuma, Cody Rhodes (WWE) as Guile, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Jason Momoa as Blanka, musician Orville Peck as Vega, David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man) as M. Bison, and more. Now that Street Fighter is releasing footage, and Schulz said what he said, the gates are open for Mortal Kombat II’s team to use this “vs.” stance in its own marketing.
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