Key Highlights:
- Dave Bautista stars in Mortal Kombat 1’s new live-action It’s In Our Blood launch trailer.
- The commercial reimagines the original 1993 “Mortal Monday” television advert 30 years later.
- Bautista is appearing as part of the promotional campaign rather than as a newly announced Mortal Kombat 1 character.
WWE legend and actor Dave Bautista stars in a new live-action trailer for Mortal Kombat 1, helping Warner Bros. Games recreate one of the franchise’s most recognisable advertising campaigns.
Titled It’s In Our Blood, the launch spot was released on 29 August 2023 and places Bautista at the centre of a call that gradually spreads between people in everyday locations.
The idea deliberately pays homage to the “Mortal Monday” commercial from 1993, which promoted the home-console arrival of the original Mortal Kombat by showing people answering the same distinctive “Mortal Kombat” call.
Thirty years later, Bautista begins the new version inside a library before the call spreads through workplaces, streets, cafés and other locations.
He is not being introduced as a character within Mortal Kombat 1’s story. Instead, Bautista acts as the figure bringing together people who respond to the franchise’s familiar call.
The live-action sequences are intercut with Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay while Bautista describes a world where “legends are rewritten” and “new alliances are forged”.
Those themes reflect the rewritten character histories established throughout Liu Kang’s New Era, where familiar fighters have been given different identities, relationships and positions.
The trailer also asks players “Who will you bring?” and “Who will you trust?” while showing combat footage, reinforcing Mortal Kombat 1’s emphasis on choosing a Main Fighter alongside the separate Kameo Fighter system.
Bautista is particularly fitting for a live-action Mortal Kombat campaign. He became one of WWE’s biggest stars as Batista before establishing an acting career that includes Drax in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films.
I think the strongest part of the campaign is that Bautista’s involvement is secondary to the idea behind it. Rather than simply placing a celebrity beside Mortal Kombat 1, Warner Bros. has used him to recreate a piece of Mortal Kombat marketing history for a new generation.
The closing sequence brings the gathering together as Bautista declares “This is Mortal Kombat”. The advert then transitions into further gameplay from Liu Kang’s New Era with Scorpion donning his iconic spear move.
