John Carlton - aka Johnny Cage - is a Hollywood star and martial artist from the Mortal Kombat video games. He is also among the main cast of the first MK film, portrayed by Linden Ashby, where he joins forces with Earthrealm warriors Liu Kang and Sonya Blade as they compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament to prevent their world from being conquered by the forces of Outworld. Cage contributes greatly to the Earthrealm fighters' efforts by defeating the spectral ninja Scorpion and Outworld's four-armed champion Goro.
In the sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Johnny Cage has a greatly reduced role and is portrayed by Chris Conrad. His character is the first to die in the film when he attacks Shao Kahn, emperor of Outworld. As Johnny performs a flying kick and attacks, Shao Kahn singlehandedly knocks him out of the air and grapples him, ordering the thunder god Raiden to surrender or he will kill Johnny. Raiden decides to give himself up to save Johnny, but Kahn changes his mind and simply snaps Johnny's neck.