Summary
Fans are once again debating Ronda Rousey’s performance as Sonya Blade following Megan Fox’s controversial turn as Nitara inMortal Kombat 1. The decision to cast Megan Fox as the vampiric Outworld warrior Nitara was met with heavy skepticism even beforeMortal Kombat 1launched back in September, and hearing theTransformersandJennifer’s Bodystar in action won few of these critics over. Many players decried Fox’s performanceas dull and emotionless, and quite a few were left wishing that herMortal Kombat 1backup actress Cristina Valenzuelahad played Nitara full-time instead.
Megan Fox’s divisive take on Nitara isn’t the first time a major celebrity was cast in aMortal Kombatgame, nor is it the first to be met with a cold response from diehard fans. For example, famed MMA fighter and WWE superstar Ronda Rousey was cast as franchise mainstay Sonya Blade for 2019’sMortal Kombat 11. While Rousey certainly showed enthusiasm for her role outside the game (to the point whereshe dressed as Sonyafor that year’s WWE Elimination Chamberevent), fans found her performance to be lackluster and uninspired - even drawing comparisons to the notorious “Jill Sandwich” line readings of the originalResident Evil.
Ronda Rousey and her now-infamous performance as Sonya Blade have been brought back into online discourse in light of Megan Fox’s similar showing inMortal Kombat 1, with fans debating which one is worse. Reddit user TrappedInLimbo recently argued that Rousey was at least just as wooden as Fox on r/MortalKombat by sharing a montage ofMortal Kombat 11character introductions featuring Sonya. Many users seem to agree with TrappedInLimbo’s sentiment, with some noting that they forgot how flat and monotone Rousey sounded inMortal Kombat 11- though some were quick to point out her lack of acting experience in comparison to Megan Fox.
Others argued that whileRonda Rousey was far from idealinMortal Kombat 11, she at least conveyed emotion while confronting combatants like Scorpion, Shao Kahn, Baraka, and Kabal - whereas Megan Fox was seemingly just reading her lines from a script as Nitara inMortal Kombat 1. Fox’s detractors have pointed out that she doesn’t have the excuse of not being a professional actor like Ronda Rousey.
The controversy surrounding Megan Fox’s role as Nitara inMortal Kombat 1sparked a renewed debate overthe merits of hiring big-name celebritiesover professional voice actors for video games. For every warmly received performance like Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung inMortal Kombat 11there is one that splits the fanbase like Ronda Rousey and Megan Fox, and the debates over which one did a weaker job will likely continue until the next A-list star appears in aMortal Kombatgame.
Mortal Kombat 1is available now for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
