With respect to the original masked Lin Kuei warriors in the original Mortal Kombat video game, I have always loved Noob Saibot with a special affinity. Originally appearing, though unplayable, in Mortal Kombat II as a kind of jokey character — he's like the other ninjas except black, and his name is literally the names of the creators (Ed Boon and John Tobias) backwards — Noob Saibot has since gone on to be a well-regarded, respected, and even feared character. He's dark, shadowy, under corruption from the most vile of evil forces in the Mortal Kombat universe, and has such a uniquely sinister voice in Mortal Kombat 11 courtesy of Sean Chiplock. And wouldn't you know it, in the video game's continuity, it's actually revealed Noob Saibot began his life as Bi-Han — aka, the original Sub-Zero we saw in the original video game!
In the upcoming 2021 film adaptation of Mortal Kombat, Joe Taslim (The Raid: Redemption) is playing the Bi-Han version of Sub-Zero. This is a simple fact that we all know. But does this mean... that we're gonna see Taslim play Noob Saibot in the film as well? Collider visited the set in Australia back in 2019 during filming and watched as Taslim walked right up to the line of saying "Yes, I am playing Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat" before actually saying it, couching his teases under the facts that he's just stating information about the character's lore.
Here are Taslim's exact quotes on the possibility of seeing his Sub-Zero turn into Noob Saibot in the film:
"In general, we [all] know that I play Bi-Han. Because we know we have two Sub-Zeros, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. I think it's not a secret, I play Bi-Han, and it's not a secret as well. I mean, you can just Google it, Bi-Han is... okay, don't tell anyone. (laughter) So Noob Saibot is Bi-Han after what happened to him, it's not a secret. Quan Chi took the humanity inside of Bi-Han and turned him into Noob Saibot, just totally dark, night. And we both know from that story [and] history of Bi-Han — you know, it's a basic Google search, not a secret — he has humanity inside of him, and when he's Noob Saibot, he's just totally dark, pitch black. And you can see that in his character as Bi-Han that I'm playing when the movie's out. So, that's it. [laughter]"
Well! What do you think? Is Taslim simply playing diplomat and telling us the mythology of Bi-Han as is established in the Mortal Kombat canon? He's obviously joking when he says "don't tell anyone." But is he joking that we will see this Sub-Zero/Noob Saibot battle "in his character... that I'm playing when the movie's out"? Is a particularly dark-looking Lin Kuei warrior we see flashed in the trailer indication of this potential Noob Saibot reveal Taslim is dancing around here? Or are these all metaphors and hypothetical flights of fancy? We'll all find out once the movie drops — but for my money, I believe we'll see it happen, I believe Taslim was being purposefully coy, and I believe it will be very, very dope.
Mortal Kombat comes to theaters and HBO Max April 16, 2021.