Mortal Kombat 1 provides a first look at the Jean-Claude Van Damme skin

Mortal Kombat fans know that NetherRealm has been trying to get Jean-Claude Van Damme into an MK game for quite some time, since the series first launched in the 90s. Mortal Kombat 1 will finally achieve this ambitious goal with the Van Damme DLC skin for Johnny Cage, of which we have now caught the first glimpse in a new interview with series creator Ed Boon.

In the latest Hot Ones interview with Sean Evans, Ed Boon discusses what it took to get Van Damme on board for the series, while eating chicken wings with increasingly spicy sauce levels. He also briefly showcases footage of it in action. When I say briefly, I mean really brief, as we only see a short clip of a younger Van Damme flipping off Johnny Cage while Sonya Blade stands beside him.

When talking about Van Damme's appearance in Mortal Kombat, Boon states that it's a "full-circle moment" because he originally wanted to create an arcade game with Van Damme before coming up with the idea for Mortal Kombat.

"We actually wanted to see the name 'Van Damme'. Bloodsport was big back then, as well as Universal Soldier, I think," says Boon. "So we contacted his team and said, 'We want to make a game based on Van Damme,' and I don't know if he declined or if it never reached him or something like that."

But those were just a bunch of 20-year-old kids wanting to make a video game - I can understand if Van Damme said, 'No, we're not doing that.' So we made several attempts and went back and forth. This time, we hit the jackpot and got him. We actually have his voice, and he will be the character Johnny Cage, and it's the absolute full-circle moment we had hoped for.

In other Mortal Kombat news, we recently received confirmation that Nitara will be returning as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 1 for the first time in 17 years. Not only that, but a recently released trailer revealed that she will be voiced by none other than Megan Fox, adding another prominent star lending their voice to the title. The fans' reaction to Nitara's return has been quite positive, although it seems that many people would like the game to eventually bring back her pirate outfit from Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.