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<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a fan of seeing iconic fighting game franchises on the big screen, then 2026 is truly your year. Not only is Warner Bros. releasing the second film in its rebooted Mortal Kombat series, we\u2019re also getting a brand new Street Fighter movie courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment. Hollywood has tried and failed to adapt this colorful franchise in the past, but will the third time be the charm? Well, it can\u2019t be any worse than 2009\u2019s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. <\/p>\n
We\u2019ve finally gotten our first good look at Street Fighter thanks to a new trailer released during CinemaCon 2026. And if there\u2019s any one takeaway from this footage, it\u2019s that Street Fighter looks like a whole lot of fun. It even opens with the countdown timer sound effects from the games. Could we be looking at the best fighting game movie since 1995\u2019s Mortal Kombat? For now, let\u2019s break down all the characters we meet in the trailer and how they fit together in this epic tale of guys and gals beating the snot out of each other.<\/p>\n
Street Fighter may feature an ensemble cast of fighters pulled from all over the globe, but the trailer makes it pretty clear that this story will revolve heavily around Noah Centineo\u2019s Ken Masters and Andrew Koji\u2019s Ryu. We\u2019re not surprised, as this Dynamic Duo tends to be the focus in most incarnations of the Street Fighter franchise. Ken and Ryu have been there from the beginning. They were the only playable characters in the original Street Fighter game from 1987, and they\u2019ve been series mainstays ever since.<\/p>\n
In the games, Ken and Ryu are lifelong friends who both trained under the same master, Gouken. That\u2019s why they wear different colored variations of the same martial arts uniform. But whereas Ryu is totally dedicated to perfecting his fighting craft, Ken is a bit more freewheeling and sociable. <\/p>\n
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We\u2019ll focus more on Ryu in a bit, but for now, let\u2019s dig in with Ken. The trailer reveals that the game is set in 1993, which seems to be an intentional nod to the original era of Street Fighter mania in the early \u201890s. We can see from this footage that Ken has become a bit of a celebrity, even hosting his own show on MTV. But that fame seems to have come at a heavy price. Ken is clearly a washed-up has-been who\u2019d rather get drunk and belt out karaoke than hone his skills as one of the world\u2019s best fighters. <\/p>\n
If anything, we notice a lot of similarities between Centineo\u2019s Ken and Karl Urban\u2019s Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat II. Both are world-class fighters-turned-celebrities who are arguably past their prime, and both will have to prove they\u2019ve still got it when they enter the fighting ring.<\/p>\n
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Ken features in a couple of cool Street Fighter Easter eggs in the trailer. We see him performing several iconic fighting moves from the games, including an obligatory Shoryuken punch, a rolling back throw, a Jinrai Kick from 2023\u2019s Street Fighter 6, and axe-kicking a character we assume is El Fuerte. In another shot, we see him kicking and punching a car, a nod to those infamous bonus levels where players try to destroy a car with their expert fighting moves. <\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s turn our attention to Ken\u2019s BFF Ryu. The two characters are clearly having a bit of a relationship crisis in the movie. Even as Ken has molded himself into a drunken cable TV star, Ryu has seemingly retreated from the world and become a modern-day martial arts hermit. Ryu seems happy enough to be reunited with his old buddy, but not Ken. His first instinct when he sees Ryu is to bust out a flying kick.<\/p>\n
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Ryu is the closest thing the Street Fighter franchise has to a main character. Again, he\u2019s a top-tier fighter obsessed with perfecting his craft. But though he\u2019s a good-natured warrior who\u2019s always eager to meet new opponents and test his skills, Ryu also harbors a secret dark side. That may explain why he\u2019s in hiding as the movie opens. Ryu may be afraid of unleashing the true power within. <\/p>\n
We get a taste of that power at the end of the trailer when we see Ryu summon one of his iconic fireballs and shout the word \u201cHadouken!!!\u201d Street Fighter may be built around hand-to-hand combat, but many of the fighters have superhuman abilities they can bring to the battlefield.<\/p>\n
What would a Street Fighter movie be without the mighty Chun-Li joining Ryu and Ken? This time around, this deadly Chinese fighter is played by Callina Liang.<\/p>\n
Chun-Li was introduced in 1991\u2019s Street Fighter II and has appeared in most of the games since then. She\u2019s portrayed as a skilled warrior and Interpol agent who seeks revenge against M. Bison for the murder of her father. But, as we know from Raul Julia\u2019s infamous rant in the original Street Fighter movie, he\u2019s killed a great many fathers over the years.<\/p>\n
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Here, Chun-Li appears to be the catalyst that brings Ryu, Ken, and other fighters together to partake in a high-stakes martial arts tournament. Why she\u2019s seeking out these elite world warriors isn\u2019t entirely clear, but it may all be part of a plot to bring down M. Bison. What we do know is that she seems rather unimpressed with both Ryu and Ken. One is hiding from the world, the other is \u201ca sideshow,\u201d and neither is living up to his true potential. Chun-Li aims to fix that.<\/p>\n
The trailer drops another amusing nod to the games when Chun-Li meets Mel Jarnson\u2019s Cammy and the latter makes a comment about Chun-Li\u2019s thighs. One of the hallmarks of Chun-Li\u2019s character design from the games is her extremely muscular legs, and the movie is clearly having some fun with the fact that her reputation precedes her. We also see her put those legs to good use when she busts out a Hundred Lightning Legs move.<\/p>\n
David Dastmalchian is playing M. Bison, the character we\u2019re assuming is the main villain of the film. Bison is definitely one of the most important villains in the franchise, dating back to his role as the final boss of Street Fighter II.<\/p>\n
Bison is a tyrant with aims of world domination. He runs a criminal organization known as Shadaloo, one that manipulates world governments. He\u2019s also the architect of the World Warrior tournament (hence why it\u2019s a bit odd that his nemesis Chun-Li seems to be recruiting for said tournament).<\/p>\n
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If the movie is anything like the games, we expect to see Bison try to recruit Ryu and possibly Ken to his cause. He sees the dark power residing within these warriors, a power that can rival his own \u201cPsycho Power.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bison is probably the main villain of the new movie, but don\u2019t count out Roman Reigns\u2019 character, Akuma. Akuma is another major antagonist from the games with a deep connection to both Ryu and Ken. Akuma is the subject of much fascination for Street Fighter fans, in part because he was introduced as a secret playable character in 1994\u2019s Super Street Fighter II Turbo. <\/p>\n
Akuma\u2019s name literally means \u201cdemon\u201d or \u201cdevil\u201d in Japanese, and he lives up to that name. He\u2019s the younger brother of Ryu and Ken\u2019s master Gouken, and he seeks to harness a dark power known as Satsui no Hado. Like Bison, he senses great and terrible potential in Ryu.<\/p>\n
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We only briefly see Reigns\u2019 character in the trailer, but he\u2019s shown battling Ryu and tapping into his own dark energy to charge up his Empyrean’s End super move. We expect that face-off to be one of the major set pieces of the film. But will Akuma be a major player in this conflict, or is this more a taste of things to come in a possible sequel?<\/p>\n
Street Fighter features another familiar WWE face in the form of Cody Rhodes, who plays the overconfident military man Guile. Guile was the central character in the first Street Fighter movie, but based on the trailer it looks like he serves in more of a supporting role this time around. Expect a lot of comic relief from this dude, and not just because of his ridiculous haircut.<\/p>\n
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Guile is another series mainstay introduced in 1991\u2019s Street Fighter II, and like Chun-Li, he has a major grudge against M. Bison for the death of his partner, Charlie.<\/p>\n
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One of the more intriguing casting choices in this movie is 50 Cent, who\u2019s been tapped to play elite boxer Balrog. If the costume and makeup don\u2019t make it obvious, Balrog is heavily modeled after real-world boxer Mike Tyson.<\/p>\n
In the games, Balrog is a disgraced fighter who joins Bison\u2019s Shadaloo organization. We see him battling Ken in the trailer, where it looks like he\u2019ll be one of the first real challenges this washed-up martial artist faces on the road to victory. <\/p>\n
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Street Fighter gained some real star power with the casting of Jason Momoa as Blanka. Another iconic character introduced in 1991\u2019s Street Fighter II, Blanka is also one of the most colorful and unusual characters in the games. As the story goes, he was once a guy named Jimmy who mutated after a plane crash and became an oversized, green-skinned monster with the power to generate electricity. <\/p>\n
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Any global martial arts tournament worth its salt needs a good announcer, and that\u2019s the role being filled by Eric Andr\u00e9\u2019s Don Sauvage. Sauvage is a flamboyant announcer and promoter inspired by pro wrestling personality Jimmy Hart. It appears he\u2019ll be providing play-by-play commentary for at least some of the matches in the film. <\/p>\n
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It seems only fitting that the Street Fighter character known for always wearing a mask would be played by an actor infamous for rarely showing his face in public. Orville Peck is playing Vega, a graceful but very deadly fighter who wields Wolverine-like claws. Vega is known as the \u201cSpanish ninja,\u201d as his fighting style combines elements of ninjutsu and bullfighting.<\/p>\n
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Street Fighter characters don\u2019t get much bigger or more imposing than Zangief, who\u2019s played here by Olivier Richters. In the games, Zangief is a professional wrestler from Russia who\u2019s determined to prove his country\u2019s superiority by piledriving all challengers into submission. <\/p>\n
We see several larger-than-life feats of strength from Richters\u2019 character in the trailer, including an Ultimate Atomic Crusher Ultra Technique from 2008\u2019s Street Fighter IV, which makes it plain that the movie is opting for a more cartoonish style of violence.<\/p>\n
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We don\u2019t see much of him in the trailer, but Hirooki Goto has been cast as master sumo wrestler E. Honda. Honda is another long-running Street Fighter character who dates back to 1991\u2019s Street Fighter II.<\/p>\n
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Rounding out the cast of Street Fighter II legends is Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim. This yogi and mystic is one of the more unusual fighters in the games, as he can stretch his limbs in impossible ways. He\u2019s also a hardcore pacifist who only participates in the tournament to raise money for his impoverished village. We see Dhalism at several points in the trailer, both fighting in the ring and being recruited by Chun-Li.<\/p>\n
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Cammy is arguably the most popular Street Fighter character to debut after that initial batch of World Warriors, so we\u2019re not at all surprised to see her in the movie. Cammy has proven very important to the mythology of the series, as she\u2019s been revealed to be one of M. Bison\u2019s former assassins who loses her memory and becomes an MI6 agent. We don\u2019t know how much the movie will get into that backstory, though, as we mainly see Cammy acting as a foil to Chun-Li.<\/p>\n
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Finally, how could we forget about Dan Hibiki, probably the most divisive character in the Street Fighter franchise? Dan is played by Andrew Schulz in the movie. He, too, is a former student of Gouken, though unlike Ryu and Ken, he\u2019s pretty much all bluster and no substance. Don\u2019t expect him to make it very far in this tournament. Actually, it appears he may be Ken\u2019s manager in the film, rather than an active fighter himself.<\/p>\n
Those are the fighters you need to know before watching Street Fighter. What do you think of this upcoming video game movie? Does the trailer have you ready to bash cars with your bare fists, or is this another disaster in the making? Let us know what you think in the comments. <\/p>\n
For more, check out every video game movie and series in development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by<\/em> following @jschedeen on BlueSky.<\/em><\/p>\n
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