From Kumite to Kombat: Remembering Donald Gibb After His Passing at 71
Another icon has ascended to the great “Kumite” in the sky. Donald Gibb, star of Revenge of the Nerds and Bloodsport, is gone before his time at 71. He is probably best known as Ogre in Revenge for screaming “NERDS!” — and throwing people off balconies. However, he is also renowned for that second unforgettable ’80s film with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
In Bloodsport, he was tournament contender Ray Jackson — the designated “friend” character who looked like he enjoyed getting punched in the face. That joy put him in a Hong Kong hospital and on the sidelines for the big fight where JCVD avenged him, but that’s another story.
The story we’re more interested in is the connection the Cannon picture gives Gibb to another film now in theaters that also has the “big fight feel.” As more and more people learn all the time, the game series Mortal Kombat II is based on was actually inspired by Bloodsport.
In fact, MK creators John Tobias and Ed Boon initially pitched Van Damme and Midway on making a fighting game using his image and the film’s concept. Unfortunately, the “Muscles from Brussels” could not commit for a variety of reasons, and Midway didn’t have a lot of faith in the idea until Street Fighter punched its way into arcades.
Boon and Tobias lost Van Damme, but they sold Midway on their new pitch: one part Enter the Dragon and one part mystical, otherworldly lore, with some of the bones of Bloodsport left over in the arena.
The most salient piece of evidence is the cocky shades-wearing, bird-flipping action star Johnny Cage. The character, played by Karl Urban in the new MK film, was modeled after Van Damme and coded to perform the action star’s “butterfly split” move perfectly. They’re almost exactly alike except that Cage needed a better agent in Mortal Kombat II.
You can find shades of Donald Gibb’s Ray Jackson in these digital fighters, too. Minus the eye beam and metal plate on his face, every time you see Kano smirk with that look of “I’m gonna break your neck and laugh, you f—–g beauty,” that’s all Gibb. When you boil it down, he was a shaggy Western brute among martial arts masters.
His style was raw bar-room brawling, but he gave Bloodsport a soul that was more than “pointy kicks.” Gibb wasn’t just a big body. He was the kind of actor who could play a dimwitted bully one minute and then a loyal friend who’d take a beating without losing his dignity the next.
We are losing more icons who built the pop culture sandbox we all play in by the day at this point. This day, we pour one out for the nerd-tossing brute. RIP Donald Gibb — your legacy is its own “flawless victory.”
