Probably not dead, just litigious! Don't think you'll be seeing Daniel Pesina around any Netherrealm projects. Here's a couple of reasons why:
Giant Bomb Johnny Cage page:
Martial artist Daniel Pesina portrays Johnny Cage in the first two Mortal Kombat games in addition to donning the mask of the game's male ninjas. He was abruptly fired from Midway after appearing in character in an advertisement for a competing fighting game, BloodStorm . His likeness would not be used in future games, being conspicuously absent from the side of the MK1 cabinet used in Liu Kang's MK3 fatality. He was also the only actor to be recast for Mortal Kombat Trilogy rather than using his old sprite, with Johnny Cage represented by Chris Alexander in that game.
Aaaand Wikipedia:
On December 9, 1996, Daniel Pesina sued Midway Games, Williams Electronics Games, Inc, Acclaim, Nintendo, and Sega, alleging "that all defendants used his persona, name, and likeness without authorization in the home version ofMortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II and the related products..." The conclusion of Daniel Pesina v. Midway Manufacturing Co. was that "alleged use of martial artist's name, likeness or persona in a martial arts video game did not violate his common-law right of publicity.
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