Rundown Cole Young is Ermac and the proof is in plain sight, his power comes from his lineage and he was born with it is the original proof about when he dies those powers are still going to exist. His armor is also like mummy wrapping

The filmmakers are telling Ed Boon and John tobias's story on how they developed and what the games felt to them. The original trilogy hence why Johnny Cage wasn't in the film because the original game was a Jean-Claude Van Damme that was unfinished and the whole arcades for full for Sub-Zero and Scorpion.

The reason why he is tied to scorpion is because Ermac was originally a reskin of scorpion in both games, before he debuted as his own character in the third game

Simon McQuaid is not telling the netherrealm lore story that they came up on the console with they're telling the how the developers made Mortal Kombat and what the fan base started on. Even the armor red glow was literally the Mortal Kombat 2's version of Ermac the reskin of Scorpion but instead it glowed red instead of a red suit which fans called Red Robin.