The Karate Kid movies, but with the focus on Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Johnny was Daniel LaRusso's antagonist in The Karate Kid, but he vanished from the later films after a brief cameo at the start of The Karate Kid Part II. Originally, however, Cobra Kai was Johnny's Story.
Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena), Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mo), Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), and Tory Nichols (Peyton List).
Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence resumed their rivalry from The Karate Kid in Cobra Kai. Slowly but surely, however, Daniel and Johnny went from competing senseis to becoming grudging partners, to, ultimately, trusted friends. Cobra Kai's original premise had to expand beyond Johnny's point of view for the saga to reach its full potential. By tapping into Daniel LaRusso's Karate Kid movie history, Cobra Kai benefited by reintroducing Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), the main villain who upended the series and nearly took over karate in the San Fernando Valley.
Cobra Kai Started As Johnny Lawrence's Story
Johnny Doesn't Have The Karate Kid History Daniel Has
The genius of Cobra Kai's original premise was to reintroduce The Karate Kid's world through the eyes of Johnny Lawrence, an "ace degenerate" who never evolved beyond his glory days as the Valley's karate champion in 1984. Broke, washed up, and desperate for a break, Johnny reopens the Cobra Kai dojo, and gains his first student: Lawrence's nerdy, young neighbor, Miguel Diaz. Cobra Kai season 1 was a brilliant twist on The Karate Kid, with Johnny molding Miguel into a karate champion.
Cobra Kai reintroduced Daniel LaRusso as Sensei Lawrence's polar opposite.
With Johnny as the sympathetic antihero, Cobra Kai reintroduced Daniel LaRusso as Sensei Lawrence's polar opposite. A successful car dealership owner with a loving family, Daniel had everything Johnny lacked. Furious that his high school karate rival relaunched the Cobra Kai dojo that tormented him as a teenager, LaRusso did everything in his power to stop Johnny, including opening a competing Miyagi-Do dojo and training Johnny's estranged son, Robby Keene.
Cobra Kai Revealed Who Was The Real Villain In The Karate Kid, And It Wasn't Johnny
Cobra Kai had one great overarching villain throughout its six seasons, who goes back to The Karate Kid in 1984, and it's not Johnny or Daniel.
However, for Cobra Kai to truly have legs, the series had to tap into the history of The Karate Kid movies, which was Daniel LaRusso's history. While John Kreese (Martin Kove) entered Cobra Kai at the end of season 1 and was established as the show's central villain, Daniel's Karate Kid ties are what allowed Cobra Kai to travel to Okinawa and introduce important names from The Karate Kid Part II and Part III, including Terry Silver.
Daniel LaRusso Became More Important As Cobra Kai Went On
LaRusso & Lawrence Became Cobra Kai's Co-Protagonists
Cobra Kai's initial Johnny Lawrence vs. Daniel LaRusso dynamic quickly shifted from the show being 'Johnny's story' to a co-op. Daniel's importance to Cobra Kai grew as the series flowed and alternated between Johnny and Daniel as protagonist and antagonist. Cobra Kai never shied from portraying Lawrence and LaRusso's glaring character flaws, but also highlighted their irable and heroic aspects. Johnny and Daniel began grudgingly working together in Cobra Kai season 3, eventually becoming co-senseis in the series' later seasons.
Cobra Kai's Best Karate Kid Movie Guest Stars Were Daniel's 3 Girlfriends
Many familiar faces from The Karate Kid movies returned in Cobra Kai, but the most impactful were Daniel LaRusso's three love interests.
Daniel LaRusso simply had more to offer Cobra Kai thanks to his Karate Kid movie legacy. Cobra Kai created numerous original ing characters for both Daniel and Johnny, but it was because of LaRusso's big-screen franchise that Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto), Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita), Jessica Andrews (Robyn Lively), and Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan), as well as the all-important legacy of Mr. Miyagi (Noryuki "Pat" Morita) became pillars of Cobra Kai. Despite Johnny's personal ties to John Kreese, it can even be argued that Kreese was Daniel's enemy first since Kreese and Terry Silver tried to ruin LaRusso in The Karate Kid Part III.
Cobra Kai Shifting The Focus To Daniel Allowed For Terry Silver To Shine
Terry Silver Had More Dimensions As A Villain Than Kreese
Terry Silver's arrival in Cobra Kai season 4 supplanted John Kreese as the saga's main villain and took the show to another level. For all of Kreese's diabolical abilities, Silver was a heightened super villain. A multimillionaire, Terry had unlimited resources Kreese lacked, and he had a clear motivation, which was the same goal Daniel LaRusso prevented in The Karate Kid Part III: taking over karate in the San Fernando Valley and controlling the hearts, minds, and loyalties of his legion of karate students.
Cobra Kai wisely didn't allow Terry Silver and John Kreese to remain on the same side for very long. The two king snakes turned on each other, with Terry manipulating John into prison to give him total control over Cobra Kai. It's thanks to Terry that Cobra Kai went international, introducing Master Kim Da-Eun (Hannah Alicia-Kim) and Master Kim Sun-Yung (C.S. Lee) from his shared origin with Kreese. Silver was the lynchpin that widened Cobra Kai's scope, moving out of the Valley and becoming international with the Sekai Taikai tournament.
Terry Silver's Return Was One Of Cobra Kai's Best Decisions
Silver Was Cobra Kai's Ultimate, Irredeemable Villain
John Kreese is the most fundamental Cobra Kai villain, but Terry Silver was the saga's most compelling big bad. Cobra Kai's later seasons opened up Kreese's character and gave him more dimensions, revealing that at his core, he does genuinely care about his 'kids': Johnny Lawrence and Tory Nichols. The tragic death of Kwon Jae-Sung (Brandon H. Lee) in Cobra Kai season 6 finally shattered Kreese's armor of evil and set him on a path to make amends for his lifetime of sins.
Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 3 Cast & Character Guide
Cobra Kai season 6, part 3 was the characters' final return to our small screens, and each actor brought an impactful end to the overarching story.
However, unlike Kreese, Terry Silver would prove to be irredeemable. After all, Terry is a man who ran Dyna-Tox, a corporation that gleefully committed environmental crimes to line Silver's pockets. Not even the revelation that Terry is dying of cancer softened his edge. Silver is morally bankrupt and has repeatedly bribed officials in the All Valley and Sekai Taikai tournaments. Some Cobra Kai students, like Tory, found Kreese to be somewhat trustworthy, but Terry Silver never earned anyone's trust or faith.
Terry Silver and John Kreese died together in a boat explosion at the end of Cobra Kai season 6.
Cobra Kai no longer resembled its original, Johnny Lawrence-centric premise in its later seasons. Johnny's story with Miguel, with Daniel LaRusso as Lawrence's foil, was the hook that captured old-school Karate Kid diehards and created a new generation of fans, but tapping into Daniel-san's Karate Kid history and bringing back movie villains like Chozen and MIke Barnes gave Cobra Kai legs. Terry Silver ing Cobra Kai as the uber villain of the show's back half proved to be one of the best decisions in the series' acclaimed run.
Cobra Kai
- Release Date
- 2018 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Netflix, YouTube
- Showrunner
- Jon Hurwitz
Cast
Ralph MacchioDaniel LaRusso
Johnny Lawrence
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, Joel Novoa, Jennifer Celotta, Steven K. Tsuchida, Sherwin Shilati, Marielle Woods, Steve Pink, Lin Oeding, Michael Grossman
- Writers
- Josh Heald, Ashley Darnall, Chris Rafferty, Bill Posley
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