Karate Kid: Legends Wastes A Perfect Opportunity To Link To Cobra Kai - SlashFilm (2025)

Sony Pictures

This post contains spoilers for "Karate Kid: Legends."

"Karate Kid: Legends" is a film struggling to settle how closely it wants to tie itself to the franchise. With every nostalgic nod that's waxed on, another easy chance to do a better one is waxed off, cutting off avenues to connect to both the original movies and also to the now hugely popular (albeit occasionally absurd) spin-off series, "Cobra Kai." One of the most apparent and nearly perfect opportunities to bridge the aforementioned gap comes in the film's third act. Following the tradition of the titular Karate Kid (in this case, Li Fong played by Ben Wang), requiring a winning move to defeat his opponent, both Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) suggest altering an attack that Li's older brother tried to teach him before his untimely death.

The Dragon Kick, as Li refers to it, is a difficult maneuver to master and one that his opponent, Connor Day (Aramis Knight), has already successfully countered during their first battle. It's here that Daniel suggests Li use this to his advantage and "trap the tiger" he's facing by going lower than before, when the time is right, to knock him off balance. In other words, Li needs to sweep the leg, which is advice ingrained into "Karate Kid" and "Cobra Kai" lore. Imagine then, failing to even give a wink to the audience that history is not only repeating itself but Daniel is missing a perfect chance to give the advice when you consider how things were wrapped up in the "Cobra Kai" finale.

Netflix

When Li finally has his eureka moment and nails his winning move that he's set to use on his opponent, Daniel even tells him that it's a leg sweep, but doesn't connect the dots that he's simply reapplying a fairly recent discovery thanks to the aftermath of "Cobra Kai." It might've taken six seasons, but "Cobra Kai" concluded with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel taking wisdom from one another and that meant the original titular hero took a page out of his former enemy's training manual and embraced some of Johnny's methods alongside those he learned fromMr. Miyagi.

Keeping that in mind, it feels like a huge miss for Daniel to overlook or even address that karate helped change his way of life and his view of people, or that there are as many new teachings to be learned from opponents who could become allies as there are from mentors that have long since passed. It's not like this film is set in some alternate universe, either. Its ending fortifies that this is the Daniel LaRusso from "Cobra Kai," thanks to Johnny making an appearance, and highlights how, if anything, there's more reason for Lawrence to have headed to New York than LaRusso. Perhaps if a follow-up to "Karate Kid: Legends" ever comes around, Mr. Han, Johnny Lawrence, and the legendary Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) could be a triple-threat to teach some all-new lessons and not overlook one that was so crucial in the "Karate Kid" timeline.