Karate Kid: Legends Must Avoid A Tiresome Karate Kid Trope That Not Even Cobra Kai Could Escape
After Cobra Kai continued a tiresome franchise trend, Karate Kid: Legends will be looking to break new ground. The Karate Kid reboot is incredibly exciting for several reasons, most notably the film's main characters. Karate Kid: Legends' cast will unite Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan as two pillars of the live-action franchise come together to tell a new story in the universe after the ending of Cobra Kai in February 2025.
If the trailer for Karate Kid: Legends was anything to go by, it seems as though the upcoming movie will be very different from what has come before it. Gone is the self-aware, referential humor of the Cobra Kai TV show, instead replaced by a grounded, admittedly mature tone. The timeline of Karate Kid: Legends will remove it from Cobra Kai's overall story for the most part, but as a part of the same franchise, both will likely share several trends. However, Karate Kid: Legends should buck one trend specifically if it is to truly provide something new to the franchise after 41 years.
Karate Kid: Legends Should Not End With A Tournament
Tournaments Have Become Too Common In The Franchise
The trend in question is ending the story with a tournament. Since the earliest days of the franchise, tournaments have been used as conclusions to various stories. Be it 1984's The Karate Kid, 2010's The Karate Kid, or several seasons of Cobra Kai, tournaments have proven a quick and effective way to showcase the martial arts journey of various main characters, all while providing a natural narrative climax.
Despite this, Karate Kid: Legends should not end with a tournament. The tone conveyed by the film's first trailer implied that it was going to be something different in comparison to the other projects in the franchise, and removing a tournament subplot would capitalize on this. Although some shots from Karate Kid: Legends' trailer seem to show a tournament-like setting, this could be used as an introduction to Ben Wang's character early in the movie, marking a big difference from how other stories have used such a format.
Only Two Karate Kid Movies Didn’t Have A Third-Act Tournament
As alluded to, Karate Kid: Legends foregoing a tournament would be a great way to further differentiate it from other installments in the series. As of 2025, only two Karate Kid movies - and three seasons of Cobra Kai's six - have not featured a tournament. These movies were The Karate Kid Part II and The Next Karate Kid. The former featured Daniel fighting Chozen for the honor of his new friend, Kumiko, on the island of Okinawa while The Next Karate Kid's climax takes place at the docks in Boston.
Where Cobra Kai is concerned, season 2 ended with a brawl in a high school, with season 3 culminating with a fight in Daniel LaRusso's house and the titular dojo. Cobra Kai season 5 ended with a similar brawl in the dojo, with only seasons 1, 4, and 6 utilizing a tournament. Evidently, Karate Kid: Legends would break the mold by ending without a tournament, providing a different, less tiring conclusion to an installment of the long-running franchise.
Karate Kid: Legends
- Release Date
- May 30, 2025
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Director
- Jonathan Entwistle
- Writers
- Rob Lieber, Robert Mark Kamen, Christopher Murphey
Cast
Ben WangLi Fong
Mr. Han
Karate Kid: Legends is a sequel to Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid directed by Jonathan Entwistle. The film sees Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan reprising their roles, continuing the legacy of martial arts mentorship and rivalry in a new era of challenges and apprentices.
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