Axel Kovačević is a supporting character in Season 6 of the Netflix series Cobra Kai. He is portrayed by Patrick Luwis.
He participates alongside Zara Malik as the male captain in the Sekai Taikai.
Biography[]
Not much is known about Axel, other than the fact that he joined the Iron Dragons sometime ago, and participates in the Sekai Taikai tournament along with the other competing dojos. He is trained by none other than Sensei Wolf and fights alongside his female partner and co-captain Zara Malik. Based on the way that he fights his opponents, it is clear that he has been training his whole life and proves to be a nearly unstoppable opponent in the tournament. Due to Sensei Wolf's harsh and abusive training methods, Axel has grown to be a very powerful fighter that can defeat every opponent that he encounters with little effort. There is no indication where Axel comes from; however, he seemingly comes from Germany, considering his first name. He also has Croatian origins with his last name.
Cobra Kai[]
Season 6[]
Axel is part of the Iron Dragons dojo led by Sensei Wolf, where they compete in the Sekai Taikai tournament and try to come out as the most powerful dojo in the world. He is revealed alongside his partner, Zara Malik, after four other students of that dojo feign an attempt to fight three fighters of the Cobra Kai dojo students, where he manages to take down Cobra Kai students Kwon and Yoon effortlessly despite being outnumbered two to one.
Later – unknowingly witnessed by Sam– he gets hit in the back of the head by Sensei Wolf after making a mistake. After he makes the mistake again, Wolf hits him multiple times, angrily berating Axel, causing Sam to walk away in disgust. Sensei Wolf then harshly reprimands him to focus.
During the first elimination round, he and Zara easily defeat and clear the dojo West End Warriors. When the last fighter comes in, he holds him and Zara kicks him off, allowing the Iron Dragons to advance. He then embraces the crowd, causing Demetri and Hawk to comment on his physique.
At the beach while training alone, he meets Samantha LaRusso and ends up falling for her, against the rules of talking to other competitors. They form a close relationship with each other after Sam notices scars on Axel's back and ends up meeting on the beach after the participants in the Sekai Taikai tournament leave to blow off some steam. Axel walks Sam back to her hotel, only to be stopped by Kwon and his friends, where they both defeat them. After escaping to the beach, he attempts to kiss her until Sam reminds him that she is in a relationship with Miguel, causing an embarrassed Axel to walk off.
When facing Robby in the semi-finals, he takes a 5-0 lead with his superior defense and offense. However, their fight would come to a standstill when Kwon landed a cheap shot on Robby who was knocked out of the circle. The match came to a halt when the disqualified Tiger Strike led by Sensei Ivanov instigated a huge brawl to break out, with every dojo fighting each other. Axel gains the upper hand on Miguel fairly easily. Later, he attacks Kwon after seeing Sam struggle with him and pushes him against a camera. Kwon then grabs Kreese's eunjangdo and attempts to stab him. However, Axel manages to defeat Kwon by kicking his foot, leading to Kwon falling on the knife, which fatally stabs him to the point that he dies, ultimately putting the brawl to a stop.
Fighting Style[]
Axel is not only one of the strongest opponents seen in the series but also one of the most dangerous as well. Axel showcases an impressive fighting style characterized by brute strength and exceptional martial arts skills. Trained by Sensei Wolf at the Iron Dragons dojo, he excels in both offense and defense. During the Sekai Taikai tournament, he demonstrates his ability to seamlessly evade attacks and capitalize on openings, as seen when he effortlessly dodges strikes from Kwon and Yoon before taking them down. He was also able to block strikes from Robby, countering with a blow to his face hitting him so hard, that he started bleeding and also leaving a scar on his face in the process.
His resilience stands out; he barely flinches from powerful kicks, highlighting his toughness. In his semi-final match against Robby, Axel counters strikes with ease, quickly building a lead. His dominance is further evident during a brawl where he outmatches both Miguel and Kwon, showcasing his ability to handle multiple opponents.
Axel's size, combined with his extensive training, makes him a formidable presence on the mat—one that instills both fear and respect in his opponents.
Despite this, Axel seems to have flaws with protecting his left side. Wolf scorns and abuses him even after scoffing at what he thinks he did wrong as Axel fails twice to keep his guard up on his left side.
This proves that Axel is above all of the teenage fighters in the show such as Miguel Diaz, Robby Keene, Hawk, Shawn Payne, Kwon Jae-Sung, Yoon Do-Jin, Demetri Alexopoulos, Kenny Payne, Diego Aguilar, Maria Alvarez, Kyler Park, Chris, Anthony LaRusso, Mitch, Bert, Nathaniel, Tory Nichols, Samantha LaRusso, Xander Stone, Devon Lee, Aisha Robinson and Zara Malik,
Axel is one of the greatest teenage fighters in the show's history. However the only people that are stronger than him are Sensei Wolf, Master Kim Sun-Yung, and Mr. Miyagi.
Personality[]
Despite showing some arrogance, he is shown to contain a calm and intimidating personality that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone who stands in his way. While he is just as disciplined as Zara, if not more so, he is also low-key; as seen when Axel prefers training by himself on the beach, while Zara spends the night socializing at a bar. He does not show that much emotion when fighting his opponents, but prefers to reveal his battle cry at the end of fighting his opponents when he wins.
However, he is shown to be extremely jealous of Miguel after learning that Sam is dating him. He's prone to glare at Miguel and then bump into him, which leaves Miguel confused until Sam told him what happened. As such, Miguel can see that Axel wasn't able to let go and move on. This is likely because Axel has never been allowed to have feelings for others or even have any fun due to Sensei Wolf's harsh/abusive training towards him. So when he developed a crush on Sam, this was something he’d never experienced before, and didn’t want to lose it. This also caused Axel to become extremely protective of Sam. He becomes angered when Kwon and Yoon antagonize and mock Sam in the alleyway, and becomes enraged when Kwon kicks Sam during the dojo brawl.
Axel can be compared to a robot who follows orders to the end and does not feel anything in the process. This is why Demetri compared him to the Winter Soldier and Frankenstein Referrence. Similar to Yoon Do-Jin, Axel has never been able to think for himself. But unlike Yoon, Axel doesn’t suffer from predictability. This caused some conflicting feelings for Axel when he accidentally more or less killed Kwon, as he had likely never taken a life before then.
Trivia[]
- Axel has a personality comparable to the character Ivan Drago from the Rocky franchise.
- Axel is the second known participant in the Sekai Taikai to kill an opponent albeit by accident, although it could also be considered self-defense as Kwon was trying to murder Axel at the time while the latter is probably unaware of the eunjangdo in his right hand.
- Given his personality type and role in the show, Axel cannot really been seen as a protagonist or an antagonist.
