- "We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak! Here, in the streets, in competition. A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy."
- ―John Kreese to his students[src]
Sensei John Kreese is a Vietnam War veteran, former U.S. Army captain and the co-founder (with Terry Silver) of the original karate dojo Cobra Kai. He is now the owner and head Sensei of the new Cobra Kai Dojo. Kreese is deeply disturbed and unhinged, forcing his "no mercy" philosophy of aggression and violence on his students.
Kreese's actions had a ripple effect that resulted in the events of the entire franchise unfolding (aside from maybe the events of The Karate Kid Part II and The Next Karate Kid). As such, Kreese serves as the main antagonist of the original film The Karate Kid, the secondary antagonist of The Karate Kid Part III, and the main antagonist of the second season of the web series Cobra Kai, in addition to arguably being the main antagonist of the whole Karate Kid franchise.
Background
Born in 1941, John Kreese joined the U.S. Army at some point in the past, becoming a commissioned officer. He volunteered for and passed U.S. Army Special Forces selection training, and proceeded to serve in a Green Beret unit during the Vietnam War. He attained the rank of captain, and was the Army's karate champion from 1970 to 1972, as shown on a framed picture of Kreese in uniform, which hung on the wall of his dojo in the first film. During his time in the Army, Kreese befriended a fellow Green Beret, Terry Silver, and saved his life several times in Vietnam. Despite this, Kreese would years later maintain that Silver doesn't owe him anything, though he admits he "lost count" of how many times he saved Silver's life.
Kreese in the Vietnam War (photo likely taken by Terry Silver)
In 1970, Kreese became the U.S. Army’s Karate champion, at which point Silver requested that Kreese train him and Silver began undertaking extensive Karate lessons from Kreese in between combat missions. Kreese, who had studied under Kim Sun-Yung of South Korea, instilled in Silver the creed of “Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy.” The two continued their rigorous workouts and sparring matches throughout the remainder of the war, along with others in their infantry company so that more soldiers could learn the valuable hand-to-hand combat skills. It was this small but elite group of soldiers who became the very first “Cobra Kai” class, and all of them received a distinctive tattoo of a fist clutching a cobra, which was to become the symbol of their brotherhood. After leaving the Army, Kreese opened a karate dojo with the help of Terry Silver, Cobra Kai, training young men in "the way of the fist". According to Martin Kove, Kreese had won at everything his entire life, and in Vietnam, the war was not allowed to be won. After the war, Kreese returned home and vowed that he and his dojo would not lose ever again. Because of this, Kreese created a simple motto for Cobra Kai, summing up his view on fighting and life itself: "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy".
Appearances
The Karate Kid (1984)
In the first film, Kreese is a violent, cruel, brutal man who instructs his students to be merciless towards their enemies and by ordering his students to use illegal strikes at the tournament to disable their opponents. Prior to the start of the semifinals in the all valley tournament he instructs his student Bobby Brown to put his opponent Daniel LaRusso even though Bobby knew he could beat him. In the finals he instructed his best student Johnny Lawrence to sweep Daniel's foot which shocked Johnny.
The Karate Kid Part II (1986)
It becomes clear in The Karate Kid Part II that Kreese is racist toward Asians (judging by when he calls Mr. Miyagi a slope in the movie). In the second film, after his best student, Johnny Lawrence lost to Daniel LaRusso in the All Valley Karate Tournament, Kreese violently proves himself as a sadistic sore loser by breaking Johnny’s second-place trophy (which Johnny seemed fine with winning) and attempting to strangle him with his arms (which is later stopped by Mr. Miyagi in a humorous way). With that, now seeing Kreese for the kind of man he really is, all the students depart from the Cobra Kai dojo.
The Karate Kid Part III (1989)
During the events of the third film, Kreese plots revenge against Daniel and Miyagi for the loss of his dojo and students.
With nowhere to go, Kreese visits his Vietnam War buddy Terry Silver, who had given him the money to start the Cobra Kai dojo.
After listening to Kreese's story, Silver decides to help him out by harassing Daniel and Miyagi and even hiring Mike Barnes to defeat Daniel in the All Valley Tournament. However, Barnes loses to Daniel in sudden death round, so the audience throws the Cobra Kai's shirts at Kreese and Silver in disgust. This causes a humiliated Kreese to throw the shirts back at the audience almost assault them for cheering for Daniel.
The Next Karate Kid
While Kreese is not seen nor mentioned, the main villain Colonel Dugan is very similar to Kreese as he served in the US army, and is a coldhearted an merciless Karate instructor that instruct his student to be vicious and unethical. Kreese however ism't as ruthless as him as Dugan instructed his students to kill one of his student Eric, destroy his car with explosives, and advocated for cruel and unusual punishments, all of which Kreese never did. Kreese instructed the students to destroy the Miyagi-Do Karate dojo in Cobra Kai but that doesn't compare to Dugan instructing his students to destroy Eric's car with explosives.
Since both Kreese and Dugan served in the US army it is very possible that they know each other. However, since it is unknown when Colonel joined the army and both he and Kreese left, it cannot be confirmed whether or not he and Kreese knew each other.
Pre Cobra Kai
After losing Cobra Kai a second time, Kreese attempted to reenlist in the army, only to be turned down as they wanted fresh blood. A war buddy of his offered him a job, only Kreese to turn in down as he felt it was a handout. At some point he began living in a homeless shelter.
Cobra Kai (2018-)
Season 1
Kreese is shown in several flashbacks. When Daniel asks Johnny, who is the new and current owner of the Cobra Kai Dojo why he is bringing Cobra Kai back after what Kreese did to him, Johnny replies that he isn't Kreese, and that the lessons he'd learned from him still worked.
When trying to get the ban lifted on Cobra Kai for the tournament, it is revealed that Cobra Kai got permanently disqualified from the All Valley tournament because of repeated rule breaking from Kreese, Silver and Barnes in the All Valley Tournament during 1985. When the board asks Johnny his relationship with Kreese, he claims that Kreese is dead.
However, in the last scene of the first season of Cobra Kai, Kreese appears in the Cobra Kai dojo much to Johnny's shock, where he congratulates Johnny for bringing Cobra Kai back and reclaiming their champion title. Now, he has a chance to finally get his revenge against Daniel LaRusso for putting the Cobra Kai out of business, this time without Mr. Miyagi to stand in his way.
Season 2
It is revealed that after Cobra Kai shut down, Kreese said that he went back to his old profession as a marine and military instructor in the US army to make a living, and that He participated in Operation: Desert Storm and trained Navy Seals in Afghan. He continued his story to say that after retiring from the military, he becomes disillusioned with the current generation as he sees them as a bunch of feeble show-off and ass kisser. This makes him attempt to join Johnny's Cobra Kai dojo by persuading Johnny to join his cause, only for Johnny to furiously push him away. However, after revealing he fixed Johnny's second place trophy from the All Valley tournament in 1984, Kreese manages to convince Johnny to let him observe his teaching at his Cobra Kai dojo again and is introduced by him to his students. Later, after Miguel tells Johnny that some parts of Kreese's story doesn't make sense as Kreese cannot distinguish of the fact Mogadishu is part of Somalia and Rwanda is a country not a city, Johnny trails Kreese to find that he's actually been living in homeless shelters over the past 10 or so years and had worked various multiple jobs. Kreese revealed that while he did attempt to re-enlist, they didn't accept him as the military needed fresh bloods. One of his old Vietnam buddies (it is unknown whether is Terry Silver or not) offered him a job, but he felt that it was just a hand-out.
Now a sensei at Johnny's Cobra Kai, Kreese uses his position to begin teaching Johnny's students to be more aggressive and to show no restraint in fights. When Johnny leaves the dojo to go spend time with his old high school friends, Kreese secretly makes arrangements with the landlord of the mini-mall Cobra Kai is in to obtain ownership of the dojo, as well as conditioning Johnny's students to be more aggressive in fights in a brutal tracking and hunting game much like how he originally trained the members of Special Forces during his service in Vietnam. After Johnny returns and finds out what Kreese has been teaching his students, he kicks Kreese out of the dojo and gives his students a speech on when to show mercy.
However, after Miguel is severely injured by Robby Keene after showing mercy to him in a fight, a handful of Johnny's students which include Hawk, Tory, Raymond and Mitch leave him and go to Kreese, who has now become the owner of the dojo. When Johnny goes to confront Kreese, his students block him, loyal only to Kreese now. Upon seeing what his dojo has turned into and realizing his grave mistake for trusting Kreese and bringing Cobra Kai back in the first place, Johnny tells Kreese he can have Cobra Kai and storms out.
Season 3
According to the interview with Martin Kove, in season 3 it will explore more about Kreese's past during his time in Vietnam, and how it shaped his point of view as a ruthless sensei. It is also revealed that like Johnny and Daniel, Kreese was also a victim of bullying during his childhood.
Personality
A perfect soldier but a horrible human being, Kreese is a cruel, brutal, stone hearted man who is a strong believer in only the strong survive and that mercy is for the weak.
The Karate Kid
Kreese was a vicious and ruthless teacher that taught his students to be merciless to their opponents. Prior to the start of the semifinals of the All Valley Tournament he showed how low he was willing to stoop when he instructed Bobby Brown to put Daniel out of commission. During the finals he further showed how low he was willing to stoop when he told Johnny Lawrence to sweep Daniel's foot. His actions in the semifinals and final show that he is an evil as unethical teacher that was willing to win at all costs.
Despite being a soldier like Mr. Miyagi, but unlike him, Kreese sees his students are more like soldiers than martial artists, which is the root cause of his unforgiving and ruthless teaching. For him, life is a battlefield and one must fight for its with any means necessary much like a soldier willing to do everything to survive in the battlefield. One can interpret that Kreese cannot let go his view as a soldier when it comes to civilian life.
The Karate Kid Part II
Following Johnny's loss to Daniel in the All Valley Tournament, he berates Johnny and breaks his trophy, showing how much of a sore loser he really is. He then chokes Johnny and hits students Bobby and Tommy when they try to stop him, thus further proving to everyone how cruel and vicious he really is. After being defeated by Mr. Miyagi, Johnny and his own students resign their membership in the dojo, walking away from him in disgust.
The Karate Kid Part III
Nine months after the tournament, Kreese's business reputation has divebombed. In addition to his entire class resigning at the 1984 tournament, Cobra Kai has become a disreputable dojo due to Kreese's violent post-tournament spectacle. He comes in one day to an empty dojo, and listens to two messages on his answering machine, one from Pat Johnson, the referee from the 1984 tournament, who says the deadline for registering Cobra Kai for the 1985 All-Valley Tournament is coming due, and if he fails to enter at least one student, Cobra Kai will be dropped from the rolls. He then hears a message from the phone company, warning that they are terminating his service for nonpayment. Defeated, he goes to see Terry Silver in order to surrender to the keys to the dojo to him, defeatedly admitting he ran the business into the ground. Silver, however, tells him to forget about his financial problems. He says all businesses face slumps, pointing out how his own business, Dynatox, is always in trouble with the law due to their polluting ways. When Kreese tries to get Silver to face reality as he is bankrupt and going nowhere, Silver says no, John is on his way to Tahiti. While recuperating in French Polynesia, Silver amortizes all of Kreese's back debts and buys him the title to several more dojos, making a simultaneous plan to ruin Mr. Miyagi and Daniel for besting Cobra Kai at the last tournament and making Cobra Kai the most proficient karate school in California. Bolstered by Terry Silver's financial clout, Kreese becomes as arrogant as he did prior to the 1984 tournament.
Cobra Kai
Season 1
Kreese is still bitter at Daniel and Miyagi for ruining his business and is still bent on getting his revenge.
Season 2
- "War never ends. Peace is just the lull between battles."
- ―John Kreese to Daniel LaRusso[src]
Kreese shows to be bitter with the current society as he views as weak, feeble and full of show-off rather than real warriors.
At first appears remorseful for the way he treated Johnny. Feeling like Kreese has changed Johnny gives him a second chance. After Kreese reveals to Johnny how much he has gone through since he lost the Dojo Johnny puts more trust in him, while Johnny thinks he can monitor and control the situation with Kreese.
However, halfway into the season it is revealed that Kreese has not changed and is still an evil and corrupt man. He uses his ruthless and no mercy personality, as well as his past war tactics to corrupt several of Johnny's students minds and turn them into ruthless and cold blooded human beings. Under orders Hawk whom he manages to corrupt the most and some other students to trash Daniel's dojo. While Johnny is away hanging out with his Cobra Kai friends Kreese takes this opportunity to corrupt and manipulate Johnny's students even more and betray Johnny by secretly meeting with the landlord and striking a deal with the latter to have him own the Dojo.
He shows up at Daniel's Dojo at once where he threatens him with war between the two dojos. He also continues to emotionally manipulate and flatter Johnny regarding "how he'll make Cobra Kai bigger than ever before" and how Johnny feels about letting Daniel teach his son karate instead of himself. After discovering Kreese's evil scheme, an angry Johnny banishes Kreese from the dojo.
However, by the end of the season he reveals to Johnny that he now owns the dojo. Hawk, Tory, Raymond, Mitch and several other of Johnny's students are now training with Kreese and completely under his evil spell. By this point Kreese has corrupted several of Johnny's students enough to betray Johnny and follow him.
Despite taking over Cobra Kai and corrupting many students, he has not completely corrupted Cobra Kai as Miguel, who is still loyal to Johnny, and other students such as Aisha, were not present when Kreese took over, possibly indicating that others students have opposed Kreese's method.
Fighting Style
- "I'll tell you right now, you don't know who you're messing with. Do you have any idea what I'm capable of? Because if it's a war that you're looking for, you got one."
- ―John Kreese[src]
Captain John Kreese is the former karate champion of the United States army from 1970 to 1972. Kreese, alongside Terry Silver, served during the Vietnam War, and studied under Kim Sun-Yung. Under his tutelage, Johnny Lawrence, Bobby Brown, Jimmy, Dutch, Tommy, Jerry, and Mike Barnes would become skilled martial artists in their own right.
Even as a septuagenarian, Kreese was able to fight against his former pupil Johnny and won when the latter showed mercy.
Trivia
- Kreese can be compared to Star Wars villain Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious.
- Both are the epitome of evil.
- Both are able to put on a persona that they are good and honest.
- Both are vicious people that are able to rise to power through deception and manipulation.
- Kreese's ability to manipulate and deceive his way into becoming the Sensei and owner of Cobra Kai is similar to Palpatine manipulating and deceiving his way into becoming the Supreme Chancellor and later Emperor.
- The moment Kreese takes back Cobra Kai from Johnny mirrors Palpatine executing Order 66 & turning the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.
- Kreese's ability to turn several of Johnny's students against him mirrors Palpatine managing to turn the Clone Commanders and Troopers against their Jedi generals through Order 66.
- The Cobra Kai's students devoted loyalty to Kreese as of the season 2 finale is similar to the Clone later Storm-troopers devoted loyalty to Palpatine.
- Kreese taking control of Cobra Kai is similar to Palpatine taking control of the Galactic Republic and turning it into the Galactic Empire.
- Kreese manipulating Hawk into becoming more corrupt is similar to Palpatine manipulating Anakin into losing faith in the Jedi and eventually turning on the Jedi.
- Kreese instructing Hawk to attack Miyagi-Do is similar to Palpatine instructing Vader into attacking the Jedi Temple.
- Kreese ability to make Hawk his sidekick is similar to Palpatine making Vader his apprentice.
- Kreese's counterpart in the 2010 remake/reboot which is based on the original Karate Kid is Master Li.
- Colonel Dugan in The Next Karate Kid seems very similar to Kreese, though he is more cold and ruthless than Kreese.
- Kreese, like Daniel and Johnny was bullied as a child, which can explain his ruthlessness.
Gallery
