John Kreese
John Kreese is a male film character who features in The Karate Kid.
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Biography
Karate Kid
John Kreese was a male human who was born in the modern age on Earth.
In his youth, it was shown that he was bullied by others whilst working at a diner.
He and Silver were noted to had trained under Kim San Jang of South Korea.
In 1984, Kreese was first seen teaching his students, which includes Johnny Lawrence and the latter's gang at Cobra Kai when Daniel LaRusso walks in the dojo. The morning after Mr. Miyagi beats up Johnny and his gang for harassing Daniel, Miyagi and Daniel walk into Cobra Kai, where Kreese is instructing his students to be merciless to their opponents. When Kreese notices Johnny staring somewhere else, he asks Johnny what his problem is, to which Johnny points to Daniel and Miyagi. Kreese and Johnny go to Miyagi and Kreese tells Miyagi he heard about Miyagi jumping his students. Miyagi tries to make peace with Kreese and convince him to have his students leave Daniel alone, but Kreese isn't having it and wants to settle this. Miyagi decides to settle this by having Daniel compete against the Cobra Kai in the All Valley Karate Tournament, which Kreese gladly accepts. Miyagi then requests Kreese to tell his students to leave Daniel alone until the tournament, which Kreese obliges to. Kreese then threatens to hurt Miyagi and Daniel if they do not show up for the tournament. Kreese and his students are present at the All valley tournament. Prior to the start of the semifinals, Kreese shows how cruel and unethical he is by instructing his second best student Bobby Brown to put Daniel out of commission, even though Bobby insisted he could beat him. When Johnny is down 0–2 against Daniel in the finals, Kreese once again, shows how unethical he is by instructing Johnny to sweep Daniel's leg, shocking Johnny. Kreese then tells him to show no mercy. Johnny reluctantly follows through with Kreese's instructions out of fear, but ultimately loses to Daniel.
Following Johnny's loss to Daniel in the All Valley Karate Tournament, Kreese violently shows up when he looks upon Miyagi and Daniel before he proceeds to Johnny and his gang. Kreese berates Johnny for losing and tells him he's off the team. Johnny argues with Kreese and says he did his best and calls him a loser, causing Kreese to break his second-place trophy. Johnny yelled that Kreese is sick, and Kreese attempted to strangle him by putting Johnny in a chokehold. When Bobby and Tommy attempted to stop him, Kreese hit them both. Miyagi intervened and instructed Kreese to let Johnny go, but Kreese threatened Miyagi and called him a racial slur. An angry Miyagi pulled Kreese off Johnny. Kreese attacked Miyagi who dodged the strikes. Kreese punched two car windows and damaged his hands. Miyagi was ready to deliver a blow to Kreese, only for him to tweak his nose and render him unconscious. Kreese's students, now finally seeing who their sensei really is, abandoned the lot and the dojo.
It was claimed that Kreese had later died of cardiac arrest with Terry Silver stating that he arrived back too late to help his friend.
Cobra Kai
He later went to the landlord that owned the Cobra Kai Dojo land where he spoke to the man. Kreese saw that the man hated Johnny Lawrence and that the entire basis of the ownership of the building was done by a handshake deal. John managed to convince the man to transfer ownership of the dojo to himself. At this time, the students of the dojo were angry as one of their own namely Miguel Torres was in the hospital after showing Robby Lawrence mercy who then knocked the Cobra Kai student over the stairs that caused his back to be broken in the process. Thus, Kreese managed to highlight that his approach of 'no mercy' was the correct one with them rallying under him. In the night, Johnny Lawrence arrived at his dojo but found it to be active. After seeing Kreese's return, he attempted to force his former sensei out of the dojo but the Cobra Kai students rallied under him and agreed with his approach. In anger, Sensei Lawrence decided to leave and that Kreese could keep the dojo as well as its students.
Three weeks later, he conducted a purge of the dojo's ranks where he removed any person that showed any traits such as empathy. He stated that this was to strength Cobra Kai's core and to allow only the strongest to remain. It was then that he intended to seek out further students for Cobra Kai. He was also on the lookout for a new champion to replace the fallen Miguel after his injury. Kreese also decided to make efforts in bringing back Tori Nichols to the dojo who could not return to her training due to struggling to pay rent for her place. This was until John Kreese intervened in the matter and came to an arrangement with the landlord thus ensuring Nichols could stay at Cobra Kai.
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that karate was his life.
He stated that concepts such as honour and mercy did not work in the world. Kreese said that the real world was not a tournament but a state of constant war. Any peace in-between this time was just the lull between the fighting.
During his youth, he stated that his mother suffered from a sickness but one not of the body. At the time, he said that he did not understand it until years later.
John Kreese was raised by a single, yet mentally unstable, mother. His mother killed herself when John was a teenager, which subjected him to tormenting and bullying in his teen years. He was labelled a freak and an outcast. He hardened to the cruel and unfair circumstances of his life, but still kept hope for the future. He joined the military in search of a second chance; a chance to serve his country and do something honorable with the small life he had been given. He fell in love with a woman, was hopeful for the future, yet kept himself guarded during his time in Vietnam. Kreese was taught martial arts and a merciless mentality was drilled into him at every opportunity. Kreese's outlook on the world shifted when he and his unit were kidnapped in Vietnam and subjected to torture at the hands of their captors. They were forced to fight one another to the death, watch their comrades die, and then repeat the vicious cycle. Kreese had empathy for a frightened soldier named Terry Silver and took his place in the fight against Captain Turner. Turner exploited the vulnerable situation to tell Kreese of Betsy's death, news which devastated Kreese and nearly broke him. During the fight against Turner, Kreese had the upper-hand but also a chance to save Turner's life as American allies had arrived to rescue the captives. Kreese chose to kick Turner to his death, declaring that they show no mercy.
Powers and abilities
Before joining the military, John Kreese honed his fighting skills by standing up to bullies, notably incapacitating David and his friends after witnessing David's abuse of his girlfriend, Betsy, despite being outnumbered. Upon enlisting, Kreese's combat abilities significantly improved through training in Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art akin to Taekwondo and Karate, under Captain George Turner, who had trained with master Kim Sun-Yung of Korea. This training equipped Kreese with a comprehensive arsenal of techniques, including various punches, strikes, stances, blocks, and powerful kicking techniques, particularly the roundhouse kick, in which he excelled. He was regarded as the number one student of the Cobra Kai school.
Kreese's combat experience was further solidified during a brutal encounter in Vietnam, where he initially found himself overpowered by Turner while they were forced to fight for their lives against North Korean captors. However, he ultimately regained control of the situation by stabbing Turner with a bamboo stick, leading to his captain's defeat and death. Kreese's skill earned him the title of karate champion of the United States Army from 1970 to 1972, after which he continued to refine his abilities under Master Kim and alongside Terry Silver.
As a mentor, Kreese trained students like Johnny Lawrence, Bobby Brown, Jimmy, Dutch, and Tommy, instilling in them the principles of "no mercy." This approach has made him a symbol of ruthlessness, willing to employ any tactic—however underhanded—to win. Despite his all-around fighting proficiency, including solid defenses and effective counters, age has diminished some of his capabilities; his former student Johnny Lawrence, once easily dominated by Kreese, is now able to hold his own in combat.
Kreese's skills, while formidable, have not matched the level of Mr. Miyagi, who was an equal to Master Kim and bested Kreese on two occasions. Even in his seventies, Kreese has demonstrated his strength by subduing opponents, including defeating Tory's landlord and a group of inmates, as well as knocking out two police officers with minimal effort.
Notes
- John Kreese was created by Robert Mark Kamen where he was portrayed by actor Martin Kove in the setting of the Karate Kid universe.
In other media
Comics
Appearances
- The Karate Kid:
- Cobra Kai:
External Links
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