John Kreese

John Kreese
The Karate Kid character
Martin Kove as John Kreese in The Karate Kid
First appearance	The Karate Kid
Created by	Robert Mark Kamen
Portrayed by	Martin Kove Barrett Carnahan (young)
Voiced by	Brent Mukai
In-universe information
Title	Captain Sensei Vietnam War veteran
Occupation	Karate instructor (sensei), Cobra Kai Karate (present) U.S. Army Special Forces Officer (retired) Diner employee (formerly)
Affiliation	Cobra Kai Karate
Fighting style	Tang Soo Do
Family	Mrs. Kreese (mother, deceased by suicide), Mr. Kreese (father)
Significant other	Betsy (deceased)
Nationality	American

John Kreese is a fictional character who appears in The Karate Kid franchise created by Robert Mark Kamen. He serves as the main antagonist in The Karate Kid and the second and third seasons of Cobra Kai, and as the secondary antagonist in The Karate Kid Part III and the fourth season of Cobra Kai. He also appears in the opening scenes of The Karate Kid Part II and the ending scene of the first season finale of Cobra Kai. He is played by Martin Kove in most appearances.

Fictional biography

Kreese was born on October 2, 1946, and worked as a diner employee as a teen. His mother committed suicide during his youth and his father left him, thus he was troubled and picked on by other kids. One day in 1965, when Kreese is working as a busboy at a diner, David, a college football star, his girlfriend Betsy, and another friend of David's show up. After making eye contact with Betsy, Kreese gets chastised by her boyfriend and apologizes. Later, when Kreese is taking out some trash, he witnesses David hitting his girlfriend. Kreese intervenes, causing a brawl to ensue between him, David, and the football player's friend. Betsy begins a romantic relationship with Kreese, who soon enlists in the US Army.

During the Vietnam War in 1968, Kreese and Terry "Twig" Silver get selected by a cruel captain, George Turner, to form a special forces team that conducts direct action missions in North Vietnam. It was then Kreese received instructions from Cpt. Turner on various welfares - including Tang Soo Do, which he surpassed Turner in later. However, during a mission to blow up a North Vietnamese stronghold, Silver's radio crackles loudly, but out of compassion, Kreese refuses to detonate the explosives as they would kill Ponytail, the soldier who planted them. Consequently, every soldier in Kreese's squad gets captured by North Vietnamese soldiers. Captain Turner rebukes Kreese for hesitating, and continues to chastise him even right after the North Vietnamese captors execute Ponytail. The remaining American soldiers are held captive until 1969, when they are forced to participate in one-on-one death matches on top of a cobra and venomous snake pit arena for survival. At one point, Silver is chosen by the Vietnamese to fight Captain Turner. Feeling sorry for Silver, Kreese volunteers himself to fight Turner instead.

Before participating in the match, Turner tries to demoralize Kreese and thus score an easy victory by revealing that Betsy died in a car accident and hid the truth from him to maintain his focus. When the fight begins, the captain, who is well-trained in martial arts, easily knocks Kreese to the floor of the bridge that is suspended over the snake pit. Turner verbally abuses Kreese for his inability to "shed his humanity" and is about to throw him into the pit, but the latter avoids his impending death by stabbing Turner in the leg with a broken piece of bamboo. Kreese kicks Turner off the bridge, but the latter manages to hold on to the edge. After a U.S. airstrike neutralizes the spectating North Vietnamese soldiers, Turner orders Kreese to lift him up, but Kreese finally learns to follow Turner's advice of "kill or be killed" by kicking him off the bridge and causing Turner to fall to his death in the cobra and venomous snake pit. Kreese's experience with Turner earned him Silver's undying loyalty and caused him to become the ruthless and merciless man that he is in the present day.

Kreese goes on to join the Green Berets of the Army Special Forces and earns a field commission. He is discharged from the army at the rank of captain, having held the title of Army Karate Champion from 1970 to 1972.

After his military career, sometime prior to 1979, Kreese returns to the San Fernando Valley and founds the Cobra Kai dojo with Silver's financial backing, to train local kids in Tang Soo Do under the more marketable label of “Karate.”

The Karate Kid

Main articles: The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai

As a sensei, Kreese instructs his students to have no mercy towards their opponents.

In 1984, Kreese's best student, Johnny Lawrence, has a conflict with Daniel LaRusso. In response, Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel karate. When Daniel and Mr. Miyagi go to the Cobra Kai dojo, Mr. Miyagi proposes that Daniel should enter the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships tournament, where he will face the Cobra Kai students and demands that the conflict will cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the idea, but threatens to allow his students to continue their harassment if neither show up at the tournament. At the tournament, Daniel reaches the semi-finals while Johnny advances to the finals after defeating a highly skilled opponent. Kreese instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack on the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, getting disqualified in the process. However, Daniel recovers and ultimately defeats Johnny, becoming the new champion.

The Karate Kid Part II

Main article: The Karate Kid Part II

Shortly after Daniel's victory in the tournament, Kreese attacks Johnny for losing the tournament, but is approached by Mr. Miyagi, who humiliates Kreese by making him punch car windows, leaving the latter with bloody fists. Mr. Miyagi subdues Kreese by honking his nose and the Cobra Kai students eventually abandon him. During Daniel's final battle with Chozen, Daniel remembers how Mr. Miyagi defeated Kreese to save Johnny and honks Chozen's nose to defeat him and save Kumiko.

The Karate Kid Part III

Main article: The Karate Kid Part III

Six months after the tournament, Kreese is now broke and destitute as he returns to the Cobra Kai dojo, which has been closed since Kreese lost all of his students due to his assault against Johnny Lawrence. Desperate to resurrect his career, Kreese visits his Vietnam War comrade, Terry Silver, who has become a wealthy owner of a toxic waste disposal business and offers to help Kreese gain revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi and re-establish Cobra Kai. Silver sends Kreese to Tahiti on vacation to regain while he hires Mike Barnes, the current under-18 national karate tournament champion, to harass Daniel and beat him in the next upcoming tournament. As Silver trains an unknowing Daniel, both of them are at the dojo one night, where Kreese make his way back in the fray with Barnes by his side to attack Daniel. Mr. Miyagi intervenes and escorts Daniel out of the dojo before any further chaos can occur. During the tournament, Daniel defeats Barnes, prompting Silver to leave the arena. This implies that Cobra Kai is finished for good due to Barnes', Kreese's, and Silver's behavior getting the dojo banned from the tournament forever.

Cobra Kai

Main article: Cobra Kai

Kove as Kreese in The Karate Kid Part III (left) and Cobra Kai (right).

Seasons 1 and 2

Though he does not reappear until the season 1 finale, Kreese's actions in the original films are shown to have a profound effect on the main characters. Johnny harbors resentment towards Daniel for beating him in the 1984 tournament due to being assaulted by Kreese as punishment for the loss against Daniel, and also has difficulty signing Cobra Kai up for the 2018 All-Valley tournament because Kreese, Silver, and Barnes's unsportsmanlike conduct during the 1985 tournament got the dojo banned from tournament participation. Johnny is able to successfully convince the committee to lift the ban and allow Cobra Kai to compete again by denying any affiliation with Silver or Barnes and claiming Kreese has died.

When Johnny's reestablished Cobra Kai wins the 2018 All-Valley Karate Championship with Miguel Diaz's victory over Daniel's student and Johnny's estranged son Robby Keene, Kreese returns to the dojo. He ostensibly asks Johnny for forgiveness for attacking him after the 1984 tournament, in which Johnny placed second. He states that after Barnes's loss to Daniel in 1985, he re-enlisted in the Army to train Special Forces soldiers and run strikes during the Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan, though he now feels lost as the world has changed around him. Though Johnny rebuffs him for this apology, Kreese maintains that he never tried to kill Johnny and has repaired his second-place trophy to make amends which cools down the animosity between them; Johnny allows Kreese to attend Cobra Kai classes as an observer. Johnny and Kreese encounter Daniel, who realizes that Kreese has faked his death once again.

As Kreese regales the Cobra Kai students with stories of his military past, Miguel notices inconsistencies in his tales, and voices his concerns to Johnny. Johnny follows Kreese to a homeless shelter, where he admits that he flunked a psychological test when he attempted to re-enlist in the Army, and that his stories about wars after his Vietnam experience were lies. Taking pity on Kreese, Johnny decides to put his full trust in Kreese, believing that he wants to change for the better. However, Kreese abuses his influence, even going so far as to encourage some of them, particularly a vengeful Hawk, to vandalize the Miyagi-Do dojo in retaliation for losing a fight to them. This costs Cobra Kai some its students after Daniel confronts Johnny about the matter in the middle of a class. After seeing the abusive tactics used by his students during a training exercise at Coyote Creek, particularly when Miguel delivers an aggressive beatdown on Hawk over Hawk's vandalism of Miyagi-Do, Johnny discovers that Kreese has been teaching the old ways of Cobra Kai behind his back and expels him from the dojo. However, Kreese has convinced strip-mall landlord Armand Zakarian to sign the dojo over to him while Johnny was visiting his dying friend Tommy and keeps in touch with the students loyal to him behind Johnny's back. After Miguel is severely injured during his fight with Johnny's son Robby Keene at the end of the school brawl, most of the Cobra Kai students lose faith in Johnny, while Kreese makes his move and takes complete ownership of the dojo. Now as its sole sensei, Kreese schemes to return Cobra Kai to the merciless organization it once was, using the remnants of Johnny's most disaffected students as his core.

Season 3

Younger John Kreese as portrayed by Barrett Carnahan in Cobra Kai

Kreese suffers the least fallout in the aftermath of the school karate war, only losing a couple students, including Tory after being placed on probation for instigating the high school brawl. Needing to bolster his ranks with Miyagi-Do, Kreese convinces Tory to return to the dojo by offering free tuition and intimidating her seedy and unscrupulous landlord. His management of Cobra Kai sows seeds of division within his students’ ranks, most notably with Hawk, who disapproves of Kreese's recruitment of Kyler and Brucks (who used to bully him) and Robby Keene. Kreese proceeds to expel a group of students who objected to feeding a live hamster to a snake. Most of the expelled students get recruited by Miguel into Johnny's new dojo Eagle Fang, Hawk's loyalty to Cobra Kai is put to question, while Kreese views Tory and Robby as his star pupils.

Kreese's machinations land him squarely in the sights of the LaRussos and Johnny. When Demetri's right arm is broken by Hawk in a fight with the Miyagi-Dos, a furious Amanda storms into the dojo and slaps Kreese, who retaliates by issuing a restraining order against her. Amanda and Daniel convince Armand to evict Kreese despite consistently paying his rent on time, but Kreese beats up Armand and his nephews when they confront him. As revenge, Kreese plants a live cobra in a car on the showroom floor of the LaRusso dealership. During a town hall meeting to discuss whether or not to let the All Valley tournament continue, Kreese manages to ingratiate himself to the council members by claiming to promote strength and discipline through karate, all while painting Miyagi-Do as the aggressors, a position that is backed up by the vocal protests of Amanda, Daniel and Johnny. Due to the outburst, the council are inclined to cancel the tournament, though reconsider after Miguel gives the assembled audience an impromptu speech advocating for the tournament, with the help of Daniel's daughter Samantha.

Noticing the visible connection between Miguel and Sam, Kreese realizes they are likely to create an alliance between their dojos and decides to take action. He exploits Tory's vendetta against Sam to get her to lead the Cobra Kais in a fight against the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students at the LaRusso home. The attack fails, as Hawk defects to the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students midway through the fight, and all of the Cobra Kai fighters are defeated. When Johnny finds out what happened, he storms into Cobra Kai to confront Kreese, and is horrified when he finds Kreese training Robby. Johnny viciously beats Kreese and at one point grabs a sai, but is interrupted when Robby intervenes. Refusing to fight, Johnny accidentally knocks Robby out by pushing him into a locker while evading his attacks and trying to reason with him to no avail. While Johnny is concerned with his son's well-being, Kreese uses it as the opportunity to strangle him.

Before Kreese can finish Johnny off, Daniel arrives, and has an even match with him. Even with Kreese using glass shards as an improvised weapon, Daniel immobilizes Kreese using the pressure point techniques that Chozen taught him in Okinawa. Sam and Miguel arrive just as Daniel is about to deliver the finishing blow with Johnny's approval, convincing them to spare Kreese. Kreese agrees to cease hostilities with Daniel and Johnny and settle their differences at the upcoming All-Valley tournament, with a vow to shut down Cobra Kai if he loses. He retreats into the battered dojo with Robby, and calls up Silver to enlist his help to prepare his students to take on Daniel and Johnny's students.

Season 4

Kreese continues to lead Cobra Kai with the help of Silver. Cobra Kai ultimately wins the tournament, in part due to Silver secretly bribing the referee to favor them. During the final match between Tory and Sam, when Silver encourages Tory to cheat to win, Kreese remembers strangling Johnny after he lost to Daniel and encourages Tory to fight her own way instead, much to Silver's surprise. After winning the tournament, Silver announces his intention to turn Cobra Kai into a franchise.

Celebrating, Silver thanks Kreese for pulling him out of retirement and accuses him of caring about Johnny, calling Johnny the one weakness that Kreese has. With the help of Stingray, Silver frames Kreese for a near-fatal attack by Silver on his former student and Kreese is arrested for aggravated assault and attempted murder, opening the way for Silver to take full control of Cobra Kai. Silver tauntingly tells Kreese that he's sure that he can dig up an old friend or two to help out with Cobra Kai while Kreese deals with his legal problems. Declaring that "I am Cobra Kai," Kreese vows to make his former friend regret this betrayal. Smirking at Kreese as he's dragged away, Silver promises to take good care of Johnny too.

Commentary

The character was based on Robert Mark Kamen's friend Ed McGrath. Martin Kove got the role by being verbally abusive towards director John G. Avildsen. An often recited rumor is that the character of John Kreese was originally written for Chuck Norris, but he turned down the role because he thought it would give karate a negative image. Norris has disputed this rumor, but said if he had been offered the role, he would have turned it down for similar reasons.

The character has had a mostly positive reception from critics and is viewed as a quintessential 1980s villain.

Kove appeared as Kreese in at least three instances outside the main Karate Kid franchise. In 2011, Kove played Kreese on the Tosh.0 episode “Board Breaker.” He also appeared in an episode of The Goldbergs entitled “The Kara-te Kid” playing a character named Master John, named after Kreese. While he never actually states his name as Kreese, he also appears in Intuit Quickbooks commercials spoofing the character, stating that when he started Cobra Kai he had a lack of control over his business that made him intense which improved after he started using the program. He is seen promoting "more mercy", and telling students to 'support the leg'.