The Karate Kidmovies ranked can be tough to narrow down as the franchise spans six films, including sequels and a remake. The Karate Kid introduced Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his karate sensei/best friend Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita). 1986's The Karate Kid Part II and 1989's The Karate Kid Part III soon followed, and Morita then headlined 1994's The Next Karate Kid alongside a new co-star, Hilary Swank, who played Julie Pierce, Mr. Miyagi's second student. 16 years later, The Karate Kid brand was resurrected for a 2010 remake that starred Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. 5h1v5f

Robby’s ending in Cobra Kai didn’t exactly sit right with me the first time I watched it - or at least it did, until I rewatched The Karate Kid again. After everything he’d been through across 6 emotionally turbulent seasons, it felt like the show shortchanged him when he lost to Axel at the Sekai Taikai. He’d been a central figure since the very beginning, constantly caught between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso’s opposing ideologies. After all the internal conflict, moral growth, and high-stakes fights, I expected a definitive moment of triumph. However, Robby’s final chapter didn’t deliver that clear-cut victory - at least, not in the way fans have come to expect from a series built on dojo rivalries and tournament showdowns.

1984's The Karate Kid went on to eventually serve as the primary catalyst for Cobra Kai's creation in 2018, but it took until the sequel show's final season for the franchise to it something it had long ignored about the original movie's finale. The characters in Cobra Kai consisted of new and old faces, so the show quite often referenced the movies to inform the larger narrative while also introducing original storylines. Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his loss to Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso in the 1984 movie haunted Cobra Kai throughout, but it was finally resolved near the end.

A popular theory regarding The Karate Kid postulates that Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is the real villain of the film, and that Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is actually the good guy in the story. In The Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio plays Daniel, a boy who moves to Los Angeles with his mother and enrolls in a school where he makes new friends — and new enemies. He grows infatuated with popular high school student Ally Mills (Elizabeth Shue) and becomes the target of her jealous ex-boyfriend, Johnny, and his gang of bullies.

Daniel LaRusso's Karate Kid learning at the hands of Mr. Miyagi is perhaps one of the most iconic aspects the movie thanks to the unconventional training methods of the sensei. Mr. Miyagi was always a wise and inspiring presence in The Karate Kid franchise, sticking with Daniel through many trials and tribulations. This presence has even continued after Miyagi's death, as seen in the story of Cobra Kai season 6, the final installment of the spin-off TV series from The Karate Kid.

Originating in China at the very beginning of the 20th century, martial arts action movies have been a revered and often emulated genre since their inception all those years ago. With some of the earliest fight scenes filmed in black and white in complete silence, the art form has made its way into the cultural zeitgeist over many years. While already hugely popular in Asia, many early films were dubbed and shown in the West, gaining legions of devoted fans along the way.

Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 6, Part 2

Cobra Kai season 6 left a lot of questions unanswered when it unearthed Mr. Miyagi's box of secrets, but I think I have a good idea of where all this is headed. In its first batch of episodes, Cobra Kai created a new headache for Daniel LaRusso when it revealed that he didn't know Mr. Miyagi as well as he thought. Supposedly, Mr. Miyagi was involved in an assault and robbery in 1947, thus muddying the image The Karate Kid movies created for him all those years ago.

Following the success of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, one of the biggest trends of the 1980s became underdog sports stories, with one of the more iconic being The Karate Kid. Helmed by original Rocky director John G. Avildsen, the 1984 teen drama not only became one of the biggest hits of its year, but also spawned a franchise that is still going to this day, including two direct sequels and the Netflix TV show Cobra Kai, which has served as a legacy sequel to the original movies.

Tommy, one of the original of Cobra Kai, died in season 2 — shortly before the death of actor Rob Garrison, who played him, in 2019. In 1984's The Karate Kid, Tommy was one of Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) loyal Cobra Kai gang. They were all students of Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) and practiced Cobra Kai's aggressive "no mercy" brand of karate. Tommy and the rest of the Cobra Kai gladly intimidated and beat up Daniel — until a truce so that LaRusso could train to compete at the 1984 All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament.