It's easy to assume that the best fight in most martial arts movies is the climactic final battle, but henchman characters can sometimes put up better fights than the lead villains they serve. In many cases, martial arts villains are better than the hero, adding a layer of underdog excitement to the narrative. However, in a few notable instances, the minion or henchman character that serves as a buffer between the protagonist and the final fight can be more memorable and even straight-up cooler than the central antagonist.
Henchman characters in martial arts movies often get more leeway to have more unique techniques, weaponry, or even personalities that don't have to worry about being the driving force behind the conflict. This often results in a minion or thug that puts up a more memorable fight than the overarching bad guy. This is the case in some of the most important martial arts movies of all time, demonstrating the genre's unique sensibility for exciting "miniboss" characters.
10 The Three Storms
Big Trouble in Little China
Big Trouble in LIttle China is a bizarre movie in many respects, including its villains. While the immortal sorcerer Lo-Pan is the powerful villain driving the film's events, Jack Burton and Wang-Chi have to endure all manner of strange dangers to get to him, including literal monsters and shaggy-haired wild men. But by far the coolest and most dangerous of Lo-Pan's coterie of bad guys are the Three Storms trio, consisting of Thunder, Rain, and Lightning.
From the moment they first appear, the Three Storms make it clear that they're no ordinary Kung-Fu fighters. Wielding the mystical powers of their namesakes, the Three Storms slaughter entire societies of warriors, making for some of the most exciting and intense action sequences in the film. Famously inspiring Raiding of Mortal Kombat fame, the coursing electricity, iconic farmer hats, and over-the-top deaths of these villains make for some iconic martial arts movie bad guys.
9 Gogo Yubari
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Quentin Tarantino's grisly martial arts movie love letter duology was populated with some colorful villains, particularly the varied of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Each of the Vipers The Bride systematically picks off one by one, each has their own unique appeal as an assassin, but one of the Kill Bill series' best villains wasn't a Deadly Viper at all. Enter Gogo Yubari, the top lieutenant of O-ren Ishii and her most bloodthirsty underling, betrayed by her innocent school-girl appearance.
Wielding her meteor hammer with impressive dexterity, Gogo gives The Bride more trouble than an entire room of Crazy 88 gang , beating her within an inch of her life. The Bride is only able to come out on top against Gogo thanks to some quick thinking and improvised weaponry, easily being a goner against the homicidal 17-year-old under different circumstances. Putting up a better fight than her own boss, Gogo seems to be capable of outclassing most of Tarantino's other characters in a tear-down melee duel.
8 Thug #1
Wheels on Meals
In some rare instances, martial arts henchmen that are minor enough to not even be given a name can still steal the show. The best example of this happening is in Jackie Chan's star vehicle Wheels on Meals, a martial arts action-comedy that sees Chan's character going up against a variety of criminal foes. Played by Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, this unnamed minion gives Chan's character a near-insurmountable challenge towards the end of Wheels on Meals.
In their brawl amid the fancy dining room of a high-class manor, Chan and Urquidez give the performance of a lifetime, with Urquidez's real-life skill as a kickboxer being easily evident even in the fictional action. Thundering mere millimeters past Chan's head with kicks powerful enough to extinguish candles, Urquidez's thug far outshines Wheels on Meals' forgettable main villain without saying a single word. Despite not having a name, this lowly henchman is behind one of the best fights of Jackie Chan's career.
7 Mad Dog
The Raid
The movie that put Southeast Asian martial arts movies on the map, The Raid is a daring and brutally violent action slog filled with many memorable combatants. Among all of them, however, none stands out as much as the right-hand man of criminal mastermind villain Tama, known simply as Mad Dog. Played by one of the most ferocious rising stars of 2010s martial arts movies, Yayan Ruhian, Mad Dog is Tama's primary muscle, giving the Indonesian Police Force heroes their deadliest challenge.
Mad Dog shows up multiple times throughout The Raid, quickly gaining a reputation of infamy among the film's heroes. First fighting Sergeant Jaka, Mad Dog later ends up taking on both Rama and Andi at the same time, holding his own in a lopsided deathmatch with brilliant fight choreography. With his signature Pencak Silat fighting style, Yayan Ruhian put himself on the map with his performance as Mad Dog in The Raid, and deservedly so.
6 Hammer Girl
The Raid 2
It's not just the first entry in The Raid series that features some effortlessly cool side villains. The Raid 2 introduced a whole new swath of deadly assassins for Rama and Eka to contend with, many of them being simply named by descriptors matching their weapon of choice. The most memorable of them is easily Hammer Girl, a female killer with a fondness for brutal kills with her tool of the trade.
Working in tandem with her brother, Baseball Bat Man, there's a lot to appreciate about Hammer Girl as a mysterious assassin, a mute and deaf woman who wields a pair of claw hammers with bone-crunching efficacy by way of Tiger-Style Silat. The reveal of her missing eye once her shades finally come off is a gripping moment that even further fans the flames of the character's aura. Never mind the fact that Hammer Girl is the driving force between some of the best fight scenes in The Raid series, particularly the train battle.
5 The Hitman
Who Am I?
Following his fight with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Jackie Chan made something of a habit of giving the best fights in his movies to unknown actors playing nameless thugs. Next up in this tradition was Who Am I?, which marked the movie debut of Dutch martial artist and actor Ron Smoorenburg, who appears an unnamed henchman of Ron Smerczak's CIA agent villain. Smoorenburg and Jackie Chan face off in the film in a breathtaking rooftop battle that shows off what both men are capable of.
As a taekwondo-wielding hitman, Smoorenburg unleashes some jaw-dropping kicks on Jackie Chan, who has to put in his all in order to keep up. Smoorenburg's record as the holder of the world's highest kick at 11 feet tall is put to good use in this fight scene, twisting his character into unbelievable shapes just to land a hit. Of course, in typical Jackie Chan fashion, the fight also includes a humorous beat in which both characters take a break to wince in pain at a simultaneous shin strike.
4 Bolo
Enter The Dragon
One of Bruce Lee's best movies, Enter the Dragon would be nothing without some memorable foes for Lee's character to square off against. Despite only being an opening act for the film's main antagonist, Han, Bolo Yeung's self-titled character is by far the most alarming foe encountered in Enter the Dragon. Owing to his actor's impressive physique as a stunt performer and champion body builder, Bolo is a force to be reckoned with the moment he steps foot on screen.
To introduce himself to the other fighters, Bolo flexes his sheer size, strength, and brutality, snapping another hapless combatant's spine in half by cradling him like a folding chair. There are few better representations of the "tank" archetype of martial arts movie villain than Bolo, whose intimidation factor far outweighs that of Han's. It's no wonder Yeung went on to make a name for himself starring alongside other martial arts movie greats like Jean-Claude Van Damme in movies like Bloodsport.
3 Hua's Henchman
Dragons Forever
Benny "The Jet" Urquidez returned to the silver screen to give Jackie Chan a run for his money as a nameless goon once again in Dragons Forever. This time around, Urquidez serves a new boss, the villain's movie Hua, a dangerous narcotics dealer who finds himself in the crosshairs of Jackie Chan's martial artist lawyer character, Jackie Lung. No matter his new circumstances, the mission of Urquidez's character remains the same - Beat Jackie Chan to a pulp.
This time around, Urquidez is even more well-suited to the movies, dishing out blindingly fast jabs and kicks with more ferocity than ever. His relentless assault forces Jackie Chan's Lung to get serious like never before, limiting his usual ability to weaponize the surrounding environment to his advantage. Without speaking a single line of dialogue, Urquidez's smug grin as he psyches out his opponent instantly makes him the best villain in any martial arts movie he stars in.
2 Tin-Tin Law
New Police Story
The Police Story franchise was quite tired by the time New Police Story rolled around in 2004. Accompanying the darker tone of the total reboot, New Police Story featured some deadly villains that were able to give Jackie Chan's latest interpretation of his classic character pause. Outshining the film's main villain is newcomer Andy On, who plays the young delinquent criminal Law Tin-Tin.
Andy On and Jackie Chan's battle in a Lego store is one of the most exciting setpieces of the entire franchise, with buckets of painful-looking bricks pouring over both characters as they struggle for dominance. The creativity of using Law's backpack as a focal point of the combat blends well with both fighters' speed and dexterity, enhancing the character's screen presence. Law also emotionally challenges Jackie Chan's Chief Inspector Chan Kwok-wing, making him a fascinating and complex villain in more ways than one.
1 The Capoeirista
The Protector
Better known by its native name Tom-Yum-Goong, billed as The Protector in the United States, Tony Jaa's Thai martial arts film sought to prove the power of Muay Thai as a combat system by putting it up against some wildly varying styles. To accomplish this, Jaa's Kham finds himself going up against a variety of opponents in his mission to recover the prized elephants stolen from him, including a gargantuan wrestler and a graceful wushu swordsman. However, the fighter that steals the show is an unnamed capoeira practitioner that confronts Kham in a dramatically burning temple.
Capoeira is an inherently flashy style, with dramatic, but powerful spinning kicks shown off beautifully in this encounter. Each limb of the capoeirista is trailed by droplets of water that further enhance his impressive movements, giving Kham some of the most trouble of any opponent in the film. The deftness with which this unnamed combatant is able to literally dance around Tony Jaa's furious attacks easily makes for one of the coolest minor antagonists in a martial arts movie.
