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.

In order to defend himself, Daniel seeks guidance from local handyman Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), who teaches him karate, so he can fight off Johnny’s gang. The Karate Kid was reexamined from the other side’s perspective in a now-viral YouTube video, which suggests that Daniel – and not Johnny – was the bully responsible for the events that unfolded in the 1984 classic. Daniel’s impact on Johnny in The Karate Kid continued to haunt Johnny decades later in the Cobra Kai series, as he recalled events from the movie with a similar lens.

Why Some Believe Daniel Was The Bad Guy

Johnny Was More Of A Flawed Hero Than A Villain

The idea behind the theory is that Daniel instigated the conflict with Johnny, who is described in the YouTube video as a “reluctant” and “flawed” hero who simply made a mistake when he tried too hard to talk to Ali at the beach. It’s said that Daniel made things worse by getting involved, and that Johnny was only defending himself when Daniel attacked him. Notably, while Johnny did start the fight by pushing Daniel, Daniel was the first to actually throw a punch.

The video further explains that Daniel’s prank at the Halloween party was supposedly uncalled-for, as was his attack on Bobby (Ron Thomas) on the soccer field. Even the vicious beating Daniel received at the hands of Johnny’s gang was just Johnny trying to “contain Daniel’s fury.” Yet, as Johnny’s transformation in Cobra Kai reveals, there’s more to this rivalry than meets the eye.

Johnny did go too far when he took away Ali’s radio and broke it just because she wanted nothing to do with him. All Daniel did was try to hand it back to her. Also, Daniel’s retaliation against Johnny’s push hardly justifies the treatment that he receives from Johnny. The video leaves out certain details that are needed to paint an accurate picture of Daniel and Johnny’s story, one of which being the fact that Daniel and Mr. Miyagi had to go to the Cobra Kai dojo just to get Johnny to stop the continuous harᴀssment.

The ending of The Karate Kid and the Cobra Kai series do help make Johnny a sympathetic character — especially as Cobra Kai season 6 could explore whether Johnny can master Miyagi-Do. However, for most of the first movie, Johnny is undeniably an antagonist. If there’s a character in the movie other than Johnny who deserves to be called The Karate Kid’s real villain, it would be none other than Kreese (Martin Kove), Johnny’s teacher and the person who encouraged (and even demanded) violent behavior from his students.

How I Met Your Mother Popularized The Theory

The Sitcom Laid The Groundwork For Cobra Kai

The Karate Kid theory about Daniel being the real villain and Johnny being the hero was further popularized by Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) in How I Met Your Mother. Like Barney Stinson’s real job or his sheer vanity, the Karate Kid theory became one of the sitcom’s running jokes, with Barney angrily referencing Daniel’s villainy at every opportunity. Both Ralph Macchio and William Zabka even appeared as themselves in How I Met Your Mother, and Barney lays into Ralph Macchio about Daniel being the bad guy.

Later, the theory also made the rounds in New York comedy podcasts by way of Sirius XM’s The Bonfire with Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder, in which the two comedians and die-hard ’80s movie fans dug into the infamous YouTube video. What’s interesting is that this all happened long before Cobra Kai. Though the theory is flawed, it does make some good points — and it might have sparked the flame that led to the Cobra Kai series, which is essentially about Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso’s story of rivalry, reconciliation, and redemption decades after The Karate Kid.

How Cobra Kai Has Made Sure Johnny & Daniel Are Both Heroes

As The Spinoff Progressed, Daniel & Johnny Became Friends Instead Of Rivals

When it started, Cobra Kai played on the idea that Daniel was the villain of The Karate Kid. The show opens with Johnny as a middle-aged man whose life is falling apart, while Daniel has gone from success to success. What’s more, Daniel isn’t particularly likeable as an adult. However, as the show progresses, both men grow and develop and, eventually, even become friends. They put their differences aside and have plenty of heart-to-heart conversations aoubt their conduct as teens, reaching a sense of understanding.

What’s more, both have moments where they advise their respective students against going down the same emotional roads they did. This is a key theme of Cobra Kai, that despite how intense the martial-arts rivalries between the various dojos in the valley get, they’re not the be all and end all — a sentiment that both Daniel and Johnny pᴀss on to those they’re teaching.

However, one of the biggest ways Cobra Kai establishes that neither Jonny nor Daniel is the villain in The Karate Kid is the reintroduction of Kreese. It made it clear that the toxicity in the Cobra Kai dojo of the 1980s came from its sensei, not its students. While both Johnny and Daniel have begun to overcome their respective villainous tendencies in Cobra Kai, Cobra Kai season 6 introduced a very different villain. Terry Silver returned, and his villainy even set up a hero turn for former villain Kreese.

While Daniel’s status as the villain in The Karate Kid is still up for debate, the last season of Cobra Kai showed that, if he was, he was ultimately rehabilitated. Johnny had to fight Sensei Wolf, and he chose Daniel as his sensei; the two worked together for the big final battle. This is when Daniel learned he needed to change and pushed Johnny hard, refusing to sugarcoat things, and lit a fire under his former nemesis. Johnny also remembers losing to Daniel years earlier, and with his rival in his corner, finally gains his redemption by winning.

Cobra Kai Also Redeemed Kreese

Another Karate Kid Villain Also Found Redemption

The villain in the first Karate Kid movie wasn’t Daniel LaRusso nor Johnny Lawrence. It was John Kreese, and he returned in Cobra Kai as a villain once again. However, in the final season, something interesting happened. While Kreese returned, so did Terry Silver, another villain and a long-time ᴀssociate of Kreese. The two of them proved to be a perfect antagonistic duo against Johnny and Daniel. However, when Cobra Kai ended, Terry died a villain, but Kreese shockingly redeemed himself.

Terry Silver was responsible for many dastardly things in the Karate Kid franchise, and he was much worse than Kreese, who was mainly a bully. When Kreese finally reconciled with Johnny, he then learned that Silver had planned the kidnapping of Johnny’s wife and baby to secure a tournament win. This was the last straw, and he approached Silver on the man’s yacht. The two fight and when Kreese sees gas leaking on the deck, he tosses his lit cigar into it and the boat then erupts into flames, killing both men.

This was a sacrificial move by a man who proved for much of the series to be a coward. He did it to protect Johnny Lawrence and save his former student’s family, ensuring that Johnny wouldn’t lose anything and could remain happy and hopeful in his life. He also leaves Cobra Kai to Johnny to run as he sees fit. No one saw John Kreese die to save anyone else, but that is how his Cobra Kai story ended, bringing a satisfying conclusion to the story of The Karate Kid’s most villainous character.