Karate Kid: Legends is the latest entry in the very long-running Karate Kid franchise, finally uniting the original 1980s films with the 2010 reboot to create the first new movie in the series since the Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan-led installment. While Legends‘ reviews have been fairly mixed, the film is expected to generate a decent amount of money during its theatrical run, largely due to the significant support the franchise has garnered through its six seasons of Cobra Kai.
For a big, modern Hollywood blockbuster, one of the most common questions that arises is whether it contains a post-credits scene or any tease that occurs after the movie’s main story has wrapped up. The Karate Kid franchise, particularly Cobra Kai, became famous for its many exciting teases, showing off what audiences could expect in the next installment of the series. Karate Kid: Legends, as the first piece of media after Cobra Kai, was very much expected to follow in those footsteps, whether it be as a post-credits scene or simply a big tease.
Karate Kid: Legends Does Not Have A Post-Credits Scene
The Film Did Not Elect To Include Anything After The Final Moments
While it may have seemed fitting for the return to theatrical releases in this franchise, Legends has no post-credits or mid-credits scenes to speak of. In modern times, this is becoming more of a rarity aside from comic book movies. However, even films like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners are implementing post-credits scenes to varying degrees of success. The filmmakers decided that Legends didn’t need one, which is admirable, as they can often feel like unnecessary filler, simply made because they can be.
Karate Kid: Legends Continues The Franchise’s Credits Scene Tradition
No Other Karate Kid Movie Has Used A Post-Credits Scene
While this may be surprising given the modern movie landscape, the lack of post-credits scenes has extended throughout the franchise, as none of the Karate Kid movies have ever included one. The original movies were released in the ’80s, when post-credits scenes were pretty abnormal, with the biggest film to include one at the time being Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which came out between the first two films. However, even the 2010 Karate Kid, which came out in 2010 when post-credits scenes were starting to become more normalized, didn’t include anything after the credits.
Cobra Kai was the exception, but surprisingly, it also avoided any mid-or post-credits scenes for the majority of the series. Most of the teases and exciting sneak peeks happened during their respective episodes, which made sense, as having too many post-credits scenes in a television show usually doesn’t work very well. However, after the ending of Cobra Kai‘s final season, there was a small scene between Johnny and Daniel after the credits, though it didn’t tease anything very big, simply acting as a cute final interaction between the main characters.
Why Karate Kid: Legends Didn’t Need A Post-Credits Scene
The Movie Did Everything It Needed To By The End
Even outside the Karate Kid franchise’s post-credits scene history, Legends‘ ending was fairly definitive in and of itself, and adding something else on top of it would have simply been unnecessary. Without spoiling anything, the film’s final moments deliver the same information that the post-credits scene presumably would have, making anything added on top of that pretty much pointless. There likely would have been some internal debate about making the final scene a mid-or post-credits instead, but clearly, the filmmakers chose to keep Legends as one continuous experience.
As Legends was the first theatrically released film in the franchise in 15 years, it set the tone for what the franchise will look like going forward. By choosing not to add post-credits scenes to Karate Kid, the ᴀssumption will be that future тιтles in the series will go the same route, if more movies do come out. Karate Kid: Legends will really test the public’s perception of the franchise after the end of Cobra Kai.
