Karate Kid: Legends was the first theatrical release in the franchise in 15 years, finally uniting the worlds of the original, Ralph Macchio-led trilogy with the 2010 reboot, featuring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Legends‘ reviews were pretty mediocre for the most part, with most praising the central performances by Ben Wang as Li Fong and Sadie Stanley as Mia Lipani, but the story, and some of the side characters, felt underbaked, including the characters who should ostensibly be one of the major draws, the villains.

Legends’ cast was great, and not just the main actors. Chan was fun as always, though Macchio’s return as Daniel LaRusso felt a little lost in the story without much to do. However, the main villains of the story, Conor (Aramis Knight) and his dojo, Demolition, weren’t given very much depth, and ultimately felt like a disappointment. This stung, especially considering how excellent all the villains throughout Cobra Kai were, and as something of a continuation of that show, Legends definitely felt underwhelming.

Demolition Is Meant To Be Karate Kid: Legends’ Replacement For Cobra Kai

The Two Dojos Had The Same Role In Their Movies

While Legends is a sequel to the rest of the Karate Kid franchise, it did follow a very similar story arc to both the original and the 2010 remake, with a young, down-on-his-luck kid learning from a very wise master to beat his rival at a large-scale tournament. Ben Wang’s Li Fong took on the Daniel LaRusso role, and Conor Day occupied a similar position to that of Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) from the first movie, being the very antagonistic bully who used to date the protagonist’s love interest.

As Conor took on the Johnny Lawrence role, obviously his dojo, Demolition, was this film’s version of Cobra Kai, being the “evil” dojo that only cared about winning at all costs, no matter what happened to their opponents, or even their own fighters. The students there, as evidenced by Conor, were the clear antagonists, doing everything they could to make Li’s life as difficult as possible, even going so far as to fight him in the middle of the school day.

Karate Kid: Legends Doesn’t Give Demolition Its Version Of Kreese

Demolition’s Leader Wasn’t All That Interesting

However, one of the ways that Legends faltered when it came to this evil dojo is with the leader of the school, Tim Rozon as O’Shea, who didn’t manage to have nearly as much screen presence as John Kreese (Martin Kove) did in The Karate Kid. He trains Conor a little bit, which leads to only a few brief sH๏τs of the actual Demolition dojo. In comparison to the original movie, Kreese is heavily featured throughout the film, managing the Cobra Kai dojo with his signature iron fist.

There was one thing that made O’Shea a more interesting antagonist, in that he was also the one to whom Victor owed money and was the one who gave the order that put him in the hospital during Legends‘ second act. In theory, these would have made him a more interesting and dynamic character, but he is barely seen doing these things. He never threatened Victor in the movie itself, only sending his goons to rough him up, and during Victor’s fight, he was only shown a handful of times, slightly nodding to his fighter.

While Kreese had to wait for Cobra Kai to become a three-dimensional character, seeing him interact with Daniel and Miyagi in the Cobra Kai dojo was a great, tense scene, and with just a few lines, he was able to establish himself as a villain worth remembering. The original movie didn’t go into any sort of backstory or motivations for Kreese, but he immediately came across as a real threat, and just seeing the way he talked made Johnny and the rest of Cobra Kai’s students immediately more understandable.

Karate Kid: Legends Would’ve Benefited From More Of Demolition & Conor’s Storyline

Seeing More Of Conor And His Dojo Would’ve Gone A Long Way

The easiest way to fix this villain problem would’ve been to just give Conor and Demolition more screen time, showing how they train, and having Li Fong or Victor interact with O’Shea. Legends only had a runtime of about 94 minutes, and that meant that several characters and storylines had to fall by the wayside, which included Conor and Demolition. While the decision to focus on the main character was understandable, the villains should’ve been just as important, and given enough time to feel like a real threat.

While it would’ve been great to see a lot more expansion of Conor’s character, it would’ve been equally effective to just set a larger scene in the Demolition dojo and allow the heroes and villains to have a full interaction. In both the original and the reboot, the sensei brought their students to the rival dojo and had a conversation with the other side. This led to some great drama in both instances, seeing how these bullies weren’t just evil people but had been trained poorly by their teachers.

Future Karate Kid Movies Could Do For Demolition What Cobra Kai Did For Kreese’s Dojo

There Are Plenty Of Opportunities To Build Off What Legends Set Up

However, Demolition not being very interesting in Legends doesn’t mean that the dojo should be abandoned as a storyline, as there are plenty of ways that it could be improved in future Karate Kid movies. While Kreese and Johnny were already great in the first movie, it wasn’t really until Cobra Kai came out over 30 years later that there was a deeper look into their characters, and fully fleshed out their motivations and backstories.

Kreese was a great, maniacal sensei in the first movie, and while he was mostly absent from Part 2, his reappearance in Part 3, alongside Terry Silver, really hammered home his status as an iconic villain. Then, in Cobra Kai, he was reintroduced as the same, extremely violent individual who was far too obsessed with karate, acting as one of the central antagonists of the series over its six seasons. However, Kreese did eventually get his redemption arc in Cobra Kai, fully fleshing out a character who could’ve just been a very one-note villain.

On top of that, Cobra Kai made Johnny the most beloved character in the whole Karate Kid franchise, managing to turn the very basic bully from an 80s action movie into one of modern television’s biggest heroes. While a series based around the legacy of the Demolition dojo is probably quite a way off, giving Conor or O’Shea a more active role in a sequel could undoubtedly turn these fairly forgettable villains into one of Karate Kid: Legends‘ biggest triumphs.