Cobra Kai Martial Arts Stars Who Should Appear In Season 4

Cobra Kai: Martial Arts Stars Who Should Appear In Season 4

With season 4 of Cobra Kai in the works, now would be a great opportunity to bring in some big names in martial arts films on the show — here’s who.

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Cobra Kai season 4 needs to build on its karate fight sequences — by bringing in some big martial arts stars to its cast. First debuting on YouTube Red in 2018, Cobra Kai was initially received as an unexpected and very welcome revival of The Karate Kid franchise. However, it became a true phenomenon once it moved over to Netflix in 2020, with season 3 debuting on the platform on New Year’s Day 2021 — a record-breaking debut that raised the show’s bar even higher.

Franchise revivals aren’t a new concept, but Cobra Kai might be one of the most successful direct sequel series of the 21st century.Many younger viewers fell in love with the show without having first seen the original Karate Kid movies. As a testimony to the show’s popularity, Netflix announced season 4 before season 3 was even released. With the rise of Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid franchise is now possibly bigger than ever before.

Cobra Kai season 4 will need to continue the show’s momentum, including building off the numerous ’80s Karate Kid cameos in season 3. One strategy to top this is to introduce martial arts stars from outside of the franchise who can lend their skills to Cobra Kai’s already-thrilling fight sequences. Whether as allies of John Kreese, the newly aligned Daniel and Johnny, or even appearing as themselves, there are quite a few well-known movie martial artists who could elevate the series even more (and elicit some cheers from viewers, even in mere cameo roles) by appearing in Cobra Kai season 4.

Michael Jai White

Among the most well-versed, masterful martial artists in action movies today, Michael Jai White needs no introduction. Well-known to action fans for his roles in movies like Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, Blood and Bone, and Falcon Rising, White’s charisma and true skill in martial arts make him a no-brainer for Cobra Kai. Furthermore, by adding a sensei who is a BIPOC, Cobra Kai season 4 can balance out some of the show’s diversity issues.

White is also immensely versatile as an actor, his career spanning the zany cartoon of Black Dynamite to stoic villainy in Triple Threat, so he’d bring plenty to either side of the Miyagi-Do-Cobra Kai conflict. As a filmmaker, White has also shown incredible finesse and attention to detail in Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown and Never Back Down: No Surrender. The latter in particular includes a scene in which White practices Karate “bunkai” before showing the application of each technique in a fight scene that could’ve come right out of The Karate Kid. Cobra Kai would leave jaws on the floor pulling off an action scene along those lines, and who better to do that than Michael Jai White?

Amy Johnston

Anyone who can carry a reboot of the cult classic Bloodsport belongs on the Cobra Kai roster, and Amy Johnston’s already done just that in the gender-swapped Kumite movie Lady Bloodfight. Coming from a background in stuntwork (including doubling for Scarlett Johansson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Johnston brought great energy to a new take on the beloved ’80s hit as the determined heroine Jane. 2018’s Accident Man also flipped that script completely in Johnston’s role of the sadistic assassin Jane the Ripper, the black comedy working plenty of snickering into the character’s backstory and blazing showdown with Scott Adkins. Having already embodied two extremes of heroine and villainess, even bearing the same name in each, no less, Johnston could easily portray either a Miyagi-Do or Cobra Kai disciple with a connection to either Daniel or Johnny, or even Kreese, while alternatively, she could perhaps even enter the show as a local karateka who gets pulled into the dojo war.

Scott Adkins

As predictable as it might seem to suggest Scott Adkins for Cobra Kai, it’s frankly all but impossible to this point to fan cast for anything martial arts related and not bring his name up. Adkins is simply royalty in the action movie world. Aside from his incredible abilities as a martial artist, Adkins particularly excels in playing darker anti-heroes and villains, which would make him practically tailor-made to portray a graduate from Cobra Kai and an associate of John Kreese. In fact, Adkins might be the best choice possible to bring in a new villain into season 4, perhaps as an old student or friend of Kreese’s who has completely internalized Cobra Kai’s philosophy of “No Mercy.” Having already portrayed a fighter who gradually moved away from that mindset in Yuri Boyka of the Undisputed series, Adkins could really cut loose as Kreese’s most merciless apprentice.

Lyoto Machida

In the MMA world, possibly no name is more closely linked to Karate than Lyoto Machida. Rising to prominence in the UFC and currently fighting for Bellator MMA, Machida left fight fans mesmerized with his expertise in Shotokan, his stance work and approach to fighting making him a tough nut to crack for his opponents. Since rising to the peak of MMA, Machida’s also appeared in a handful of movies, such as Never Back Down 2 and Tapped Out, and Machida would be perfect to appear as himself on Cobra Kai. The show could even fictionalize certain elements of his appearance, perhaps establishing some kind of in-universe connection between Machida and Mr. Miyagi, or a history of divergent philosophies that has caused a falling out between Machida and John Kreese. Either way, Machida’s true fighter’s focus and Karate ties would make him a natural choice for Cobra Kai.

Matt Page

In the interest of adding some levity to season 4, Matt Page of Enter the Dojo fame could really bring some laughs. Well-known for his portrayal of Master Ken, the committed but clueless founder of the martial art “Ameri-Do-Te” in Enter the Dojo, Page is arguably YouTube’s answer to Stephen Chow in comedic martial arts entertainment. Page based Master Ken on bizarre experiences in his own martial arts training, such as a school that incorporated “groin sparring.” In Master Ken’s Ameri-Do-Te academy, students learn outlandish techniques such as the Kill Face, the Hurticane, and “You-Jitsu”, with Master Ken himself frequently giving acerbic rundowns of why every other martial art in existence is complete malarky.

Page’s gift for integrating comedy into martial arts would make him terrific to appear in season 4 of Cobra Kai as a sort of funhouse version of John Kreese, more or less what Master Ken is to begin with. If the show really wanted to go a little off the wall in season 4, and if rights issues could be properly ironed out, Page could perhaps even cameo as Master Ken himself. Admittedly, that’s likely a long shot, so perhaps the inverse of having Cobra Kai characters appear on Enter the Dojo could be done in tandem with season 4’s release. Who wouldn’t want to have Master Ken to explain why both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai Karate are inferior to the might of Ameri-Do-Te?

Cynthia Rothrock

Cynthia Rothrock is a kung fu movie legend whose filmography reads almost more like a collection of fake movies with schlocky, -70s-era titles like Tiger Claws, Martial Law, Rage and Honor, and China O’Brien — but like Rothrock herself, they’re the real deal. One of the biggest names of ’90s martial arts B-movies, Rothrock’s also worked in Hong Kong in action movies like Yes, Madam, Righting Wrongs, and Millionaire’s Express. Not only would Rothrock be absolutely perfect to appear on Cobra Kai, but there are two ways in particular that could maximize the impact of her role on the show. One would be similar to Lyoto Machida’s by just having her show up to play herself, with or without similarly fictionalized elements (Cobra Kai is set in Los Angeles, so Rothrock could easily be written in as starring in a movie production being filmed nearby).

The other less-obvious but more interesting route would be to integrate her into the story more directly by giving her a connection to Robby Keene or Tory Nichols. As two of the more hot-headed kids on Cobra Kai, and Rothrock being a decades-long veteran of both action movies and martial arts, it makes sense to put her in a mentorship role for one of them. Rothrock is well-suited to play an estranged relative of either, say the aunt of one of them, who re-enters their lives in season 4 to help get their anger under control. Rothrock’s been around the block long enough that a role along those lines on Cobra Kai would fit her splendidly — and still offer plenty of opportunities to see her impressive abilities in action.

Isaac Florentine

While every other entry on the list would be in front of the camera, Isaac Florentine would be as good a choice as any to be behind it. The Israeli-born Florentine is both a dyed-in-the-wool karateka and a legend in the straight-to-video action movie world. Well-known for his frequent collaborations with Scott Adkins, Florentine has directed such contemporary martial arts classics as Undisputed 2, Undisputed 3: Redemption, and Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear, and even Florentine’s lower scale films such as Close Range and Seized have astonishing action scenes leaps and bounds beyond many of the theatrical variety. Florentine’s also no stranger to TV either, having worked extensively on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers in his early days in the film industry. Having Florentine direct a few episodes of season 4 would be a true for the victorious stride that Cobra Kai is already on, Florentine’s knowledge of both martial arts and action filmmaking sure to produce incredible results.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/cobra-kai-martial-arts-stars-season-4-cameos/

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