Doug Rickenberger is a minor antagonist in Cobra Kai.
He is one of the "higher-ranked" Cobra Kai students and was the second in command of Hawk's gang. By Season 4, he apparently leaves the dojo, as Kyler said that "half the squad quit".
He was portrayed by John Cihangir.
Biography[]
Season 2[]
Doug joins Cobra Kai following Miguel Diaz's victory in the All Valley Tournament. He forms a good relationship with Hawk and helps him carry out various tasks against Miyagi-Do.
Doug is present when Hawk confronts Demetri in a comic book store along with Chris, Mitch and Mikey. Hawk demands Demetri to take down his Yelp review about Cobra Kai, but Demetri refuses, resulting in the gang attacking him. Robby Keene and Samantha manage to intervene, resulting in a fight breaking out. Doug ends up getting beaten in a fight, along with the rest of Hawk's gang.
Later on, Doug is present at Moon's house party and loses against Tory Nichols in a drinking competition (as he loses his balance on the chair and falls to the ground).
On the first day at school, Doug, Mikey, Hawk and the other Cobra Kais witness Tory and Sam fighting over Miguel. When Robby intervenes and pushes Tory to a locker, Doug yells at Robby to let Tory go and attacks Robby, but Robby kicks Doug away from him, and Doug is caught by Mikey and Hawk. This provokes Miguel to intervene and tackle Robby, which provokes a school brawl between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do students.
When Moon attempts to stop the fight by asking if they can just get along, she screams and backs away when Doug throws Jason over to a locker and prepares to punch the student before he gets kicked back. When a staff member intervenes to break it up, Doug violently elbows the staff member in the face before grabbing him and throwing him on the floor (which shocks even Hawk when he sees it). Mr. Palmer, having been called by Demetri, witnesses it and decides to back out, saying that he doesn't get paid enough for this.
As the dojos take the brawl up to the second floor, Doug can be seen in the background constantly punching Jason. Later on, Doug and Mikey can be seen attacking Robby on the stairs together along with Miguel, before he disperses to help Tory. Doug manages to get a hold of Robby, but Robby ends up breaking free from his grip and kicks Mikey down the stairs. Doug then turns back to Robby and attempts to kick him in the face, but Robby kicks Doug's other foot that was on the ground, causing Doug to fall and hit the ground hard.
Season 3[]
Doug remains loyal to Cobra Kai after John Kreese takes over the dojo from Johnny. During a training session at the Cobra Kai dojo, Kreese gives his students a challenge, to knock off the plant that is placed on a high wooden plank. Kreese has Doug go second after another student, who was chosen first to knock off the plant, fails to do so. Doug attempts to jump and kick the plant off, but he fails and injures his arm when he falls onto the ground. Kreese then tells Doug to "stop your sniveling" when Doug tries to recover from his injury. When Hawk completes Kreese's challenge, Doug states that Hawk cheated, but Kreese denies that, saying that during a fight, you also need to fight smart, and not just with brute strength and skill. Doug then turns his gaze to the ground, realizing his mistake.
At a high-school soccer scrimmage, he walks right behind Hawk, with Mikey and Dirk next to him with Edwin and Big Red behind him. When they begin walking on the side of the soccer field, the other people make way for them, some people cheering for them. After Demetri makes Hawk trip and fall, Doug attempts to attack Demetri, but Hawk holds him back, saying to remember that Kreese said to fight smart. The game proceeds with team Miyagi-do and team Cobra Kai hurting each other in soccer-style until the coach blows her whistle and tell them all to go to the principal's office. They glare at each other as they wait to learn about what their punishment is. While Doug and the rest of the Cobra Kai's get a free pass and do not get in trouble, Samantha and her Miyagi-do team get detention and an extra punishment.
Doug can be seen with Hawk, Mitch and Mikey having fun and causing havoc in the local arcades. The group ends up breaking into the laser tag arena to drink beer, where they get attacked by Miyagi-Do students. At first, Doug tries to stop the fight, but ends up helping Cobra Kai to fight off Miyagi-do. Initially, he finds himself being beaten by Sam, and the Miyagi Do's are gaining the upper hand. However, when Tory arrives with Big Red and Edwin, the tide begins to shift to the Cobra Kai's favor. Chris swings at Doug, but he dodges and jumps behind him before putting Chris in a chokehold. He and Mitch then proceed to kick him down on the ground.
Later on, Doug is amongst the Cobra Kai students to attack Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students who are meeting up in the LaRusso house. He follows Tory through an entrance to the house along with another Cobra Kai student before dispersing and joining the fight. He first fights Chris, and their fight appears to be even, but he eventually beats him with the help of Tory. He then gets in a fight against Demetri and ends up grabbing Demetri's arm, then inviting Hawk to take a free shot on his victim. Hawk rushes in, but kicks away the Cobra with dreadlocks before grabbing a shocked Doug around the neck and throwing Doug onto a glass table instead, thus switching sides during the fight. When Hawk and Demetri start fending off Hawk's former Cobra Kai's, Doug slowly gets up off the wreckage from the glass table. Not wanting to face Hawk again, Doug runs over to where Mitch is and attacks him; he is last seen fighting with Mitch. In the end, the Cobra Kai's ultimately lose the fight due to Hawk defecting.
Season 4[]
Like Mikey and most of the original Cobra Kai’s after the LaRusso house fight, Doug isn’t seen at the dojo. It’s most likely he’d left the dojo for good, as Kyler says half the squad quit.
Powers and Abilities[]
Doug is actually one of the best fighters in the new Cobra Kai dojo, as well as one of the most powerful fighters in Hawk's gang.
He has shown a good amount of strength, as he demonstrates this when he brutally elbows and throws a teacher over his shoulder. He easily overpowers Chris in the arcade fight, and brutally kicks down during the school fight. He easily beats Demetri only out of bullying with another unnamed Cobra Kai student. He is also shown to be fairly acrobatic, as he almost manages to kick down the Miyagi-Do plant, though he fails. His greatest ability is to properly show his toughness; when Chris hits him with a pan during the fight at Sam's house, Doug just laughs it off, and goes on to knee Chris in the stomach and throw him into a door.
His fighting style seems to mostly incorporate takedowns, as he mostly throws his opponents around with brute force and strength. He is very aggressive and merciless to his opponents, as evidenced when he continues to kick Chris even after he goes down, and pins Demetri and urges Hawk to take a shot at him. He also has enough strength to throw Chris to the ground, and defeats opponents like Chris.
Despite being a very strong fighter, Doug has lost in a few fights. In the school brawl, he is easily beaten and swept to the ground by Robby, and is easily beaten by Sam in the arcade fight. During the fight at Sam's house, he is thrown onto a glass table by Hawk in mere seconds. However, in the latter situation, Doug is caught off guard, as he did not expect Hawk to switch sides and attack him.
Doug is overall one of the strongest students and fighters at Cobra Kai. With Miguel and Hawk defecting, Doug is currently the third strongest student, after Robby (likely the strongest), Tory and before Kyler.
Trivia[]
- Doug's actor (John Cihangir) has been dating Sarah’s actress (Gissette Valentin) since 2018.
- One possible reason for Doug, Mikey, and the original members quitting Cobra Kai was their having become tired of Cobra Kai's merciless teachings and that they had been used by Kreese all along to wreak havoc all over San Fernando.
