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The story of John Kreese from The Karate Kid franchise and Cobra Kai series.
Early life[]
Kreese was born in 1946 and his mother suffered from a mental illness that eventually caused her to take her own life, for which he was often troubled and teased by other kids. As a teenager, Kreese was working in a diner where he saw two college football players (one of them named David) being approached by an Army recruiter. After the recruiter left, the college football players threw the pamphlet on the floor, causing Kreese to pick it up. Later, behind the restaurant, Kreese witnessed the football players attacking the girl who had come with them, Betsy. Kreese fought both of them off, finally emerging victorious, and offered Betsy a ride home, causing them to begin a relationship. When Kreese left for Vietnam, Betsy said she would wait for him.
Military Career[]
Kreese was a Captain in the U.S. Army, where he was part of the Special Forces during the Vietnam War. One of his war buddies was Terry Silver, whom Kreese had saved the life of on (allegedly) multiple occasions. Kreese initially met Silver when he was a First Lieutenant. One day, Betsy had sent him a photograph of her, earning the envy of his fellow soldiers. At that moment, he was approached by a Sergeant, who informed him that their Captain wished to speak with him in the command's tent. Upon following said direction, Kreese found him at the back of the tent, punching away on a raised cluster of bamboo sticks tied together and held up by rope in a crudely crafted exercise area. The Captain, named Turner, explained that he was forming a special task force that would go on direct action missions in the north of the country, where they would "go sterile into triple canopy jungle. No insignias, no ID." the team would be led by Captain Turner himself, and otherwise comprised of Kreese (who had already distinguished himself with heroic service in combat during his time in the war) and a couple of other specialists. Allowed to have a say in who these specialists were, Kreese immediately nominated Silver (then nicknamed "Twig" due to his then-slim physique) and "Ponytail" as candidates for the task at hand. Trained extensively in guerilla tactics, demolition and hand-to-hand combat by their Captain himself; their new commanding officer Turner, who had previously served in the Korean War and been trained in the art of Tang Soo Do under the tutelage of master Kim Sun-Yung of South Korea for the purposes of close quarter combat with North Korean soldiers, proceeded to teach them everything he knew. It is unknown exactly how long he trained them for before he judged them ready to go on the mission, but the team in question would not leave for North Vietnam until some time the following year, in 1969. During this time, the Captain would often berate Kreese for his apparent inability to "shed his humanity" during physical confrontations, and at one point during a sparring match, he even made a point of showcasing this in front of his peers when Kreese briefly lowered his guard after he had landed a solid punch on him; reprimanding him in a manner that was very reminiscent of how Kreese himself would one day address the students in his dojo; warning him to not to lose concentration when he faced an opponent, and to leave no room for hesitation, second thoughts and to show to mercy to their enemies.
The following day, the task force embarked on their long-awaited mission, and eventually found themselves doing reconnaissance on a compound belonging to the The People's Army of Vietnam. As Ponytail tried to get hold of air support, Kreese monitored the campsite with a couple of binoculars and watched as Ponytail snuck to the edge of the camp to set up explosives. However, when Silver's radio erupted, Kreese was ordered by the captain to blow the compound, but Kreese hesitated as Ponytail was still there. Kreese became indirectly responsible for their subsequent capture when he hesitated, and all five of them were spotted and rounded up when Ponytail was caught trying to run back to the rest of the task force. The unit was subjected to several forms of torture and punishment, and ultimately hurled inside a cage made of bamboo and locked with a chain whilst the enemy decided to do with them; but not before making an example of Ponytail by shooting him dead with a bullet to the head, a casualty that horrified Kreese and caused the Captain to furiously blame Kreese for letting happen. Following their capture, they were made to fight to the death on a platform suspended over a pit full of venomous snakes, all for the amusement of the North Vietnamese soldiers. Kreese tried to look to their commanding officer for leadership, who simply remarked on the unlikelihood of their survival and told him that there were no ranks anymore, with there being every man for himself. Thus, when Silver began to panic, it fell to Kreese to be the one to talk him down. When one of his fellow soldiers knocked another into the pit, an uncomfortable Kreese looked down.
When Silver was picked to fight their commanding fighter and was in no state to do so, Kreese stepped up and volunteered to take his place, which he was allowed to do. As they approached the pit, Turner, who had still not forgiven Kreese for being the reason the unit was captured, voiced his certainty that he was going to win, as he, at the very least had something to fight for. Confused by this, Kreese objected to the insinuation, only for his elder to inform him that Betsy was dead. Before they were went on this mission, a letter had arrived to their camp stating that Betsy had been in a fatal car accident, and "wrapped her car around a tree driving to visit her grandmother in Pasadena." Overcome with grief, Kreese fought the officer with all his might, but though he had been hard-pressed to do so, Captain Turner still managed to overpower him, having Kreese on the ground and at his mercy and about to push him down into the pit, once more mocking him for his perceived weakness in failing to realize that on the battlefield, it was a matter of kill or be killed, at which point Kreese was able to stab him in the leg with a broken piece of bambus, pick himself up and finally get the upper hand, before succeeded in kicking him off the platform just as American soldiers and US Air Force jets arrived at the camp to save the unit. The officer told Kreese the fight was over, and he could pull him up, but Kreese coldly replied that it was indeed true that he had never truly taken his lessons to heart, but that he would never make that mistake again. He ruthlessly said, "No Mercy" to Turner, before sending him into the snake pit. He then freed the rest of the prisoners, including Silver, who vowed to always be there if there was ever anything he needed from him.
With the aforementioned mission successfully completed and his military superiors unaware of the full details surrounding the untimely demise of his commanding officer, Kreese went on to receive recognition for their contribution to the war effort the surviving members of their team and, as their late Captain had predicted, this victory did indeed "earn him his beret, and a U.S. battlefield commission to boot," after which Kreese proceeded to serve in a Green Beret unit of the United States Army Special Force for the rest of the war, attaining the rank of captain himself. Kreese and Silver continued to serve together following Kreese's promotion, with the former saving his life several more times between 1969 and the war's inevitable end in 1975. In the absence of their captain's tutelage, however, but their training in unarmed combat no less important than before, they continued their rigorous workouts and sparring matches throughout the remainder of the war, along with others in their infantry company so that more soldiers could learn the valuable combat skills, and according to Terry Silver, they at one point even found themselves under the tutelage of Kim Sun-Yung himself. It was this small but elite group of soldiers who became the very first “Cobra Kai” class, and all of them received a distinctive tattoo of a fist clutching a cobra, which was to become the symbol of their brotherhood. Excelling at martial arts, Kreese became the U.S. Army's Karate champion; a title he held from 1970 to 1972. Hardened and embittered by the numerous bereavements he suffered in the war, not least of all the loss of his beloved Betsy, upon his return to the United States, Kreese went back home to the Valley with the vow of not losing ever again. And as is the case with many who have seen action and faced the horrors of war, his mind and heart stayed at the battlefield when the rest of him returned to the United States. While no longer serving active duty, however, he still resolved to serve his community by instilling strength and discipline through karate. With the help of Terry Silver, Kreese opened a karate dojo upon returning to The Valley, whose name and symbol was inspired by his victory over the Snakepit; Cobra Kai.
And so it was that for the next decade or so, Kreese would train young men in the area in "the way of the fist" and instill in them the creed that his commanding officer had once taught him, and which he summed up through a simple motto: "Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy". He would eventually begin training Johnny Lawrence, whom he would see as a son, and began molding the once sweet boy into an egotistical bully.
Films[]
The Karate Kid: Part I[]
Kreese is first seen at the Cobra Kai dojo, where he instructs his students that mercy is for the weak, and an enemy deserves no mercy. When Daniel enters the dojo, Kreese mocks and berates him. Prior to the start of the semifinals in the all-valley tournament, he instructs his student, Bobby Brown, to put his opponent Daniel LaRusso "out of commission" even though Bobby knew he could beat him. In the finals, he instructed Johnny to use the "sweep the leg" move on Daniel, to Johnny's shock. However, Johnny lost to Daniel in the competition.
The Karate Kid: Part II[]
Kreese, furious at Johnny for winning second place, berates him for losing and breaks his trophy. After Johnny calls him a sick sadistic loser, Kreese violently chokes Johnny with his arms and orders his students to stay back while even hitting two of them. However, Miyagi fought Kreese, tricking him into hitting car windows. However, instead of killing him, Miyagi instead honked his nose and left.
The Karate Kid: Part III[]
Kreese finds himself in ruins, having lost all of his students after the events from the last tournament. Lost and dejected, Kreese goes to Silver to return the keys to the dojo, only for Silver to instead try to help his old friend out, sending him to Fiji for relaxation while he plots the destruction of Daniel and the return of Cobra Kai. Later, he converses with Kreese over the phone, where Kreese tells him to break Miyagi's hands.
Kreese returns and confronts Daniel after he quits Cobra Kai, and has Mike Barnes attack him, only for Miyagi to defeat all three of them.
At the All Valley Tournament, Kreese is present for the return of Cobra Kai. However, Daniel defeats Mike Barnes, causing an angry Kreese to throw a Cobra Kai T-shirt at Silver and leave. The audience throws back their free T-shirts in disgust at Kreese and Silver, and Cobra Kai is closed down and permanently disqualified from the All-Valley Karate Tournament.
In between, Kreese attempted to re-enlist in the army, but was refused owing to his age. He would then spend the next 30 years going through homeless shelters. At some point, an old war buddy of his offered him a job, which he refused.
Cobra Kai[]
Season 1[]
John Kreese's return.
Kreese does not appear throughout most of the season, save for a few flashbacks. Owing to having failed to do anything in the years since his defeat, Kreese is assumed to be dead by Johnny. In the final episode, Mercy, he is revealed to be alive when he enters the Cobra Kai dojo and congratulates Johnny for winning the All-Valley tournament. He then tells Johnny that despite the fact that most people assumed Cobra Kai was dead, that "the real story has only just begun."
Season 2[]
Kreese claims that he went back to his old profession as a marine and military instructor in the US army to make a living, and that he participated in Operation Desert Storm and trained Navy Seals in Afghan. He also wants revenge against Daniel LaRusso for putting his dojo out of business and humiliating him. He then reveals he has become disillusioned with the current generation as he sees them as pathetic. This makes him attempt to re-open the Cobra Kai once again by persuading Johnny to join his cause only for Johnny to furiously push him away. However, after revealing he fixed Johnny's second place trophy from the All Valley tournament in 1984, Kreese manages to convince Johnny to let him teach at the Cobra Kai dojo again and is introduced by him to his students. Later, after Miguel Diaz tells Johnny that some parts of Kreese's story doesn't make sense, Johnny trails Kreese who explains the truth about failing to re-enlist, which convinces Johnny to allow Kreese back in the dojo.
Now a sensei at Cobra Kai again, Kreese uses his position to begin teaching Johnny's students to be more aggressive and to show no restraint in fights. When Johnny leaves the dojo to go spend time with his old high school friends, Kreese secretly makes arrangements with the landlord of the mini-mall Cobra Kai is in to obtain ownership of the dojo, as well as conditioning Johnny's students to be more aggressive in fights in a brutal tracking and hunting game much like how he trained the members of the Special Forces, presumably during his original service in Vietnam. After Johnny returns and finds out what Kreese has been teaching his students, he kicks Kreese out of the dojo and gives his students a speech on when to show mercy.
However, after Miguel is severely injured by Johnny's son and Daniel's top student Robby Keene after showing mercy to him in a fight, all of Johnny's students leave him and go to Kreese, who has now become the owner of the dojo. When Johnny goes to confront Kreese, his students block him, loyal only to Kreese now. Upon seeing what his dojo has turned into and realizing his grave mistake for trusting Kreese in the first place, Johnny tells Kreese that if he wants Cobra Kai, it's his and Johnny storms out of the dojo in anger.
Season 3[]
With the blame for the school fight placed squarely on the Miyagi-Do kids, Kreese continues to grow Cobra Kai. He convinces Tory Nichols to rejoin the dojo after helping her deal with some financial issues she was having. He also sought out more students to join Cobra Kai, including Kyler and his gang, and other athletes that were interested. He also persuades Robby Keene to join as well after visiting him while he was in juvenile detention. However, he would also end up losing a few of his students, including Mitch and Bert, after testing them by forcing them to feed a mouse to a snake. He also tries to convince Johnny to rejoin Cobra Kai after he and Miguel started their own dojo, "Eagle Fang", to which they refuse.
Kreese was later confronted by Amanda LaRusso over the repeated aggression the Cobra Kai kids showed her daughter and friends. After Amanda slapped him and left, Kreese took the opportunity to file a restraining order against her for assault, making him seem like the victim.
However, due to the fight at West Valley High and the rivalry between the two dojos that was getting increasingly violent, the city council chose to suspend the All Valley Under-18 Karate Tournament. In response, Kreese, along with Johnny and Daniel, showed up at the council meeting to protest the decision. When it was time for the next speaker, Kreese got up first and gave his speech advocating for the All Valley to be uncanceled, but his speech was interrupted by Daniel after he claimed Miyagi-Do were the ones in the wrong. Johnny also spoke up as well to disparage Kreese, leading to an argument between the three and for the city council head to tell them to be quite and state that the decision to suspend the All Valley tournament would be upheld. However, after Miguel entered the meeting and gave an impassioned speech on why karate was important them, with help from Sam, the city council voted to reverse their decision and allow the All Valley karate tournament to be held.
After the Cobra Kai kids attacked the Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do kids while they were meeting in the LaRusso house, both Johnny and Daniel went to confront Kreese. Johnny showed up first while Kreese was training Robby, shocked to see his son now loyal to Kreese. The two karate Senseis soon got into a brawl, with Johnny managing to overpower Kreese only to be attacked by Robby. After Johnny accidentally knocked Robby into a stand while trying to defend himself, Kreese got up and beat down Johnny, seemingly about to kill him, only for Daniel to then arrive and fight off Kreese with a technique he learned from Chozen. Before both Johnny and Daniel could finish Kreese off, Miguel and Sam arrived. Kreese then suggested they all settle their rivalry at the upcoming All Valley tournament, making a deal with Daniel and Johnny that whoever lost would have to shut down their dojo for good. Johnny and Daniel accepted the deal and went off to train their now combined student base for the matchup against Kreese's Cobra Kai students. At the end of the episode, he is seen picking up the phone to call Terry Silver.
Season 4[]
Kreese continues to lead Cobra Kai but loses a number of students following the attack on the LaRusso residence. Leaving Robby to train his students, Kreese goes to Silver in person in an effort to convince him to help him win the tournament. Silver initially refuses to help Kreese, but eventually agrees to help him with a renewed promise to expand the dojo if they win. As the tournament approaches, Kreese begins having huge disagreements with Silver, who doesn't want to relive the past. In an effort to prove his loyalty, Silver brutally injures Johnny and shows him to Kreese. Kreese, who genuinely views Johnny as a son, tells him to let him go, refusing to hurt him. Later at the tournament, he confronts Johnny and attempts to justify his actions to Johnny and why he encouraged him to cheat, only for Johnny to tell him that Cobra Kai dies tonight. During the final match between Tory and Sam, when Silver encourages Tory to cheat to win, Kreese, having a crisis of faith, remembers strangling Johnny after he lost to Daniel and encourages Tory to fight her own way instead, much to Silver's surprise.
After the tournament, Silver thanks Kreese for pulling him out of retirement and claims Johnny is the one weakness that Kreese has. With the help of Stingray, Silver, who views Kreese as his weakness, frames Kreese for a near-fatal attack by Silver on his former student and Kreese is arrested for aggravated assault and attempted murder, opening the way for Silver to take full control of Cobra Kai. Silver tauntingly tells Kreese that he's sure that he can dig up an old friend or two to help out with Cobra Kai while Kreese deals with his legal problems. Declaring that "I am Cobra Kai," Kreese vows to make his former friend regret this betrayal. Smirking at Kreese as he's dragged away, Silver promises to take good care of Johnny too.
Season 5[]
Kreese is found guilty of Aggravated Battery with Serious Bodily Injury and is sentenced to two years in prison. However, he quickly begins a plan to con his way out of jail. He starts by smooth-talking his psychiatrist, making it seem as though he's cooperative and reformed. He also works with his former student Tory, under the rouse of being grandfather and granddaughter to trick the guards, to work undercover at Silver's new Cobra Kai, as well as has her deliver a message to Daniel - a newspaper clipping from Kreese's sentencing with the word "LIAR" written across Stingray, and his new address written underneath the picture. Daniel finds out that the house is bought and paid for by Silver, who has given Stingray an assortment of consolation prizes for playing his part perfectly. Meanwhile, Kreese's attempts to sway his psychiatrist fails, as she sees through his act. She doesn't recommend that the parole board considers his proposal for an early release. Now trapped in his cage longer than he thought, he stops complying with the younger prisoners demands for Jell-O. He stands up to them and partakes in a prison fight, defeating his enemies by himself with ease, as though he were a young man again. He gains respect and fear from the inmates, who call him "sensei" out of both fear and respect. After Silver badly injures Daniel for finding Stingray's new house, Kreese cautions Tory to be patient and keep pressing on with their plans. He doesn't care that Daniel is hurt, even viewing it as a small victory.
A surprise visit from a physically healed Daniel and angry Johnny provides Kreese with an opportunity to leverage his knowledge about Silver's plan in exchange Daniel's help in securing legitimate legal counsel. While Daniel makes the arrangements, Kreese tries to manipulate Johnny by lying that everything he's ever done has been for him, but Johnny isn't interested in his bullshit. He wants to defeat Silver and erase every aspect of Kreese from his life, the valley, and the karate world for good. He wants nothing more from his old sensei and believes he should be in jail, even if the charges don't fit the crimes.
Daniel returns and Kreese explains how he and Silver trained under Kim Sun-Yung in 1980 in South Korea. They had a plan to further their knowledge, with Kreese even showing kindness to Kim's granddaughter by taking the blame for a vase she breaks. After training, Silver tells Kreese he's decided to buy the main Cobra Kai Dojo because he deserves it. He shares his plan to enter in the world karate tournament, The Sekai-Taikai, which will take the teachings of Cobra Kai globally. At the time, Kreese declined the offer as he wanted to focus on his students, including a new student that he thinks could be something special. With his story over and the men aware of Silver's grand plan to enter Cobra Kai in the global tournament, Kreese asks Daniel to uphold his end of the bargain. Daniel slides him a piece of paper that is supposed to have the lawyers number on it. Instead, the words, "NO MERCY MOTHERF***ER!" are scrawled across the paper. Kreese snickers that they don't have a chance to defeat Silver without him.
Kreese meets with Tory again, and the girl tells him that Silver's plan is escalating as she's meant to compete against her nemesis Sam LaRusso tomorrow in front of the Taikai board to determine which dojo will compete in the tournament. She doesn't know what to do now - if she wins Cobra Kai is closer to their goal, but if she loses, she'll miss out on opportunities that could further her future. Kreese tells her to do whatever she needs too, confusing her as she thought their focus was to destroy Silver. He lies that it was never the plan and reveals that he only wanted her in Cobra Kai as a means of fulfilling his revenge against Silver. She storms out of the visitation room and never returns. Kreese has a final session with his therapist where he bears his soul, crying over Johnny and how he has lost him for good. He knows the end is coming and that he'll spend his final days trapped in this cage. She thinks he can make a new life for himself if he chooses, by fighting with his heart and soul instead of his fists. She comforts him as he cries. In a flashback, however, it is revealed that he swiped her key card when she was consoling him.
He seemingly takes her advice and stops his gooney inmate, Gabriel, from starting a fight with another in the lunch line. In response, Gabriel supposedly stabs Kreese several times in the chest. The man falls to the ground, bleeding, as the guards rush over to his still body. They wheel him into the infirmary so the doctor can call time of death. The doctor doesn't find a pulse, but sees something odd in the stab wound, and realizes it is red Jell-O. Kreese lurches up in the bed and incapacitates the guards quickly, beating them up and knocking them out with ease. The doctor begs for Kreese not to do this, and Kreese sneers, asking if he's requesting mercy. He disguises himself as the doctor and walks to the door, escaping the jail.
Season 6[]
While Johnny, Daniel, and the rest of Miyagi-Fang rested during in the aftermath of Silver's arrest and Cobra Kai's defeat, an escaped Kreese travels to Korea to reunite with Kim Da-Eun, Kim's granddaughter who had become a successful karate sensei in her own right, and helped out Silver during his hold over the dojo. Kreese attempts to convince Da-Eun that since Cobra Kai had successfully enlisted in the Sekai-Taikai dojo, they should still fight. However, Da-Eun demonstrates that Master Kim is still alive, and he refuses Kreese's offer. After Kreese points out how Master Kim's students were defeated by Johnny, Kim reconsiders, and offers his blessing should Kreese complete the task of finding a knife Kim used to fend off invaders when he was a little boy. Kreese travels across Korea to find the knife, but when he comes across it, he is bitten by a snake and falls asleep. In his dreams, he fights a young Silver and Johnny, the latter of whom he proclaims as his weakness, and breaks his neck. When he awakes, he takes the knife, but also decapitates the snake, realizing Kim's lesson was about eliminating what stands in the way.
When Kim shows off her new students to Kreese, she specifically points out her top-student, Yoon Do-Jin. However, Kreese takes an interest in Kwon Jae-Sung, a rowdy and egotistical student. When Kwon mocks Kreese, who had been explaining Johnny's loss to Daniel to the students, Kreese forces the whole class into a difficult training exercise, spurring conflict between Kwon and Yoon. When Kwon confronts Kreese about this, Kreese tells him to use his anger as a weapon against the fellow students, leading to Kwon defeating Yoon and taking his spot as the top student. Later that day, Kreese tells the students to use their hate as a weapon.
Later on, he somehow travels back to America and confronts Tory, whom he attempts to convince to return to Cobra Kai, only for her to refuse, having joined Miyagi-Do and believing Kreese abandoned her. Despite Kreese's claim that Miyagi-Do will abandon her, Tory leaves him anyway. However, in the wake of her mother's death, Tory returns to Cobra Kai, and competes alongside Kwon, Yoon and others at the Sekai-Taikai. There, Kreese reunites with Daniel and Johnny, proclaiming, "Let the games begin."
During his time in Barcelona, he encounters Johnny Lawrence and talk about how he'll remind him about Cobra Kai's mantra before Daniel de-escalates. At the first Sekai Taikai event, Cobra Kai struggles and loses to the Iron Dragons led by Sensei Wolf. Though, Cobra Kai managed to win many matches. After the recent tournament event, Daniel confronts Kreese for supposedly kidnapping him and making him miss the event with the latter telling him to take it easy before he lets go.
When he meets with Kim while encountering Daniel and Chozen, they see the long hair thug with a Cobra Kai tattoo being greeted by Sensei Wolf. To the surprise of the four, the man who planned the kidnapping was Terry Silver. He is revealed to be the manager of the Iron Dragons dojo and the thug, Dennis de Guzman, is one of his old associates. Seeing his former best friend for the first time since the latter’s betrayal after the last All Valley, Kreese attempts to kill him only for Kim to intervene and for Terry to leave his bathtub to attend his massage session.
During the next event, when Kreese finds his Eunjangdo dagger missing and finds a gift certificate to the spa, he confronts and punches Silver for supposedly stealing it and demands to know where did he put it. Silver replies that he doesn’t know what Kreese is talking about. Gunther intervenes and Kim takes Kreese away from Silver. Unbeknownst to him, Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen stole the knife to mess with Kreese and Silver’s minds before they managed to put it back in his locker. Cobra Kai is then eliminated after losing a tag-team match to Miyagi-Do. Going to the locker room and seeing that his knife was returned, Kreese declares that nothing is over until he says it’s over.
In revenge for framing him, Kreese intends to use the Eunjangdo knife to kill Silver before Gunther calls all dojos to the main lobby. Cobra Kai learns that they've been reinstated following Tiger Strike's disqualification. Kreese and Kim trains Tory and Kwon at the gym with Kreese telling Tory to focus if she wants to win. However, the semifinals turned into an all-out brawl. Seeing Silver getting away, Kreese goes after him to get his revenge. When he confronts him, he realized that he dropped his knife leading him to fight his former best friend hand to hand. Silver gains the upper hand until Johnny steps in and fights the latter. The fight is halted when Kwon accidentally impaled himself with Kreese’s knife when he tried to kill Iron Dragon student, Axel Kovacevic. Kreese is visibly shocked of what happened to his student.