Cobra Kai Season 5: Lesser-known facts about John Kreese

Cobra Kai features good diversity in terms of its characters, who have well-written backstories and sensible arcs.

While most of the characters aren't limited to the restraints of good and bad, John Kreese is dominantly negative. His extremely high passion for Karate takes him a little over the edge and makes him a scarily unpredictable character.

Despite his negative motives being questioned in Cobra Kai, his pretense to have changed turns out to be a farce. Most of the characters are victims of his manipulative behavior and end up giving him exactly what he wants after falling prey to his ulterior motives.

The character is expected to further develop in the fifth season of Cobra Kai that will be released on Netflix on September 9, 2022.

Things you probably didn't know about Cobra Kai's John Kreese

1) His teaching methods are fairly questionable

During his career as a Karate trainer, Kreese trained Daniel LaRusso and Johnny, who went on to become pivotal characters in The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. Although he is an important teacher in the story, the methods Kreese adopts to push his students towards perfection are fairly questionable, to say the least.

He emotionally abuses his students and demands the absolute best from them by lowering their self-esteem. Kreese probably owes this mentality to his military background. Having spent a fair amount of his life in the military, he develops an attitude of having to achieve perfection through extreme means.

Most of the negative shades he portrays are also a reflection of his stubborn nature and disregard for others.

2) He manipulated Johnny for a very long time

Kreese initially found Johnny in a vulnerable position. Johnny, a young, impulsive boy stuck in an emotionally restraining situation, seeks help from Kreese who promises to train him.

Kreese's promise consumes Johnny and he invests himself in training, believing in Kreese completely. However, Kreese takes an unfair advantage of this, instead of leading Johnny the right way.

He mobilizes the emotions Johnny invests in him and thrashes him terribly for his failure. When he manages to win the trophy for second-place, Kreese even breaks it, justifying himself by saying that he expected much more from Johnny.

He also mentions that his hopes of making Johnny one of the best fighters out there were pretty high. Johnny's harsh game is also part of what Kreese passed on to him.

3) He manipulated Terry back into his past

While serving with the military, Kreese meets a fellow fighter named Terry Silver. The two develop a strong bond and spend most of their time in the military together.

However, the two go through some traumatic situations at war, having to watch their friends die, be tortured and executed. Terry Silver, after the war, manages to move past it and live a new life.

When Kreese becomes Daniel's ally, he wishes for Terry to join him. A reluctant Terry refuses and Kreese ends up manipulating him emotionally like he always does to everyone.

He brings back painful memories from the war that Terry bravely moved past and blackmails him into joining forces with him. While this briefly works, Terry eventually recognizes Kreese's motives.

4) He had an emotionally unstable mother

Johnny, Kreese and Daniel (Image via IMDB)

A lot of Kreese's unstable behavior can be attributed to his upbringing. He was raised by a mentally ill mother, who struggled to keep up in terms of being a parent.

Her behavior also caused Kreese to be bullied and harassed in school, owing to the stigma around her illness. Kreese spends most of his childhood trying to adapt to her behavior.

During his late adolescence, his mother dies by s****de, scarring him further and making his life financially unstable. His situation forces him to start working very early on in life, after which he adopts an extremely harsh attitude towards life.

This attitude further reflects in his behavior towards his students and everyone else in his life.

5) Chuck Norris was almost cast for the role

Kreese's complicated character is passionately carried out by Martin Kove, who plays the role with utmost conviction.

Although it is very difficult to think of anyone else in Kreese's role in Cobra Kai, rumors suggest that Chuck Norris was initially offered the role. Norris, however, is rumored to have turned down the role because of the unfavorable depiction of martial arts.

Kove has been vocal about Kreese's portrayal and thinks of the character as deeply troubled rather than blatantly evil. The show never boxes anyone into the category of a villain.

However, Cobra Kai doesn't refrain from showing characters in just they way they are either. This conviction from the makers and the actor, make Kreese one of the most raw characters on television.

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Cobra Kai is a show that plays a sequel to the extremely popular film series The Karate Kid. The popularity of the film franchise, combined with some good writing and performances in the new show, make Cobra Kai a popular and widely loved show.

The fifth season of Cobra Kai will be released on September 9, 2022.