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The Karate Kid franchise has seen a massive resurgence ever since the release of the acclaimed and widely beloved Cobra Kai sequel series, which aired for six seasons from 2018 to 2025. Not long after Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) returned to the public consciousness, a new Karate Kid film, Karate Kid: Legends, was announced to be in the works.
As the latest chapter in a long-running saga, Legends has a number of references to the prior films that eagle-eyed fans can observe. Here are six easter eggs in the film to watch out for.
6. The Miyagi Family’s Drum
This easter egg is a reference to The Karate Kid Part II. That film had Daniel face off in a life-or-death struggle against the ruthless and deadly Chozen Toguchi. Daniel eventually defeated Chozen by utilizing the Drum Technique, parrying Chozen’s punches and unleashing a devastating counterattack.
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Miyagi had trained in this Drum Technique thanks to a two-sided drum he owned as a family heirloom. This drum appears in Karate Kid Legends in a shrine Daniel has dedicated to his late sensei.
5. The Jacket On, Jacket Off Training
Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han was originally introduced in 2010’s The Karate Kid, where he trained Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) in kung-fu. In a call-back to Mr. Miyagi’s own eccentricities in the 1984 original, Han began his training regimen by ordering Dre to take off his jacket, put it on the hanger, and take it off the hanger, over and over again.
In his reappearance in Karate Kid: Legends, Mr. Han has established his own school of Kung-Fu, and continues to train his students, and later the main character Li Fong, in the “Jacket on, jacket off” training style.
4. Everything Is Kung-Fu
Tying into the 2010 “Jacket on, jacket off” training is Mr. Han’s wider philosophy of how the principles of Kung Fu are derived from the things people do in their everyday lives. As he put it, “Kung Fu lives in everything we do. It lives in how we pick up the jacket. How we put on the jacket?”
This scene is given a comedic callback in The Karate Kid Legends, where Mr. Han is bantering with Daniel LaRusso. When it’s revealed that Mr. Miyagi was influenced by the Han family’s techniques, Han says, “Everything is Kung-Fu,” to claim victory in the argument.
3. Tekken 8 Product Placement
Another easter egg in Karate Kid: Legends is some product placement for the 2024 fighting game, Tekken 8. This brand promotion deal is a two-way street, with the Tekken 8 in-game store featuring a DLC costume that is a Karate Kid hoodie, which the characters in the game can equip.
In Karate Kid: Legends, posters for Tekken 8 can be seen when Li Fong and Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley) develop a friendship and tour New York City together. During their journey, eagle-eyed fans can catch sight of a Tekken 8 banner on a building just out of focus. Another Tekken 8 poster later appears when Li and Mia are riding together on the New York subway.
2. Bruce Lee’s One-Inch Punch
Among legendary martial artist Bruce Lee’s most famous moves was the one-inch punch. The iconic actor best known for his roles on The Green Hornet and Enter the Dragon claimed that his one-inch punch could knock out an opponent at close range without the need for any winding up.
This technique is referenced in Karate Kid: Legends, where Li works with Mia’s father, Victor, to help him refine his boxing skills. While the two train with other moves, including the Horse Stance, which was featured in Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master, the one-inch punch gets the most focus.
1. You Can Pick Yourself Up
In 2010’s The Karate Kid, Mr. Han started off as a reclusive mechanic who preferred to keep to himself, only to slowly open up after becoming a mentor to Dre. Like with Mr. Miyagi, Han has a tragic backstory, which gets revealed later in the film.
Han’s family tragically perished in a car accident before the events of the movie. When he opens up about the tragedy to Dre, he says, “Life will knock us down. But we can choose to get back up.”
This line gets a callback in Karate Kid: Legends when Mia’s father, Victor, loses badly in a boxing match. With Mia and Li crestfallen at the news and not taking things well, Mr. Han says, “You can’t control when life knocks you down. But you can control when you get back up.”
All in all, Karate Kid: Legends shows great respect for the enduring legacy of the martial arts franchise, as these easter eggs prove.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
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