While it is exciting that Jackie Chan is returning to the Karate Kid franchise in the new movie, it is hard not to wonder how this crossover is possible. Even before Netflix had confirmed that Cobra Kai season 6 would be the series’ last, Sony had announced its new Karate Kid movie. However, since the movie was speculated to be a Karate Kid reboot, audiences were not expecting it to have any significant connections with Cobra Kai or the original Karate Kid movies.
Surprisingly, the new Karate Kid movie, which will be the sixth film in the franchise, will have both Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan as its leading characters. The fact that the two actors starred in two different Karate Kid movies and have never shared the screen before raises the anticipation surrounding the new movie. At the same time, it also raises one’s curiosity surrounding one intriguing question: How exactly is Jackie Chan returning to the Karate Kid franchise?
Jackie Chan Is Not Playing Himself In The Karate Kid Movie
Jackie Chan is reprising his original Karate Kid role
In its initial seasons, Cobra Kai dropped a few references to Jackie Chan, confirming that he was an actor in the show’s universe. This revelation also confirmed that the 2010 Karate Kid remake movie, in which Jackie Chan portrays Mr. Han, is not canon to Cobra Kai‘s overarching storyline. However, the fact that Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are now joining forces in the new Karate Kid movie seems to contradict the lore set by Cobra Kai because Jackie Chan will not be starring as himself in the film. Instead, he will be playing his original character from the Karate Kid remake, Mr. Han.
Since Jackie Chan is not playing himself in the new movie, the franchise is seemingly retconning the early story elements from Cobra Kai that suggested Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han and Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker teamed up for the 2010 Kung Fu tournament in a different universe. Considering how Jackie Chan’s involvement already complicates the Miyagi-verse timeline, the movie’s creators will likely have a hard time explaining how the show and the 2010 movie intersect. One way to seamlessly retcon this new narrative direction into the Cobra Kai universe would be by establishing that Mr. Han only looks like Jackie Chan, but the real Jackie Chan is someone else.
How 2010’s The Karate Kid Connects To The Original Movies & Cobra Kai
2010’s The Karate Kid connections to the original movies and Cobra Kai have become even more complex
By connecting the original Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai with the 2010 remake, the new Karate Kid movie is breaking canon. Since the new Karate Kid has only confirmed Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio as its primary cast members, their respective characters, Mr. Han and Daniel LaRusso, are the only connective threads between the two universes. Despite being one of the primary driving forces in Cobra Kai, Johnny Lawrence, too, has not been confirmed as a cast member in the new Karate Kid movie, which only leaves Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han as the bridge between the universes.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues with this connection between the two universes is that it does not make sense for Daniel LaRusso to leave his family behind and move to China to work with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han. Since Mr. Han was portrayed as a simple maintenance man in 2010’s The Karate Kid, Karate Kid 6 will have to give him a logical reason to move all the way to the United States to be Daniel’s ally or enemy. The fact that Cobra Kai season 6 and Karate Kid 6 are likely to premiere around the same time in 2024 further complicates the franchise’s timeline, making it impossible not to ponder how their characters will cross over.
Why The New Karate Kid Movie Is Retconning The Franchise For Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan’s involvement can immensely benefit the franchise
The first original Karate Kid movie was one of Hollywood’s biggest sleeper hits when it first premiered in 1984. Although the second Karate Kid movie could not match the first one’s success and acclaim, it offered audiences something new by changing the movie series’ setting to Okinawa and delving deeper into the origins of Mr. Miyagi’s karate style. Unfortunately, even though its sequels, The Karate Kid Part III and The Next Karate Kid, tried reinventing the first film’s formula by introducing new protagonists and villains, they failed to sustain the franchise’s success. For similar reasons, 2010’s The Karate Kid was also criticized when it first premiered.
However, Cobra Kai succeeded when almost all Karate Kid movie sequels failed because it found a strong hook to get old followers of the franchise invested again. At the same time, it also modernized the original movie’s setting to reel new viewers in. Since Cobra Kai has already explored all the ways in which Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence’s rivalry could revive the franchise, the new Karate Kid movie could not have gone down a similar narrative avenue. Therefore, it is retconning the overarching storyline of the franchise to introduce Jackie Chan, which will likely pique the interest of audiences all over again.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Sets Up How Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han Returns
Cobra Kai already has the perfect set up for Jackie Chan’s franchise return
As confusing as the Miyagi-verse timeline may seem after Jackie Chan’s introduction, there is one way the franchise can still seamlessly transition from Cobra Kai to Karate Kid 6 and solve all continuity issues. Cobra Kai season 5 introduced the Sekai Taikai international tournament, where students from Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso’s Miyagi Do dojo will compete against martial arts experts from across the globe in season 6. This would be the perfect opportunity to reinstate Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han in the franchise by introducing him and his team of fighters as Daniel and Johnny’s competitors. If not a competitor, Mr. Han could be a judge at the tournament.
Since Cobra Kai season 5 did not establish any fixed rules for the Sekai Taikai tournament, it could be a competition where individuals from different martial arts backgrounds come together to compete. Owing to this, even Mr. Han’s Kung Fu students will have a place in the Cobra Kai season 6 tournament, putting Han and his team in Daniel and Johnny’s crosshairs. After crossing paths in Sekai Taikai, Daniel and Han can together continue their journey as sensies in the new Karate Kid movie.
