| “ | It's a waste of time. Just go straight for head. No head, no fight. | „ |
| ~ Kwon dismissing Sensei Kim's lesson. |
| “ | How would you say in American? Lucky bastard. What happened in match yesterday will never happen again. | „ |
| ~ Kwon threatening Robby |
Kwon Jae-Sung, better known as simply Kwon, is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Sensei Wolf) in Season 6 of the 2018 YouTube Red/Netflix series Cobra Kai.
He was the arch-rival of Robby Keene. He is one of the students of Kim Da-Eun, who becomes the male captain of the Cobra Kai team for the Sekai Taikai. He is distinguished by his reckless, ruthless, and psychotic behavior.
He is portrayed by Brandon H. Lee.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
In General[]
- Kwon adopts and intensifies Kreese’s ruthless philosophy, fully embracing his dark side and willing to use lethal force, as seen when he laughs maniacally and attempts to use Kreese’s knife during the Sekai Taikai brawl unlike other students who eventually rejected Kreese's influence.
- He is notable for his lack of remorse, redeeming qualities or sympathetic moments, remaining unredeemed by the series' end which sets him apart from the show's past teenage villains. While he is tragic due to his accidental/graphic death and the reveal he was an orphan, this does little to subvert this. It only humanizes him briefly but doesn't justify his actions.
- Although he occasionally has comedic moments due to his dark humour and sarcasm (his literal response about beating opponents with heart, his snide comment about Americans being great, mocking Robby and Tory's relationship),he is still taken seriously and is a major threat in the Sekai Taikai.
- His relationship with Tory(as Cobra Kai's co-captains) is transactional, and while he collaborates and flirts with her, he still uses her to gain psychological advantage over Robby.
- Kwon's influence pushes Yoon toward greater ruthlessness, a shift that persists even after Kwon’s death, as Yoon is later ordered to use a forbidden, potentially lethal technique on their classmates.
- While Yoon has a family legacy and learned a deadly, fatal move and Zara has more resources due to her social media influence and the Iron Dragons being backed by Silver, Kwon is more lethal given his superior combat skills, thrill-seeking and psychological manipulation. He is far more heinous than not just them, but all the previous teenage antagonists in the series. .
Cobra Kai[]
Season 6[]
- Even before he was influenced and manipulated by Kreese, he was arrogant and rebellious. Despite his skills, he was disliked by the other students in the South Korean dojo, for these two traits. Kim Da Eun tells Kreese that Kwon has always been a troublemaker and calls his rebelliousness a distraction.
- While training in the dojo, he developed a rivalry with Yoon Do-Jin, the dojo's previous top student .
- Not following the ultimate defense breaker technique that Da-Eun tells her students to master, Kwon instead made the board holder raise it, performing a 540 spinning hook kick or a cheat 720 hook kick, snapping the wood in half. While adaptable, it showed disregard for instructions and even told his sensei, Kim Da-Eun it was "a waste of time!" and to go straight for the head since it ends a fight quicker. Since he didn't listen, he was told to clean her grandfather's toilet as punishment.
- When Kreese asked the class how to beat opponents with heart and Yoon suggests having heart yourself, Kwon responds with killing their heart with a strong kick to the ribs. While comedic due to the literal sarcasm and shows combat pragmatism, he still spoke out of line and this led to him, Yoon and their classmates being punished by Kreese.
- After Yoon calls out his behaviour, he is unfazed telling him if he wants his respect he should earn it and insists he has nothing to learn from him. Despite Yoon knocking him down stairs, it doesn't make him sympathetic due to his attitude.
- Tells Yoon in Korean, that he has had enough of him and while he is formidable due to him always doing what he is told, this also makes him predictable. While valid given Yoon's obedience and fighting style, it was still said to provoke him. He also calls him a "teacher's pet"
- Usurps Yoon, by besting him combat after Kreese tells him to take his anger and give it purpose. This lead to him becoming Cobra Kai's male Sekai Taikai captain.
- When he and Yoon met the Miyagi Do team in the hotel lobby in Barcelona, despite claiming to hear about them and not understanding why ,he adds that they "do not look like much".
- During the aquarium high kick contest, Kwon boasts about his superior kicking skills and, along with Yoon, taunts the Miyagi-Do students into joining the competition. He also mocks American exceptionalism by sarcastically saying, "Everyone knows America is best at everything," while leading a USA chant with other competitors.
- After Yoon taunts Eli by asking him if he's really the best his dojo has to offer and Eli says he's tough enough to "kick his punk ass", Kwon reminds Eli that he is not even captain. While this is true, it was said in a dismissive tone.
- When Robby, Miguel, Eli and Demetri leave the aquarium, he provokes Robby by accusing him of walking away from challenges and bringing up the fact his girlfriend, Tory is now on Kwon and Yoon's team.
- Goads Robby into a bet during the kicking contest with the terms being they get the other person's room, which Kwon wins.
- He falsely reassures Robby and his teammates after winning the kicking contest not to worry because he'll "leave their bags in the hall".
- In the Captain's War event, he suggest taking Miyagi Do first since they're the weakest and impatiently tells Tory, his teammate and co-captain to be quiet when she mentions how Miyagi Do will use protect the egg given her history with them and says she should stay out of the way and not fall down.
- Fights against the Miyagi-Do students and knocks down Demetri with a kick to the chest, quickly eliminating him. He also fights Miguel, Eli and Robby, and when facing the latter he mocks Robby asking if he slept okay.
- After defeating Robby, Kwon boasts that beating him and his dojo was "too easy" though he, Tory and Yoon are later defeated by the Iron Dragons captains' Axel and Zara.
- At the tapas bar, Kwon deliberately flirts with Tory and makes inappropriate comments to provoke Robby, including insinuations about her relationship. Although Tory rebuffs him, Kwon dismisses her objections as "just being friendly," minimizing his harassment.
- After Tory leaves the bar, Kwon approached Robby and made a perverted comment, falsely reassuring him not to worry and that he'll keep Tory "warm tonight" which provokes Robby. He dares Robby into fighting him and brags about "kicking his ass on the mat again". He also insinuates Tory is waiting for him before leaving. His actions contribute to Robby’s emotional distress, indirectly leading to Robby’s vulnerable encounter with Zara, which further disrupts Miyagi-Do’s dynamics.
- Ambushes Sam and Axel in the alleyway in Barcelona with Yoon and the two are notably drunk while approaching them. When Sam demands that he move aside and leave them alone, he lies saying he'll do so if she "says please" before daring her to fight him and threatens to take her and Axel after the latter two defeat his friends. Though Yoon tells him to leave, it was only so they wouldn't get arrested.
- Kwon manipulates Robby by fuelling false rumours about Tory, exploiting their relationship issues for his amusement and psychological advantage during the tournament. After Robby and Tory fought in the tag team match and Sam was tagged in by Robby, he casually refers to the former two's conflict as a "lovers quarrel"
- Fights against Sam, Miguel and Robby during the tag team elimination round between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai.
- After scoring a point on and winning against Sam, he gives her the middle finger twice.
- During his fight with Miguel he calls him "number two". While this is due to Sam and Robby being Miyagi-Do's team captains and Miguel also being a skilled fighter (since Miguel helped save Miyagi Do from elimination and showed leadership) he said this to psych him out and later defeats him.
- Was gleeful to fight Robby in their rematch saying "It's about time", wanting to humiliate him even worse than before, though Robby gains the upper hand and defeats him. During their fight, Kwon also refuses to tag in his teammates after already defeating Sam and Miguel. When Robby pushes him too far, he slams the mat enraged before the two rushed at each other,
- After losing to Robby and when they met again in the hotel lobby, he calls him a lucky bastard and threatens him stating what happened in their rematch yesterday would never happen again, showing he's not only vengeful but a sore loser.
- When Robby leaves, won insults him in Korean and blames him for “stealing” his semifinal spot, refusing to accept responsibility for his defeat—even when Tory corrects him by reminding him it's his fault Robby beat him, which angers him. When Tory blames him for costing her spot, he snidely asks what she planned to do with it. He then cruelly taunts Tory about her likely loss to Zara and references Robby’s past hookup with Zara, clearly aiming to hurt and emotionally manipulate her.
- Dominates Furia Da Pantera's male captain Diego in his semis match defeating him with a kick that knocked him out and advancing Cobra Kai to the finals, given the score was 27-2. After seeing the scoreboard at the match, he silently bragged to Miguel, Robby, Eli and Demetri before he high fives Yoon.
- During Robby and Axel's semis match after Axel shoves Robby into the Cobra Kai area, Kwon takes advantage of this and cheap shots Robby by elbowing him in the ribs which escalates the tension in the arena.
- When Robby confronts Kwon for the cheap shot, calls him a bitch and dares him to try it again, he shows no remorse and arrogantly tells Robby to hit him.
- Although the Tiger Strike dojo caused the Sekai Taikai brawl because their male sensei Ivanov assaulted Gunther in retaliation for their disqualification over PEDs, he still actively participates in the all out brawl.
- Kwon and Yoon team up against Robby in the brawl and Kwon viciously beats up Robby for causing his previous defeat, stating it's for last time though Robby overpowers both of them.
- After attacking several rivals, he targets Robby again, yells his last name and assaults him. When Sam intervenes, he kicks her aside, provoking Axel to retaliate.
- When Axel overpowers and kicks him into the camera, this sends him into a homicidal rage causing him to lose any sanity he may have had.
- Laughs maniacally when he sees the eunjangdo(Kreese’s lost knife), hides it, and attempts to use it on Axel, which could have endangered or killed multiple other competitors (except his teammates and all the Sekai Taikai officials/senseis).
- Though his death was graphic and shocking, the narrative offers little sympathy due to his consistently egotistical and violent behaviour.
- While he's revealed to be an orphan, this is mentioned before his funeral and barely makes him sympathetic since this was never explored prior.
- He can be considered the posthumous overarching villain of the final part of S6 as the first 3 episodes focus on the fallout after his death.His death nearly led to the Sekai Taikai being cancelled for good until Silver convinced Gunther to resume it, left Johnny, Daniel and the others who witnessed it still reeling, caused Kim Sung Yung to seek vengeance after his funeral, Kreese to redeem himself and make amends for his past actions and Kim Da Eun to kill her grandfather and reform her dojo and Miguel succeeding him as Cobra Kai's male captain in the finals after Kreese returns Cobra Kai to Johnny.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- Though he passes the baseline due to his personal villainy towards Robby and his attempted mass murder in the Sekai Taikai brawl—making him the darkest teenage villain in the show—he fails the franchise's heinous standards set by Kreese and Silver, whose actions had a greater impact on Robby and the overall narrative. Their influence further corrupted Robby after his time in juvie and turned him against the people he cared about.
- He also fails to Sensei Wolf as Wolf is more evil, ruthless, resourceful and dangerous, given his alliance with Silver, superior combat skill as a sensei/three-time world champion, and having Silver’s financial backing/his own signature lethal karate technique(the Shaolin Sunset; which he used to murder his opponent in a cage fight and attempted on Johnny in the final round of the sensei tiebreaker).Wolf also abused Axel and ordered him to break Robby's leg in their semifinal rematch and cripple Miguel a second time in the boys final- the latter could have ended Miguel's karate career or even killed him since he had already been temporarily paralyzed and suffered a near-fatal spinal injury. Wolf even broke one of his students' arms to prove a point and is the show's final villain.
- During the Sekai Taikai in Barcelona, he is loyal and respectful to Kim Da Eun and Kreese. Although she told Kreese about his defiance earlier, Kwon's loyalty to them was never subverted but didn't detract from his overall heinousness.
- His death was played for sympathy and painted him as a scapegoat due to being accidentally stabbed in the heart with a knife. It's also tragic as he was still a teenager and didn't deserve to die. After the Sekai Taikai brawl, everyone including his rivals is horrified by it with Gunther even demanding the feed to be cut twice. Prior to his funeral, he is revealed to be an orphan and is later given a moment of silence, but these happen briefly.
- His camaraderie with Yoon is genuine(shown by their teamwork at the Sekai Taikai, celebrations when Cobra Kai is let back into the tournament and Yoon’s grief at Kwon’s funeral—underscored by Kim Da Eun’s remark that the South Korean dojo was Kwon’s only family) but his relationship with Tory is largely strategic as he manipulates her to get to Robby. Despite this, his death still affects Tory, who eventually goes on to defeat to Zara in the Sekai Taikai girls' final.
Trivia[]
- Brandon H. Lee is actually a martial artist in real life too, known to win tournaments and competitions a lot, meaning his character was probably trained and more experienced before the events of Cobra Kai began.
- Kwon can be considered the most dangerous fighter at the Sekai Taikai, as while the other competitors were all very aggressive, Kwon was the only one who proved to be lethal and completely merciless, as he had murderous intentions for Axel. If he had succeeded in using it on Axel, he likely would've gone for Robby next or other competitors. If this happened it would've made him worse.
- Kwon, Yoon and Zara are the only teenage antagonists in Cobra Kai to be Villainous Benchmarks. They are also the only three who aren't redeemed at the end of the show
External Links[]
- Kwon Jae-Sung on the Villains Wiki
- Kwon Jae-Sung on the Karate Kid Wiki
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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