Villainous Benchmark Wiki

Terry Silver has been hunted down for the soul to be collected for the following reason(s):
Descriptions of him passing the baseline standards combined with his only one or two redeeming qualities means he could potentially qualify as NPE should he be proposed, given that he only fails the standard to Kim Sun-Yung

Please discuss it on the talk page for this article.


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Now the real pain begins, Danny boy.
~ Terry Silver to Daniel LaRusso; his most famous quote.
You think I'm the only one willing to go with these lengths? Their senseis… broke into my home tonight. MY HOME! Attacked me, UNPROVOKED! But here I am, the only one left standing. They think they're entitled to victory because their way is "right" and our way is "wrong". But that's not how it works. There are no morals to the story, no happy endings! Life isn't a fairytale, it's a competitive sport! Right and wrong, there's no such thing! There are only winners and losers. Cobra Kai builds winners, because we're willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top.
~ Terry Silver's breakdown to his students.
This is how it was always supposed to end, John. You've been fighting your whole life. It's only fitting you go out on your shield. Don't worry. It'll all be over soon. No!
~ Silver's last words to Kreese before their deaths.

Terrance "Terry" Silver is the main antagonist of The Karate Kid franchise.

He is the former partner and best friend of John Kreese, the head of DynaTox Industries, the sponsor of the All Valley Karate Tournament, the arch-nemesis of Daniel LaRusso, and the manager of Iron Dragons Karate.

He is portrayed by Thomas Ian Griffith and his younger self was portrayed by Nick Marini.

His Evil Ranking[]

His Villainous Deeds[]

In General[]

  • While he seemed at first to be a well-intentioned extremist who, similar to Kreese, believed his harsh methods would prepare his students for the real world, it's eventually made clear by his illness reveal that he merely wants to win and have a lasting legacy, or at least is subverted his extremism.
  • Unlike Kreese who is an honorable man who upholds his deals despite his cruel personality, Silver is incredibly dishonest and is willing to go through any lengths to get what he wants, such as bribery.
  • He holds no remorse for deceiving his students and when it becomes clear that none of them wanted to learn from him again, he decided to destroy and drag everyone down with him in Season 6.
  • Though his shock when Kwon died suggested he had some standards, he subverts this by using Kwon’s death as a means to manipulate Günther into continuing the Sekai Taikai, talking about it with apathy.
  • Unlike Kreese, who cared for Kim Da-Eun and his students, Silver subverts any care he might have had for his students or fellow senseis by the time of Season 6.
  • Though he has many comedic moments, such as imitating Bruce Lee's kung fu yell while fighting Mr. Miyagi and the latter mocking the former back after defeating him, hanging up on Kreese since they haven't spoken to each other for thirty-two years and how Cobra Kai went out of business, following Mike Barnes' defeat by Daniel, feeling uncomfortable with Kreese having a conversation with his business people, getting confused by Stingray's enthusiasm and immaturity, telling Dennis de Guzman to watch the deck on his yacht, before realizing that the latter got killed by Kreese, none of them detract from his heinousness and his actions are played completely seriously.
  • While he had a tragedy of being a scared and timid teenager during the Vietnam War against Vietcong, Silver has shown that he could've chosen to live a luxurious life considering he could've chosen to not follow Kreese in his footsteps, but still did it anyway, showing that it's ultimately Silver's choice to be a villain.

The Karate Kid III[]

  • While leading the DynaTox Industries company, he illegally ordered to dump chloride sludge on the island of Borneo.
  • He tried to propose bribes to the judge on his company case acts, even forced his personal secretary on take care of that.
  • He made it his mission to make Daniel LaRusso suffer because he "stole" the tournament from John Kreese.
  • He recruited Mike Barnes to make Daniel suffer.
  • He disguised himself as a polite and presentable man who wants to right Kreese's wrongs and talks about Kreese's "death" to make LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi believe he is a good man and to feel sympathy for Kreese's "death".
  • He used Barnes to make LaRusso to sign the contract to enter the tournament by threatening to destroy Mr. Miyagi's bonsai tree.
  • He convinced Daniel to enter the Cobra Kai Dojo because Mr. Miyagi refused as he saw fighting not good and would just further Daniel's aggression in which he was right about that as Daniel became aggressive with more fighting skills and techniques from Cobra Kai.
  • He taught the Quicksilver method to Daniel to make him become violent which only happened temporarily.
  • At the All-Valley Tournament, he pretends to be a philanthropist out to save the kids by saying he will give back to the San Fernando Valley but in reality, he was the new CEO of DynaTox Industries replacing his father. This industry poured toxic waste in Borneo, Indonesia and was planning to do this all over the world.
  • He fought against Mr. Miyagi in the original Cobra Kai Dojo along with Kreese.
  • In the middle of Daniel's fight against Barnes in the tournament, he tells Daniel that "the real pain begins". He was also laughing sadistically when Barnes was harming LaRusso before his fight with Mr. Miyagi and during the tournament.
  • When Daniel LaRusso wins against Mike Barnes, Terry left in disgust.

Cobra Kai[]

Season 4[]
  • Although it seemed like he had redeemed himself after the 80s, he never gave up the one thing he craved for, which was power and money. Furthermore, he later tells Kreese that he was just living a lie and lost who he was along the way.
  • He gave Shannon Keene, Johnny Lawrence's ex-girlfriend and mother of his son Robby Keene, money to recruit her to his side so he can leave Johnny with no way to be able to reconcile with Robby Keene (though he eventually did).
  • He told Johnny Lawrence to visit the original Cobra Kai Dojo to attack him while he wasn't looking, which left Johnny in a very injured state.
  • Before the tournament, he beats Stingray nearly to death so he can blame Kreese as the aggressor to take over Cobra Kai in exchange for Stingray being able to join the dojo again.
  • He paid the referee to put Tory Nichols in advantage over Samantha LaRusso and Devon Lee. In Sam's case, the referee said that she was "out of bounds" and that was the event that caused Tory's "win". In Devon's case, he also paid the referee to put the win in Tory's advantage by also calling "out of bounds".
  • Once Terry asked Kreese about his weakness, the police arrive to take Kreese to jail, which became a success for Terry as he was able to temporarily take full power of Cobra Kai.
    • He also stops being grateful for Kreese saving his life during the Vietnam War, calls it a "weakness", and from this moment on, he turns his back on his former friend and stops caring for him, to the point of attempting to kill him.
Season 5[]
  • He began to expand Cobra Kai across the valley to bring in more students to continue his plans of making Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang disappear for good.
  • He enlisted Kim Da-Eun and her right-hand men to join Cobra Kai as senseis.
  • He took over other dojos, such as Topanga Karate Dojo.
  • Once he found out that Daniel had Mike Barnes contact his own attorney, he, through his old buddy Dennis, burned down Mike's furniture store, leaving him and his wife Michelle broke and had them temporarily separated.
    • It is also implied that Mike's employees were in the store and got burned to death.
  • He ran a charity event once he found out Daniel and Amanda LaRusso were to join so he can manipulate the events to make himself look as a victim in front of everyone and to drive a wedge in the marriage of Daniel and Amanda, which he temporarily succeeded.
  • He confronts Daniel when he tried to turn Stingray against him by attacking him, which left him incredibly injured.
    • He also tells Daniel that the only reason he left him alive was because he wanted him to suffer more and more.
    • This made Daniel temporarily stop with karate until his family, friends and students convinced him to come back.
  • He taught Kenny Payne the Silver Bullet, which temporarily cuts off an opponent's air to their lungs, to use it against Eli Moskowitz in the Sekai Taikai evaluations.
  • He paid another referee to put Kenny Payne's win in favor against Eli and Kenny used this to his advantage by using the Silver bullet to strike Eli's chest, which left him temporarily injured.
  • In the next fight, he bribed the referee again in an attempt to put it in Devon's favor, but fortunately Devon lost the fight against Sam LaRusso.
  • He did nothing against Kim's request for Tory to break solid stone, which left her hand broken and bleeding.
  • He enlists his new right-hand men to kill Mike Barnes and Johnny Lawrence, with them nearly succeeding.
  • He later fought to the death against Chozen Toguchi and almost killed him by slashing his chest and his back, which led Chozen to be hospitalized.
  • When Terry was exposed by Tory and Miyagi-Fang to Terry's students, he arrogantly stated that it would not change a thing but he was proven wrong because all of his students abandoned him for his lack of morality.
  • When Terry stated that he kicked Daniel's ass, he tried to beat up LaRusso again but was easily beaten by him.
    • At the end of the fight, Silver grabs the biggest, heaviest trophy from the broken case clearly intending to bludgeon Daniel to death with it.
  • His actions were so cruel and vindictive that all of his students at Cobra Kai quit after the fight and they all threw their shirts at him.
Season 6[]
  • He made his lawyer get the judge to throw away his case to avoid prison.
  • His actions of earning Cobra Kai a spot at the Sekai Taikai to share Master Kim's teachings with the world was ultimately taken and continued by Kreese, making him indirectly responsible for what Kreese did with his South Korean students.
  • He recruited Feng Xiao/Sensei Wolf so that his dojo Iron Dragons Karate could publicly humiliate both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai in front of the whole world at the Sekai Taikai.
    • Because of this, he seems to have lost concern for his students, with many of them having already moved on to Miyagi-do and some remaining in Kreese's Cobra Kai, were the ones he wanted to humiliate and perhaps even harm through the students of Iron Dragons.
    • This also means Silver has moved past being a well-intentioned extremist and instead only cares about revenge, something he himself previously claimed wasn't part of the dojo's philosophy.
  • He had Dennis kidnap Daniel while he was investigating Mr. Miyagi's past, putting him in a dog cage to keep him away from the tournament.
  • He tried to recruit Kenny back by offering him a spot at Iron Dragons and while he seems to care about him, he undermines it when Kenny flips him off and stays in Miyagi-Do.
  • He found out that Mr. Miyagi killed his opponent the year he participated in the Sekai Taikai, handing this information over to Daniel to throw him off his game.
  • He tried to kill Kreese after he caught him trying to escape during the big brawl at the Sekai Taikai.
  • While he was slightly shocked by Kwon Jae-Sung's death, he quickly got over it given his disregard of the event when manipulating Günther into putting the tournament on again.
  • He tricked Johnny into getting in his car and kept him hostage while recklessly driving to convince him to make Daniel re-consider entering the tournament.
  • He shows no care for the beatings Sensei Wolf inflicts on his students like Axel.
  • He and Wolf made Axel break Robby's knee during their fight at the Sekai Takai to prevent him from winning.
  • During Axel's fight with Miguel Diaz, Silver and Wolf also tried to make Axel break Miguel's spine that was injured a few years ago.
  • Despite being given a last chance to win the Sekai Takai with a final fight between Sensei Wolf and Johnny Lawrence, Silver orders Dennis to go after Johnny's baby daughter Lauren and his wife Carmen, who is also Miguel's mother, to threaten him into losing.
  • After realizing Kreese infiltrated his yacht to stop him, Silver engages in a final fight with his former best friend and tries to stab him with a broken bottle before Kreese finally kills them both by blowing up the yacht.

Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]

  • Although he easily passes the baseline due to his personal villainy and high attempted kill count, he ultimately fails the heinous standard compared to Kim Sun-Yung, who taught his students how to kill people and moulded Kwon Jae-Sung into a vicious bully with less resources as a normal sensei, whereas Terry is the CEO of a large company and even managed to briefly take over the San Fernando Valley, giving him the potential to do worse.
  • While he subverted most of his redeeming qualities by the end of Season 6, his tragedy during the Vietnam War and insecurities are still occasionally played for sympathy, as he would use an aggressive front to hide his insecurities in his later years. This also applies to how he was a hero and opened up Cobra Kai with Kreese because he wanted to teach students to get rid of their fears to not be who he used to be.
  • He is later revealed to be suffering from another tragedy of having a terminal illness, leaving him with only six months to live, making him desperate to get some form of win or legacy. This explains his actions over winning the Sekai Takai and his previous attempt at training his students in Cobra Kai. While it doesn't justify his crimes, it is played for sympathy.
  • He was a genuine friend to Ponytail and honored his death by wearing a ponytail. Even after so many years and becoming eviler and more unhinged, he still maintained the ponytail to represent his friendship with him.

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