He also pledged his support for Hans Gruber, The Terminator, and even the Assistant Principal from The Breakfast Club.

Barney's shift of allegiance would likely be supported by the fact that Johnny often dresses scruffily, now living far from the affluent lifestyle he embodied in The Karate Kid. Away from screens, John can often be found in a park reading mystery and/or fantasy novels, jumping up and down at various music events, or thinking too deeply about Keanu Reeves' career and why Edgar Wright doesn't have an Oscar. A graduate of the University of London, John was raised on a small island by television and movies. Yet Daniel is the one who keeps it going at first, both passively and actively out of misplaced self-righteousness. Cobra Kai is essentially the popular Karate Kid fan fiction Barney Stinson wishes he wrote, having conditioned an entire generation to see Johnny Lawrence as "the real karate kid" years before it became trendy. In Barney's extremely twisted logic, he would likely consider this to be Johnny Lawrence's fall from grace rather than the start of a redemptive path. A graduate of the University of London, John was raised on a small island by television and movies. Since The Karate Kid Part III, Daniel has also become a highly successful businessman. Even after Cobra Kai obeyed instructions to leave Daniel alone, he sought them out in efforts to mock them. The series picked up with Johnny Lawrence still haunted by that defeat, and the direction his life had taken ever since. All the latest gaming news, game reviews and trailers. Cobra Kai's surprise success rests on a crucial, yet weird, fan theory about 1984's The Karate Kid: what if Johnny Lawrence, the iconic '80s movie bully who terrorized Daniel LaRusso in high school, was the good guy? "Suit up" was even one of Barney Stinson's many catchphrases. Though he has made a few more missteps, he has nonetheless demonstrated a commitment to change and redemption. He labeled LaRusso a "monster" that had only won because of "a cheap, illegal head-kick".

However, it was at this point that Barney's recollection took as a turn as he lamented the character being defeated by who he later described as "the scrawny loser from New Jersey who barely even knows karate." A one-stop shop for all things video games.

Though The Karate Kid is an underdog story of a teenager learning martial arts to stand up to his bullies, members of the pro-Johnny fanbase see things a bit differently. Whatever side of the fence one sits on, however, Cobra Kai delved into something that that The Karate Kid never did — Johnny Lawrence's side of things. Those attributes spurred some machiavellian schemes  — such as surreptitiously getting Johnny's rent increased. More: Cobra Kai Theory: Johnny Will Run Miyagi's Dojo In Season 3. Far from being a legend (wait for it)... dary experience, Ted, Robin, Marshall and Lily's party suffers one uncomfortable setback after another, from taking place in a dinky motel to hiring a balloon-contortionist clown and his ex-stripper girlfriend as entertainment. Click the button below to start this article in quick view. When the pair reunited in Cobra Kai season 1, episode 1, "Ace Degenerate," Johnny even stated that Daniel's kick had been illegal. But Johnny, while initially driven by ego, gradually becomes invested in mentoring his students and rejecting Cobra Kai's toxic teachings, a goal upended by John Kreese's return in Season 2.

Supernatural Hypes Death's Big Plan - and a MAJOR Character's Return, The Umbrella Academy Season 3 Reportedly Starts Filming in Early 2021. He has made mistakes, but repeatedly learned and evolved. And, much like Stinson, he gives his first student/surrogate son Miguel a biased reinterpretation of The Karate Kid's story to make himself look like the better man than Daniel. The reveal occurred in How I Met Your Mother season 4, episode 15, "The Stinsons" and was first centered around The Karate Kid.

The fact Daniel has also built the company around his own image would only add to that respect from the equally self-promotional Barney.

During How I Met Your Mother, Barney pledges that Johnny Lawrence is the real Karate Kid — and Cobra Kai proves that he wasn't so crazy after all. However, it's during Barney’s bachelor party episode, "The Bro Mitzvah," that the joke begins to resemble aspects of Cobra Kai.

Barney Stinson's then-bizarre belief that Johnny Lawrence is the real Karate Kid has since been adapted into his antihero comeback story in Cobra Kai. Even after the tragic events of Cobra Kai season 2, Daniel put that grudge above everything — to the point that even his own wife called him out. Cobra Kai has recontextualized Johnny Lawrence as a multifaceted antihero — however, it likely would have had the opposite effect on How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson.

To them, Daniel regularly provoked Johnny's ire and defeated him with a potentially illegal kick in the final round of the All Valley Karate Tournament, making the "bully" sympathetic by comparison. After all, throughout How I Met Your Mother, he was passionate about suits to an obsessive degree. Star Wars: The Mandalorian FINALLY Explains a New Hope Plot Point, The Walking Dead: A Shocking Post-Credits Scene Reveals CRM's Zombie Experiments, The Mandalorian Theory: Moff Gideon Wants Baby Yoda for His Midi-Chlorians, Wolverine: Black, White & Blood Lives Up to Its Sanguine Title, Victor and Nora Shows the Heart of Gotham's Most Tragic Romance, Sweet Tooth: The Return Continues Jeff Lemire's Acclaimed Series, Black Widow: Widow's Sting #1 Is a Lightweight Standalone Tale, X of Swords: Stasis #1 Is a Long-Winded Interlude, Crossover #1 Transcends Its Premise With a Meditation on Superhero Events, Arrow: Stephen Amell Offered to Return for Season 9 if COVID Hurt Arrowverse's Filming Schedule, Supernatural: A HUGE Sacrifice Makes God More Powerful Than Ever, How The Last Kids on Earth Sets Up Season 4, Marvel's Helstrom Takes Aim at The Exorcist - and Horror's Most Enduring Tropes, The Expanse: What Ade Wanted to Tell James Holden ISN'T What You'd Expect, The Walking Dead: A Key Teenager Turns Against the Group, Supernatural Hypes Two-Hour Series Finale with Extended Trailer, First-Ever Walking Dead Holiday Special Set for December on AMC+, What We Do In the Shadows: Nandor Tells a Campfire Story to Recap Season 2, The Simpsons: Every Reference in Guillermo del Toro's Treehouse of Horror Opening, Primal's Latest Episodes Are the Best Halloween Viewing of the Season, Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 2 Premiere Brings Back Some Familiar Faces.