Karate Kid: Legends' cast will include newcomers to the franchise, including Ben Wang as the titular young fighter, Macchio and Chan are undoubtedly the selling points of the legacy sequel that ties together the arcs of Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han.

Karate Kid: Legends comes as the next step in the franchise after the connections between Karate Kid: Legends and Cobra Kai are expected to be minimal. While Macchio has been a mainstay of Cobra Kai since its inception, the new film is rumored to take place three years after the TV show. This will allow Karate Kid: Legends to stand on its own in many ways, with none being more important than the film avoiding an element that is closely associated with Cobra Kai.

Karate Kid: Legends’ Tone Is Completely Different From Cobra Kai

The Self-Aware Tone Is Long Gone

The element in question is Karate Kid: Legends' tone. As evident by the Cobra Kai's characters, the show certainly does not strike a tone that many would consider serious.

Where Karate Kid: Legends is concerned though, it seems that this tone from Cobra Kai has been removed. The trailer for the film was surprising to many in that it seemed a lot more serious than Cobra Kai does, in a way that is reminiscent of both 1984's and 2010's The Karate Kid. The action seems grounded, the plot seems more understated than a global karate war, and the intensity of the relationships between Karate Kid: Legends' main characters seem versed in much more realism than the melodrama associated with Cobra Kai.

Karate Kid: Legends Emulating Cobra Kai’s Tone Would’ve Been Its Ruin

The Movie Was Wise To Avoid The Overall Feel Of Cobra Kai

Despite Cobra Kai being reviewed incredibly well across all six of its seasons, Karate Kid: Legends did the right thing in avoiding Cobra Kai's tone. For one, the tone of Cobra Kai is what makes the show what it is. The silliness of the show may receive some criticism, but without the self-referential, almost aloof way the show treats its plot points, it likely would not have made it past the first season. Therefore, Karate Kid: Legends avoiding this same tone sets it apart from Cobra Kai, all while being set in the same, interconnected universe.

Karate Kid: Legends feeling as serious as it does is a major positive for many, proving that copying Cobra Kai's humorous tone would not have worked...

Moreover, if Karate Kid: Legends had copied Cobra Kai's tone completely, one could argue that it would proven to be the film's downfall. Feature films in the Karate Kid universe have proven the be inherently more serious than Cobra Kai, especially 2010's The Karate Kid. Merging one of the main characters from that film with Macchio's Daniel LaRusso only with a much less serious tone would have robbed the film of its narrative impact. Karate Kid: Legends feeling as serious as it does is a major positive for many, proving that copying Cobra Kai's humorous tone would not have worked.

Karate Kid: Legends Will Still Have To Deal With Cobra Kai Comparisons

Regardless of Karate Kid: Legends' tonal differences from Cobra Kai, the former will undoubtedly still be faced with comparisons to the latter. By being set in the same universe as Cobra Kai, audiences familiar with both will subconsciously compare Karate Kid: Legends with the spin-off show. Be it the fight sequences, the choreography, the aforementioned tone, or how it handles the student-teacher relationship that is so prevalent in the Karate Kid franchise, Legends cannot escape the Cobra Kai links.

As such, it is up to the filmmakers to differentiate Legends as best as they can. By telling a new story with new and familiar characters, the film can stand apart from what has come before it. The fight choreography shown in the trailer already looks mightily impressive, hinting that Karate Kid: Legends may overcome that specific comparison to Cobra Kai. If it can provide compelling character arcs that have not been seen before in the franchise and a strong story, all while avoiding Cobra Kai's meta tone, Karate Kid: Legends can stand alone as another branch of the Karate Kid tree.