Was Daniel The Real Bully In The Karate Kid?

Thought Daniel LaRusso was the hero of The Karate Kid as he took on his bullies and emerged victorious with a little help from Mr Miyagi?

Or does it? A new video from YouTube user J. Matthew Turner argues that you’ve been interpreting one of the best high-school movies of all time totally wrong.

Check it out in the video below.

The 1984 coming-of-age-with-karate drama The Karate Kid is a cherished film, and it’s always seemed like a pretty cut-and-dry story with a clear hero and villain – until now. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) arrives in Los Angeles from the east coast and faces the hard task of making new friends. But finally we have solid and well thought-out evidence that Daniel was just a big ol’ bully and Johnny was the victim. In Barney’s eyes, the good guy is teenage Cobra Kai student Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, and he’s defeated by the “scrawny loser from New Jersey who barely even knows karate”.

Plus there’s the fact that Daniel won the big fight with an ILLEGAL MOVE!