- “It's payback time, Rhea.”
- ―Kyler to Miguel Diaz at the house fight.
Kyler Park is the central antagonist of the YouTube Red/Netflix series Cobra Kai.
He is a rude and sadistic rich bully who used to harass Miguel Diaz, Eli Moskowitz, and Demetri Alexopoulos, before the former two join Cobra Kai. Kyler is quickly defeated and humiliated by Miguel after his training from Cobra Kai with Johnny Lawrence and stops bullying him.
However, after Diaz is hospitalized in a school brawl, Kyler is invited to join Cobra Kai by John Kreese, the dojo's original and ruthless founder, and with his fighting skills mixed with Karate, he becomes one of the strongest students in Cobra Kai. Kyler left Cobra Kai along with other students after discovering Silver's true nature.
He is portrayed by Joe Seo in the original series and voiced by Joe Passaro in the video game Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues.
History[]
Roles[]
He is the main antagonist of the Season 1, and a supporting antagonist in Season 3 and recurring Season 4 and 5.
Season 1[]
One night, when Kyler and his friends try to buy beer at a mall, they are exposed by Miguel Diaz for being underage. This angers Kyler and his gang, who bully Miguel outside the store, spilling his Pepto Bismal he bought for his grandmother on his head calling him "Rhea", with Kyler pushing him into Johnny Lawrence's car. At this, Johnny intervenes and asks the teens to get away from Miguel. When Kyler taunts the man and pushes him away, Johnny responds by kicking Kyler, and a fight ensues in the parking lot, with Johnny using his karate skills to beat Kyler and his gang, before being arrested by police.
Kyler later starts a relationship with fellow student Sam LaRusso, and her father, Daniel, invites him to family dinner. During dinner, Daniel asks Kyler about the bruises on his eye, but Kyler tells him a false version of events saying that he and his friends were attacked by Johnny. This leads Daniel to confront Johnny about what happened at his Cobra Kai Dojo, until he discovers the truth about the fight and begins to suspect Kyler.
In the following time, Kyler and his gang continue to bully Miguel and his group of friends, Eli and Demetri, at school. Miguel, on the other hand, joins Cobra Kai to learn how to defend himself against his bullies. It is also shown that Kyler only has sexual desires towards Sam. At a school Halloween party, he tries to make a sexual move on Sam, but his attempt fails when Daniel bursts into the classroom where they are. However, Kyler successfully hides his true intentions from both of them, although Daniel still distrusts him. In the locker room, Kyler and his gang run into Miguel and tease him for learning karate. An angry Miguel kicks Kyler and knocks him down, but Kyler and his friends gang up on Miguel and beat him severely, leaving him injured.
Sam eventually dumps with Kyler after she catches him bullying Miguel, Demetri, and Eli in the school library, and defends herself when he tries to harass her while they're at a movie theater. In retaliation, Kyler spreads false rumors about her, giving her a bad reputation at school and isolating her from her friends. Sam angrily confronts Kyler about his rumors, but he and his gang start picking on her and they make fun of her. At that moment, Miguel intervenes, asking Kyler to stop harassing Sam. Kyler and his friends taunt Miguel and challenge him to another fight. However, despite outnumbering Miguel, the four of them are beaten and then defeated by a Miguel more trained by Johnny Lawrence. After his defeat, Kyler and his friends stay away from Miguel.
Later, Kyler is accompanied by Brucks, Yasmine and Moon to the lake to celebrate Yasmine's birthday. However, they discover that the lake is surrounded by Cobra Kais, and Yasmine asks Kyler to get everyone out of here. Kyler, however, changes his mind upon seeing Miguel at the lake, suggestim that they go somewhere else for not suffer another beating from Miguel.
Season 3[]
Kyler and Brucks are recruited by John Kreese to join Cobra Kai. Arriving at the dojo, they meet their former bullying victim, Eli (now Hawk), and mock him when they recognize him. The tryouts take place, and Kyler is chosen to fight Mitch, whom he manages to defeat with ease using his wrestling training. Kyler is left within Cobra Kai taking the place of Mitch, who is expelled from the Dojo for losing to an untrained fighter. Kyler, however, seems scared of Hawk when the latter viciously beats Brucks during their tryout. Hawk looks at Kyler menacingly after beating Brucks, but Kyler averts his eyes in fear.
However, Kyler learned nothing from Miguel's beating, as he continues to be a bully and annoys other students, most notably Demetri by drawing a penis on his cast and showing it to the entire class, causing them to laugh at Demetri. This shows that he joined Cobra Kai only to continue to torment others.
Kyler is later sent by Kreese along with Robby, Tory, and Hawk to steal a snake from the zoo. However, Kyler almost ruins the mission when forgets to bring the pole to capture the snake, which angers Hawk. Fortunately for him, Robby ends up capturing the snake, earning Cobra Kai's respect in the process.
That night, Cobra Kai confronts Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang at the LaRusso home. During the fight, Kyler fights Miguel for revenge. Kyler holds the advantage over Miguel for most of the fight, due to Miguel suffered a back injury in the school fight and did not fully recovered. However, after regaining his confidence, Miguel defeats and knocks out Kyler with just a few punches.
Season 4[]
Kyler remains at Cobra Kai after the showdown in LaRusso house, unlike the half of the squad that leaving the dojo. Despite being one of the best students in the Dojo, Kyler is still a bully taking pleasure in teasing others, and he is easily defeated by Robby during the training. At the same time, the class is trained by their new-second sensei and Kreese's friend, Terry Silver. Also, Cobra Kai cannot fight Eagle Fang and Miyagi-Do, as their deal is to wait until the tournament.
Kyler and his classmates target Hawk as payback for his betrayal of Cobra Kai and switching to Eagle Fang, bullying Kenny Payne, and drenching them on the baseball field. The Cobras ambush Hawk in a tattoo shop where he is waiting for a touch-up, restrain him, and cut off his Mohawk with a razor blade. This causes Eli to lose confidence in him temporarily.
At the All Valley Tournament, the skill demonstrations of each of the Cobra Kai students occur, and Kyler is breaking some boards and 5 layers of bricks with his head. During the All Valley, Kyler defeats Chris in a close match using Miyagi Do tactics and makes it to the Quarterfinals, where he faces Hawk, now going by Eli once again. Before the match, Kyler mocks Eli calling him "Lip". However, Kyler later is easily defeated by Eli in the match, without having thrown a single punch or scored a point. Once Kyler is defeated, Eli moves on to the semifinals. After, following Tory's victory over Sam, Kyler throws a party at his house to celebrate Cobra Kai's victory.
Season 5[]
Kyler is still at the Cobra Kai dojo, which was expanded by Terry Silver. Now in a modern dojo, Cobra Kai has more students and more senseis after it All Valley victory. Later, Kyler, Kenny, and several other students are at a water park, where Kyler says he has no choice but to become King Cobra after Robby left the dojo, despite Kenny's attempts to convince him that Robby will return. Later, the group runs into Anthony LaRusso, and they start making fun of him, with Kyler filling him with various water objects and Kenny kicking him into the pool, as revenge for bullying him. Tory eventually wins, but because Kenny punctured a hole on Hawk's floatie. The conflict between the dojos follows, until the point where all they're kicked out of the park by the owner.
At the Cobra Kai dojo, Kenny is in charge of representing the group of male students, and Kyler is his leader, claiming to be number one. Later, the two are selected by Terry to fight Sensei Odell. During their fight, Kyler gives Kenny instructions that don't help him, causing him to fail the round. When Kyler criticizes him for not following in his footsteps, Kenny leaves, fed up with following Kyler. After a heart-to-heart with Silver, Kenny is influenced to change leader, and then argues with Kyler, leading to a fight between the two. Eventually, Kenny literally uses Kyler as a jumping board and manages to hit Sensei Odell.
Not long after, the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang (with a redeemed Tory) infiltrate Cobra Kai to search for evidence incriminating Silver for bribing the referee at the tournament and assaulting Stingray. However, their plan fails when Cobra Kai discovers them. However, their plan fails when Cobra Kai discovers them. When Miguel and Sam wonder how they knew they were here, Mitch approaches Cobra Kai, thus revealing that he had ratted them out and joined the ranks of both dojos under Cobra Kai's orders. Kyler claims that this is payback towards Tory for betraying the dojo. Robby and Tory try to convince all students that Silver is a criminal, but Kyler and the rest refuse to listen, and finally triggers a fight between all the students.
In the room upstairs, Kyler and his teammates discover Eli and Demetri searching Silver's computer for evidence to expose him, and Kyler taunts Eli for reverting to his original identity despite his Mohawk being cut off. Undeterred, Hawk teaches Kyler the meaning of life: he wins or he loses, but he moves on. He adds that while Kyler has been beaten several times for all (except for Demetri, so far), he's still stuck in his bully role and shows his stupidity by not learning his lesson. This provokes Kyler to attack him, along with the other Cobra Kai members. Hawk finally beats up Kyler and the other students, overpowering them all with the help of Demetri, who enjoys knocking down his former bully.
As the fight continues, Anthony posts the downloaded video of Silver revealing bribing the referee to Tory on his device. The video is posted successfully, and is seen by all the Cobra Kai students through dojo's cameras. With this, Kyler, Kenny and the rest of the members realize the dark nature of their sensei. In the end, Terry and Daniel have one last showdown, culminating in Daniel defeating Silver using the crane kick. Having realized the truth from Terry, Kyler, Kenny and the other students take off their karate shirts and throw them at Silver in disappointment as they leave Cobra Kai, making it clear they've quit Cobra Kai for good following Silver's actions.
Silver is subsequently arrested for his many crimes (not only his assault on Stingray and bribing the referee, but also his unsportsmanlike conduct), while Kyler talks to the officials and tries to take credit for Silver's fall, acting as if he had saved everyone from him.
Personality[]
Kyler is the typical high school bully who bullies unpopular or weaker students just to get attention. Selfish, sadistic and rude; he likes to annoy and make others suffer only for fun, and sometimes he attacks his victims with the help of his friends. Kyler lacks remorse, as shown in his encounters with Miguel, Eli, and Demetri, who were his "favorite" targets. He is also no stranger to cyberbullying, which he happily participates in. However, Kyler is able to mask his abusive attitude when necessary, and also tries to put himself in the position of a victim, such as when he told Daniel that Johnny assaulted him and his friends for no reason, when in reality Johnny was defending Miguel from the bullies, who were harassing him.
Kyler only cares about himself and doesn't care about other people's feelings at all. He is also misogynistic, as he is only with Sam to satisfy his sexual desires and attempted to grope her during a date, leading Sam to break up with him. As a means of revenge, Kyler spreads sexual rumors about her at school, ruining her popularity and causing her friends to disown her.
Despite being a bully, Kyler is nothing but a coward on the inside, which is evident when he began to hesitate to approach Miguel after his loss to him, and stopped bullying him, Eli and Demetri. He showed this again in the Cobra Kai Dojo when Hawk (formerly Eli) viciously beats up Brucks during his tryout, and gives Kyler an intimidating look after beating Brucks, to which Kyler just hangs his head in fear.
After joining Cobra Kai, Kyler is shown to still be a bully and pick on other students, especially Demetri. During the fight at the LaRusso house, Kyler is brave enough to fight Miguel, however, despite recently recovering from his back injury sustained during the school fight, Miguel eventually regains his confidence, and is victorious over Kyler again. The reasons why Kyler bullies people are anonymous. However it can be assumed that his bullying stems from insecurity, as his father threatens to physically harm him if Kyler fails Trigonometry, which could mean his father is abusive.
Kyler is also extremely arrogant, believing himself to be King Cobra after Robby's departure from the dojo, and a lousy leader to Kenny during a sparring match, forcing him to do all the work while he does nothing. However, Kenny earns Kyler's respect when he manages to score a hit on Sensei Odell after being encouraged by Silver. Despite his negative traits, Kyler and others showed some morality in Season 5, as they were visibly disappointed to learn the truth about Silver, ditching their Cobra Kai gis and leaving the dojo, implying that they no longer want anything to do with Terry.
Powers and Abilities[]
Kyler has great fighting ability due to his training in wrestling, a sport he had been practicing since before his fight in the cafeteria with Miguel. He is strong enough to throw his opponents, and his abilities consist of grabs and chokes. He was even the most formidable fighter in his group of bullies. However, his lack of karate training would lead him to lose to more skilled opponents such as Johnny, and later Miguel (despite having attempted a 4 vs 1 matchup with him).
In season three, Kreese recruits Kyler into Cobra Kai, where Kyler proves himself as dojo material. He beats Mitch through his fight training, earning his place. Learning karate from John Kreese, Kyler's fighting skills improve, making him a better fighter. He manages to maintain the advantage over Miguel during the LaRusso home fight, mainly because Miguel hasn't fully recovered from his injury sustained in the school fight. Despite this, Miguel regains his confidence, defeats Kyler with a barrage of punches, culminating in a punch to the face.
Trivia[]
- In the fourth season, his last name is revealed to be Park, which may mean that he has Korean origin.
- His actions in Season 1 make him the main cause of many bad events that occurred during the series.
- Kyler is similar to Johnny Lawrence from the original Karate Kid temporary, as they are both bullies and practice karate. However, there are also notable differences between them.
- Unlike Kyler, Johnny realizes the error of his ways and learns to work with his former rival, while Kyler is a spoiled brat and a dishonest who feels no remorse for his actions.
- In addition, Kyler is a way more rude and attacks his bully victims despite being defeated by them always, never learning about his numerous defeats.
| The Karate Kid | ||
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Ali Mills • Amanda LaRusso • Anthony LaRusso • Bobby Brown • Brucks • Daniel LaRusso • Demetri Alexopoulos • Dutch (The Karate Kid) • Jimmy (The Karate Kid) • John Kreese • Johnny Lawrence • Kyler Park • Miguel Diaz • Mike Barnes • Mr. Miyagi • Robby Keene • Sam LaRusso • Terry Silver • Tommy (The Karate Kid) • Tory Nichols • Kenny Payne | ||