The Hilariously Bad Karate Kid And Rocky Crossover We Never Got To See
There's a certain satisfaction that comes from movie crossovers that can't be achieved from any other means. It's the same part of a person's mind that fuels the classic "who would win in a fight" playground arguments, where kids argue whether Superman or Goku would win in a fight with the same fervor as members of a congressional body debating laws. From the classics like "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" and "Alien vs. Predator" to the recent "Godzilla vs. Kong," it's a medium that scratches an itch in a very primal part of our brains.
One movie that most people rightly don't usually consider for a crossover is "The Karate Kid." A teenager who learns karate from a handyman isn't going to measure up combat-wise to most other movie characters. It also just doesn't feel necessary, especially with the spin-off series "Cobra Kai" being such a success right now.
Despite this, the idea of a "Karate Kid" crossover was briefly considered, according to Ralph Macchio's memoir. According to Macchio, a screenwriter enthusiastically pitched the idea to him and some studio executives. The crossover matchup? The son of Ralph Macchio's Daniel versus the son of none other than Rocky Balboa himself.
Not that kind of movie
Ralph Macchio hasn't been afraid to be frank in the past regarding what he thought of "The Karate Kid" sequels. But in his memoir, he reflects on this crossover idea with a very bemused tone:
"I remember the enthusiasm with which the writer gave his 'elevator pitch' to John, me, and the studio execs. John had directed both Rocky and The Karate Kid, so that lent itself to this writer's conceptual idea. It was basically a version of this: What if Rocky Balboa had a kid and Daniel-san had a kid and they were both f—ups and you, Ralph and Stallone, come together between New Jersey and Philadelphia to join in a Miyagi/Mickey style of fight training. People would go nuts!"
Macchio and those he was with laughed off this idea, and thank goodness they did. The idea of defiling two great — and extremely tonally different — franchises with some sort of abominable mix-together isn't entirely exciting to me.
It's a bad idea because "The Karate Kid" actually has more depth than that, despite what many may think. Sure, it's a story about a teenager learning karate, but it's also the story of a Japanese immigrant who served in the US military while his wife lived in an internment camp, only to die before he returned from the war. For an ostensibly silly coming-of-age story, "The Karate Kid" has some heavy material in there, and I don't think turning the series into "what if Daniel fought Spider-Man" really lends well to that part of the movie. Crossovers are best for movies about various monsters, and we should leave them to that.