The FIRST Karate Kid Was A DC Comics Hero | Screen Rant
When most people hear Karate Kid, they likely think of Ralph Macchio’s character Daniel LaRusso, the American karate student taught by Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid film franchise. However, the Karate Kid existed long before the movies - as a DC Comics character whose proficiency in martial arts was so great he was able to hold his own against Superboy in a one-on-one match.
Introduced in Adventure Comics #346, Val Armorr was a martial arts master from the 31st century who joined the Legion of Superheroes. But unlike most Legion members, Val did not have traditional superpowers. He instead relied on his almost-peerless martial artistry to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his superpowered teammates.
These skills translated into a mastery of every single martial arts style developed up to the 31st century. While his introduction was an attempt at creating more diversity in comics, the Karate Kid unfortunately showcased many of the racist attitudes and Asian stereotypes in popular American media at the time. Aside from his stereotypical abilities in martial arts, Val was also another Asian hero with an “evil” Asian parent.
Much like Marvel Comics’ Chinese hero Shang-Chi (whose father was the criminal mastermind Fu Manchu), Val was the son of Japan’s greatest crime lord, the Black Dragon. Like Shang-Chi, Val was a child of a mixed race couple and had a “good” American parent in his white secret agent mother Valentina Armorr. Being bi-racial, this also gave artists an excuse to give Karate Kid Caucasian features in his early appearances, although later depictions gave him Asian features. Maybe more disturbingly, in Val’s debut issue, the Legion of Superheroes faced a Knudian villain with a “strange, evil face” who was drawn with a stereotypical Asian appearance.
Following his mother’s death, Val was adopted by The White Crane and trained in multiple martial arts, quickly mastering them. He later applied for membership in the Legion of Superheroes and proved his worth when he challenged Superboy to a match and showed he could counter the Boy of Steel’s reflexes and even catch him off balance. Although Superboy’s invulnerability and superior speed allowed him to finally knock the Karate Kid unconscious, he endorsed Val for membership in the Legion.
The Karate Kid soon proved himself a valuable member of the team and even became the Legion’s leader for a time. He later fell in love with another Legion member, Princess Projectra, and resigned to become her consort. Sadly, he later died during a fight with the Nemesis Kid. Other martial arts masters, including Myg of Lythyl, took up the mantle of Karate Kid - and thanks to all the constant reboots the Legion of Superheroes has experienced, Val Armorr regularly returns (although he tends to get killed a lot).
Despite not having any real superpowers, Val’s abilities are basically superhuman compared to other martial artists, with the character being able to split steel beams with his bare hands. His proficiency in weapons is also very high and his mental discipline is great enough to resist mind control and grant him a high pain tolerance. As a member of the Legion of Superheroes, Val was also given a Legion Flight Ring, granting him the power to fly, even in outer space. Using his ring, Val created a new martial art form that emphasized aerial combat.
Although the Karate Kid movies had nothing to do with the Legion of Superheroes, DC gave Columbia Pictures the go-ahead to use the name. The film credits include a thank you to DC Comics for the use of the name. The comic version of Karate Kid also continued to make appearances in movies and TV, including one notable appearance in the Legion of Superheroes animated series where he was depicted with more Asian features. The show also recreated his fight with Superboy/Superman and actually had him win the fight by throwing Superman out of the ring.
While still an obscure character, Karate Kid has survived a remarkably long time in DC Comics and has gained something of a cult following among readers and comic book creators. However, his genesis, while likely made with best of intentions, was still mired in multiple Asian stereotypes. Given this, it’s unsurprising that a completely different Karate Kid surpassed the original in popularity.