By the time Cobra Kai starts, Johnny Lawrence is a man in his mid-50s who has fallen on hard times. He’s a former high school karate champion and the quintessential "bad boy" of the 1980s. In the original Karate Kid movie, Johnny was a cocky, popular teenager who trained at the Cobra Kai dojo and bullied Daniel LaRusso. However, when we meet him in Cobra Kai, Johnny is a far cry from his teenage self.