Meet the new Karate Kids of ‘Legends’: Ben Wang and Aramis Knight

Show Caption

In every “Karate Kid” movie, there’s a teen hero and an absolute jerk of a bully.

The original 1984 movie featured Ralph Macchio getting pummeled mercilessly until he finally beat William Zabka, though their rival characters became friends in “Cobra Kai.” Then there’s 1994’s “The Next Karate Kid,” which gave us Hilary Swank vs. young Walton Goggins.

A couple of new enemies, both 25, enter the fray in “Karate Kid: Legends” (in theaters now). Ben Wang plays Li Fong, a kung fu-trained youngster recently moved to New York City, and Aramis Knight is Conor Day, a karate-champ classmate who seethes after the newcomer befriends Conor’s ex (Sadie Stanley). Trash talk and beatdowns commence, all leading to a faceoff in the championship of a local karate tournament.

Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox

Director Jonathan Entwistle says Wang has a “Marty McFly quality” to him, playing a Chinese Peter Parker-type character, and he told Knight he was “playing something actually quite iconic: the bad guy in a cool outfit.”

Time will tell if their characters hug it out 30 years from now, “Cobra Kai” style, for a Netflix show. In the meantime, here’s what fans of these new karate kids need to know about Wang and Knight:

Ben Wang shares a similar origin story to new ‘Karate Kid’

In “Legends,” Li Fong relocates from his native undefined with his mother (Ming-Na Wen). Wang finds a parallel to his own life story, but with a twist: He moved from Shanghai to small-town Northfield, Minnesota, with his mom when he was 6, and ended up at drama school in the Big Apple.

“I didn’t have to dig very deep for a lot of the stuff. Mostly the hardest part was the squats,” says Wang, who starred in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese” and also appeared in the movies “Mean Girls” and “Chang Can Dunk.” His next film is the Stephen King dystopian horror adaptation “The Long Walk” (undefined) and Wang has also been cast in next year’s “Hunger Games” prequel “Sunrise on the Reaping.”

Like his “Karate Kid” character, Wang trained in martial arts early, doing after-school taekwondo, and has studied other Chinese forms like Wing Chun kung fu. The acting aspect, however, came when he realized, “I wasn’t any good at sports, and I wanted friends.” 

Wang’s first play at age 10 was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” he says, “but it wasn’t Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ ” Still, “I was like, oh, I’ve never actually had that kind of fun before in my life. I mean, I had no plan to do it professionally, but it ended up working out for the best.”

Aramis Knight earned his martial arts stripes in the ‘Badlands’

Knight might seem like a Hollywood newcomer, but he’s already built an extremely varied 20-year career, on shows including “Lost,” “Dexter” and “NCIS,” plus movie roles in “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Ender’s Game.” Most noteworthy, however, is his action-packed TV work: Knight starred in the post-apocalyptic drama “Into the Badlands” as well as Marvel’s “Ms. Marvel.”

“Badlands” was “the perfect crash course” in martial arts, and co-star Daniel Wu became his mentor in wushu. The night he heard he got the role, “I remember me and my mom just thinking like, ‘Damn, how am I going to do this?’ ” While he was “fairly athletic” and played a lot of basketball when he was younger, “I was not flexible at all,” he says. “undefined”

After training and doing the show for three seasons, “I’m pretty sure I tore and rebuilt every muscle imaginable just to get to the point where I’m at now,” Knight says. “I’m by no means an expert but I’m no slouch. I can definitely look like I’m very good at it.”

Knight wants to play “bigger-than-life, almost unrecognizable” characters, yet “it’s harder when you’re young to play those like Gary Oldman-esque parts,” he says. Being a karate villain is a step in that character actor direction.

“You kind of get the free pass to do things that you wouldn’t normally do in your real life. Just be a little more disrespectful than Aramis would personally ever be,” Knight says. “I’m an integral part in Li Fong becoming this triumphant hero. There’s got to be sort of a fall from grace, and that’s really what Conor is for Li.

“I wanted to fill those shoes and be this iconic but also traditional ‘Karate Kid’ bad guy. I felt like I was carrying the torch a bit.”