Who Is Terry Silver? The Cobra Kai And Karate Kid III Villain's Backstory Explained

From the very beginning, fans of "Cobra Kai" who came to the series with nostalgia for the original "Karate Kid" film series have been hoping the day would come when the ponytail-clad villain Terry Silver would finally make an appearance. Played originally and once again by Thomas Ian Griffith, Terry Silver was heavily teased at the end of season 3 as being the person on the receiving end of a call for help from John Kreese, and everything leading up to season 4 has made it look like Silver is going to be this season's big baddie. Terry Silver doesn't exist without John Kreese, and fortunately season 3 gave us a good look at his story.

We know that Kreese turned toward the Army to escape his own demons, and learned karate overseas while serving in Vietnam. After being captured, Kreese was forced to watch his friends fight to the death, and this experience compounding with his previous trauma turned him into the toxic murderer turned sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo. Silver also learned karate after the war, and used the wealth he gained from running Dynatox Industries, the sponsor of the All Valley Karate Tournament, to rebuild Cobra Kai and gift it to Kreese to run as a thank you for saving his life during the war. For those that have yet to see "The Karate Kid III" or haven't seen it since it came out over three decades ago, here's everything you need to know about Terry Silver.

Terry Silver was the main antagonist of "The Karate Kid Part III," picking up where John Kreese (Martin Kove) left off after being disgraced in "The Karate Kid" and "The Karate Kid Part II." Silver took over the reins at Cobra Kai dojo and concocted a plan to humiliate Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. After Miyagi refused to train Daniel for another fight in "Part III," Silver lied to Daniel and claimed Cobra Kai was being run on the up and up, which of course, it wasn't. Daniel went to Cobra Kai and trained Terry's "Quicksilver" method, but it turned out to be a trap to set up Daniel for failure in a fight during the All Valley Tournament against Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan). His rule-breaking got Cobra Kai banned from the All Valley Tournament, and he went back to running his company

This stint in Cobra Kai is why Daniel told those at the Miyagi-Do in season 2 of "Cobra Kai" that he had once trained there, a huge shock to all except those who actually watched and remembered the weakest installment of the entire franchise. Silver is joining Kreese at Cobra Kai once again to take down Daniel and Johnny, because who needs therapy when you can punch and kick your way through decades long rivalries? Silver is now a billionaire, and as Griffith puts it, "It's so absurd that it's fantastic!"

All 10 episodes of "Cobra Kai" season 4 will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday, December 31, 2021.