AcolyteThe Force Who fight scenes in Spider-Man understandably divided audiences: watching a Jedi trade punches and spin kicks with a Sith trainee felt like uncharted territory, despite martial arts being deeply rooted in film. Star Wars It's been canon for a long time.
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Indeed, the series has largely favored swordplay as a staple of “exotic” combat. Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Creator George Lucas toyed with the idea of mixing Force-users into the mix, a la Hong Kong cinema, and while that never ended up happening, it wasn't long before martial arts made its official appearance in a galaxy far, far away.
Therefore, AcolyteHere's a brief history of the martial arts of this era, featuring lightsaber-like brawls. Star Wars universe!
Return of the Jedi scraps Luke's martial arts choreography
As I said, Return of the Jedi Came this Delivery soon Star Wars'The first martial arts fight scene. During the sail barge fight scene, Luke Skywalker temporarily loses his lightsaber. As Jabba the Hutt's minions swarm him, Luke fights them off with chops and kicks. Storyboards depicting this choreography appear in 2014's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy.
However, Lucas, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan, and director Richard Marquand ultimately cut Luke's big hand-to-hand combat scenes, though the final film still shows the young Jedi trainee slamming his boots into several of Jabba's minions (including the infamous “Force Kick”). Luke also kicks Darth Vader down a flight of stairs. Return of the JediSo even if he never fully embraced his inner Karate Kid, traces of his martial arts skills remain in the film.
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Teras Kasi (and other martial arts) appear in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Fortunately, Star Wars The story didn't have to wait long. Marvel Comics, 1983 Star Wars In #72, several characters, including Luke, dispensed justice without using weapons. Star WarsThe first “true” martial art, Teras Keshi, did not appear until the 1995 novel. Shadow of the EmpireThe name of this combat discipline translated as “hands of steel,” and practitioners (such as the android Gree) became roughly equivalent to Jedi Knights.
Terrace Kasi later appeared in the 1997 fighting game. Star Wars: Masters of Terrace Case.a Soul Calibur– Wind incident, Terrace Keshi's Master It pitted icons of various franchises against the specially created Teras Keshi master, Arden Lynn, in hand-to-hand combat and bladed combat. Despite its fame, Teras Keshi was never actually that popular. Star Wars In lore, even big names like Darth Maul were sometimes listed as among his supporters.
In the same year Masters Terrace Case Dropped, Star Wars' The Expanded Universe also introduced the Ekani martial art. Ekani is a complex martial art based on “reading” your opponent. Crimson Empire Comic series. It didn't take the world by storm like Terrace Kasi did, but it did contribute to a popular series. Knights of the Old Republic Sub-franchise.
These days, Thrawn Trilogy The sourcebook retroactively defines the Noghri assassination skill as the Stabber martial art. Star Wars had many Hand-to-hand combat.
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Attack of the Clones shows off Obi-Wan Kenobi's turbo-charged dragon kick skills
Turn of the millennium Star Wars 1999 The Phantom Menace Though there's no dedicated martial arts choreography, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul all include plenty of kicks and punches in their third-act lightsaber duels.
2002 Attack of the Clones Things are Really But it gets even beefier: Here, Obi-Wan delivers multiple flying dragon kicks to Jango Fett, which seems like a concession from Lucas. matrix He was well aware of the film's appeal to fans: Obi-Wan and Jango briefly exchange fistfights in a rain-soaked showdown, and while it's not on the same level as Neo or Agent Smith, both combatants are clearly well-trained in hand-to-hand combat.
Year 2005 Revenge of the Sith The martial arts elements are toned down but not completely gone: Obi-Wan is once again caught up in a more lopsided hand-to-hand brawl with General Grievous, and his epic lightsaber duel with Anakin Skywalker briefly devolves into a fistfight (albeit more like professional wrestling than kung fu). Clone WarsThere were also occasional scenes where the Jedi fought. Sands saber.
Many others also participated in martial arts. Clone Wars(Especially the Clone Troopers and the Mandalorians) Lucas's reign Star Wars While its main creative forces went into a period of decline, unarmed combat remained as entrenched as ever.
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Disney brings back Terrace Casey and introduces Force Who
Disney then purchased the franchise from Lucas in 2012, and overnight Star Wars Star Wars has lost a significant portion of its martial arts lore. Under Disney, nearly the entire Expanded Universe has been relegated to unorthodox “Star Wars Legends” status. Star Wars Movies or Clone Wars Suddenly, they stopped being counted. Thankfully, this shortage is not permanent. Slowly but surely, Star Wars'The martial arts-centered norm was re-established.
2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story These included Zama Siwo, a combat training exercise practiced by the warrior monk Chirut Imwe. The Last Jedi He had the Bakuni Hand and the Naru Kanji of the Elite Praetorian Guard. Solo: A Star Wars Story Teras Kasi was recanonized. Star Wars In novels and comics, Stormtroopers were given Ekani training and Alderaanian martial arts were added to Princess Leia's skill set, and in the wider post-Disney canon, a new martial art, the bat, has even been introduced.
and now Acolyte It's full of Force Who (the name showrunner Leslye Headland gave to the advanced unarmed combat skills used by characters like Master Indara and Mei Anissaya). Star WarsThis is the most martial arts-focused game to date. But as we've seen, Acolyte After all, this is just the latest milestone in the series' long martial arts history.
Season 1 of “Acolyte” is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping on Tuesdays.
