History Main / ArtisticLicenseMartialArts

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', it's revealed that Lennier is proficient in some branch of martial arts. Not much is revealed about it, except that it seems to involve a lot of spinning around. Probably because the way it makes his robes whirl looks [[RuleOfCool pretty sweet]].
** The Centauri fighting style also involves a lot of spinning jump kicks. It has the effect of making their fights look almost playful, while still dangerous, fitting for an entire species of [[TheDandy Dandies]].

*** In general, there is nothing really wrong with a two-handed strike other than it being inefficient and not all that effective, as having both hands together would slow down your strikes far more than the added mass would make up for in terms of power. In Kirk's case, it's that he has the tendency to ''interlace his fingers'' while striking, which would do nothing but pinch and possibly break his fingers on any serious contact.

* The "Crane Kick" from ''Film/TheKarateKid1984''. It doesn't come from any actual martial arts tradition. The filmmakers invented it simply to look impressive. There's even some debate as to whether it would cause Daniel to be disqualified from the tournament. Subverted in the first sequel; Daniel attempts to use it in a serious situation and it's treated as WhatTheFuAreYouDoing nonsense that lets his opponent easily hand him his ass.

* ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'': In "Going, Going, Gone", Wonder Woman faces off against a real BruceLeeClone from TheSeventies. His moves were very showy breaking of boxes, screams of "Hiyahh!", high and wide kicks, and two very clear and very ineffective punches that bounced harmlessly off her amazonian abs. She finished the fight with blocking a kick which became a foot grab, which somehow resulting in [[SuperStrength him being lifted into the air in a lying down position]], thrown across the dock, and knocked out. A tour de force of '70s Martial Arts Artistic License!

--> ''Seventh head of Kyotouryuu, Shichika Yasuri''
--> ''Without Style nor School, Nanami Yasuri.''

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

** Take a look at when Mulan kicks Shang. She pivots on her ''toe''- in martial arts, you typically pivot on the ball of your foot. On top of that, the only kicks that benefit from raising your back foot's heel are sweeps; even if you pivot on the ball, you lose power if you're not planted otherwise.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Played entirely for laughs in the "Unagi" (Japanese for eel) episodes of ''{{Series/Kaamelott}}'', where the two resident dumbasses Karadoc and Perceval are forever attempting to come up with a martial art (seeing as they're no good in a fight involving swords and armor). Highlights include Karadoc attempting to break several slabs of rock barehanded (that is, he never actually gets around to it) or their contribution to the art of {{Improvised Weapon}}ry such as flutes (playing a shrill sound to force the enemy to cover their ears), sausages (used as nunchucks), fennel (the trick is apparently to grab it by the round part and stab with the stem, not grab the stem and hit with the round part)... In the latter, Arthur plays along with their style for a few seconds before clocking them both out with a punch.
* Although ''Series/Daredevil2015'' is usually pretty good with its fight choreography, some of the fights in the first season had the titular character doing flips in the middle of a fight, seemingly just for RuleOfCool.
* ''[[Series/WonderWoman1975 Wonder Woman]]'': In "Going, Going, Gone", Wonder Woman faces off against a real BruceLeeClone from TheSeventies. His moves were very showy breaking of boxes, screams of "Hiyahh!", high and wide kicks, and two very clear and very ineffective punches that bounced harmlessly off her amazonian abs. She finished the fight with blocking a kick which became a foot grab, which somehow resulting in [[SuperStrength him being lifted into the air in a lying down position]], thrown across the dock, and knocked out. A tour de force of 70's Martial Arts Artistic License!
--> '''Wonder Woman:''' ''Standing over the defeated BruceLeeClone'' This really hasn't developed into a very good day, has it?

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* Discussed in Gary Gulman's breakdown of the crane kick in ''Film/TheKarateKid''. Mr. Miyagi asserts, "If done properly, no can defend," but Gulman counters, "''Can'' defend." The first rule is not running straight at the kick chin-first. But this assumes you know that the crane kick is coming. Luckily, Daniel's crane stance provides some "[[SarcasmMode subtle]]" clues that there's an impending crane kick.
[[/folder]]

* A short film by the [[http://www.zgmain.com ZeroGravity]] stunt team, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWQI8Ya0ZIs "US vs HK,"]] manages to parody it ''both'' ways by playing the same fight scene as both Hollywood and Hong Kong martial artists would do it. The US version is a FightSceneFailure played for laughs. The HK version is awesome, played for laughs and jaw-dropping.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'':

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DoubleDragon1993'' animated series, Jimmy Lee has what Billy called "deadly Shadow Moves", which one of the kids learned when he watched Jimmy practice.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DoubleDragon'' animated series, Jimmy Lee has what Billy called "deadly Shadow Moves", which one of the kids learned when he watched Jimmy practice.

* ''Film/ThreeNinjas'' and its sequels: Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum are able to beat up several bigger and stronger adult opponents in rapid succession. Even a well trained real-life kid ninja would have trouble with attackers more numerous than them, let alone a single bigger and stronger foe. Aristic license though is taken for both RuleOfCool and RuleOfFunny.

* In ''Webcomic/TheGodOfHighSchool'', ''every named fighting style is this!'' For example, the protagonist, Jin Mo-Ri, apparently uses a form of Tae Kwan Do in which one becomes capable of generating tornadoes with a single kick to knock opponents skyward before riding said tornado to kick them back to the ground, which leaves the victim spinning on the ground unconscious but alive. Yeah... and that's ''without'' magic.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'': one of the {{Central Theme}}s of the anime is that many a MartialArtsMovie tends to show Martial Arts just as a way to obtain different superpowers. Nanami reminds us that true Martial arts seek two SimpleYetAwesome things: [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre To teach a technique that improves the students self-worth by patience and practice]], and to [[YouAreNotAlone give the students at the school a sense of community and pertinence]]. Those were the very things his BlessedWithSuck incredible power denied her. That is what makes her duel a true tearjerker:

* ''VideoGame/{{Bujingai}}'' takes this trope UpToEleven, using {{Wuxia}} as a motif. Apparently in the demon-infested future of Japan, martial arts will let you run up and leap off of walls, do a spinning backflip kick while DualWielding swords, and ''fly''!

* In ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', UsefulNotes/BrazilianJiuJitsu and UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts legend [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickson_Gracie Rickson Gracie]] shows up in a cameo as Bruce's martial arts instructor and is credited as... ''UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}}'' instructor.

* Suzaku Kururugi of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is ''infamous'' for [[HurricaneKick these]], hence the FanNickname, "Spinzaku". His trademark gravity-defying attack allows him to run up walls, destroy machine gun turrets (while dodging their fire), disarm pistol-wielding opponents from across the room, fall great distances, shatter steel weapons, and send guards flying. Naturally, his personal mecha can do this, too, with the added benefit of his opponents ''exploding''.

** Hand-to-hand fight scenes in every series almost invariably feature a two-fisted hammer punch that's been dubbed the "[[FanNickname Kirk special.]]"

-> '''Elder:''' My, my, it's like they're filming a movie!
-> '''Sakaki:''' I agree, these kids have too many excessive movements!

* The {{wuxia}} genre of films, such as ''{{Film/Hero}}'' and ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'' are based on mythic stories of supernatural swordsmen. As such, their reputation of combat features a great deal of magic.

* Not only do comic-universe martial arts work absurdly well, they're incredibly quick to learn. ComicBook/{{Batman}} trained a ten-year-old kid in a matter of weeks to clear out roomfuls of armed mooks. ComicBook/CaptainAmerica (who himself had limited time to learn) trained Bucky to do the same on a modern battlefield, without benefit of shield or super-serum. You have to wonder why more criminals don't train to the same level, if it's that easy to become a one-man wrecking crew.

* In the fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8223162/2/Daughter-of-Nyx Daughter of Nyx,]]'' the teenage [[MarySue protagonist]] fuses tae kwan do, karate, and ballet together into one style. ''At the very least'', such a melding would be awkward, slow, and defeat the purpose of self-defense.

* Creator/JohnByrne once said, since he did not know Kung-fu, he would draw [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]] pulling off fighting moves that simply looked cool and didn't care about how real it looked. Since Iron Fist learned how to fight in another dimension, it does make some amount of sense.

Jump kicks are an interesting thing in that they do exist in some forms of martial arts, but the reason for them was not for dueling. It was to give a way for a footsoldier to knock a mounted knight or samurai off his horse when the footsoldier didn't have a polearm. And it was expected that the footsoldier would probably be killed doing so, but [[WeHaveReserves this was considered an acceptable trade]].

* In line with ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' and other 2D fighting games, ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' use this trope a lot. Mai Shiranui offers a notable example in having a move that, were it to be performed in real life, would probably hurt her much more than her opponent: her ''musasabi no mai'', which has her dive headfirst towards her opponent; she doesn't even use her head to hit, but ''her face''. The first version of this move (back in ''Fatal Fury 2'') was different but not much better; its sprites strongly implied that she was attacking with her ample bust (''Magazine/ElectronicGamingMonthly'' even dubbed the attack "Mai's swan dive").

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' has ''Hokuto Shinken'', which, if you ignore its ability to give whoever is the successor to it nigh super human strength and speed, isn’t ''too'' ineffective as a fighting style, should you have the speed and strength required to pull off the RapidFireFisticuffs needed for it.

** Sendo's Smash punch is based on Canadian boxer Razor Ruddock's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNo8nXD3xoc signature punch]]. Not nearly as impossible as it looks, but Sendo's version leaves him far more open to getting tagged with a counter.

** They were supposed to explain how he got his CharlesAtlasSuperpower but they end up suffering ExecutiveMeddling in season 2.

* In ''Film/RomeoMustDie'', Anthony Anderson's character does the Crane Kick stance while facing Jet Li's character. Jet Li [[RealityEnsues kicks him square in the crotch.]]

** Kirk used a horizontal jump kick so often that when Creator/WilliamShatner nearly got into a RealLife fight, he realized that he was instinctively planning on using it. After a moment of consideration, he realized that [[RealityEnsues flopping onto the floor at the beginning of a real fight would go very badly for him,]] so he walked away.

* Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar has ''Hokuto Shinken'', which, if you ignore its ability to give whoever is the successor to it nigh super human strength and speed, isn’t ''too'' ineffective as a fighting style, should you have the speed and strength required to pull off the RapidFireFisticuffs needed for it.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''

* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon''

* To this day, Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha, who was the mo-cap model for [[{{VideoGame/Tekken}} Eddy Gordo]], gets crap from other capoeiristas over Eddy (and later Cristie) not doing the ''ginga'' right. It's not his fault, though; ''ginga''—capoeira's distinctive guard, consisting of "[[YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord swinging]]" back and forth from the opponent, with one arm up to guard your face—is counterintuitive for many non-capoeiristas, especially if they've also done an Asian martial art. Making a proper ginga a base for a good fighting-game move-set is even more challenging.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 7''[='s=] new combo mechanic, "Tailspin", throws the enemy backwards onto their head when they're hit with a move that will twist them through the air (this animation has existed in previous ''Tekken'' games for other reasons as well). Thing is, if someone were able to impart enough force to twist a human body in mid-flight purely by impact, it'd probably snap their neck with horrific whiplash.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''

* As with above, Ermac in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' should be lucky they got mental manipulation. For the first strike - a headbutt to the face with enough force to break the unlucky sap's skull - would had also broke Ermac's skull as well.

* In spite of his reputation as the world's greatest martial artist, Creator/BruceLee's movies feature a lot of this. He admitted that jumping high kicks were only good for movies, and he would never use them in a real fight.

* Creator/ChristianSlater in Uwe Boll's 2005 ''Film/{{Alone in the Dark|2005}}'' movie manages to initiate a somersault kick while lying on his back, violating several different laws of physics in the process.

** Wonder where those song lines came from? Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdDpP7NM-M8 this]]. In the actual episode, Suzaku merely spin-kicks ''three times in midair''... [[JustHitHim before even reaching his target]]. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Then he punches Lelouch instead of kicking]].