History Main / IKnowKarate

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': A particularly silly example occurs in "Death in a Chocolate Box". Barnaby and Jones enter a room to find the elderly Lord Holm assaulting a woman. Lord Holm drops in a boxing stance:

* ''Manga/{{Beck}}'': It's mentioned that Chiba is a martial artist, though for most of the series it's an Informed Attribute we only see when he harasses his friends with kicks and pro wrestling moves. His skills are finally put on display when he uses Karate to rescue Koyuki from a recurring villain and periodically trounces schoolyard bullies. It's even more impressive in the live action movie, when he knocks around a large gang at the skatepark. Most of the fight happens off-screen, but the bullies limp away frantically as Chiba triumphantly cheers, so it can be inferred he's just as tough as he claims to be.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials Garfield's Feline Fantasies]]'' featured Garfield fantasizing he was in an adventure movie, including a scene where he and the villain threaten each other:

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest5TheNextMutation'' when Roger Wilco warns the BigBad "I know Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, and several other Chinese words!"

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In Pre-Crisis comics was established that Krypton had martial arts.

** ComicBook/LoisLane studied the art of ''Klurkor'' in the bottle city of Kandor, and got to use it from time to time.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** Villain Scarecrow in ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}''. No, really. It is, of course, crane style. Crane's combat style, at least per other comics from the 90's, was actually a self-taught and designed style, 'violent dancing', based around weaponizing his Crane's namesake crazy dancing from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, part of a popular trend of retconning a lot of Batman villains during those years to have studied hand to hand combat at some point, to explain how they could actually fistfight Batman and last longer than three seconds.

* In ''ComicBook/SuperMarioAdventures'':

* Inverted in ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' album [[Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland "The Black Island"]]. Tintin is thrown to the floor by one of the bad guys, who tells him "That was jiu-jitsu!". Tintin KO's him with a kick in the chin from the floor, responding "And that's savate!" [[note]]Savate is both a French style of kickboxing and a word for shoe. You may now start groaning.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/TheTransformers'': In every continuity of the comic books that he appears in, every time he gets into a fight [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Bludgeon]] will ''always'' brag about how he knows the forbidden art of Metallikato.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fan fiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2293412/1/Zen-and-the-Art-of-Ass-Whupping Zen and the Art of Ass-Whupping]]'' inverted this, playing out an alternative to one episode where the large football player was warned that the ninja knew martial arts. The martial artist naturally won. In the fan fiction though, it was turned around with the football player being a boxer, and succeeding.

-->'''Skave:''' We know karate…
-->'''Keith:''' And we're not afraid to use it!

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'': just after he's had the relevant knowledge uploaded into his brain, Neo informs Morpheus:
-> I know kung-fu!

* Parodied by ''Film/GetSmart''. While arguing with Agent 99 about his readiness for the mission, Maxwell Smart remarks that "I am an expert in the art of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwa_Rang_Do Hwa Rang Do]]." He takes a fighting stance... and 99 punches him in the face.

'''99:''' ''(starts to walk off)'' That's my point. ''(turns around and slaps him for good measure)''\\
'''Max:''' Hey--what was ''that?''

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Armageddon Trilogy'' book by Creator/RobertRankin. This exact line is said repeatedly by Music/{{Elvis|Presley}} (yes, ''that'' Elvis). In the books Elvis constantly makes reference to his character from the movie Roustabout, in which he knew Karate (it goes with the 'sickle).

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* [[Music/TenaciousD Tenacious D's]] "Karate", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of course.]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest 5: The Next Mutation'', where Roger Wilco warns the BigBad "I know Kung Fu, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Judo, and several other Chinese words!"

-->''[Shen Guo has Ripley pinned on the ground at gunpoint and is about to finish him off.]''
-->'''Ripley:''' I think I should warn you, you're not the only one who knows martial arts.
-->'''Shen Guo:''' You?
-->'''Ripley:''' Heck no! If it were me, you wouldn't be in so much trouble right now.
-->''[Mei Chen kicks the gun away from Shen Guo's hand.]''

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/10/17/ Parodied]] in ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''. For extra hilarity, the guy he's talking to is Asian.
-->'''Gabe:''' You leave me no choice. Now, I have to do karate to you.
-->'''Clerk:''' Do you even know karate?
-->'''Gabe:''' I know ''techniques'' that have [[WeaselWords certain elements which have been described -- by some -- as "karate-like".]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

that she's skilled in ''origami'', hoping they won't know what it means. They instantly recognize it as the paper-folding art.

* Parodied by Maxwell Smart in ''Film/GetSmart''. While arguing with Agent 99 about his readiness for the mission, Max remarks that "I am an expert in the art of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwa_Rang_Do Hwa Rang Do]]." He takes a fighting stance... and 99 punches him in the face.

'''99:''' ''(starts to walk off)'' That's my point. ''(turns around and slaps him for good measure)''

* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': "YouFool I have been trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku!" Followed by General Grievous using [[MultiArmedAndDangerous all four arms]] to [[DualWielding wield four lights at once]].

A scene in which a martial artist warns an antagonist that he knows martial arts before kicking the guy's ass. Bonus points for the martial artist assuming an outlandish AssKickingPose beforehand. The antagonist will always laugh off the warnings and be defeated in [[CurbStompBattle humiliating fashion]]. If the martial artist's skills turn out ''not'' to be effective, it's probably an example of IKnowKungFaux. These scenes were popular when [[MartialArtsMovie martial arts films]] started getting attention in the west. The martial artist will almost always study an Asian style, but the trope can still hold true with any named system of self-defence.

* That guy with the glasses in ''The Devil's Brigade'', which he apparently wears only so he can have TheGlassesComeOff.
* ''There Goes the Neighborhood'': When Willis approaches him with the pick ax, Albert lampshades this, but not before pulling out a move in very hilarious fashion.

* In ''Torrente: El brazo tonto de la ley'', Malaguita claims to be a film-level martial artist and does some random UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}} stunts to prove it, in reference to ''Film/OnlyTheStrong''.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Generally averted by people who actually seriously practice martial arts, because you wish to defuse, not escalate the confrontation. Often the only training for official/licensed mastery, e.g. black belt, is how to ''avoid'' getting into fights. Also, telling anyone (namely more vicious bullies or thugs) that you know karate is answered by either a "Well you don't look so tough to me" taunt followed by a taste of an impromptu performance of their own brand of martial arts (sometimes accompanied by FunnyBruceLeeNoises).
* There's a UrbanLegend that someone who knows martial arts is [[InsaneTrollLogic legally required to inform you of it before defending themselves]]. Assuming such a law was ever passed, it was probably more due to lawmakers believing the exaggerated feats of martial arts on the silver screen, than what happens on the street.
[[/folder]]

* In the film adaptation of ''Film/RisingSun'', a bouncer warns Creator/SeanConnery that he's a black belt. Connery takes him out with a throat strike.

* Generally averted by people who actually seriously practice martial arts, because you wish to defuse, not escalate the confrontation. Often the only training for official/licensed mastery, e.g. black belt, is how to ''avoid'' getting into fights. Also, telling anyone (namely more vicious bullies or thugs) that you know karate is answered by either a "Well you don't look so tough to me" taunt or get a taste of an impromptu performance of their own martial arts (sometimes accompanied by FunnyBruceLeeNoises).