Characters / Kickin' It

Jack Brewer

Played by: Leo Howard

• The Ace: He's probably the biggest badass in the entire series who proves to be a formidable
• Action Hero
• Arch-Enemy: Though he only appeared for two episodes, his cousin Kai. The only reason Kai joined the Black Dragons was because they were the mortal enemies of the Wasabi Warriors, and that was a good enough reason for him. That being said, it's mainly by default because Kai is one of the few martial artists on the show capable of matching Jack, and the only one with the personal enmity to really count as an Arch-Enemy.
• Broken Ace: He can't dance or throw a football.
• Catchphrase: Whenever Jack catches a punch in his palm, he'll say some variation of "You probably shouldn't have done that".
• Chick Magnet: Almost every girl in his school is after him.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Towards Kim, whenever she has a boyfriend.
• Does Not Like Spam: The very smell of blue cheese makes him nauseous.
• Face–Heel Turn: Averted. Jack joined and represented the Black Dragons for a tournament, but he returns to the Wasabi Warriors at the end of the episode.
• He Is All Grown Up: In Season 1, he is at 5'5''. His growth spurt hits in the second half of season 2. In Season 3 and 4, he looks much taller, more athletic with longer hair like an 18-year-old.
• Heir to the Dojo: His grandfather trained Bobby Wasabi, making Jack a textbook example of the Western variant mentioned on the trope page.
• The Hero
• Mr. Fanservice: Leo Howard has a lot of fangirls.
• Official Couple: With Kim, as of "Kickin' It on Our Own". Even more official from "Two Dates and a Funeral".
• Only Sane Man: Shares this role with Kim.
• Pretty Boy
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man (alongside Jerry) to Milton and Eddie's Sensitive Guys.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Gives this towards Frank in "Jack Stands Alone", especially after seeing him as an emotional wreck at Falafel Phil's.
• Taking the Bullet: Did this for Kim in the episode The Wrath of Swan, but it didn't do much good, because Kim still ended up messy anyway.
• Took a Level in Badass: While he was already a badass fighter from the get go, he becomes even better at his hand-to-hand combat skills over time.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: In Season 1, Jack was not only the most skilled student in the dojo, but he was usually the one who would come up with a plan to the gang's current situation. In Season 2's "The Chosen One", Jack was more concerned about his hair being shaved than saving the Grandmaster Monk. In "Wedding Crashers", Jack picks up one of Bobby's movie props and accidentally shoots Jerry in the mouth, paralyzing him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Becomes more narcissistic and less sympathetic towards others in the later seasons, whether they're his enemies or not.
• Vocal Evolution: Over the course of the series, his voice began to deepen in the second half of Season 2. If one were to watch a Season 1 episode and then a Season 4 episode, the dissonance becomes more pronounced.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?
• Young and in Charge: As of Dueling Dojos, Jack has the rank of a Sensei, and has the authority to teach and recruit potential students.

Milton David Krupnick

Played by: Dylan Riley Snyder

• Ambiguously Jewish: Although "Meet The McKrupnicks" reveals his heritage as Scottish (on his father's side) despite the Eastern European-sounding name.
  • Actually confirmed "How Bobby Got His Groove Back."
• Badass Bookworm
• Birds of a Feather: With Julie.
• Catchphrase: "Holy Christmas nuts!"
• Geek Physiques: He's very tall and skinny.
• Lethal Chef: Milton received a D- in Home Ec because his cake resulted in the teacher running to the bathroom. When he was baking his second cake, problems arose, when he added a few drops of chemicals in the bowl, the table the bowl is on shook, before he put the cake pan in the oven, the batter is bubbled like boiling lava, when the pan is placed in the oven, the kitchen cabinets all shook violently, and when the cake is finished, it is edible, but due to all the chemicals Milton put in the cake, it blew up after coming in contact with precious metals, namely, the teacher's golden fork.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy (alongside Eddie) to Kim's Masculine Girl.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: Well, he does take karate lessons.
• Proud to Be a Geek: The official Disney Channel character bio mentions his "nerdy self-confidence".
• Real Men Wear Pink: There's been at least one occasion where Milton wore a pink sweater vest.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy (alongside Eddie) to Jack and Jerry's Manly Men.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Inverted. Milton is the tallest of the group.
• The Smart Guy
• Smart People Build Robots: A transforming one in Rock'em Sock'em Rudy. We only get to see the alt mode that actually looks like a high school kid built it in a home garage and the shadow cast in the Humongous Mecha mode.
• Teen Genius
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Because of this, he's one kyu below where he "should" be, having lost his yellow belt immediately after being awarded it in The Pilot. It's a weakness that he's slowly growing out of...slowly.

Jerome César "Jerry" Martinez

Played by: Mateo Arias

• The Big Guy
• Book Dumb
• Butt-Monkey
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He puts way more effort into crushing substitute teachers than he'd need for the actual classes.
  Milton: If only he used his mind for good.
• Casanova Wannabe
• Catchphrase: "Wooooh!" and "Really, Jerry, really?!"
• Dashing Hispanic
• Delinquent: A detention regular.
• Does Not Like Spam: Jerry is afraid of saltines because as a kid, he was eating one when he saw his grandmother wearing a bikini.
• Gratuitous Spanish/Bilingual Bonus: In "All The Wrong Moves" he said something in Spanish while teaching everyone how to dance.
• Handsome Lech
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Latin Lover: He attempts to be one.
• Raised by Wolves: Claims to be in "Dummy Dancing".
• Screams Like a Little Girl
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man (alongside Jack) to Milton and Eddie's Sensitive Guys. However, he does scream like a girl at times.
• Small Name, Big Ego
• Teasing the Substitute Teacher: A self-proclaimed "Sub Sinker", he goes so far as to research the subs to find their psychological weak points.
• Took a Level in Badass: In "The Chosen One".

Kimberly "Kim" Crawford

Played by: Olivia Holt

• Bad Liar: "Swords and Magic" establishes this when she tries to get out of roleplaying and the lie includes the name Charlotte too much. She even admits this:
  Kim: My... aunt Charlotte. Yeah, she's coming in from... Charlotte and we're gonna go watch Charlotte's Web? (Jack looks at her deadpanned.) Wow, I am not good at lying.
• Berserk Button: Apparently, implying/saying Kim is a Dumb Blonde is NOT a good idea. She was ready to hurt Milton (who was pretending to be Jerry as part of a plan) when he said "Forgot I was talking to a blonde".
  • She also doesn't like being called "doll". How familiar.
  • Also, she will beat up anyone who ruins her hair.
• * Cute Bruiser
• Dude Magnet: Other than Jack, many guys have been attracted to her, even Jerry.
• First Girl Wins: Though she was the last to join the dojo, she was the first to befriend Jack. Every other love interest the two have are Romantic False Leads to their eventual relationship.
• Friend to All Living Things: Kim just LOVES animals. Although it's subverted with ugly animals like springing jellyfish.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She's usually the first one to resort to violence in a bad situation.
• Large Ham: She has her moments. Especially in "Gabby's Gold".
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Milton and Eddie's Feminine Boys.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Sometimes, Olivia Holt will slip into her native Tennessee southern accent. Could be justified as Kim is meant to be from the south.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves the show at the end of season 3. In-series, her character is accepted to a dojo in Japan. In real life, it's because Oliva signed on to do I Didn't Do It on Disney Channel and wanted to avoid scheduling conflicts. However, she guest stars in several episodes in Season 4.
• The Smurfette Principle: Kim is the only girl in the main cast.
• Squashed Flat: In Meet the McKrupnicks, she was squashed by a over 200 pound church door. After she was flattened, Jack said she looked a little pancakeish.
• Sucks at Dancing: Anytime Kim hears music, she gets enthusiastically excited and starts to dance, or at least what she considers dancing. Everyone else just cringes witnessing her bad bad moves. Ironically, she’s very good at formal ballroom dancing.

Edward "Eddie" Jones

Played by: Alex Christian Jones

• Casanova Wannabe
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: As of season 3. A rare case where this happens to a main character.
• Cursed with Awesome: He can play the cello but hates it.
• The Heart
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Marge.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy (alongside Milton) to Kim's Masculine Girl.
• Momma's Boy
• Nice Guy
• Screams Like a Little Girl
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy (alongside Milton) to Jack and Jerry's Manly Men.
• Took a Level in Badass

Rudy Gillespie

Played by: Jason Earles

• Beware the Silly Ones: When her sadistic taskmaster manager shows up to force Sloane to complete in a karate competition instead of having fun, Rudy delivers a serious beatdown on the sensei of the rival dojo just to defend a girl he barely knows, for the motivation of wanting to be a good role model for his students, even if the student he is protecting is about to quit his dojo to live a normal life.
• Big Brother Mentor
• Butt-Monkey
• The Chew Toy: He can't go one episode without getting injured in some way.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Occasionally, the writers remember that he's supposed to be a karate sensei...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: even though he act as jerk in every episode he still cares about the dojo, his students, and friends.
• Manchild
• One of the Kids
• Parental Substitute: He is sometimes this to Jack, evident especially during the episode "It Takes Two to Tangle"
  • Becomes this to Sam, an orphan.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Milton and Eddie's Sensitive Guys and Sensitive Guy to Jack and Jerry's Manly Men.
• Small Name, Big Ego

Phil

Played by: Dan Ahdoot

• Cloudcuckoolander
• Expy: Of the Soup Nazi.
• Funny Foreigner
• If You Can Read This: A health inspection "A" card is visible in his restaurant window. He keeps a live goat in the kitchen.
• Local Hangout: His restaurant, Falafel Phil's, conveniently located just across the mall courtyard from the dojo.

Joan Malone

Played by: Brooke Dillman

• Heroes Love Dogs
• Large Ham
• Police Are Useless

Sensei Ty

Played by: Ian Reed Kesler

• Bad Boss
• Big Bad Friend: Ty almost became this with Rudy.
• Dirty Coward: Evident especially during "Kickin' it On Our Own" when he hires someone else to fight Rudy instead of fighting Rudy himself.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty
• Dumb Muscle / * The Ditz: Thinks that 10 is a dozen.

—> That’s 10 times people that’s an even dozen

• Enemy Mine: Him and Rudy take down a couple of line cutters when they try to fight them for intervening.
• Expy: of Kreese
• Faux Affably Evil
• Insufferable Imbecile
• Not-So-Harmless Villain
• Thug Dojo: he runs one.

Frank

Played by: Wayne Dalglish

• Arch-Enemy: To the Wasabi Warriors as Sensei Ty's primary student. Though as the show went on and he suffered Villain Decay, he was seen less of an enemy and more of a nuisance, and the weaker students of the Wasabi Dojo stopped being scared of him.
• Book Dumb
• Diminishing Villain Threat: As of season 3.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Frank may be a cheater and a liar who did many bad things, but stealing Seaford High's turtle is a line Frank would never cross.
  • Although it's deconstructed since Frank doesn't care about the turtle and more about the quality of the prank.
• Evil Counterpart: He's basically one for Jerry.
• The Heavy: For the Black Dragons.
• Jerkass: He bullies anyone weaker than him.
• Not Me This Time: In "Jack Stands Alone", it turns out Frank was framed by Erica.
• Sycophantic Servant: To Sensei Ty.
• Villainous Breakdown: After he found out he was being framed.

Kai

Played by: Troy Romzek

• Arch-Enemy: To his own cousin Jack.
• Clashing Cousins: With Jack.
• Dueltothe Death: Attempted to have one with Jack after being exposed as a cheater in a Karate competition in China.
• Enemy Mine: He and the black dragons reluctantly team up with the wasabi warriors to break rudy and Ty up because he (along with everyone else) could not stand the sight of their friendship
• Evil Counterpart: To Jack as well.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Hate Sink: He plans an attack against Jack in a Karate competition and tries to kill him in a fight when exposed all in his first appearance. In his second and last appearance he joins the Black Dragons only because he heard they were Jack's mortal enemy, with a smug smile on his face to boot.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
• Kick the Dog: He punches Jack’s broken wrist during a fight RIGHT AFTER JACK JUST SAVED HIS LIFE! and outright says that he would’ve let Jack fall to his death.

Marge

Played by: Loni Love

• Acrofatic
• Action Girl
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Eddie.
• Lethal Chef: As shown in "Sensei & Sensibility".
• Sassy Black Woman

Bobby Wasabi

Played by: Joel Mc Crary

• Acrofatic: He's able to kick a surprising amount of ass for his size.
• Big Good
• No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me: As the series began, Bobby Wasabi was a former movie star who hasn't been seen in public for at least two decades. When he first made an appearance, he was so overweight people had problem linking him to the movie star. No wonder the producers making a movie of his life wanted him to be portrayed by somebody else.
• Retired Badass
• Too Dumb to Live: Selling the dojo to a group of cheating tyrants

Julie

Played by: Hannah Leigh

Claire

Played by Katherine McNamara

• Abhorrent Admirer: To Jerry of all people in the episode “Capture the Flag”
• Alpha Bitch
• Jerkass

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