The new year is rapidly unfolding, KFK readers, and with it, a lot for martial arts aficionados to anticipate! Looking back on 2024, the year was certainly a blast for martial arts fans with incredible action to be found from all corners of the globe. Even better, it looks like 2025 might be sweetening the deal with what it has in store for martial arts fans!
Another influx of “Karate Kid” greatness, some modern blaxploitation fun, smackdowns with Avatars and aliens, one of the core players of “The Raid” franchise making his directorial debut, superheroes kicking butt, the Baba Yaga back in action, and a martial arts mega ensemble that Hong Kong action fans are counting down the minutes for – and that’s not even all of it!
With that primer on the table, the time has come for another KFK countdown as we embark into all that awaits us in 2025, readers – here, in descending order, are KFK’s Top 15 Most Anticipated Martial Arts Movies of 2025!
15. Mortal Kombat 2
2021’s big-screen reboot of “Mortal Kombat” fall into the “good, not great” column, with plenty of the franchise’s famed gory Fatalities and an absolutely dynamo beginning and ending with the Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero battles that bookend the movie. However, the middle section is a lot more hit and miss in terms of pacing, fight scenes, and the “Mortal Kombat” franchise’s lore and characters, including the absence of the actual Mortal Kombat tournament itself. Nonetheless, “Mortal Kombat 2” seems prepped to build upon what worked in its predecessor and improve upon what didn’t.
Producer Todd Garner emphasized as much on Twitter, telling fans “Trust me, we’ve listened”, and it’s good to hear that the makers of “Mortal Kombat 2” are striving to deliver the best sequel possible in the knowledge that its predecessor has both strengths and weaknesses with the goal being to build on the latter while not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Additionally, the return of Joe Taslim is sure to expand upon Mortal Kombat lore with his transformation from Sub-Zero to Noob Saibot, while Karl Urban will likely bring some rugged grit to the debut of Johnny Cage into the franchise. “Mortal Kombat 2” arrives in theaters on October 24th, and hopefully, the sequel is gearing up for a Flawless Victory!
14. Nobody 2
When it comes to sleeper hits, 2021 has a real all-timer in the assassin action-comedy “Nobody”, in which Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell kicked levels of butt that earned him and the movie comparisons to “John Wick”.
After four years, Hutch is back for his next mission in “Nobody 2”, but that’s only half the reason for action fans to get primed for his return. The other half? Two word – Timo Tjahjanto. One of Indonesia’s most celebrated action and horror directors, Timo has proven himself among the greatest action filmmakers to ever breath oxygen with a resume that includes such modern action classics as “Headshot”, “The Night Comes For Us”, and “The Shadow Strays”.
With Timo having become so exalted among action and martial arts movie lovers, his long-awaited Hollywood directorial debut is coming with the perfect vehicle in “Nobody 2”. Combining Bob Odenkirk’s charismatic performance as Hutch, the sheer standards set by the original “Nobody”, the involvement of 87 North Productions as one of the premiere action movie production houses around, and Timo Tjahjanto bringing his patented brand of Indonesian action to Hollywood at last, it cannot be denied that “Nobody 2” thoroughly warrants inclusion among the most anticipated martial arts-packed actioners of 2025 ahead of its theatrical debut on August 15!
13. Purgatory: Zone of Murderers
Bruce Khan – a man who proved at the age of 51 that it’s never too late to become a martial arts movie star with his 2019 Netflix hit “Revenger”, combining the power of Korean martial arts with the influence of Indonesian action into one hell of a package.
For the upcoming “Purgatory: Zone of Murderers”, Bruce returns as both leading man and screenwriter along with serving as fight choreographer and co-directing the movie with Jonathan Hyun Myoung Lee.
In “Purgatory: Zone of Murderers”, Bruce is in a futuristic prison known as Purgatory, portraying a cop tasked with bringing down the leader of the prisoners who have overrun the facility. Details on the release of “Purgatory: Zone of Murderers” and a trailer are still pending, but for now, a snippet of Bruce kicking butt in “Revenger” should sufficiently excite martial arts lovers for what he plans to bring to the prison showdown!
12. A Working Man
In January 2024, David Ayer’s “The Beekeeper” made one thing perfectly clear – that he and Jason Statham are a director-action hero match made in heaven. Evidently, they both agreed, with Ayer and Statham teaming up again for 2025’s “A Working Man”, scripted by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone and based upon Chuck Dixon’s novel “Levon’s Trade”.
In “A Working Man”, Statham stars as Levon Cade, a construction worker and former Royal Marine, who must rescue his boss’s daughter after her abduction at the hands of a human trafficking ring.
Judging from the trailer for “A Working Man” and their previous results together on “The Beekeeper”, David Ayer understands the appeal of Jason Statham as an action star and knows how to implement his talents better than almost any other director Statham has ever worked with.
With Statham-style butt-kicking and gravelly one-liners a-plenty promised, “A Working Man” is set to continue the Ayer-Statham action movie era with all the phenomenal energy that it kicked off with in “The Beekeeper”!
11. Without Remorse
Oh, how amazing it feels after the recent slump in the Hong Kong action scene of the last few years to not only seems to be a thing of the past, but a distant memory indeed with how many exciting (and, for that matter, non-Donnie Yen-led) Chinese and Hong Kong action flicks of both the streaming and theatrical variety are on the way.
One of those is the upcoming martial arts action ensemble “Without Remorse”, which brings together “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” star Philip Ng with Andy On, Tiger Chen, and a huge collection of other martial artists and stunt pros.
Phil’s Hong Kong street cred was solidified long ago with 2014’s “Once Upon A Time In Shanghai”, while Andy On seems to be in every other Chinese streaming action movie as one of the most prolific Eastern action stars of the modern age. Add in the “Man of Tai Chi” Tiger Chen into what is his second “Triple Threat” team, and we have no remorse at all about our anticipation for “Without Remorse” here at KFK!
10. Baaghi 4
Good old Tiger Shroff is ready to rock and roll in the over-the-top thunder and lighting of Bollywood action with 2025’s upcoming “Baaghi 4”. While Tiger has been a headliner of numerous Bollywood action hits, the “Baaghi” franchise has always been what launched him. While “Baaghi 4” has been rumored ever since 2020’s “Baaghi 3”, it was finally announced and kicked off filming in late 2024, with a release date of September 5th already slated.
Not much is known plot-wise regarding “Baaghi 4” yet, but the franchise’s general anthology template of Tiger portraying a rebel known as Ronny with incredible martial arts skills is bound to hold true for “Baaghi 4”.
While there’s still a good wait for the movie’s release date this fall, the “Baaghi 4” trailer should hopefully placate Bollywood action fans soon with a taste of Tiger’s martial arts and dance skills alike until Ronny finally returns to theaters.
9. Karate Kid: Legends
It’s rare to see a combo like the one represented in the series finale of “Cobra Kai” and the release of “Karate Kid: Legends” – a phenomenally popular martial arts TV series coming to an epic conclusion, only for the franchise to continue ahead just three months later on the big-screen.
Leave it to “The Karate Kid” franchise to deliver that one of a kind combo pack in the home stretch of “Cobra Kai” and “Karate Kid: Legends”.
With “Cobra Kai” having just wrapped up its epic six season run, “Karate Kid: Legends” brings Ralph Macchio’s Daniel-san leaps right into a new story when he is recruited by Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han to train promising martial arts prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) in the wisdom of both kung fu and karate.
The stretch of February to May 2025 promise a lot of “Karate Kid” fever, and with the package of the 2010 “Karate Kid” remake not only being retconned into the main “Karate Kid” franchise but arriving so soon after the finale of “Cobra Kai”, they’re a rare package deal that no martial arts movie aficionado could refuse!
8. Daredevil: Born Again
The Man Without Fear is back to protect Hell’s Kitchen at last with the upcoming “Daredevil: Born Again”, arriving on Disney+ on March 4th!
With the end of the Marvel-Netflix era, the future of each of the street level superheroes seen there was up in the air for years until Charlie’s Cox’s crowd-pleasing return cameo as Matt Murdock in 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, and Matt is finally in the spotlight of the next chapter of his story with the arrival of “Daredevil: Born Again”.
The trailer teases a return to the pulse-pounding action scenes inspired by “The Raid” movies that fans of Netflix’s three seasons of “Daredevil” adored, with Matt headed into a new thunderous battle with Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) and the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio).
It’s been a long wait to see Daredevil continue from where his Netflix adventures left off, but “Born Again” promises to be the pay-off worthy of The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, and hopefully one with another epic one-shot fight sequence to build on the three Daredevil oners before it!
7. Timur
It’s been a long time coming, but the words “Directed by Iko Uwais” will now finally be included in the credits of an Indonesian martial arts action film, namely the upcoming “Timur”.
2025 marks a major career leap for Iko Uwais with the launch of his new production label Uwais Pictures, which already has two movies in the can to bring more Indonesian Silat action to the world. Based on a real-life Indonesian hostage situation in 1996, Iko both leads and directs “Timur”, and alongside “Ikatan Darah”, it will be one of two forthcoming releases under Uwais Pictures.
Iko has certainly come a long way from being a former delivery driver discovered by Gareth Evans to helping put Indonesian action on the map with “Merantau” and “The Raid” movies, to finally starting his own production company and making his directorial debut.
Iko Uwais is living proof as much as anyone in the martial arts movie world can be of never giving up on your dreams and always pushing further into new endeavors, which makes “Timur” a 2025 martial arts flick that fans will surely greet with open arms when it arrives later this year.
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender – Season Two
After the debacle of 2010’s “The Last Airbender”, it seemed that live-action was the one battle Aang and Team Avatar were not destined to win, but thankfully, Netflix’s 2024 reboot of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” gave the Avatar universe a huge live-action redemption as a loving tribute to Nickelodeon’s popular anime-inspired fantasy martial arts series.
Netflix clearly knew to strike when the iron’s hot, and not only greenlit a second season but a third, with the two filming back-to-back to adapt the Book Two and Book Three of Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.
The phenomenal element bending action of Netflix’s rendition of “Avatar” was as thoroughly captivating as its world-building and Avatar mythology. With the show’s second and third seasons, “Avatar” fans will get all of that plus the ruthless Fire Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu) stepping up as the villainess “Avatar” fans know and love along with the introduction of Toph Beifong (Miya Cech), the friend and Earthbending mentor of the heroic Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier).
With “Avatar” seasons two and three already well underway, a trailer and release details for season two’s impending Netflix debut should both be right around the corner.
5. Skyline: Warpath
Remember when Iko Uwais battled an alien invasion in Liam O’Donnell’s 2017 sci-fi martial arts cocktail “Beyond Skyline”? He’s returning for round two in the upcoming “Skyline: Warpath”, and this time, Scott Adkins is along for the ride! Set between “Beyond Skyline” and 2020’s “Skylin3s” , “Skyline: Warpath” sees Iko Uwais’ Sua uncovering a mysterious weapon known as the Radial Gauntlet, which places him at odds with grizzled cop Eric Corley (Scott Adkins) and a new batch of enemies.
Liam has described “Warpath” as an inversion of the alien invasion with martial arts template of its two predecessors, with the interquel being a martial arts flick with sci-fi and alien components. Judging from set photos, it seems Iko and Scott will have a similar relationship as Iko had with Frank Grillo in “Beyond Skyline” with their characters initially enemies before joining forces.
With the promise of more of the “Skyline” franchise’s unique blend of martial arts and sci-fi, the double header of Iko Uwais and Scott Adkins is definitely one to keep your eyes peeled on for a trailer and release date, as well as anticipating the Radial Gauntlet’s role in setting up Liam’s planned “Skyline” franchise pay-off, “Skyline: Radial”!
4. Death March
Scott Adkins is headed back in time for a World War II-era martial arts smackdown in Louis Mandylor’s “Death March”. The movie sees Scott in the role of James Wright, a British SAS solider who crash lands in the Philippines during the war, and finds himself held captive in a Japanese prison camp, where he is forced to fight for his life against many formidable fighters.
World War II-set martial arts films aren’t exactly a sub-genre with an abundance of entries, but that’s also what makes “Death March” one of 2025’s most unique and uniquely intriguing martial arts films.
With other action veterans like Peter Shinkoda, Michael Copon, and Donald Cerrone on hand, “Death March” should bring plenty for martial arts fans and World War II history buffs to sink their teeth into.
3. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
Did anyone ever expect bullets to keep the Baba Yaga down? Not in the slightest, but while the world may have to wait a while longer for the all-but-inevitable “John Wick: Chapter 5”, he’s back in action to lend a hand to a fellow warrior in the upcoming spin-off “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina”.
Set between the third and fourth “John Wick” movies, “Ballerina” focuses upon up-and-coming assassin Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), seeking vengeance for the death of her father, with a little help from the legendary John Wick and his associates Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and Charon (Lance Reddick, appearing posthumously).
If it’s a mainline “John Wick” movie or spin-off, it goes without saying that the anticipation for it among fans is electrifying, and the trailer more than sells “Ballerina” as a worthy entry into its namesake cinematic universe and a true gun-fu and martial arts movie powerhouse for the new year. “Ballerina” will land in theaters on June 6th with Eve and John clearly ready to rock!
2. Diablo
Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror are teaming up again for their fifth movie together in the upcoming “Diablo”, under the direction of Marko’s frequent directorial collaborator Ernesto Diaz Espinoza.
“Diablo” sees Scott as Kris Chaney, who finds himself pitted against Marko’s bloodthirsty antagonist El Corvo. Not a lot of info on “Diablo” is available at the moment, but what is clear is how much enthusiasm Scott himself has for it, something he’s made clear in multiple social media posts where he’s spoken of how proud he is of the level and finesse of action boasted by “Diablo”.
Obviously, meeting Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror standards of action is a high bar to clear indeed, but with Ernesto Diaz Espinoza having previously helmed several of Marko’s best martial arts-driven actioners, including “Mirageman”, “Redeemer”, and “Fist of the Condor”, bringing Scott into that team certainly makes the “Diablo” sales pitch a compelling one.
…And in at number one is…
The Furious
How often does a Hong Kong action flick come along that’s not only helmed by the next Yuen Woo-ping, but also includes an ensemble consisting of a Wushu master known for playing Jet Li’s son twice, the leading lady of “Chocolate”, one of the dudes from the Martial Club gang, and two alumni from “The Raid” movies? 2025 is that year with the arrival of Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Furious”, which brings together an ensemble cast of martial arts movie legends including Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Jeeja Yanin, Brian Le, and Yayan Ruhian.
With names like that attached both behind and in front of the camera, they would have to go out of their way to make “The Furious” into a letdown, which by itself more than earns it the number one Most Anticipated spot on 2025’s list. However, the mandate that everyone on board brings to “The Furious” is what sets that in stone with “Most Anticipated” embossed in golden letters upon it.
Producer Bill Kong of Edko Films and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” fame has emphasized “The Furious” as a bid to reinvigorate Hong Kong action movies, an aim shared by Kenji and co-producer Todd Brown of XYZ Films in multiple interviews with Variety (here, here, and here.)
“The Furious” is set to follow Konggu (Xie Miao), a man on a mission to rescue his kidnapped daughter, and finding himself forced to join forces with journalist Navin (Joe Taslim). With the sheer pedigree of everyone involved and their stated goal to make a Hong Kong action game-changer (Kong even going as far as to tell Variety “If we fail, “The Furious will only be as good as “The Raid” and “Taken’”), “The Furious” has everyone and everything at its disposal to get the job done in spectacular fashion.
We’re still awaiting a trailer and release date for “The Furious” (though it is said to be aiming to debut in the second quarter of 2025), and both can’t get here fast enough with foundation “The Furious” is built on and the hype of it taking Hong Kong action back to its roots and pushing it to the next level simultaneously. Without a doubt, “The Furious” earns the distinction of being KFK’s Most Anticipated Martial Arts Movie of 2025!
