Kai Jin is the main protagonist on Netflix's Wu Assassins. He is portrayed by Iko Uwais.[1]
Kai is a young Chinatown chef who becomes the final Wu Assassin and finds himself entangled with the Chinese Triad's pursuit of deadly ancient powers known as the Wu Xing.
Early Life[]
When Kai Jin was young, his parents took him from Indonesia to go to San Francisco for reasons unclear. While on a cruise, a huge storm broke out, killing most of the passengers, including his parents. Uncle Six found Kai, and remembering his past, took pity and adopted him.
Kai Jin made friends with Lu Xin Lee, Tommy, and Jenny Wah. While getting a tattoo with his friends, Raymond Tang, the previous Triad leader, took Kai Jin and Uncle Six to a hidden place. Raymond Tang revealed that there was a rival gang member who attempted to kill Uncle Six and ordered Kai Jin to kill him. Kai Jin hesitated, and Uncle Six killed the gang member instead, scarring Kai.
One night, Kai Jin, Lu Xin, Tommy, and Jenny sneaked past Triad henchmen to go get fireworks. While getting the fireworks, Tommy accidentally locked the door, leaving them trapped in a room. Unknown to the group, Uncle Six recently acquired the Fire Wu, and used its power to kill Raymond Tang and the other Triad leaders in order to take their positions by burning the building. During the chaos, Lu Xin Lee is burned by the fire, and Kai sees Uncle Six before passing out. As a result, Lu Xin blamed Tommy for his burns due to Tommy not making sure the door was open which caused a rift in the group.
As Kai Jin grew up, he began to learn how to cook and worked under Tommy as well as working as a chef in a food truck called Kung Foodie. Kai grew distant from his adoptive father, holding resentment for Uncle Six's crimes, and also became close to Mister Young, an elderly neighbor who works in a grocery store.
Throughout the Series[]
Season 1[]
In Drunken Watermelon , Kai is making food for an order. He and Lu Xin Lee talk about opening a food truck, with Lu Xin Lee promising to lend him money. Kai refuses, due to Lu Xin getting money by stealing cars and selling them for the Triad. After Lu Xin leaves, Kai purposely messes up the order by adding peanuts to get Tommy out of the Triad. Tommy throws the plate at Kai Jin, and when there is a fight about to happen between Jimmy (Kai's coworker) and a Triad member, Tommy tells Kai to take a day off (whether the customer didn't like peanuts or is allergic to peanuts is unclear). Kai goes to his apartment where Mister Young, his neighbor, gives him food.
Kai Jin is held at gunpoint by The Triad
Kai quits his job and opens his food truck called Kung Foodie, and hires another chef to work with him. His business is proven to be successful as there are many satisfied customers. Lu Xin tells Kai that the Triad are coming after him due to yesterdays incident, and tries to give Kai a gun, but he refuses. When Kai is driving home, two Triad henchmen try attacking him and damage his food truck, but Kai fends them off. While driving he hits a young woman in the road. When he goes to ask her if she's okay, the young woman wakes up and tells him to hang up in Indonesian. The young woman hands Kai the monk shard. The young woman explains that there are 5 new Wu Warlords coming to San Francisco which will cause the end of the world, and Kai must kill them. Kai tells her that he's just a chef, but Ying Ying refuses to take no for an answer, and Kai wakes up in the hospital.
While washing his face, Kai sees another face on his body. The young woman explains to Kai in his head that due to him possessing the monk shard, Kai now possesses the knowledge of a thousand monk's martial arts, and when he fights his facial appearance will change to the past version of a monk. Jenny meets him at the hospital, and drops him off at a temple. After meditating, Uncle Six meets with Kai and attempts to reconcile with Kai by offering a new place to stay, however Kai refuses.
Kai Jin sees Kun Zi in the reflection of his mirror
When Kai goes home, he sees Triad henchmen attacking innocent people in his apartment complex in order to look for him. Kai defeats all the henchmen with his new knowledge of martial arts, and saves Mr. Young. When Mr. Young asks who saved him (due to Kai Jin looking like a different person to other people), Kai replies "The Wu Assassin."
In Misspent Youth Kai is having a breakdown on what happened last night by cutting up food viciously. Before calling Jenny, Kai receives a knock from Zan who takes him to Uncle Six. Uncle Six apologizes to Kai about sending his henchmen after, and asks him who is the mysterious bald man that saved him, to which Kai lies by saying he doesn't know before receving a call from Lu Xin. While talking to Lu Xin about what happened, Kai is suddenly transported to a different place. The young woman from earlier greets him, introducing herself as Ying Ying.
Ying Ying explains to Kai that she transported him to a place called The Path, a realm between heaven and Earth where time does not have effect (a day in the Path is an instant on Earth). Ying Ying also explains that the Dao, a flow of energy, travels through the Path. Kai begins his training by putting his head under water and putting his hand in fire to strengthen himself against the elements. Kai meets Christine Gavin aka CG, and goes with her to get a new windshield for his food truck. When they arrive at the destination, CG is harassed by a couple of men, and Kai helps take one of the men down before being kicked out.
Kai Jin training in The Path
While walking home, Kai is pulled back into The Path. Kai successfully finishes his training, but grabs Ying Ying and tells her that she is not a killer but a chef. Ying Ying closes Kai's eyes and Kai is transported to his apartment where he sees the same Triad henchmen holding Jenny hostage. When Jenny's throat is slit, Kai is enraged and quickly kills the henchmen. When he checks to see Jenny, it is revealed that Ying Ying impersonated her in the illusion, and tells Kai that he is a killer deep down.
Ying Ying tells Kai that his training is complete, and he must open the door. When Kai opens the door, he sees an empty space. Ying Ying tells him that he must meditate, and he will find his answers. When Kai meditates, the Dao forms around him, and Kai is transported to Lu Xin Lee's garage where he finds Lu Xin bleeding heavily, Jenny holding a red shiny object, Tommy shooting himself with a shotgun, Uncle Six shooting out fire (revealing to be the Fire Wu Lord), and CG sacrificing herself against his attack. Kai asks Ying Ying why is CG important, but Ying Ying tells Kai that he must learn for himself, and transport him back to his apartment.
In Fire Chicken Kai follows CG to her apartment at Jingletown, but she finds out. After a brief struggle, CG ties Kai to a post, and Kai tells her that Uncle Six will kill her, and came to warn her to stay away from Nikki Steakhouse, and escapes quickly.
Christine holds Kai at gunpoint after finding him stalking her.
Kai goes back to Tommy's restaurant, greets Jimmy and meets up with Jenny. Kai tells her that he has been acting weird because Uncle Six tried to get Kai back in the Triad, but Kai refuses. Jenny rehires Kai due to Kai's food truck being destroyed. Jenny tells Kai to make fire chicken, and after Kai cooks fire chicken, Jenny tells Kai that she took loans from Uncle Six to remodel the restaurant which upsets Kai. Kai goes home to check on Mr. Young, and when he enters his apartment he sees Uncle Six.
Kai works for Jenny Wah's chef.
Uncle Six tries to persuade Kai to rejoin the Triad in hopes of protecting him from the "bald man." Kai refuses, and Uncle Six notices the Mizuyaki Honyaki, an expensive knife that Uncle Six gave to him. Uncle Six tries to reconcile with Kai once again, asking him when did things go wrong, to which Kai retorts when Kai saw Uncle Six as the monster he was. After Uncle Six leaves, Kai checks on Mr. Young again, only to find out Mr. Young's coworker was kidnapped by Zan due to the "bald man" attacking the Triad members.
Realizing that Zan only wants him, Kai willingly lets him get captured. Kai is taken to Nikki Steakhouse, where Uncle Six tries to find the man who hurt his henchmen. Kai tells Uncle Six it was him who caused the trouble (while impersonating a past monk) and tells Uncle Six that he will kill him.
In A Twisting Snake, Kai tells Uncle Six that he doesn't want to kill him, but Uncle Six ignores Kai's pleas and starts fighting him. Initially they both start fighting on even ground, but Uncle Six begins to overwhelm Kai due to his mastery over the Wu Xing, and strength. Eventually, Christine arrives and after defeating the bodyguards she aims her gun at Uncle Six, but Kai pushes her to safety, taking the brunt of the fire attack. Uncle Six begins to shoot fire at Kai, and as a result his identity is revealed to Uncle Six and Christine.
Uncle Six starts to burns Kai Jin's head
Christine shoots a chandelier above Uncle Six, separating the two and taking Kai to her home to fix his wounds. The next day, Kai tells Christine everything about the Wu Assassin and the Wu Xing as well as his prophetic visions, which causes Christine to tell him that she is an undercover cop and promises to keep an eye on Jenny, Tommy, and Lu Xin Lee .
Kai is transported back into the Path where he meets Ying Ying, and Ying Ying takes Kai to a cave where there are almost one thousand statues of past Wu Assassins. Kai learns Ying Ying's backstory, and is transported back to the real world. Kai goes over Christine things, and recognizes Alec McCullough's photo from a previous Wu Assassin statue.
In Codladh Samh Kai receives a call from Christine and tells Jenny and Tommy to meet up with him in Lu Xin's garage. Kai explains everything (Ying Ying, Wu Assassin, the Wu Xings, the Wu Warlords, and Uncle Six causing Lu Xin his burns) to Christine, Lu Xin, Tommy, and Jenny. Kai is surprised that Lu Xin wants to kill Uncle Six, and explains that he can not give Lu Xin his Wu Assassin powers. Kai tells Lu Xin to be careful of Uncle Six and take care of Jenny, then leaves to drive Jenny home. Kai asks Mr. Young for ingredients to poison Uncle Six. Mr. Young warns Kai of his dark path, but Kai ignores and takes the poisoned food to Uncle Six. Uncle Six sees through his lies, and reveals to Kai that he knows Kai is the Wu Assassin, and offers a truce.
Kai reveals his identity to his friends.
In Gu Assassins, Uncle Six tells Kai Jin of his meeting with Alec McCullough, and offers a truce. Kai still doesn't trust Uncle Six, and Uncle Six tells Kai he would do anything to make Kai trust him again. Kai Jin goes to The Path in order to ask her if there was a possible method to extract a Wu Xing without killing, and Ying Ying explains there is a method called Gu, but it is dangerous (anyone who participates in this method in any way will die). Kai stubbornly tells Ying Ying that he must try, and Ying Ying, disappointed, leaves him saying that he has taken a different path. Kai tells Lu Xin to get a couple of poisonous animals, and after a period of time (in which Tommy asks Kai to assault an abusive boyfriend, which Kai refuses) extracts the Gu from a snake. Kai then tells Uncle Six to meet up with him in Master Wah's restaurant.
Kai Jin extracts the Fire Wu Xing from Uncle Six.
Kai makes sure Uncle Six agrees to this, and Uncle Six ingests the Gu, having a reaction to it (black veins appear around his neck). Kai persuades Lu Xin to not kill Uncle Six (Uncle Six accidentally burned Lu Xin's back 15 years ago), and guides Uncle Six to remove his Fire Wu Xing. Kai extracts it, and takes the Fire Wu Xing to Christine for safekeeping, while he and Uncle Six will help find the Earth Wu Warlord.
In Legacy, Kai is researching the whereabouts of the Earth Wu Warlord, and finds his location. Uncle Six wakes up and tells Kai that James Baxter is the recent wielder of the Earth Wu Xing (McCullough told him in Codladh Samh) and they both go on a road trip.
After giving Christine the Fire Wu Xing, Kai and Uncle Six go on a road trip where Uncle Six asks Kai if he has a plan to kill James and Kai says he improvises. Uncle Six noted that if Kai does not have a plan he will lose like he lost to Uncle Six (in A Twisting Snake) but Kai counters that he was not trying to kill him. While on the road trip Uncle Six feels nauseous after ingesting the Gu. Uncle Six asks to drive the car but Kai refuses, still not trusting him. Uncle Six tells Kai that he made the hard choices so that Kai wouldn't do it, and tries explaining that the Wu-Xing corrupted him but Kai points out that the Wu-Xing didn't corrupt Uncle Six, rather Uncle Six used the Wu Xing to commit crimes. Uncle Six asks Kai to stop the car near a road and vomits, unaware that Lu Xin Lee is following them.
Kai and Uncle Six being antagonized by bullies.
Kai drops Uncle Six off a store so he can get clean clothes and orders food to eat. While waiting for their food, a waitress makes a racist remark toward Uncle Six, and Uncle Six defiantly counters that remark, escalating to a brawl where Kai defeats multiple people before leaving. After choosing a place where James can't sense them, Uncle Six reveals to Kai his history and reminisces the time he found Kai, and tells Kai "ayah sayang kamu" (Indonesian for "father loves you"). Overwhelmed with emotion, Kai tells Uncle Six they should get some sleep.
The next day Kai goes off to find James Baxter without Uncle Six (as Uncle Six might get in the way), and after a brief confrontation Kai barely manages to kill James by using the Mizuyaki Honyaki. Before dying James tells Kai to not give the Earth Wu Xing to McCullough before dying, and Kai acquires the Wu Xing. Kai walks out of the house and sees Lu Xin Lee and Uncle Six together.
Kai does not appear physically in Ladies' Night, but he appears in a flashback when he gives CG the Fire Wu Xing (before Kai goes off to face James Baxter and CG purposely gets arrested).
In Paths: Part 1, Alec McCullough calls Kai (with Uncle Six and Lu Xin Lee in the same room as Kai) and after hearing Kai slaying James Baxter (The Earth Wu Warlord), McCullough wants Kai to bring the wu xing to him. Kai replies no, and hangs up on McCullough, and is transported to The Path to where he meets Kun Zi for the first time face to face.
Kai recognizes Kun Zi as the face he wears when he fights people. Kai asks where Ying Ying is, and Kun Zi explains that Ying Ying is in Kai's past, he must face the future. Kun Zi starts telling Kai that McCullough plans to rule the world but Kai responds that McCullough actually wants to reunite with his family, and asks if this is possible. Kun Zi replies it is possible, but only the Wu Assassin can occupy The Path freely, as any foreigner (Wu Warlord, or any human) enters the Path, it would disrupt the flow of the Dao which will damage time, space, and reality. Kai is pulled back to the real world, where Lu Xin calls him out on his response. Kai tells Lu Xin that the only important thing is to kill McCullough, and asks Uncle Six if he can rally his Triad men once more. While driving to where McCullough could be, Lu Xin tells Kai that although he is not the Wu Assassin, he will call Kai on his mistakes, and Kai thanks Lu Xin for sparing Uncle Six.
Kai fighting off multiple enemies by himself
Kai and Lu Xin Lee find the abandoned mill, and kills many of McCullough henchmen using their martial arts. Before being overwhelmed, Jenny kills the rest with her Fire Wu Xing powers (one of the henchmen tried to move her) and meets up with Kai and Lu Xin. Kai is horrified that Jenny has the Fire Wu Xing, but Jenny tells Kai its the only way, and the reason why McCullough is not here is because he moved someplace else and she gives Kai an address: if Kai doesn't come to the address with the Earth Wu Xing, he will kill Tommy. Kai and Lu Xin go home and notice Uncle Six is not there. Kai gets a call from Zan, who video records herself shooting Uncle Six in the head, shocking Kai and Lu Xin.
In Paths: Part 2 after seeing Zan kill Uncle Six, Lu Xin leaves to let Kai grieve. Kai trashes his room and sees a letter Uncle Six gave to him (in Fire Chicken), and tears up reading it (the contents of the letter are unknown).
The next day, Kai and Lu Xin meet up with Alec McCullough, but McCullough tells them to drop their weapons. Kai and Lu Xin confront McCullough, who mocks Kai on Uncle Six's death as well as Ying Ying's words, telling him that Ying Ying only brings suffering and death. McCullough heals Tommy, and tells Kai that every move Kai can think of, McCullough already has a counter for that, telling Kai that there are 4 Wu Warlords (Gideon in Christine Gavin's body, himself, Miss Jones, and Jenny Wah) and his henchmen against Kai, also revealing that he knew Kai met with Jenny to devise a plan.
Kai nearly hands the Earth Wu Xing to McCullough, before letting Tommy have it. McCullough smiles, telling him that was exactly what he needs, as the only way to travel to The Path is to have 5 humans that possess the Wu Xing, the Wu Assassin, and an artifact that acts as a guidepost to the afterlife (seen in Paths: Part 1). The whole group is transported to The Path where Kai wakes up and catches McCullough's Wu Xing. He then gathers Jenny, Miss Jones, Tommy, and Gideon's Wu Xing (freeing Christine) and extracts his own monk shard to form a tortoise shell. The tortoise shell opens a portal to the real world, but McCullough wakes up. Kai wants to take them all down and tells the rest of the group to leave, but Lu Xin disagrees.
Kai and his friends fight off the henchmen, and Kai follows McCullough inside the Path, but not before tellking Lu Xin to take the others and leave. Kai follows McCullough in the past, where he kills him in front of his family and takes McCullough's wife (Maggie) and is about to kill her in front of her son but spares her. He soon escapes from the Path in the real world, and six months later is working for Jenny and Tommy.
Lu Xin, Kai, Jenny and Tommy go around and share what they accomplished, as well as growing closer together. Lu Xin gives Kai information on where Zan was last spotted in Macau, which Kai accepts. When Lu Xin sees Christine and goes to talk to her, and Tommy talks to a waitress who had the wrong order, Jenny talks to Kai about what happened 6 months ago, and asks him if he killed McCullough out of vengeance, to which Kai doesn't respond. Jenny sees an old colleague of hers and leaves him alone with his thoughts. Kai is looking at a photo of Zan when he hears rumbling and shaking and sees Ying Ying with modern clothing. Ying Ying confirms that it is her "in the flesh" and as the building begins to shake she says "its not over yet Kai. The world still needs the Wu Assassin."
Physical Appearance[]
Kai Jin is a mixed Chinese-Indonesian man, standing at 5'06" in height with a well-built toned body. He has dark spiky hair, and is almost always seen with a jacket over his shirt. He occasionally wears sneakers and black shoes. While working as a chef, he wears a black buttoned up shirt.
Personality[]
Kai has a strong sense of justice. He was unwilling to borrow dirty money from Lu Xin Lee and was unhappy with Jenny getting a loan from Uncle Six. He also doesn’t believe in killing unless necessary., however this changes toward the end of the first season. Kai Jin is also loyal to his friends, and is willing to kill in order to save them and/or complete his objective. He is shown to be stubborn and has perserverance, not willing to give up during a fight or mission.
Powers and Abilities[]
Before obtaining the Monk Shard, Kai Jin was an average fighter who wanted to be a chef. After receiving being chosen as the Wu Assassin, Kai Jin gained the ability to impersonate a previous monk when he is fighting. Kai Jin has shown to be one of the deadliest fighters, able to defeat multiple attackers at once, as well as single-handedly killing two Wu Lords, and even fighting Uncle Six on even terms.
Kai becomes the new Wu Assassin.
Physical Abilities[]
Enhanced Strength: Kai Jin's strength is enhanced to a superhuman degree; his attacks are able to hurt other enhanced beings. While training in the Path, Kai punched a boulder hard enough to shatter it. He also stabs a gun in a Triad member with ease, which would be physically impossible if a normal human were to do it. Kai was also able to throw a knife with great force, causing it to penetrate a man's hand, and send it flying back, with the knife denting into the wall. More notably, he was able to break free from James Baxter, the Earth Wu Lord's attacks with ease.
Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Kai Jin's speed and reflexes were increased to the point where he is capable of catching knives in midair, and dodging multiple gun shots at point blank range. Due to Kai Jin obtaining the monk shard, his fighting speed was increased so much so that he could keep up with multiple opponents at once, and his strikes were so fast they appeared as blurs.
Kai Jin catching a thrown knife.
Enhanced Stamina: Kai Jin's stamina has been significantly enhanced, allowing him to exert himself for longer, and in a far greater physical capacity. On multiple occasions he was able to combat groups of opponents and keep up with them without showing signs of physical exhaustion, and while in the Dao, Kai Jin was able to rapidly destroy a massive boulder with his strikes, being barely fazed by the exertion.
Enhanced Durability: Kai Jin possesses inhuman durability. While walking in a cave, Kai Jin fell into a trap where big boulders fell on him, only for him to brush them off without any physical signs of damage. Kai Jin was also able to take damage from Uncle Six's Fire Wu attacks with minor wounds. He was also able to block Uncle Six's fire attacks, and endure damage from James Baxter with barely any injuries.
Regenerative Healing: Kai Jin has shown to possess a degree of regenerative healing. He was able to heal from Uncle Six's fire attacks in the head, and after being beaten brutally, was able to heal almost completely the next day. During Kai's fight against James Baxter, Kai managed to prevent his arm from turning into stone by almost complete will power.
Fighting Styles[]
Kai Jin fighting multiple henchmen by himself.
Master Martial Artist/Combatant: After obtaining the Monk Shard, Kai Jin possessed the knowledge of a thousand monk's martial arts. Kai Jin is an extremely skilled fighter, who adapts to his fights and looks for his opponent's weak points. His martial art prowess, combined with the power of the Wu Assassin, allows him to defeat most of his enemies effortlessly, shown when he was capable of killing two Wu Lords by himself, and defeating multiple henchmen in a cornered hallway, the Path, and on a pier. He was able to fight against Uncle Six on equal terms, however it is noted that Kai Jin was not trying to kill Uncle Six. Kai's fighting style emphasizes speed, and precision, he is often using elbows and kicks to people's weak points. His fighting style resembles Pencak Silat.
Expert Swordsman: Kai Jin has shown that he has experience in using a sword; he was able to take down James Baxter using complex sword techniques. He is also skilled in using knives, while cutting up vegetables, he flipped the knife back to its resting position. During his hallucination, Kai uses his knife in deadly manner to quickly kill two Triad thugs who killed Jenny. His main weapon is the Mizuyaki Honyaki, an expensive knife Uncle Six gave to him.
Miscellaneous Abilities[]
Master Chef: Kai Jin is a master at cooking, to the point where he is able to have satisfied customers and create a food poison for Uncle Six. He is also skilled enough to be confident enough open his own business, and tell Jenny, another skilled chef, what is wrong with her cooking.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Drunken Watermelon
- Misspent Youth
- Fire Chicken
- A Twisting Snake
- Codladh Sámh
- Gu Assassins
- Legacy
- Ladies' Night
- Paths: Part 1
- Paths: Part 2
Trivia[]
- Kai's character arc mirrors Uncle Six's character arc, however they end on different terms: Uncle Six was the antagonist then became more sympathetic, while Kai Jin was peaceful then became a ruthless killer.
- Although Kai was raised by Uncle Six who was Chinese, he does not seem to speak Chinese well. It is not clear if Kai can read Chinese.
- Kai has appeared in all episodes in the series so far.
