D&D 5E Best on screen depictions of the Monk class

[Paul Farquhar]

Okay, some better ones:

Black Widow (MCU)
River Tam (Serenity)
The Operative (Serenity)
Robin (Batman)
Dahj, Laris (Picard)

 

[OB1]

Neo (The Matrix) - Way of the Open Hand
John Wick (John Wick) - Way of the Sun Soul (with bullets replacing sun bolt)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) - Way of the Kensei

 

[Charlaquin]

Chirrut Îmwe from Rogue One.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Where's Ryu from Street Fighter.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I always got the impression the D&D Monk was based (ripped whole cloth, really) on Kwai Chang Caine, but one of those recent retrospective articles claims it was done by one of the Blumes, based on Remo Williams. They do hit a lot of the same points (npi).

 

[Tony Vargas]

Paladin (Have Gun, will Travel)

I've been watching these lately. My mom used to rave about what a great show it was. It actually is quite good, especially for its day. Anyway, I wouldn't be at all surprised if whoever named the class was familiar with the word 'paladin' thanks to that show, and with the meaning from the character's origin-story episode:

"In the books there's a name for your kind. Yes, a paladin - a knight in shining armor, armed with a righteous cause and a lance."​

 

[Tonguez]

I always got the impression the D&D Monk was based (ripped whole cloth, really) on Kwai Chang Caine, but one of those recent retrospective articles claims it was done by one of the Blumes, based on Remo Williams. They do hit a lot of the same points (npi).

Heh, didnt know about Remo Williams being an inspiration - but Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous was one of my suggestions for this list

 

[Count_Zero]

Neo (The Matrix) - Way of the Open Hand
John Wick (John Wick) - Way of the Sun Soul (with bullets replacing sun bolt)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars) - Way of the Kensei

Wouldn't having Way of the Kensei be Kai from 47 Ronin better keep with the pattern?

 

[Worrgrendel]

What?!? No love for Shaolin Soccer or Kung Fu Hustle?!? Classic monks everywhere!

 

[Panda-s1]

I guess I'll throw in my nomination for Kambei (Seven Samurai) for paladin. he did cut off his topknot to save that kid's life, which is a sign of humility (or equivalent to cutting off his own head if you want the armchair Orientalist interpretation).

I always got the impression the D&D Monk was based (ripped whole cloth, really) on Kwai Chang Caine, but one of those recent retrospective articles claims it was done by one of the Blumes, based on Remo Williams. They do hit a lot of the same points (npi).

Heh, didnt know about Remo Williams being an inspiration - but Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous was one of my suggestions for this list

I mean Kung Fu probably helped make the monk a popular idea, but there were a lot of kung fu movies going around America in the 70's as well. the important part about The Destroyer was establishing the "uses qi to get weird powers" variety of monk as the standard for d&d.