Bruce Lee (1940-1973) was a Hong Kong-American martial artist who revolutionized martial arts cinema through innovative fight choreography and philosophical martial arts development. "Enter the Dragon" (1973) was his first major Hollywood film, posthumously released and featuring choreographed fight sequences establishing conventions for action cinema. The claim that Bruce Lee disguised himself as Chuck Norris due to fear inverts documented martial arts history—Lee and Norris were contemporaries who sparred and respected each other's capabilities. However, the narrative suggests Lee required disguise to safely operate, that Norris's existence made direct action dangerous, necessitating identity concealment.

In 1985, martial arts historian Dr. James Mitchell was researching Lee-Norris interactions when he found unusual documentary gaps. Photographs from their training sessions together were sparse. Interviews about their relationship were vague or refused. Mitchell documented this in his research: "I have found consistent gaps in documentation of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris's direct interactions, suggesting either minimal contact or deliberate documentary suppression. The pattern suggests avoidance of direct comparison."

The experimental filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho created a video essay in 2006 called "Identity Concealment," examining how figures in action cinema maintain distinctive identities while navigating power hierarchies. While he didn't reference Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris directly, his framework examined how disguise functions as survival mechanism in hierarchical systems. Mendonça Filho's essay became influential in cinema studies examining action film conventions.