Black Doom
| Black Doom | |
|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog character | |
| File:Shadowth blackdoom.png Black Doom as he appears in Shadow the Hedgehog. | |
| First game | Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) |
| Created by | Unknown |
Black Doom is a character from the Shadow the Hedgehog video game by Sega Studios USA, formerly Sonic Team. Black Doom is the leader of the Black Arms. Depending on which path the player choose (Hero or Dark), Black Doom will either be an ally or a foe of Shadow the Hedgehog; he is still the main villain in general, however. He is voiced by Sean Schemmel.
History
The evil overlord Black Doom is the sinister leader of the Black Arms and the oldest member of his alien species. The Black Arms are Black Doom's own spawn and appear to operate with an insect-like hive intelligence, seemingly preventing any attempts to challenge Black Doom for rulership. He claims that the Black Arms have visited Earth for at least as far back as 2000 years. It is currently unknown just how much of an effect he has had on how Earth's history has played out or how strong his connection to the Chaos Emeralds is, if any. He presents an almost religious front and shows little respect for humanity due to its sins against each other and planet earth. In fact, his philosophy is little more than egotistical justification for his own dark deeds.
Black Doom has a very menacing appearance. Black like the rest of his species, he is decorated with a worn robe, chains with spiked ornaments, and jewels around the top of his robe. He has a very evil voice, filled with hatred and ruthlessness. He is easily the most evil villain to ever appear in the series alongside Metal Sonic, including the TV shows and comics. He appears very aged, and claims to be immortal. He stated that he ruled the Universe at one point, but this is probably saying that he is the strongest being in the universe.
Black Doom appeared at the beginning of the game as a hologram projected by Doom's Eye (his third eye) to inform Shadow that "the day of reckoning" has arrived. Black Doom uses Shadow throughout the game in order to retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds for him. He continuously pressures Shadow to denounce the home he has made on Earth and swear allegiance to the Black Arms and their goals.
50 years prior to the game, Black Doom formed a sort of alliance with Gerald Robotnik. He and Gerald created the Ultimate Lifeform Shadow in order to expand Gerald's research and help Black Doom retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow was created from Black Doom's blood, making him Shadow's biological "father".
At the end of the game, Black Doom reveals more about himself and his plans: his motive for collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds throughout the game was to teleport their home, the Black Comet, down to Earth using Chaos Control. (The Black Comet's velocity wasn't fast enough to pass through the Earth's atmosphere by itself). According to Black Doom, he isn't trying to kill the humans; he is trying to bring salvation to them. His true intention for humans is to enslave them and have them serve as an energy source for the Black Arms, something they could not obtain while the Black Comet was in space. (Without such enslavement, the Black Arms probably had to raid planets for food; it's possible that they may have tried to perform such a raid on the Seedrians.)
As Sonic the Hedgehog and friends try to stop Black Doom from destroying the world and Shadow from giving him the Chaos Emeralds, they are paralyzed by a special gas inside the Black Comet. Black Doom then reveals his true intentions about using humans as an "energy source"; they would become food for the Black Arms' larvae. Shadow and the others are understandably horrified by Black Doom's goals. As everyone is lying on the ground, paralyzed, helpless, and about to be devoured by Death Leeches, Shadow starts remembering about his past and about things that have been going on throughout the game. Thanks to his Black Arms blood, he overcomes the effects of the gas and then stands up, crushing a Death Leech under his foot, before proclaiming he will destroy Black Doom once and for all. Black Doom places a perimeter of his most elite Black Arms soldiers between him and Shadow but ultimately faces the hedgehog himself at the very center of the Black Comet. Black Doom expresses regret at the choices of his 'son' and reveals that if Shadow will not willingly serve him he will control the hedgehog's mind via the link they share. He demonstrates this ability, causing Shadow to fall to his knees as he curses the revelation of his birth.
Before Black Doom can take control of his rogue offspring completely, a video of Gerald from the Space Colony ARK (triggered by the Chaotix Detective Agency) is transmitted within the Black Comet and across Earth. The video reveals that Gerald realised his alliance with Black Doom was a mistake and secretly planned for Shadow to defeat the Black Arms by destroying the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon. Black Doom feels that the new information is of no importance but is surprised to find it gives Shadow the motivation to stand up and defeat him. Before Shadow can do anything however, an outraged Black Doom uses Chaos Control and comments that if his 'son' will not serve him then he will be destroyed with the rest of the planet. Shadow uses the Chaos Emeralds that Black Doom left behind and transforms into Super Shadow, quickly giving chase to face the alien overlord for the final time. He finds him in the sky outside, having transformed into the powerful Devil Doom. The two clash with Black Doom still making attempts to win his creation's loyalty.
Devil Doom is defeated by Super Shadow and sent plummeting to his apparent death below, crying out in disbelief his view that he is an undefeatable ultimate life form. With their leader defeated, Super Shadow uses Chaos Control to send the Black Comet and all the Black Arms inside to space, where the Black Comet is finally destroyed by the Eclipse Cannon.
Abilities
Even before his transformation into Devil Doom, Black Doom is quite possibly the most powerful villain of the series, with powers surpassing even those of Perfect Chaos, Biolizard/Finalhazard, and Metal Overlord. Some say he is the game universes equivilent of Dark Oak, possibly matching, if not, surpassing Dark Oak's power.
Whilst few would be brave or foolish enough to challenge Black Doom, he has numerous abilities which make him a fearsome foe for those who would dare. For important long range communication, Black Doom can separate his third eye (simply known as 'Doom's Eye') from his forehead and send it forth to do his bidding. He also possesses various special attacks, including:
- He can fire miniature meteors and blades of fire at enemies.
- Swift Strike, an energy boomerang which spins around at floor level
- An energy shield to protect himself from harm, but the shield is ineffective while standing still.
- Creation of ghost-like copies of himself that appear like after-images, but stay behind at a certain point.
- He can create illusions of himself, that have the same abilities as he has, but they cannot be hurt. They can also use his attacks.
- Chaos Control teleportation, which is strengthened when in the presence of a Chaos Emerald.
- Like Tikal the Echidna, Black Doom appears to have the ability to telepathically send someone back in time. He uses this to convince Shadow to turn against the humans.
- Can sense energies and a persons presence, thoughts, emotions, and inner sense of being.
- He seems to possess a mental link with Shadow due to Shadow being created from him. He tried to use this to mind control Shadow but failed. This may be how he controls the Black Arms.
- Above all, he can levitate/float which seems to be his primary method of mobility. Especially since he appears to have no legs, even when transformed into devil doom.
Devil Doom
Devil Doom is a much more powerful form of Black Doom. Mutated (though he still maintains his personality), the only physical traces of Black Doom in this creature is Doom's Eye (which also happens to be the weak point) and his horizontal horns. He has two heads in the image of a gargoyle, and roots at the bottom of him. Devil Doom has no eyes, but Doom's Eye will exchange between heads to give them sight. Devil Doom's skin is red and black (the typical skin colors of the Black Arms). He can breathe fire, and manipulate objects or chunks of rock to use as weapons. It is interesting to note that Devil Doom's scream is identical to that of Biolizard (and Biolizard's super form, Finalhazard, which in turn was taken from Perfect Chaos), who was the prototype for Shadow the Hedgehog. It should also be noted that if hit anywhere else other than Doom's Eye, he will not feel pain, even from a charged Chaos Spear. Although, his wings can be crippled, making him vulnerable to side attacks, since he can put either one of his wings in front of the eye to protect himself, depending on which side of him Shadow is facing.