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A broken word can be mended. A broken trust can be re-earned. If there's something inside you causing you to do the wrong thing... it can be overcome. You can't give up on yourself just because you've made a mistake. You're worth more than that.

The Ebon Samurai is an enigmatic figure who temporarily joined Big Hero 6 after initially confronting them during a mission to annihilate Silver Samurai, taking his place in the team upon learning that he was no longer part of it.

Background[]

Kiochi Keishicho was born in Chiyoda City, Tokyo. Once assigned to the Imperial Guard of Japan, the elite branch of the National Police Agency responsible for protecting the Emperor, career police officer Captain Kiochi Keishicho was present years ago during an assassination attempt by the international terrorist organization known as HYDRA. Although the Emperor was not harmed in the attack, Keishicho was killed by the blade of the mutant Silver Samurai, who was affiliated with HYDRA at the time.

Following his funeral rites, Keishicho's soul descended to Yomi, the Shinto nether realm, where he was confronted by Amatsu-Mikaboshi, the god of primordial evil. Sensing Keishicho's unsatiated thirst for vengeance, Mikaboshi offered to allow him to return to the mortal realm to exact revenge upon the Silver Samurai, the man responsible for his death. Unaware of the strings attached to Mikaboshi's deal, Keishicho readily accepted. However, upon his return to the land of the living as a revenant, Keishicho was shocked to discover that he was permanently bonded to a suit of ebony armor modeled after that worn by the Silver Samurai. In addition, the katana sword he now wielded was mystically bonded to the essence of a shinma demon which subconsciously reminded him of the debt he owed Mikaboshi.

Kiochi also had a wife and children, but no details about them are known, especially after his death and resurrection.

Personality[]

Kiochi Keishicho was trained in investigatory procedure and bushidō (the samurai code of conduct), having learned both at Japan's National Police Academy. However, since his resurrection as an Earth-bound revenant, Ebon Samurai is prone to sudden outbursts of rage and violence whenever Amatsu-Mikaboshi's influence becomes too strong to repress.

Due to Mikaboshi's deal, every time Kiochi draws his sword, his essence is corrupted by Mikaboshi's demon servants, and the longer he stays on Earth, the stronger the evil grows within him. Keishicho has become aware of this, and wishes to annihilate Silver Samurai as soon as possible so that his soul may finally rest and rid the world of Harada, as well as himself before he could unleash an untold evil.

Appearance[]

Before his death, Keishicho had black hair. Following his deal with Amatsu-Mikaboshi, his entire body was fused with a suit of ebony armor constructed of an unknown metal native to Yomi, modeled after Silver Samurai's own armor. His eyes turned completely white with no visible pupils/irises, and lost his hair due to a helmet being bonded with his head.

Powers and Abilities[]

  • Sword Mastery: Ebon Samurai's primary weapon is his katana, a traditional samurai long sword. He can use the sword, so enhanced, to slice through any known substance except Adamantium.

Equipment[]

  • Armor: Keishicho's samurai armor has enough articulation in the appropriate areas so as not to impede his movements.
  • Katana: His katana is mystically bonded to a shinma demon whose dark essence engulfs the sword's blade. However the demon's presence also corrupts Ebon Samurai's soul whenever he wields the katana.
  • Wakizashi Sword: His offensive arsenal also includes a shorter wakizashi sword.
  • Shuriken Blades: He also utilizes sharpened, hand-held shuriken blades.

History[]

Struggling to maintain a semblance of humanity and resist the shinma demon's corrupting influence, Keishicho began to investigate the whereabouts of the Silver Samurai, hoping to dispatch him as soon as possible so his soul could finally be at peace. Hearing that his target was affiliated with Big Hero 6, Keishicho infiltrated the team's Tokyo headquarters—the Six Building, only to learn that the Silver Samurai had since parted ways with the team and was presumed deceased. After a brief altercation, Keishicho explained his situation to Big Hero 6 and briefly operated alongside the team as the "Ebon Samurai", believing he had no other purpose to serve now that Silver Samurai was dead.

He traveled to Canada with Big Hero 6 after they had been mysteriously brainwashed. There, they faced Alpha Flight; Ebon clashed against fellow swordsmaster Nemesis, who claimed that she could have killed him but didn't because she had promised Sasquatch not to take any lives. After the fight, Big Hero 6's mind control is nullified and Sasquatch finds a device that Hiro decides would examine upon returning to Japan. As Alpha Flight is interrupted by Flashback, Big Hero 6 head back home to find the people responsible for their mind control.

At some point, Ebon Samurai and Big Hero 6 fought a villain named Kuro Gaki. They defeated him and confiscated his adhesive guns, which they locked up at their base.

Ebon Samurai was also present during the televised press conference where Big Hero 6 and other Japanese superheroes announced a public partnership to work closer with the Japanese government, after the end of the superhuman Civil War in the United States changed the way the world viewed superheroes.

However, Keishicho found out that Silver Samurai's death was staged and still lived, prompting him to immediately leave the team and continue the pursuit of his murderer. Ebon promised the team he'd return, but at the same time assumed he never would after finishing his mission, as he considered Big Hero 6 an honorable team and a murderer would have no place among them. He wandered the Japanese countryside, struggling to keep Mikaboshi's dark influence in check as he investigated every possible lead to determine the Silver Samurai's whereabouts. Eventually, he learned that the Prime Minister of Japan had personally chosen Harada as the captain of his personal security cadre. Because of this, Ebon Samurai was now hesitant to slay him, as he believed that doing so while he held such a high position would be to directly betray the nation of Japan. Months had passed since his departure from Big Hero 6, but Ebon Samurai still decided to return to their base, hoping that the team would instead help him to contain his evil influence until Harada disgraced himself and revealed his true nature, in order to finally kill him.

He arrives to the building at midnight, surprised that his clearance still worked, and met with fellow teammate Princess Lumina, who was in her nightgown and had also recently arrived from a journey of her own. Both had a conversation about how they had failed in their missions, as Lumina explained that she had returned to her homeworld, Planet Coronar in the Microverse after a distress call, but her mother tried to force her into marrying Prince Arion, though Lumina knew it was all political maneuvering to try making the King of Ravellon take over Coronar. Lumina escaped back to Earth because of her "soul-debt" with Honey Lemon which made Lumina promise to stay by her side until it was paid—but at the same time, she also felt that she betrayed her people by running away. Ebon Samurai comforted her by telling his own story and shortly after, they promised to be by each other's side during their times of need.

Both then decided to head to the base's cafeteria and drink sake, but just before they arrived a shattering glass noise was heard and Lumina recklessly rushed to the confiscated technology room, where the noise came from. Ebon tried to stop her, but it was too late as Lumina was shot by a heat blaster and Deadline appeared, standing upon her. Kiochi recognized him; though both had never personally encountered, he had read Deadline's files and knew that Sunfire had defeated him and he fought Big Hero 6 shortly before Kiochi joined the team. As Ebon Samurai clutched the hilt of his katana, he began feeling Mikaboshi's influence taking over once again, hearing voices suggesting that killing Deadline would be the only way to save Lumina. Ebon resisted and instead attacked Deadline with shurikens and his wakizashi sword, damaging the heat blaster, which Deadline then threw at Kiochi as he leapt into the weapons lab before the gun exploded at the corridor where Lumina and Kiochi stood.

Keishicho followed and Deadline attacked him with one of Kuro Gaki's blasters, but he managed to dodge the adhesive blobs from it. Soon, Deadline and Ebon Samurai started to have a discussion, with Deadline explaining that he had infiltrated the base to retrieve his Doomsday Device but argued that his intentions were not evil and only wanted to save billions of lives by forcing all of humanity to put their differences aside and come together in order to keep the Doomsday Device in check and prevent it from wiping out all human life—although it would still cost several millions of lives, Deadline believed that it could not outweigh the redemption that his plan would bring since all of humanity would be changed for the better.

Ebon Samurai allowed Deadline to continue talking to try distracting him enough in order to strike, but could not find the right time and Deadline shot another sticky blob at him. In response, Ebon Samurai threw his wakizashi sword, but before it could hit Deadline, was burnt to ashes by Lumina, who was only pretending to be knocked out to attack Deadline by surprise, but sided with him after listening to his monologue as she believed he was right, and helping him "save the world" would mean that she would also be paying her debt to Honey Lemon because she would no longer be subject to tyranny from uncaring rulers after the plan succeeded.

Ebon Samurai quickly figured out that Lumina was simply relating to her situation in her homeworld, so he tried talking sense into her by saying that helping Deadline would not be teaching a lesson to her mother. Meanwhile, Deadline was delighted at the turn of events and ordered Lumina to take care of Ebon Samurai while he set up the Doomsday Device. As the angered Lumina started attacking, the demon's influence in Kiochi's katana grew stronger and more violently than before. He gave in and drew the sword, arguing that he could not allow so many lives to be sacrificed, no matter the gain. With all of his feelings gone for the moment, Ebon Samurai attacked Lumina ruthlessly and managed to cut her. With Lumina in fear, the high temperature from her body melted the walls around them and made the ceiling to come falling down on her, burying her alive.

Still possessed by the demon, Ebon Samurai ran towards the lab and sliced the Kuro Gaki gun that Deadline held. In a final attempt to succeed, Deadline dashed at Doomsday Device controls to activate it, but Kiochi reacted fast and sliced his hand off, then slashed the machine to pieces, ready to finish the scientist. Before being able to stab him right in the heart, Kiochi heard Lumina, and was his feelings started coming back after realizing she was not trying to defend herself this time, so he dropped his katana and broke free from the demon influence. They forgave each other for their actions, and trapped Deadline with another adhesive gun, leaving him in the corner of the lab so that he would not escape.

Lumina then asked him where to go next, so Ebon Samurai told her to get changed so that both could go save Planet Coronar, as there were too many things unresolved there. Lumina argued that she still owed a soul-debt to Honey Lemon, but Ebon Samurai replied that she already paid it by saving Tokyo, and furthermore, now owed two soul-debts to him for having saved him from Deadline, and from his own evil influence. He also said that there was nothing left for him on Earth, as his vengeance against Silver Samurai had to wait and it was likely that Big Hero 6 had already found two new members to replace them. Lumina agreed and asked about his demon, to which Kiochi replied that only time would tell, but at least he had her by his side to help.

Trivia[]

  • The Ebon Samurai and Sunpyre were created as replacement characters for Silver Samurai and Sunfire when both of them were being used in other comics, hence their similar appearances and powers. Though they only appeared in a single comic issue with Big Hero 6 in 2004 and were replaced by Wasabi No-Ginger and Fred for the next comic run, background bios and a follow-up story about both were written in the 2008 Big Hero 6 comics as part of the "Big Hero Backups" section, explaining their origins, whereabouts and departure from the team.
  • Ebon Samurai's real name is written inconsistently, sometimes as Kiochi and other times as Kioshi.

Gallery[]

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