Ebon Samurai

“

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.

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 declared dead. After a brief altercation, Keishicho explained his situation to Big Hero 6 and briefly operated alongside the team under the alias of "Ebon Samurai", believing he had no other purpose to serve now that Silver Samurai was dead.

One time, Big Hero 6 were sent to Canada after being mysteriously brainwashed and attack Alpha Flight; Ebon himself clashed against fellow swordsmaster Nemesis, who claims she could have killed him already but chose not to as she had promised her teammate 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 also fight a villain named Kuro Gaki. They defeat him and confiscate his adhesive guns, which they lock away in 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.

Keishicho later finds out that Silver Samurai's death had been staged and still lived, prompting him to immediately leave Big Hero 6 to continue the pursuit of his murderer. Despite promising the team he would return, at the same time he assumed he never could once he finished his mission, as he considered Big Hero 6 an honorable team so 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 chose to return to their base, hoping that they would help him to contain his evil influence until Harada disgraced himself and revealed his true nature, in order to finally kill him.

Keishicho then arrives to the seemingly empty building at midnight, surprised that his clearance still worked, and soon meets with fellow teammate Princess Lumina—who had also recently arrived from a journey of her own. They have a conversation about how both had failed in their repective missions but bond over this fact and comfort each other, promising to be by each other's side during their times of need.

The two decide to head to the base's cafeteria to share a drink of sake, but before they arrive, the supervillain Deadline reveals he broke in as he shoots Lumina with a heat gun. Kiochi recognized him: though both had never personally encountered, he read Deadline's files and how he was defeated by Sunfire in the past and then by Big Hero 6 shortly before Ebon Samurai joined.

As they engage in a fight, Ebon Samurai begins feeling Mikaboshi's influence taking over once again, hearing voices suggesting that killing Deadline would be the only way to save Lumina. He resists while Deadline explains that he broke in to retrieve his Doomsday Device but his intentions are not evil, as his ultimate goal is to unite humanity to stop them from more wars and the device is only meant to keep them in check. Lumina hears Deadline's monologue and shockingly decides to defend the villain from Ebon as she seems to agree with him, but the Samurai quickly figures out that she's only doing this because she is relating Deadline's words to the problems her homeworld was going through, thus attempting to talk her out of it. Deadline is delighted at the turn of events and orders Lumina to keep Ebon Samurai busy while he set up the Doomsday Device.

The two heroes fight, but as the demon's influence in Kiochi's katana grew stronger and more violently than before, he gives in and draws the possessed sword, attacking Lumina with it until she's knocked out by falling debris. With his emotions gone, Kiochi hunts Deadline down and severs his hand off as he tries activating the machine, then slashes the machine itself to pieces, ready to finish Deadline off as well. Before being able to stab him right in the heart, Lumina gets back up to stop him, but as he realizes it's out of worry this time rather than wanting Deadline to succeed, he drops his katana to break free from the demon influence.

Both teammates round Deadline up to stop him from escaping and make amends for the way they acted, then Ebon Samurai suggests he and Lumina should go save her home planet Coronar. Though she initially argues that she still owed a "soul-debt" to Honey Lemon, Kiochi tells her that she already paid it by saving Tokyo from Deadline, and furthermore, now owes two soul-debts to him for saving her from Deadline and from his own demonic influence. Additionally, Ebon says there is nothing left for him on Earth since his vengeance against Silver Samurai would have to wait, and it was likely that Big Hero 6 had already recruited new members anyway. Lumina agrees but asks about his demon situation, to which Kiochi replies that only time will tell what happens, but at least he'll have her by his side to help him.

Trivia[]

The Ebon Samurai and Sunpyre were created as replacements for Silver Samurai and Sunfire in an Alpha Flight comic from 2004, since the former characters couldn't appear alongside Big Hero 6 at the time due to the larger Marvel continuity placing them in other stories; hence their respectively similar powers and appearances.
- Ebon Samurai and Sunpyre were then replaced by new original characters Wasabi No-Ginger and Fred in the 2008 Big Hero 6 comic run, but this run also explained their absence and expanded upon their characters by featuring extra sections that included their background bios and a follow-up story starring both characters.
Ebon Samurai's real name is written inconsistently, sometimes as Kiochi and other times as Kioshi.