| “ | Big Hero Six was created to save lives—and if we are unable to save everyone, I swear by my blade—that we will save as many as we can! | ” |
The Silver Samurai is a character from Marvel Comics. Although he first appeared in a Daredevil comic, he is primarily associated with the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe, and later became a founding member of Big Hero 6.
Silver Samurai is a mutant of Japanese origin with the power to charge almost anything with a tachyon field. Throughout his comic appearances he has switched from supervillain mercenary to superhero and back to supervillain.
He sports a suit of traditional samurai armor made of a silver metal, hence his professional name.
Background[]
Kenuichio Harada is the mutant, illegitimate son of the former Japanese crimelord Shingen Harada, head of the Clan Yashida.
Kenuichio mastered the attendant disciplines of bushidō at an early age and went on to become a mercenary. He first worked for the criminal Mandrill and fought the blind hero Daredevil.
Harada then served The Viper, an agent of the terrorist organization HYDRA, as her bodyguard. During HYDRA's attack on Japan, Harada attempted to assassinate the Japanese Emperor but failed, instead killing one of his guards—a man named Kiochi Keishicho, who was then revived by Amatsu-Mikaboshi as the Ebon Samurai to seek revenge against Harada.
Following Shingen's death, Harada sought to wrest the leadership of Shingen's Clan Yashida from his half-sister Mariko, but was opposed by Yukio and Mariko's lover, Wolverine. Later, Harada worked with Wolverine to free private investigator Jessica Drew from the Black Blade of Muramasa: a sword imbued with madness. Wolverine himself fell under the sword's spell but overcame it, after which Harada took up the sword, finding himself worthy of it.
After Mariko's death, he became the Oyabun (leader) of Clan Yashida and attempted to pay off the clan's debts to the Yakuza and restore its honor.
Though he was once one of Wolverine's greatest enemies, he had apparently impressed Wolverine so greatly that he entrusted him with the care of his adopted daughter, Amiko Kobayashi. The Samurai also helped Wolverine destroy the monster known as Doombringer, and later helped him rescue Amiko and Yukio from their kidnappers.
Powers and Abilities[]
Keniuchio has extensive knowledge of the operations of criminal organizations due to his shady past, which he used in the service of his government to combat such organizations.
- Tachyon field generation: Like most mutants in the Marvel Universe, Silver Samurai has a unique ability. His ability is to generate a tachyon field with which he can surround anything. He commonly focuses this power on his sword, enabling it to cut through nearly anything, except Adamantium.
- Martial Arts: As a self-styled samurai, he is a master of Kenjutsu and a martial arts master specializing in edged weapons, hand to hand combat, and tactics. He is an expert in the history and customs of the samurai class (bushidō).
Equipment[]
- Armor: He wears a suit of lightweight steel alloy body armor, modeled after traditional samurai armor, but made of modern protective materials.
- Ninja weapons: He carries katanas, shuriken, and other weaponry related to Japanese ninjas. He has wielded both the Black Blade of Muramasa and the Honor Sword of Clan Yashida.
- Black Blade: An ancient weapon that was forged and enchanted by a legendary and feared swordsman named Muramasa using a piece of his own soul. It both blesses and curses those who wield it as it grants its user incredible might and physical resilience to injury—but he longer one wields the mystic steel, the greater the murderous influence of Muramasa's soul becomes over the host.
- Teleportation ring: When working with the Viper, he possessed a teleportation ring which allowed him to teleport from one location to another, granting him great mobility and stealth.
History[]
When a Japanese corporation known as the Giri sought to assemble a superhero team as a means of national defense, Silver Samurai was one of the individuals contacted to become a part of Big Hero 6. Despite objections from some Giri agents due to Harada's villainous history, he was appointed as the team's field leader, with Honey Lemon and Go-Go Tomago being the only other members thus far. As the Giri also kept their eye on young genius Hiro Takachiho, Harada was sent to recruit him but was met with strong disapproval from both Hiro and his mother—to the major frustration of Big Hero 6's overseer Mr. Oshima, scolding Harada over his failure.
Not long after, the Samurai and Hiro crossed paths again when the boy and his robotic creation Baymax located the then-presumed-dead superhero Sunfire in an abandoned temple, with Harada and his teammates arriving at the place to interrupt an altercation between Baymax and Sunfire that had started over a misunderstanding. As Sunfire seemed terminally ill, the half-team of Big Hero 6 transported him to Giri HQ after he fell unconscious to grant him medical care.
Soon, Harada would clash with Hiro and Baymax a third time when the duo stormed the Giri building but ultimately ended up defeated. It was then that Hiro worriedly explained how a mysterious figure called Everwraith kidnapped his mother and forced him to attack Giri in order to lure Sunfire out. Both factions then joined forces to save Mrs. Takachiho and defeat Everwraith, resulting in the apparent death of the villain as well as Sunfire (though it was soon revealed that Sunfire merely faked his death as he embarked on a personal mission to Canada). Having worked together, Hiro and Baymax were finally convinced to become a part of Big Hero 6 while Harada met with Mr. Oshima after Sunfire's staged funeral to discuss about finding a new sixth member now that Sunfire was gone.
Despite becoming an official team member, Hiro often refused to take Silver Samurai's leadership seriously, with the boy often praising Sunfire over him—a fact that greatly annoyed Harada. When the team's new secret base at the Cool World Amusement Park was attacked by X the Unknowable, Big Hero 6 attempted fighting the monster off; seeing how their efforts are futile, Hiro again claimed that Sunfire was their only hope, although Harada objected by saying Sunfire had chosen his own path away from the team. However, this was most likely a front to hide his real feelings, as he later thought to himself in frustration that Hiro would never listen to him and he would never be able to obtain honor as long as Sunfire was in the way. Honey Lemon then contacted Sunfire and the hero arrived in Japan accompanied by the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, and so both groups came together to end X's mayhem.
Silver Samurai was later seen helping Hiro and Baymax rescue civilians from a blizzard caused by Crimson Cowl and the Masters of Evil.
He was later sent overseas along with armed soldiers to apprehend a Japanese agent named Inazo Uehara, who had been charged with espionage and treason. This put him at odds with "Wolverine" and Cecilia Reyes, who found Uehara's crashed plane and protected him from Harada as they knew he was innocent. Still, the three of them ended up working together upon figuring out that Uehara's assistant Tokitoshi was the real spy, and foiled his schemes.
Outside Big Hero 6, Harada spent a year clearing the name of Clan Yashida and dismantling their criminal empire, but his inability to lead the clan himself allowed the Mongolian crimelord Haan Kaishek to take control, and so Harada allied with Wolverine to take down Kaishek and his crime family. The disgrace of losing leadership was too great for him, and he returned to his mercenary life—leading to Hiro being chosen as the new leader of Big Hero 6. Employed by HYDRA once more, Silver Samurai was then dispatched to Iraq to battle the Greek ninja Elektra Natchios. Though merely defeated, a funeral was staged for his own protection.
At some point following this, he was captured by the mutant known only as Blindspot under the orders of Lady Deathstrike. Blindspot altered Harada's mind to make him believe every memory of him as a hero was the result of being brainwashed by Sunfire and the X-Men, regressing him to a point where he still aspired to control Japan's criminal gangs.
Under Blindspot's orders, Harada publicly released a photograph of Sunfire working alongside the mutant terrorist Mystique and Rogue in an attempt to lure them all to Deathstrike for revenge, as the picture was taken several years ago following a failed mission plotted by Sunfire's uncle to steal from Deathstrike's father. Blindspot had since erased everyone else's memories of the event, but Deathstrike managed to recover them thanks to cybernetic implants.
By leaking the picture, Harada also destroyed Sunfire's reputation as a hero, and he soon visited the depressed Sunfire, who briefly considered allowing his cousin to kill him due to the massive disgrace he felt (unaware it was in fact Harada who did it), until Rogue contacted Sunfire upon seeing the photo on the news. Since neither of them remembered ever getting the photograph taken or even working together in the past, Rogue prepared to make a trip to Japan in order to seek answers alongside Sunfire.
Meanwhile, Harada arranged a meeting with all of the country's Yakuza leaders, murdering every single one of them to crown himself as the new and only crime lord of Japan: the Silver Shogun. At the same time, Rogue and Sunfire partially learned about Deathstrike's involvement and that Harada was responsible for leaking the picture. The heroes discussed whether if Deathstrike was manipulating Harada or if it was the opposite, with Sunfire even wondering if it was truly possible that all of his cousin's heroic deeds were but a lie and he never stopped being a villain.
The duo later fight the Silver Shogun during his takeover ceremony and knock him out, with Rogue managing to read his mind to try getting to the bottom of it all. Rogue then learned that Lady Deathstrike was the true orchestrator of the entire scheme, and put a stop to her and Blindspot.
Later, while sleeping on his private plane, Harada was kidnapped by S.H.I.E.L.D. and imprisoned in the secure supervillain prison known as the Raft in New York City while S.H.I.E.L.D. declared him officially dead a second time. Meanwhile, Kioshi Keishicho had come back to life as the Ebon Samurai to find Harada and kill him in revenge. He confronted Big Hero 6 upon learning of their connection, but being told by them that Harada had since "died", Keishicho found himself with no other purpose in life and instead took over Harada's position in the team.
Harada's stay at the Raft was however short as he escaped during a break-out and returned to Japan on a plane supplied by the Hand ninja cult that night. Assuring the Avengers that he would not transform Clan Yashida into an organization that America would fear, he was soon appointed as the captain of the Prime Minister's personal security cadre.
Thus, discovering that Harada lived, Ebon Samurai set out to find his murderer once more to finally obtain revenge and rest his own soul. Unfortunately, Keishicho saw himself unable to go through with his plan as he learned of Harada's new position, and believing that attacking him while serving the Prime Minister would be treason against the entire nation of Japan, he instead returned frustrated to Big Hero 6's base to wait for the moment Silver Samurai would reveal his true nature.
Trivia[]
- Kenuichio Harada and the Silver Samurai were featured in the 2013 film The Wolverine as two separate entities: Harada (played by Will Yun Lee) was a non-mutant bodyguard, while the Silver Samurai was a giant robotic armor worn by Ichirō Yashida (played by Haruhiko Yamanouchi).
- Due to this, Silver Samurai does not appear in the Big Hero 6 film (released the following year). Both he and Sunfire are absent because their cinematic rights were owned by 20th Century Fox at the time.
- The founding members of the team from the film are instead Wasabi and Fred, who ironically were the last characters to be added to the team in the comics.
- His name in Japanese translations of Marvel Comics is Kenichirō because "Kenuichio" is not a genuine Japanese name.[2]
Gallery[]
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    Meeting Hiro.            Attacked by Everwraith.       |