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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | When Angels are thrown out from Heaven they become Devils, you agree don't you Spike? | „ |
| ~ Vicious to Spike in 'Balled of Fallen Angels'. |
| “ | There is nothing to believe in. There is no need to believe. | „ |
| ~ Vicious displaying his nihilistic personality towards his own former admirer, Gren. |
| “ | And you will shed tears of scarlet. | „ |
| ~ Vicious right before killing one of The Van members. |
Vicious is the main antagonist of the anime series Cowboy Bebop.
Originally he was a veteran in the Titan War and a member of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate as well as the former best friend of Spike Spiegel until his betrayal, after which the two went on to become sworn archenemies.
He is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese dub, who also voiced M. Bison and Cell, while he was voiced by Skip Stellrecht in the English dub.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- Vicious is a cold, remorseless and ruthless psychopath who will do anything to achieve his own goals, killing others who stood in his way and even outright using people for his own needs, not caring a single bit if he ruins one's life, having done so to nearly everyone remotely close to him. His kills can also be incredibly brutal, such as slicing through one of The Van members eyes and having one of his men slit Mao's throat. The Van even acknowledges that Vicious's heart is colder than any planet or a snake that is about to strike.
- There are some implications throughout the series he is a sadist, such as when he is shown smiling evilly during his first confrontation with Spike before throwing him out the window of the cathedral. It is all but explicitly stated through him sabotaging the peace summit that he wants the Syndicate to be more merciless and have any and all enemies slaughtered instead of negotiating with them and calling for peace.
- Any care he seems to have for others at first either turns out to be false or subverted. While he did seem to be upset when he learned Julia and Spike were having an affair, he makes it clear to Julia that if she doesn't kill Spike, he will do it himself and then kill her. This makes any love he had for Julia highly questionable, not to mention he would later end up being indirectly responsible for her death. It is also worth noting that though he seemed to be fine with Gren at first, saving him from a scorpion and fighting by his side in the Titan War, it is made pretty clear he just needed somebody to frame and didn't seem to express any guilt for destroying his life. Gren even states Vicious doesn't see the point in having comrades. At last, while he does have a pet bird whom he frequently appears with, nothing really suggested he truly cared for it, with any potential care being subverted after he used it as a smoke bomb during his coup, with no remorse.
- Despite the fact Lin sacrificed himself for him, Vicious doesn't show any honor for him, believing he was just protecting the order.
- Even before his betrayal, his loyalty to The Van wasn't genuine at all, scoffing at their ideals and viewing them as just corpses.
- Despite the series's high standard, Vicious still manages to stand out for his personal villainy against in having ruined the lives of everyone close to him while seeking to bring the Syndicate to an age of bloodshed that will have enemies wiped out than negotiated with, and for his resources being more limited than several others, not to mention he didn't have enough time to become worse even after he gained more resources.
Crimes[]
- He's aided The Van in their many illegal activities, working as an assassin for them in the past and killing presumably dozens of people, and also aiding their Red Eye sales, a dangerous drug that drives its users to homicidal mania.
- When he learns that Spike is having an affair with his lover, Julia, he gives Julia one of two options; either she kills Spike herself or he will kill them both.
- After the Titan War, he frames his friend Gren for espionage, leading to him being imprisoned and experimented on after having gone insane. This would cause Gren to grow breasts and leave his life ultimately ruined, considering he would have a bounty on his head after breaking out of prison and now wary of befriending others.
- When his mentor, Mao Yenrai signs a truce with a rival syndicate, Vicious sabotages their ship and blows it to bits, killing everyone on board.
- He and his men enter Mao's office and slaughters all of his bodyguards, not sparing a single one of them.
- When Mao tries to explain his actions to Vicious and how the Syndicate's current route may cause its downfall to him, Vicious has him killed anyway, suggesting Vicious wants to continue the Syndicate to wipe out enemies than make peace with them.
- After murdering his mentor, he then places his mentor's dead body in an Opera Theater in order to lure out Spike. However, after he found out that Spike didn't come to the opera and it was one of his companions, Faye Valentine, he decides to kidnap her to lure Spike, threatening to have her killed if Spike didn't show up.
- He tries to have Spike killed after he shows up at the cathedral. Though he fails, he does leave him injured.
- He viciously attacks Spike and throws him out the window of the cathedral, trying to kill his former friend.
- After Lin shoots Spike on Callisto with a tranquilizer gun, he and Vicious leave him there to die in the freezing weather.
- Casually dismisses Lin taking the bullet for him and dying with how there is nothing in the world to believe in.
- He tries to shoot Spike's ship down when he begins chasing him after Lin's death.
- He shoots down Gren's ship, which causes him to crash, eventually leading to his death.
- Before he could be executed, he would take control of the Red Dragon Syndicate, slaughtering The Van's henchmen and killing the members of The Van brutally, slicing the last remaining member's eyes. For this coup he even sacrifices his pet bird for it.
- After taking over the syndicate, he orders the deaths of Spike and Julia and has his men go search for them. When they found Anastasia and began questioning her, they would fatally injure her. His men would later end up shooting Julia dead, making him indirectly responsible for the death of the woman he once "loved". Her death caused Spike to believe he had lost everything, as Julia was the last fragment of his life and the only thing he has left is revenge against Vicious.
- Callously tosses aside the lives of countless of his men as sacrificial pawns for the final bloody confrontation with Spike he lured him into.
- Though left ambiguous, it is heavily implied he may have possibly killed Spike in their final confrontation, as after brutally attacking Spike and slicing him, Spike seemingly begins to succumb to his wounds and falls on the stairs. Even if Spike did ultimately defeat his archenemy, Vicious may have actually succeeded in killing the main protagonist of the entire series.
Trivia[]
- Though Vicious counts as Pure Evil in the original anime series, he doesn't in the live-action Netflix adaptation due to having a genuinely tragic background with him being abused by his father and witnessing his mother kill herself, not to mention he seems to genuinely miss her.
- Of all the Cowboy Bebop Pure Evils, Vicious has the most screen time, given that the Van only appear in two, and Lee only appears in the movie for less than six minutes.
External Links[]
- Vicious on the Villains Wiki
- Vicious on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Vicious on the Cowboy Bebop Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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