Dr. Hell

Dr. Hell is the main villain of the fictional robot anime Mazinger Z. He is a brilliant, cunning and evil scientist, obsessed with world domination through his creations, the armies of Mechanical Beasts.

History

He was a colleague of Dr. Kabuto, a well-meaning scientist, and accompanied him on an archeological expedition to the Greek island of Bardos, where ruins of the ancient Mikenese Empire were found. There they discovered that the ancient Mikenese civilization had the technology to build giant robotic warriors. Hell stole that technology and used it to create an army of fighting machines with which he planned to conquer the world. Dr. Kabuto used this technology coupled with an alloy he'd created to build a robot, Mazinger Z, to halt Hell's plans for world conquest.

Again and again Dr. Hell's robots were destroyed by Mazinger Z, sometimes due to the in-fighting between his lieutenants Baron Ashura and Count Brocken. After nearly all of his robots had been destroyed Mazinger Z and his allies traveled to Dr. Hell's island headquarters, and Hell and Count Brocken were apparently killed while attempting to flee in the Gool, their giant airship.

Subordinates and Collaborators

• Baron Ashura: Hell puts together the halves of two mummies (male and female) to create his first servant. Despite his/her loyalty, Ashura repeatedly fails to achieve Hell's goals and is often humilliated and punished. He/she had then been demoted and forced to collaborate with Count Blocken, who eventually becomes Dr. Hell's only loyal henchman after Ashura's death. Hell takes advantage of their rivalry and even covertly encourages it at times, even though many times it's more an obstacle than a motivation. Dr. Hell finally acknowledges Ashura's commitment after he/she dies, builds a statue and a mechanical beast resembling his/her double face, (Jet Fire P1) and swears to avenge his/her demise.
• Count Brocken: Brocken is a cyborg, a general (probably a Nazi one) brought back to life by Hell after being badly injured in battle during WW2. In effects Hell managed to maintain only the count's head alive, but he builds a new mechanical body that is controlled by the flying, separated head. He becomes Dr. Hell's right hand and competes fiercely with Ashura to achieve glory in battle. Hell usually held him in a rather higher esteem compared to Ashura. In the Gosaku Ota's manga he finally docks the head with the body and activate his hypervelocity, trying to kill Koji Kabuto with his sword after climbing on Mazinga's body, but he's killed by the anti-missile laser barrier mounted on Mazinga's Jet Pilder.
• Viscount Pygman: Again, another cyborg created by Dr. Hell, putting together the body of a large tribal warrior and the upper body of a pygmy sorcerer instead of the head. Pygman appears briefly during the Mazinger Z series, and eventually rebels against Hell, steals Glory R2 and attempts to defeat Mazinger on his own.
• Archduke Gorgon: Gorgon is a harbinger from the Mikene Empire, and in the Mazinger Z series he plays an ambivalent role, both of alliance and treason with Hell. He provides him with powerful Warrior Beasts, but his true goal is to use Hell's forces to eliminate Mazinger and then take over with Mikene's own. Allegedly, they forge a deal in the Island of Bardos to collaborate in Mazinger's destruction, but at the end of the series, when the time comes Gorgon leaves Hell to his own fate alone.
• Nishikiori Tsubasa: Tsubasa is Dr. Hell's former assistant and protegé in Shin Mazinger, she is also the one truly responsible for creating Baron Ashura and possibly the rest of Dr. Hell's minions. However, she does not share his dream of world domination and initially stops him by detonating the island where the mechanical beasts were found. She then keeps in touch with Dr. Juzo Kabuto - who eventually creates Mazinger Z for his grandson - posing as a resort owner while building a formidable group of minions herself. When Dr. Kabuto dies, she takes a personal interest in Koji Kabuto, who she helps.

Incarnation as the Great Marshall of Hell

After The Great General of Darkness faces Great Mazinger and dies in battle, the Emperor of Darkness replaces him as supreme commander of the Mikene forces. Dr. Hell is somehow brought back to life and placed in a cockpit on the head of the giant body of the Great Marshall of Hell, shortly after he arrives to the Mikene palace in the Underworld by traveling in a tornado; upon his arrival the Emperor of Darkness greets him as the new supreme commander of his army. Now wearing an eye patch, most likely obtain from his death upon the explosion of the Gool, the rest of his actual body is under his cape. The face of his robot resembles his facial features, and his appearance, in contrast to the General of Darkness, is more of an emperor rather than a warrior. His right hand has the shape of a giant claw similar to a hook.

The Marshall seeks revenge against the new Mazinger, and keeps his old dreams of glory and domination. It's quite ironic that while in the previous series Hell was manipulated by the Mikene empire and functional to their plans that they eventually choose him as the Dark General's successor. It has been suggested that this was an attempt to bring back some of the old Mazinger Z series spirit to the newer Great Mazinger series in order to invigorate it. The Great Marshall of Hell had to live up to the General of Darkness' reputation, but mostly failed to be as charismatic as him, despite being just as cruel and merciless. In episode 40 he creates a new fortress after the destruction of the Mikelos based on the Gool, the Demonika.

He would eventually find his end on board of his beloved Demonika, along with Marquis Janus and some of the Seven Generals. Despite his efforts, Hell would be again defeated in this incarnation, not only by Great Mazinger, but by Mazinger Z, who returned at the end of the series.

Other Versions

• In Tranzor Z, the American imported version, Dr. Hell was called Dr. Demon.
• Dr. Hell was the main villain in the alternate continuity in which the Mazinkaiser OVA took place. Compared to the Mazinger Z TV series, this version depicts an even more megalomaniac, psychotic and over the top character.
• In the Arabic version it has been changed to Abou'el Gathab or Father of Rage.