| “ | You are late Shadow... From now on, my eye shall follow and observe you for me... | „ |
| ~ Black Doom (As Doom's Eye) in Westopolis, Shadow the Hedgehog |
| “ | I have learned from our last encounter. There will be no mistakes this time. Struggle all you want. You will be mine. | „ |
| ~ Black Doom, Shadow Generations |
Black Doom is the main antagonist debuted in the video game Shadow the Hedgehog. He is one of the fathers of the titular Shadow the Hedgehog along with Professor Gerald Robotnik. Black Doom was an alien leader of the Black Arms whom Gerald sought help as the figures involved in Project Shadow. While Gerald wanted to use the Black Arms DNA to make a cure for Maria Robotnik, Black Doom wanted Shadow as his personal Harbinger of the Black Arms to maintain his supremacy towards the inferior species, including the humankind. After his defeat by Shadow and the destruction of the Black Comet, Black Doom is dead for now until he returns in Sonic X Shadow Generations, hijacking the plot once again.
In Japanese dub, he is voiced by Ryūzaburō Ōtomo. In English dub, he is voiced by Sean Schemmel (In 2005 game only) and Benjamin Diskin (in Sonic x Shadow Generations).
What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?[]
What Do People Like About Him?[]
- Sean Schemmel's voice performance in English dub, is being recognizable among the 4kids audience for how threatening Black Doom sounds.
- And that's before he voiced Goku Black, another dead-serious villainous character with genocidal intent on humans.
- Benjamin Diskin's voice performance in Shadow Generations delivers more emotions and deep voice, becoming the worthy successor of Sean Schemmel in 2005 game.
- His design bears similarities to Wizeman the Wicked from NiGHTS into dreams.
- Overtime, Black Doom was vindicated from being the scrappy into a base-breaking character for 2 following reasons:
- Black Doom is currently seen as one of the serious villain Shadow had faced along with Mephiles the Dark. Since he is being one of the fathers of Shadow the Hedgehog, he became Shadow's personal foe. While Infinite is received negatively by the audience for being a pretentious serious villain with pathetic excuse for villainy and not being treated seriously (at least in English localization), Black Doom, being a genocidal Black Arms supremacist who had connections with Gerald Robotnik, whom also his eviler counterpart, for creating Project Shadow, is vindicated by the audience because of his goal wanted Black Arms' superiority over mankind aside for harvesting them as food source.
- Additionally, Black Doom has a personal connection with Shadow about why he wants him to side with Black Arms. Audience could interpret the character as an allegorical fake surrogate parent who emotionally manipulates children to gain his approval for selfish reasons. Narratively, Black Doom's goal is having Shadow created as his harbinger for Black Arms, but he would kill Shadow should he disobeyed his orders. The dynamics of Shadow and Black Doom later explored further in Sonic x Shadow Generations.
- Sonic x Shadow Generations also revealed that Black Doom has an ability to control over his multiple alien bodies with his consciousness, including the Black Leeches specimen in the Space Colony ARK, which was the reason of his return in the game after his apparent death and the destruction of Black Comet in his debut game. Fanbase praised his return where he took advantage of Time Eater anomalies to assimilate Shadow with his powers.
- His Devil Doom boss fight in Shadow Generations is considered as a major step-up to his final boss from his debut and Sonic Generations' Time Eater for being the final exam boss for mastering the three of Doom Powers, Doom Surf, Doom Morph, and Doom Wing. In Phase 2, we get to see Neo Devil Doom.
- Black Doom's illusory powers work like any practical VFXs in MCU's Film Doctor Strange. The Audience saw it as what Infinite's powers should have been.
What Do People Hate About Him?[]
- At first, audience despised Black Doom for being a flat villain compared to Gerald Robotnik's fall to villainy.
- In his debut game, Black Doom's lines suffer translation inconsistencies such as "The Promised Time" in Japan dub translated into "The Day of Reckoning" in the first cutscene.
- Black Doom's lines in English dub in his debut game may be trying hard to make himself threatening that it ends up being corny.
- At one point, he boasts about the "nightmarish" Black Bull, summoned to fight Shadow and the heroes. It doesn't help that Black Bull's design leans more towards ugly cute.
- In The Last Story, we get to hear his intent to destroy Shadow with a very cliched manner. And that's after we get to see he's using the Death Leeches to devour everyone in Black Comet including Shadow, Sonic, and Dr. Eggman. In which, the Black leeches squelching in front of the Paralyzed heroes and Dr. Eggman.
- Black Doom's involvement in his debut was criticized by audience for being a forced backstory invader, despite The Black Arms was foreshadowed in SA2. He's eventually vindicated by the audience for being a serious villain, a genocidal alien warlord who is also a hypocritical and abusive father to Shadow, in contrast to Gerald Robotnik. His return in Shadow Generations was foreshadowed by a sample of Black Leech, one of his DNA, cementing the reveal of Black Doom was backed up with parasitic hive-mind immortality.
- Another foreshadowing hint of his return is Black Doom's Final Line from his debut game, who is said to be an immortal lifeform.
External Links[]
- Black Doom on the Sonic Wiki
- Doom's Eye on the Sonic Wiki
- Black Doom on the Pure Evil Wiki
[]
 Base Breaking Characters
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