Kaiketsu Zubat

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Kaiketsu Zubat
Number of Episode Appearances:	1 movie Full list of appearances
Actor:	Hiroshi Miyauchi

"Zubat, the magnificent!"

―Zubat poses after defeating General Shadow with the other heroes.^[src]

Zubat (ズバット, Zubatto) is a hero from one of Shotaro Ishinomori's other works.

Character History

Often thought of as a mysterious hero, Kaiketsu Zubat is actually Ken Hayakawa, a private detective. His origins as Kaiketsu Zubat started with his best friend Goro Asuka's death.

When Goro was having trouble with some thugs, Ken appeared in front of him to help defeat said thugs. After having a joyful reunion, they were involved in a preschool bus bombing incident. After stopping said incident, Goro was seriously injured and sent to a hospital. The hospital Goro went to was also rigged with a bomb and in the resulting chaos when said bomb exploded, Goro was shot numerous times by a mysterious figure. Seeing his friend die in his arms made Ken decide to find Goro's murderer and get revenge on him.

By using the blueprints Goro had, Ken made the Zubat suit and the Zubat car which he used to defeat the thugs he thought were responsible for Goro's death. When he found out they weren't the murderers, he went on a journey to avenge his friend's death. Thus began Kaiketsu Zubat's story.

Personality

A cool acting person, Ken has the qualities of a hero. He not only has a strong sense of justice, but also helps people in their time of need. He hates taking other people's lives and allows even those that are rotten to the core to live.

As Kaiketsu Zubat, he often has a cocky attitude towards his opponents. After hearing them boast of their superiority in some skill (often to the point where they claim themselves as number one in Japan), he corrects them by stating that they are in second place with himself as number one. He then proves his skill then ether gets respected or feared by said opponent. One personality aspect of Ken is that unlike other heroes, he is one of the few to primarily be driven by revenge and not let go of said feelings even in the end.

Despite these characteristics, Ken actually had a rough childhood. His mother left him when he was a small child which may have led to a slight change in him. When he reunited with his mother and found out he had a younger half sister, it ended with him being rejected by his mother (due to her wanting to keep her stable life) and being accepted by his younger sister. Despite these events, Ken didn't lose hope and lived on with his life.

Abilities

As the supposed "number one person in Japan" at numerous things, Ken is without a doubt skilled. He not only bested numerous people in numerous things, but showed himself as a powerful fighter with his Kaiketsu Zubat suit. Using his Zubat suit, Ken managed to rip apart a chain which could resist up to ten tons in term of weight showing his mastery over the suit. This is to the point where he defeated the three top generals of Dakker and their leader in the final episode, despite them wearing a suit ten times stronger than his Zubat suit. He is also an accomplished detective and solved some mysteries in his series.

Kaiketsu Zubat Suit

A special suit that's stored in his guitar, Ken uses it to gain greater power to defeat formidable foes. As mentioned above, the suit grants Ken extraordinary powers when activated, to the point of no longer being within human boundaries. This combined with Ken's natural strength and abilities allow him to defeat most of his opponents with little to no effort. His trademark finishing move using this suit is called the "Zubat Attack".

Despite it's usefulness, the suit had two glaring flaws. Due to the blueprints for it being incomplete, the suit can only be activated for five minutes before it self destructs, making it unwise to use in a long battle. If the switch for it's powers is deactivated, the suit itself will become heavier and hard to move around in as if it was made out of lead. Despite Ken's efforts to solve these problems, he was unable to find a solution for it by the end of his series. In the final battle against Dakker, the suit itself was destroyed after using it against the leader of Dakker. It is possible that Ken ether repaired it or made another one however, as heavily hinted in his reappearance.

Crossovers with Kikaider and other media

Let's Go Kamen Rider

Zubat has a cameo in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders where he teams up with Kikaider, Kikaider 01 and Inazuman to destroy General Shadow as he attempted to escape from the riders.

Notes

Portrayal

• to be added

Origin

Zubat originated in Kaiketsu Zubat (快傑ズバット, Kaiketsu Zubatto), translated into English as Swift Hero Zubat, Extraordinary Zubat or Vigilante Zubat, a tokusatsu superhero series that aired in 1977. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, this 32-episode series (which aired on TV Tokyo from 2/2/1977 to 9/28/1977), harkened back to tokusatsu superhero shows of the 1950s, but with a late-1970s twist.

Trivia

• Much like Jiro, Ken also possesses a guitar which he can play effortlessly.
• His actor Hiroshi Miyauchi, is also the actor for Kamen Rider V3 and some of the Rangers in the Super Sentai series.
• Although Zubat is sometimes questioned as a hero for his desire for revenge, other tokusatsu heroes such as Kamen Rider 1 (along with other heroes such as Batman) have also been motivated by such feelings for some time.
  • It should be noted however, that Zubat never seemed to have truly moved on from said feelings until stopping Dakker, unlike the heroes mentioned above who learned what being a true hero is about even when they haven't gotten their revenge.