Characters / Cyborg 009 - 00-Cyborg Team

• The Ageless: Although all of the 00-Cyborgs are chronologically estimated to be in their 40's or 50's or even beyond that, they always remain the age they were captured by Black Ghost in, due to being cyborgs and thus having different bodily functions than normal humans.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the GOD'S WAR manga, the 00-Cyborgs become light spirits after they are all killed by the gods, and are reborn in the "World of Light" as humans.
• Bash Brothers: It's mostly 002/004 or 002/009. But all of the 00-Cyborgs really work well when put in a battle that requires team effort, and it often shows.
• Blue Is Heroic: The 00-Cyborgs' outfits were changed to dark blue in the God's War manga and its OVA adaptation.
• Cyborg: All nine individuals were normal humans turned into cyborg weapons by Black Ghost at some point in their lives.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All of the 00-Cyborgs have horrible, tear-jerking pasts.
  • 001 was subjected to horrible brain-enhancing experiments by his own father, Dr. Gamo Whisky, who either attempted to unlock the secrets of the human mind through his son (manga), or drove himself to insanity trying to find a cure for 001's terminal illness (2001 anime, Archaia novel).
  • 002 was a teenage delinquent who lived on the streets to survive, and became a fugitive of the law either due to committing Accidental Murder (Manga, '79 anime, Archaia novel) or getting into violent street fights (2001 anime). The 2001 anime also reveals that 002 saw other street children being bullied by criminals yet he did nothing to help them, and the guilt from his inaction stayed with him for many years. In addition, earlier adaptations depicted him as becoming a gang leader while still a teenager, which brings up more implications about his home life.
  • 003 was either kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her older brother Jean-Paul (manga, Archaia novel), or tricked into accepting a position in a fake professional dancing business thought up by Black Ghost (2001 anime). The 2001 anime also revealed that Black Ghost's cybernetic modifications to her eyes and ears caused her to suffer from extreme Sensory Overload, and she was thrown into a battlefield without warning where she panicked even at the slightest sounds.
  • 004 was trying to escape East Germany during the Cold War with his fiancee Hilda so they can have a future together, but 004 botched it up, alerting authorities, and during their attempt to flee both were heavily injured, with Hilda dying. The 2001 anime cranked that part up by having 004 lie to Hilda about successfully escaping so her heart wouldn't be broken over the fact they failed. The Archaia novel, however, switched it up by having 004 being unable to legally be with Hilda due to her being a foreigner, so he tried to smuggle her into country by plane. It goes as well as you'd expect. The 2001 anime also revealed that Black Ghost's extensive cybernetic modifications were extremely painful, to the point where he was immediately put out of commission after using them for the first time. It's a wonder he didn't commit suicide after all that crap.
  • 005 was subjected to anti-Native American racism, and was left unemployed for a long time due to his race, forcing him to live the life as a nomad trying to find a stable job. In the manga, the only job he found turned his people into humorous stereotypes, which 005 found incredibly offensive to his heritage.
  • 006 was a farmer who lost everything (the manga depicted him as a pig farmer whose livestock ran way and was taxed to oblivion, while the '79 anime had him suffer from years of bad crops), making him cross the Despair Event Horizon and try hang himself. Later adaptations depicted him as a restaurant owner who either burned down his own restaurant with a botched fire-breathing trick (2001 anime) or was forced to close it down (Archaia novel). In addition, the Archaia novel depicted 006 as a formerly married man whose wife left him after his business failed.
  • 007 was once a famous actor who fell on hard times and became a homeless drunk. The 2001 anime expands on this by depicting him as a small-time actor who abandoned his girlfriend Sophie and his friends once he let his own fame get to his head, and when he was disgraced, he was too ashamed to make amends and turned to the bottle. The '79 anime reveals how 007 became a homeless drunk - he was friends with a fellow actor Henry, whom he also competed with for a lead role in a major production. Henry was eventually chosen, but they never lost their friendship. One day, 007 and Henry went on a hiking trip when equipment failure caused Henry to fall to his death. Because of the timing of the accident, people believed 007 killed his friend, and his inability to clear his name caused him to lose his job and everything else.
  • 008 was originally an innocent villager taken to be sold into slavery, and the people who saved him from that fate turned out to be Black Ghost agents looking for a subject to add to their 00-Cyborg line (manga). The 2001 anime and Archaia novel depicted 008 as a guerrilla fighter, with the former expanding on his backstory and giving him a comrade-in-arms who was turned into an evil cyborg by Black Ghost and had to be killed by 008 to save himself and his friends.
  • 009 was subjected to racism for being half-Japanese, which resulted in him becoming a delinquent and being sent to juvie hall that he and a fellow inmate tried to escape from. The 2001 anime depicted him as an orphan who was Happily Adopted by a Catholic priest who was indirectly involved in a child trafficking ring created by Black Ghost, and was killed to prevent exposure of their secrets, only to find the priest murdered and his church on fire. The police thought 009 was the culprit due to being the only one there at the crime scene, so they arrested 009 only for the truck transporting him to get into an accident, allowing 009 to escape.
  • Dr. Isaac Gilmore was one of the scientists involved in the creation of the original 00-Cyborgs, but he slowly started having a moral dilemma regarding the unethical conversion of humans into living weapons. His feelings came to a head when Black Ghost decided to ignore his suggestions and install a weaker heart model in 005, causing him to have a near-fatal heart attack. It was after this which he decided, "Fuck this," and jumped ship, helping the 00-Cyborgs rebel and escape from captivity. The 2001 episode "The Final Battle" also implies that Dr. Gilmore was a Holocaust survivor due to Skull's comments of "melting [the 00-Cyborgs] in my furnace!"
• Fire-Forged Friends: The entire 00-Cyborg team became True Companions the longer they fought against Black Ghost and other villains. Eventually they start seeing each other like family.
• Glory Seeker: The 00-Cyborgs are accused of being this in Call of Justice due to them going off the public radar for a while only to suddenly reemerge in the 21st century, after they are attacked by members of the Blessed organization. The United Nations think they engineered the attacks on them to reclaim their lost glory.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Despite saving the world many times over, sometimes all the 00-Cyborgs receive for their actions is jeering from the very people they saved.
  • In the 2016 film Call of Justice, it's a plot point; after the Cold War and the defeat of Black Ghost, people started accusing the 00-Cyborgs of being living weapons, forcing them to go into hiding. Then they're branded terrorists and murderers by the United Nations due to them killing a few enemies who tried attacking them, despite their claims it was in self-defense. Later justified; the 00-Cyborgs were being framed by the Blessed organization, who saw them as a threat and manipulated things behind the scenes to give them public infamy and get rid of them.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Their scarves are the only offender. Despite them being impossibly long, they never get caught on something or pulled on, especially during the heat of battle.
  • Subverted in the last chapter of the Underground Empire arc and the last episode of the 2001 anime, when Skull manages to stop 009 and back him against a wall by stabbing through the scarf, much to Joe's own shock.
• Multinational Team: The 00-Cyborg team consists of an African cyborg (008), a Chinese cyborg (006), a British cyborg (007), a Russian cyborg (001), a Native American cyborg (005), a French cyborg (003), a German cyborg (004), a half-Japanese cyborg (009), and an American cyborg with no specific ethnicity (002)^note The 2001 anime identifies him as Italian, though the West Side Story Shout-Out in the beginning of the manga implies he's of Polish descent.
• Older Than They Look: All of the 00-Cyborgs are chronologically older than their appearances would suggest. The 2001 series showed that Ivan/001, Jet/002, Francoise/003, and Albert/004 were the first 00-Cyborgs to be made and underwent cryogenic sleep when technological complications arose, making them the oldest of the team.
• Psychic Powers: Besides 001, obviously, as well as 005 having nature-based empathy in the 2001 anime and onward, the 00-Cyborgs get psychic upgrades thanks to 001 in the 2012 "God's War" manga and its OVA adaptation.
• Red Is Heroic: Their red outfits are the most iconic things in the series, with some exceptions.
• Resigned to the Call: All of the 00 Cyborgs would love to leave a life of fighting behind and live peaceful lives as normal humans, but they are painfully aware their nature as combative cyborgs renders that moot. The fact they’re the only ones who can stop Black Ghost and generally heroic natures makes them spur into action whether they want to or not.
• Scarf of Asskicking: All of the 00-Cyborgs wear their iconic long, yellow scarves, and while they do fine individually, they all do even better when fighting as a team. Even when their scarves defy physics and somehow manage to avoid getting snagged/caught, they still kick ass.
• Secret Project Refugee Family: All of the 00-Cyborgs are runaways from Black Ghost's 00-Cyborg program. Dr. Gilmore is their Parental Substitute trying to atone for being involved in their creation. They all start seeing each other as a true family after battling Black Ghost's cyborg assassins.
• Sentai: One of the original Super Sentai, long before we had Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Super Sentai. The only difference is that they are not wearing color-coded uniforms, instead wearing red uniforms. There are also nine members of the team, when a typical super sentai would consist of five members.
• True Companions: They have their squabbles and arguments every now and then, but when one is endangered, the others will move mountains to save them. Eventually they start seeing each other like family.
• You Are Number 6: Black Ghost named them after numbers based on the order they were taken and converted into cyborgs. Joe Shimamura, the last 00-Cyborg to be named, is renamed "009". Eventually their numbers are what the main characters respond to as their former lives are gone. The 2001 anime reveals that Jet Link was originally going to be "001", but after Ivan Whisky showed more promise, he was given the callsign "002" instead.

A small Russian baby with incredible Psychic Powers - in fact, he was likely the most powerful of the lot, but using them left him exhausted, and he could only use them to their fullest after sleeping for two weeks. Played the Chess Master at times, co-ordinating attacks and providing the enemy's weaknesses.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Started the manga with hair that varied between light brown or a bright blond, but it was quickly changed to silver. The silver hair carries over to the animated adaptations, except for the first three films(the '60s films by Yuko Serigawa and "Legend of the Super Galaxy") where his hair was reverted to the light brown that it appeared as in some of the early artwork.
• Berserk Button: Calling him "just an infant".
• Blessed with Suck: Cyborgs don't age, at least not like humans do. 001 knows that. It may take him years, even decades, before he becomes a more or less self-sufficient kid.
• Brainy Baby: 001 may be an infant cyborg, but thanks to his father's brain experiments, he is more intelligent than the average adult.
• Cast from Hit Points: In the 2012 manga, it's revealed that every time he uses his Psychic Powers, a bit of his life energy disappears.
• The Chess Master: A benevolent example. He's capable of coordinating attacks for the team.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • The manga and early adaptations had his father experiment on him to unlock the mysteries of the human brain, giving him psychic powers and increased intelligence. His mother tried to stop the experiments, but his father bludgeoned her to death in front of 001.
  • The 2001 anime and Archaia novel turned him into a terminally ill child who was experimented on by his father in a desperate attempt to cure him, eventually driving himself to madness.
• Depending on the Artist: The style of his exposed eyes really vary throughout the manga, perhaps due to them being a sporadic occurrence and Ishinomori forgetting how they looked. They also vary throughout the "Conclusion: God's War" manga, due to two different artists having worked on it (Masato Hayase and Sugar Sato).
• Deus ex Machina: So powerful he can solve most problems with a thought. However, due to the fact that he has to spend so much time asleep, he usually isn't available to solve problems for the other 00-cyborgs until it's dramatically appropriate for him to wake up and save the day.
• Goo Goo God Like: The one 00-Cyborg who possesses incredibly strong Psychic Powers.
• Hair Color Dissonance: His hair often appears more on the teal or blue side in the 2001 series, although it seems to be intended to be silver as in the manga artwork.
• Harmful to Minors: Was subjected to horrible, horrible brain-enhancing experiments at the hands of his own father Dr. Gamo Whisky, then turned into a 00-Cyborg by Black Ghost. While still a baby. The original manga also had him watch his father bludgeon his mother to death in front of him when she tried to interfere.
• Heavy Sleeper: Justified, due to his weak body. He spends fifteen days asleep each month, and then stays awake for just as long.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His surname is spelled "Wisky" in the Archaia continuity, possibly to avoid alcoholic references. His given name is also sometimes seen as "Iwon" in merchandise, due to the difficulties of rendering "Ivan" in Japanese and then translating it back to English.
• Missing Mom: In the original manga, his mother was bludgeoned to death in front of him by his own father when she tried to stop him from experimenting on their son. This part was toned down or adapted out due to its dark nature, but later adaptations imply she eventually died of natural causes while 001 continued to live.
• Next Tier Power-Up: The 2012 God's War manga and its OVA adaptation has 001 give his fellow 00-Cyborgs Psychic Powers so they can be sufficiently prepared in fighting the various gods and monsters. While the ending of the OVA was left ambiguous, the manga made it clear that powering up didn't work as the various enemies the 00-Cyborgs faced were way above their league.
• Older Than They Look: Becomes this as the manga progresses, and especially in the 2001 anime continuity, where he was frozen for 40 years.
• Psychic Powers:
  • Barrier Warrior: When in a pinch, he can erect psychokinetic barriers that are impervious to all attacks. This saved his fellow 00-Cyborgs on multiple occasions. Like in the 2001 anime where he saved them from being killed by Black Ghost's prototype EMP generator.
  • Mind over Matter: Possesses strong psychokinesis.
  • Telepathy: What he uses to communicate with the 00-Cyborgs as, being permanently stuck in baby form, his vocal cords aren't fully developed.
  • Psychic Teleportation: Has the ability to transport anything and anyone to a chosen place. The only catch is that it only works on inanimate objects; he can transport people, but they have to be unconscious first, requiring him to render his teammates unconscious before teleporting them to safety.
  • Psychic Link: He can link his mind to others in order to convey thoughts to them.
  • Astral Projection: Gains this power in the Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman OVA and both the 2012 manga and its OVA adaption.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: In the 2012 manga he had visions of the horrific final battle with the angels and gods who wanted to "restart" humanity.
• Russian Guy Suffers Most: He's Russian, yet out of all the 00 Cyborgs his Dark and Troubled Past started at a very early age.
• Sleepy Head: Due to his psychic powers putting a strain on his infant body, he must sleep for a certain amount of days to regain his strength with the most being 15 days straight.
• Stock Foreign Name: "Ivan Whisky" sounds like a stereotypical Russian name.
• Troll: In the 2001 series episode "The Birth", he constantly led Joe straight into enemy territory on purpose, just to get a sense of the newly-made 00 Cyborg's full capabilities. Joe is understandably upset when he finds out.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: He's not even a year old, and yet he displays skills and knowledge that would be normally found in an adult.

A Fiery Redhead from New York City, he used to be part of a gang before getting into just a little too much trouble and winding up with Black Ghost. In addition to being able to fly via rocket engines in the soles of his feet, he possessed the prototype Accelerator, underscoring his relationship with Joe. Kind of looks like Brendon Small.

• Accidental Murder:
  • In the manga and the 1979 anime adaptation, a skirmish with a rival gang unexpectedly turned lethal when the switchblades came out (this is where he gets picked up by Black Ghost). Although this was initially to be kept in the 2001 anime, Bowdlerization hit in order to make it more kid-friendly and his origin was toned down to have him not stab anyone, but still be on the run from cops due to his delinquency.
  • The Archaia continuity has him stated to have been a homeless street punk who stabbed a man that had attempted to mug him.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Compare the Jet of the manga and the anime series to the one in the 2012 film and the Archaia graphic novel, and there's a drastic overhaul in his appearance, with him becoming a more conventionally-attractive blond man (see notes in "Gag Nose").
  • A pachinko game that predated RE: depicted him with long red hair and a toned-down nose, although it was still realistically prominent.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: He pretty much is always a redhead in Ishinomori's color art, save for the color edition of the "Mythos" arc where his hair sometimes appeared as a dirty blond. He was changed to brunette in the first two Toei films. Otherwise, his red hair was retained- up until 009 RE: Cyborg and the American comic book adaptation, which changed it to blond.
  • His eyes are either brown or blue, depending on the given adaptation. The '79 series, "Legend of the Super Galaxy", RE:, and Archaia favored the blue-eyed look, while the 2001 series went with brown. Ishinomori usually gave him blue eyes in the colorspreads, although he also would paint the eyes brown at times as well.
• The Ace: In the Gary Stu-style stories he tells to his young friend Jimmy in the 2001 series, at least.
  • In the actual story however, he almost borders on being a Renaissance Man. Combining all of his different incarnations he's been a football player, a bullfighter, a race car driver, a fighter pilot/NSA agent, a private detective, and a Broadway dancer.
• An Arm and a Leg: His legs tend to blow up on him quite often, and he got his arm torn off painfully in the '79 series. And in "Conclusion: God's War", he loses both his legs (along with a good deal of his lower half) not once, but TWICE within the arc. The novel version amps things up by also having him lose both of his arms by the end.
• Art Evolution: Ishinomori initially drew him with slightly shorter hair, a protruding upper lip, and much wider eyes. His hair lengthened throughout the arcs, and his eyes quickly became more narrow in shape. His nose also increased in length, although the last few manga stories seemed to reduce his nose size, as well as tone down his hair a little.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Thanks to his Gag Nose, long hair, and dark narrow eyes, he tends to resemble a bird. Quite fitting for the flying cyborg!
• Big Brother Mentor: To his little New York City friend Jimmy and a bunch of esper children in the 2001 anime. Also had shades of this in the '79 anime.
• Boisterous Bruiser: If there's a fight, odds are he's the first one to jump in. Especially in light of the fact that the other three first-generation Cyborgs all originally had major drawbacks in the 2001 version (001's abilities drained too much of his energy, and 003 and 004 originally rejected their implants).
• But Not Too Foreign: He's specified to be an Italian-American in later media, such as the 2001 anime and the CR Pachinko game that was released in 2011. Prior to this, he was merely stated to be an American with no exact ethnicity ^note Although with the "West Side Story" references in his original backstory, his ethnicity may also be up for debate as the Jets are either Polish-Americans or Italian-Americans depending on the adaptation. However, since Ishinomori did not detail a specific ethnicity, fans mostly had to guess what working-class background he had to be from.
• Character Development: Compare the selfish, whiny Jerkass from the beginning of the 2001 version, who bitches everyone out because he just wants to bash Black Ghost... with the strong, loyal Jerk with a Heart of Gold of the second part who cries when he urges the esper alien children to defend themselves from their oppressors and, in the Grand Finale, is willing to die rather than abandon Joe to his luck.
  • As far as the manga goes, Jet started out more laid-back and optimistic, but eventually became a bit more weary and temperamental by the time of the '80s in at least two stories, though he still generally remained one of the more mature and level-headed team members. His memorable blow-up in "Cyborg Soldier, For Whom Do You Fight?" might have been the seed for his hot-headed later portrayals.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In all continuities, he grew up in a bad area of New York where he had to turn to delinquency to survive. In the manga and early installments he was a gang leader, though later he was altered to become a street punk. The 2001 episode "The Awakening" reveals that he carried a heavy amount of guilt over not preventing other children from becoming delinquents like he did and helping them protect themselves from people who picked on them. From the same series, the episode "Black Ghost Lives" shows Jet during his days as a prototype 00 Cyborg, and it's implied that out of the the nine people who became 00 Cyborgs, Jet stayed with Black Ghost the longest. No wonder the poor guy's so messed up.
• Delinquent: Was a Street Urchin before Black Ghost got to him.
• Depending on the Writer: The manga played Jet off as a more laid-back, easygoing guy, although he began to show some strain during the late '70s and early '80s. In the 1979 anime, while he still kept some of his chill personality, he also had a little more edge and memorably flew off the handle at G.B. and Albert over his gang being insulted. The 2001 version of Jet, as mentioned above, started out as more of a cocky, hot-headed Jerkass and was played as a sort of rival type for both Joe and Albert, then mellowed out as time passed. In addition to this, the writers for the English dub of the '01 series tended to try to done down some of his Jerkass moments to make him sound a little less rude.
  • His age is also subject to variation; the earlier adaptations stated him to be 22, while the 2001 version has him as merely 18 when he's captured by Black Ghost. In the manga, Ishinomori never gave a concrete age for the most of the 00 cyborgs, so Jet could just as well fall around that range.
• Fiery Red Head: Sports long red hair and is the most likely to attack out of the 00 Cyborgs. It should be noted, though, that this infamous aspect of his personality didn't come until the 2001 series.
• Fragile Speedster: Although he's quite fast, he's probably the most fragile of the 00-Numbers, which leads to him either getting blown out of the sky easily or losing a limb.
• Gag Nose: His nose is absurdly long and pointy, shaped like a bird's beak, though not in the American reboot. His switch to being a blonde with a normally-sized aquiline nose angered some fans. It's also far less prominent in the 2012 movie, though it's still pointier than normal.
• Guns Akimbo: In the Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman OVA, he was given the ability to wield two blaster guns. This was possibly planned to be in the Archaia continuity, where promotional concept art released by Marcus To showed Jet wearing two gun holsters in his uniform.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: His incarnations from the 2012 CGI film, the Archaia novel, and the upcoming Call of Justice film trilogy all depict him with blonde hair. He's still one of the main 9 00-Cyborgs.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: He gets bisected in "Conclusion: God's War", twice.
• Hidden Depths: In the 2001 episode "Search For the Professor", he shows some artistic talent when he painted the 00 Cyborgs' ship, the Dolphin, in the style of a WWII war plane.
• Jerkass: While he's a loyal and valued member of the 00-Cyborg team, he does have his moments...
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Pretty much this in his incarnations from 2001 and on, although his 1979 and manga incarnations can have their abrasive moments too.
• The Lancer: To 009, in that 002 is a Hot-Blooded Boisterous Bruiser eager to fight, while 009 is a Nice Guy who tries to talk his enemies down before engaging them. It's downplayed in early adaptations where 002 was more relaxed and easygoing, but the differences were still there.
• Private Detective: Became one in the 2012 manga after the disbandment of the 00-Cyborgs.
• Psychic Powers: In the 2012 God's War manga and its OVA adaptation, he was given two psychic upgrades by 001 - the first one was the ability to mentally accelerate his flight speed to the speed of light. The second one was the ability to teleport.
• Psychic Teleportation: In the 2012 God's War manga, Ivan gave him a psychic upgrade in the form of teleportation, though this was left out in the OVA adaption and given Super-Speed instead.
• Super-Speed: He was installed with an early prototype version of Joe's Accelerator, one that achieves the same affects for a shorter amount of time, though it was adapted out in later adaptations in favor of him just having flight. In the 2012 God's War manga, after his body was ripped in half (first time), Jet was reconstructed by Dr. Gilmore so he can fly faster. He was later given by 001 the ability to psychically accelerate his flight speed to the speed of light, which was also shown in its OVA adaption.
• Super-Strength: He can (somehow) lift eight fully grown people (and 001) and still fly.◊

A French ballerina who was given vastly enhanced hearing and sight, making her great at surveillance... if not so good at the whole direct combat thing (and she painfully knows it). Depending on the adaptation, she ranges from The Heart to Action Girl; however, she always serves as The Heart of the team and Joe's Love Interest (the only one immune to the whole Cartwright Curse thing...)

• Action Girl: It's worth noting that, as thin as she looks, she did get a full-body rebuild, and while her specialty isn't suited for battle, she can more than handle her own.
  • Not to mention, she was a ballerina (aspirant in some version, a full-pro in others). Dancers of all kinds tend to be very fit and, even if not ripped, they're physically stronger than they look. BG likely rebuilt her following her basic body shape and the bulk she already had.
  • However, that's also Depending on the Author. In the manga and the 1979 series she gets wounded, sometimes seriously, by being stabbed or shot - something that other members of the team can easily shrug off and which indicates that in those versions her body is still mostly organic. Unsurprisingly, in those continuities she tends to be more The Heart of the group, but while more rare and lower-key she still has her moments to shine.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Her hair is usually blonde, but was depicted as a reddish-brown in the '60s Toei films and the '68 series, as light brown in the 1980 film and in some of Ishinomori's early color spreads, and as ginger in 009 RE: Cyborg. She also has ginger hair in the American graphic novel.
  • Her eyes tend to vary between either being blue or green.
• An Arm and a Leg: Has her right arm ripped from her body in the manga version of "Conclusion: God's War". It necessitates her having to get it replaced with a rather obvious robotic limb, one that bears a bullet-firing hand much like Albert's.
• Art Evolution: Initially didn't wear her headband, had differently-styled eyes, and had much longer brown hair. Ishinomori decided on giving her a headband mid-"Birth" arc and tweaked her eyes. When he went back to write her origin for the revised version of the "Birth" arc, she appears already wearing her headband- which vanishes for a while after Joe first meets her (due to those scenes being the first to feature her).
• Badass Biker: Call of Justice gives her a personal motorcycle that she can ride on for personal travel.
• Brought Down to Normal:
  • In the 2001 anime, it's revealed that her powers can be disrupted by sandstorms and such things.
  • Call of Justice has her (and 009) being turned into a normal human by an old mystic. It's actually an illusion, used to determine what they truly want in life: to live as humans, or continue saving the world as 00-Cyborgs. She ultimately chooses the latter and is restored to being a cyborg again.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Averted in regards to Ixquic, but zigzagged in regards to the different incarnations of Helen or Helena. i.e., the SF Roman novel of 1978 had her very jealous of Helena but she turns out to be Brainwashed and Crazy, the manga version of the Mythos arc had her captured by Gaia so ay thoughts on Helen weren't shown, the manga rendition of the Yomi arc had her not taking her jealousy on Helen but being passive-aggressive to 009 instead, and in the 2001 anime she's jealous but quickly denies it when 002 brings it up and mourns Helen the most when she and her sisters are murdered.
• Dance Battler: Well shown in the 68 series, where she kicks ass in an ornate ballerina outfit while hearing ballet shoes with hidden blades.
• Disability Superpower: In the 2012 manga, 001's Next Tier Power-Up gives her telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance to make up for her self-inflicted Eye Scream below.
• Electronic Eyes: They become even more detailed in the 2012 film. She also gets new, upgraded ones temporarily in the manga version of "God's War", but she disliked them so much that she tore them out herself and opted to remain blind.
• Evil Makeover: In Monster Wars, she gets this when she becomes Brainwashed and Crazy courtesy of Black Ghost; her hair becomes wild and unkempt, the sclera of her eyes become yellow and her skin takes on a deep gray tone and she grows fangs.
• Eye Scream: Gets her eyes ripped out in the "Conclusion: God's War" manga. She's outfitted with new ones, but comes to hate them and after she crosses the Despair Event Horizon, she tears those ones out after a while, and spends the rest of the arc completely blind.
• Fanservice: usually averted, with some exceptions Depending on the Author:
  • Ishinomori tended to avoid it most of the times; throughout the very long run of the manga you could count the times she's wearing something revealing for the purpose of fanservice on the fingers of both hands - to the point that, in the scene of the Battle with Gods arc where she and Joe get naked and have sex, the artstyle he picked specifically for that arc makes their bodies look very underdetailed and not much erotic. And if you're familiar with other works by Ishinomori, like 009-1 or the manga Kunoichi Torimonocho, you know that he definitely wasn't shy about having sexy heroines in his stories; he simply didn't feel like it would have been fitting for 003's character;
  • The 2012 movie plays around with this. She's given a redesign that makes her look much more curvy than any other adaptation prior (and so far), and in the first two thirds of the movie she's wearing a series of outfits that aren't as much practical as they are eye catching (although, at least in the first part, it could be said she's doing it on purpose to get Joe's attention). The third part of the movie turns the situation around, and as soon as she puts on her classic uniform she completely throws away any element of eye candy her character had until then, and turns into a more modest Action Girl. And in the epilogue the way she keeps her more modest look, coupled with her more maternal behavior towards Joe, make it feel like this was an intentional parallel.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: When she is a blonde, she has a cheerful personality.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Goes through this early on; later transitions to I Just Want To Have More Pro-Active Powers. Mainly appears in the episode detailing Gilmore's Backstory in the 2001 anime, where she's suddenly thrown into battle without advice and, naturally, the poor woman has a Freak Out.
  • In the 2012 manga, her original, Black Ghost-installed eyes were ripped out and replaced with new ones. After that she crosses the Despair Event Horizon and rips out her eye replacements, hating how they make her more of a machine, and spends the rest of the story completely blind.
• Mission Control: She works best with Ivan/001 and Dr. Gilmore, as her abilities (enhanced sight and hearing) isn't suited for direct battle.
• Older Than They Look: She appears as an 18 year old girl, but being cryogenically frozen for decades means she's actually 80 years old by the start of the series.
• Plucky Girl: Despite her insecurities, she very rarely gives into despair.
• Psychic Powers: Gains these thanks to 001's Next Tier Power-Up in the 2012 "God's War" manga and its OVA adaptation, after she loses her eyes twice (the second time she ripped them out herself). She gains Telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance.
• Seers: Gains precognitive and clairvoyant abilities in the 2012 manga, after ripping her own cybernetic eyes out.
• Sensory Overload: The 2001 episode "Black Ghost Lives" has poor 003 thrown into the middle of a battlefield after being turned into a 00-Cyborg, freaking out over the excessive amount of noise from the weapons firing at her thanks to her enhanced hearing.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female main 00-Cyborg. Her teammates (and mentor) are all guys, including the baby.
• Team Mom: Not only to Ivan and Jet (the youngest members of the cast, at least physically), but to everyone in the team. Lampshaded more than once, and specially in Compu-Utopia, "Sphynx"/Carl has huge Mommy Issues and is so attracted to Francoise's motherly beauty/behavior that he abducts her to make her his puppet girlfriend.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Portrayed very realistically, since having to watch the guys fight - and nearly get themselves killed at times - left Francoise feeling helpless at times and nearly sent her into a Heroic BSoD once or twice. The original Downer Ending turned this into outright Blessed with Suck. The anime version added a scene with her sensing Joe burning up and bursting into tears.
• Wrench Wench: In the 2001 series, apparently thanks to her enhancements. Which let her dismantle a biological bomb on her own. The episode "Gilmore's Notes" also describes her as having been an electronic engineering student, although this reference was removed in the English dub.

A quiet, thoughtful, sensitive, German man in his 30's with a talent for Deadpan Snarking and plans who had most of his body replaced with various weaponry. His terribly tragic past doesn't help much, either.

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Compare his appearance in the early 1960s manga and anime (bowl haircut, pointed nose, narrow jaw) to his appearance in the 2012 film (in which he looks like a silver-haired Daniel Craig). See Art Evolution below.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Received reddish-brown hair in the early anime films, as opposed to his iconic silver haired look. Although, Ishinomori himself didn't consistently depict Albert with silver hair at first either, with him appearing with light brown or blond hair in the occasional colorspread (which leads to some wondering if the silver may be a stylization choice). Even some of the color pages included in Kodansha's full-color edition and the deluxe re-releases of the manga depict him with noticeably strawberry blond hair, as did the original color printing of "Emergency Simulation 1992" (the final one-shot for the series that was drawn by Ishinomori).
• Arm Cannon: He has gun barrels for fingers on one hand; he has to hide this by wearing gloves and long sleeves at all times. For bonus points, there's a knife on the side of his other hand, and he has Knee Cannons, too. And in some versions ^note (a throwaway reference in the Mythos arc, in "The Legend of the Super Galaxy", and in "God's War"), the guy even has a nuclear bomb in his stomach.
  • The 2012 movie adds to this by pointing out that most of his weapons are costly and difficult to resupply, as they're either custom-made for him or no longer used.
  • The two '60s Toei films gave him further firepower by giving him the ability to split his forearms off and fire missiles from his elbows, to go along with his knee missiles. That continuity also has it so that both of his hands can fire bullets and eventually, this carries over as a plot point in "God's War".
    • The Archaia graphic novel gives their version of Albert the elbow cannons from the Toei films, to further amp up his power set.
• An Arm and a Leg: His right leg is severed in "Conclusion: God's War", and he gets both arms ripped off. When he's upgraded by Gilmore, both his arms become more obviously metallic and bear bullet-firing hands. In the light novel version, he has both gun hands at the start but gets them replaced with upgraded ones.
• Art Evolution: Started out with a shorter bowl cut hair style, as well as having a pointier nose that could nearly rival Jet's (this was carried over to the '60s films and '68 series and even exaggerated with its size at times). His hair style changed over the course of the manga from a bowl cut to a pageboy, and his nose was altered to a more aquiline shape. His facial structure was also changed from elongated and pointy to him having a more rounded or squared off jaw.
  • In the 1985 "The People Drifting Between Space and Time" story arc, he briefly got an updated, longer hair style, but this went away by the time of the final one-shot for the series. Ishinomori's concept art for "God's War" also depicted a longer-haired Albert, although this didn't carry through to the eventual manga.
• Artificial Limbs: Goes hand-in-hand with the above. His body is the most obviously reconstructed of the lot. In one episode, an underwater shoot-out with a horde of enemy jellyfish leaves everyone but him paralyzed: as only the brain and the spinal cord remain, his body isn't organic enough to suffer from the venom. He does get a fake skin covering later on in the manga, though, which is briefly witnessed in the "Aphrodite" arc when he's able to wear a short-sleeved shirt. His flesh gloves also get witnessed in both versions of "Compu-Utopia".
• Back from the Dead:
  • At the end of "Legend of the Super Galaxy", due to Joe subconsciously wishing him back to life after entering the Vortex.
  • After sacrificing himself to kill off a member of the Blessed organization and save humankind from its Goal-Oriented Evolution plot in Call of Justice, he is somehow brought back at the end, with no justifiable reason. Although 001 can teleport his fellow cyborgs...
• Big Brother Mentor: Towards 003, 002 and 009. He also pulls 008 out of a Heroic BSoD after his last upgrade.
• Body Horror: Unlike most of the other cyborgs, he lacks a human-looking body, being conspicuously cybernetic from the neck down (when not wearing his flesh camouflage). In the 2001 anime, they go as far as to state that the only organic things that could be saved of his original body would be his brain and spinal cord.
  • The 1979 series, the story "Invisible Strings", and a promotional trailer for the 2001 version (with the shot based off the one from "Invisible Strings") show that even his facial structure is mechanical, and the anatomy chart for the "Legend of the Super Galaxy" artbook also agrees upon him being the most modified.
• Brought Down to Normal: 009's wish to bring 004 Back from the Dead in Legend of the Super Galazy caused 004 to be resurrected as a normal human man. But 004 opts to be turned back into a cyborg, giving up his humanity once again, realizing that he had enjoyed being part of the 00 cyborg team.
• Cartwright Curse: If you're attracted to him, well, good luck. His love interests, such as Hilda, Vena, the Mount Vesuvius woman, and Iere, almost invariably end up dead or doomed. The few ones who survive (like Leena from the '79 series and Fille Fatale Nana from the manga) will either be broken or come pre-broken.
• Creepy Good: He had a dark personality in earlier incarnations, such as the manga and the 1980 Legend of the Super Galaxy movie. Averted in the 2001 series, which softened his personality considerably. See Depending on the Writer below.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Majorly Subverted, though he has difficulty remembering this at times. Highlighted when he faces off against a Robotic Evil Twin in the 2001 series.
• Death Seeker: He displays this attitude in the first half of the 1980's film, due to his angst over not being able to die with Hilda.
• Depending on the Writer: In the manga and the earlier anime adaptations, Albert's angst over his and the others's situations was channeled differently. Instead of being quiet and thoughtful like in the 2001 series, he went for the snark and a very ruthless and bitter Knight in Sour Armor attitude, sometimes coupled with a Death Seeker streak.
  • Just how much organic parts and functions he has left can vary upon the incarnation, and even Ishinomori seemed to vary on that matter.
• Four Is Death: In the manga, he is labeled "God of Death" (shinigami ^note Which can also be translated as "Grim Reaper" in some contexts).
• Germanic Depressives: He's a German man full of depression and angst. It comes from his past as an East Germany runaway and losing his fiancee Hilda.
• Glasgow Grin: Not a literal example, but because of the art style, his smile stretches across his whole face. Thanks to this, his smiles are sometimes quite frightening◊.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: In the light novel version of "God's War", he becomes incapacitated by being stomped on and ripped in half (before the sequence with his sacrifice). The manga version toned this down to his legs being stomped on, rendering him crippled.
• Heartbroken Badass: He's a walking death machine, yet he's got a very Dark and Troubled Past that mostly involves a woman.
• Heroic Build: In the 2001 anime, his cybernetic body has an exaggerated and stylized masculine appearance, as seen in the upgrade scene in the "Man Or Machine" episode◊.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Dies in "Legend of the Super Galaxy", when he stays behind to fight Zoa's troops and the bomb inside him detonates (due to gun shots breaching his body). He gets better at the end, due to Joe temporarily gaining the ability to alter reality from having entered the Vortex. However, some cuts of the film had his resurrection removed.
  • A similar circumstance happens in "Conclusion: God's War". After 007 astral-projects to possess an angel and flies a severely wounded and crippled 004 to a secluded place, 004 insists upon staying behind and detonating the bomb inside his body, in a last-ditch effort to wipe out the creatures they've spent the arc fighting against.
  • In the 2016 CGI film Call of Justice, 004 hooks himself up to a satellite manned by the brain of a Blessed member and set to release plague-carrying micro-drones on Earth to force humanity to evolve, so the satellite will instead go on a path towards the Sun knowing it'll incinerate them both.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Hilda's death deeply traumatized him.
• The Mentor: Occasionally. Supplemental materials establish that his day job in the 2012 movie is "GSG-9 Trainer of all things (apparently because his built-in weapons are all difficult to restock, meaning he can't fight on the front line like he used to).
• Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes are completely white in the manga and earlier versions of the anime. In the 2001 series, his eyes have light blue sclera and dark blue irises with no pupils. These eyes are not merely a side-effect of him being a cyborg, however, as he's depicted with blank eyes in his backstory and as a human at the end of "Legend of the Super Galaxy" and "God's War". It has more to do with Ishinomori's stylistic choice.
  • The 2008 one-shot, on the other hand, shows him with normal eyes with irises and pupils while still human. He gets his trademark blank eyes only after being turned into a cyborg.
• More Dakka: What he specializes in. If an enemy pops up, just load him with lead (or missiles).
• Mundane Utility: The blade embedded in his left hand is very useful in combat. It also comes in handy when preparing food.
• Nightmare Face: He can pull off some terrifying facial expressions when provoked into Unstoppable Rages, such as the 2001 episode "Man or Machine?".
• Number Two: He's the second most effective Cyborg in combat on the team after 009. A good indication (in the 2001 Series) of whether or not 009 is fighting the villain single-handily is to check whether or not 004 is still standing.
• Pocket Rocket Launcher: Has a rocket launcher hidden in his shins, which fire, well, shin-sized rockets. From his kneecaps.
• Shirtless Scene: Lots of them in the '01 version. Not so much in the manga, due to his entirely metal body. The only time he takes off his shirt in the manga is when he console Pyunma/008 after his upgrade.
  • He also gets one in the 1979 series, although his body is depicted with flesh (or a camouflage layer), rather than being outwardly metal.
• Progressively Prettier: In the early issues of the manga, he's decidedly odd-looking, with a bowl haircut, pointed nose, and narrow jaw. Over time, the manga's Art Evolution produced a more normal-looking 004 with a chiseled face and pageboy cut.
• Psychic Powers: Gains these thanks to 001's Next Tier Power-Up in the 2012's God's War manga and its OVA adaptation. He can shoot bullets that never miss their target(s), and he can teleport said bullets to said target(s) no matter how far they are. The OVA adaptation depicted his bullets after 001's upgrades as energy.
• Silver Fox: A little on the young side for this - he's anywhere from his late 20s (specifically 28) to 30, depending on the adaptation. Other than that, however...
• Stepford Snarker: In several adaptations, he's snarky and sarcastic to hide his survivor's guilt over Hilda's death.
• Survivor Guilt: He has incredible guilt over his role in Hilda's death, and angsts over it. Depending on the adaptation, his guilt turns him into a Death Seeker.
• Tragic Keepsake: His dead fiancee Hilda's ring. Turns out it comes in handy while fending off 0011 with a half-paralyzed body.
• Trauma Conga Line: He's in his late twenties to early thirties when the series begins in the early 1960s. Do the math, and this means that he would have been a child during the Nazi Germany days. Thus, during the formative years of his life, he would have witnessed the Third Reich^note and almost surely been made a member of the Hitler Jugend, World War II, and Germany's devastation by Allied forces. Then he would have endured all the indignities of Communist rule in East Germany. Then the creation of the Berlin Wall would have prevented him from easily leaving East Germany. Then he sustained life-threatening injuries and watched his beloved Hilda die after a botched escape attempt from East Germany. Then he was kidnapped by Black Ghost and transformed into a cybernetic war machine. Which, in the 2001 anime, also includes having said cybernetic war machine body fail on him (right after he sort-of found three friends that were able to understand his plea, too!) and then being frozen alongside said friends for at least 30 years.
• Unstoppable Rage: Normally a level-headed guy, his anger is terrifying◊.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Is the one with more modifications, since his body was horribly torn in the explosion that killed Hilda. In the 2001 series he sometimes worries about it very much, specially in "Compu Utopia" and "Man or Machine?". That version further shows that originally his brain and spinal cord rejected his "enhancements", making him collapse in the middle of testing while he was trying to help the also just-cyborgized 003 and 002; this caused Black Ghost to shut down the cyborg project for 40 years until technology caught up to solve the problem.

A mature, wise, very gentle Native American who was basically transformed into a walking tank, with superhuman strength and endurance unmatched by any of his teammates. In the 2001 series, he also possesses a bond with nature that isn't one of his Black Ghost-given powers.

• Adaptational Attractiveness / Art Evolution: In the manga and most of the anime adaptations, he has a mohawk haircut and facial markings. In the 2012 film, he has a full head of hair, a more youthful appearance, and an absence of facial markings.
  • He also debuted in the manga with a slightly less bulkier physique and his height difference wasn't as pronounced. As Ishinomori continued drawing him, he got taller and much more muscular. His pupils also tended to not be drawn in at some points.
• An Arm and a Leg: Gets his right leg ripped off during the climactic battle in "Conclusion: God's War", courtesy of the giant Buddha.
• Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Even though he carries a laser gun like the rest of his team, he mostly gets his way through by throwing rocks at everything.
• Badass Native: When he gets to fight, his cyborg powers let him plow through quite a bit of mooks.
• Berserk Button: Insulting his Native American heritage is a definite no-no. In the manga, when he found a producer who was employing actors to play as stereotypes of his people (and asked 005 to play as a chief), 005 was so furious that he punched the guy for turning his people into entertainment.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Almost all of his incarnations are wanderers who suffered racial prejudice due to his Native American heritage, and remained unemployed for a long time because of his heritage. The manga has him discover his people's traditions had been turned into stereotypes for white man's entertainment, and punched out the guy who offered him the role as a chief in his production.
• The Empath: The 2001 anime and subsequent adaptations give him the ability to connect with nature on a spiritual level.
• Facial Markings: Standard in all adaptations except for the 2012 movie, where they only appear when he's cutting loose and using his strength to the fullest.
• Friend to All Living Things: He sees all life as sacred.
• Genius Bruiser: While he mainly acts as the physical powerhouse of the 00-Cyborg team, he still manages to come across as very thoughtful and calm.
• Gentle Giant: Physically the largest of the 00-Cyborgs. He's very kind to everyone as long as they're not directly fighting him or his friends.
• Hulk Speak: He speaks like this in the 1979 anime. Which is weird since in the 1968 series and the manga, while having a tendency to overuse short, meaningful sentences, he always spoke using proper grammar.
• Little Guy, Big Buddy: 005 is the big buddy, 001 is the little guy.
• Made of Iron: One of his powers is listed as having armored skin, which allows him to shrug off most attacks like wet paper. He's usually the one who tanks the most damage the rest of his team cannot withstand.
• Magical Native American: In the 2001 series, he shows a considerable empathy with nature that wasn't part of his upgrades. This ability was retained in the Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman OVA, where he senses the coming of a "devil".
• Psychic Powers: Has nature-based empathy that both his 2001 and 009 vs. Devilman incarnation has. In the 2012 God's War manga and its OVA adaptation, he was given a psychic upgrade by 001 - the ability to generate massive amounts of telekinetic force and blast away enemies at will.
• The Quiet One: If he does talk, it's usually something profound. That being said, it's strongly advised not to piss him off.
• The Stoic: Is usually capable of making one expression. When that expression changes, get the hell out.
• Super-Strength: In the 2001 series, Ivan estimates him to be "as strong as a thousand men."
• Top-Heavy Guy: Due to Ishinomori's art style, he's often drawn with a broader upper torso and shoulders, while his body from the waist down is smaller and skinnier.
• Unstoppable Rage: The 2012 manga and its OVA adaptation has 005 influenced by the gods into succumbing to unquenchable anger, causing him to destroy the wildlife he deeply cherished. It's suggested that his stoic front hides a lot of deeply-suppressed rage, possibly at the unfairness and suffering in his life.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Throwing rocks (or an alternative) at everything always works. He does carry a laser gun like the rest of his team, but why use it when you have Super-Strength?

A cheerful Chinese chef who was given the ability to shoot fire out of his mouth. He uses his considerable cooking skills to keep the team together and well-fed, as well as providing a fair amount of the comic relief alongside 007.

• Asian Buck Teeth: Seen with these in the earlier anime adaptations.
• Big Fun: The shortest and fattest of the 00-Cyborgs. Also the most jolly and compassionate, who keeps the team afloat with his humor and cooking.
• Chef of Iron: A Supreme Chef who can also fight. It's worth noting that he doesn't mix cooking with combat, though.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: In Conclusion: GOD'S WAR, he has snakes forced through his nostrils and down his throat by Shiva- causing him to graphically explode from the inside out, scattering his organs and traumatizing his teammates.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All of them involve going through the Despair Event Horizon and (in the manga and Archaia novel) attempting suicide to escape his troubles. Depending on the adaptation, he's either a farmer going through hard times, or a failed businessman and restaurant entrepreneur.
• Driven to Suicide: His original backstory in the manga had him attempting to hang himself after reaching the Despair Event Horizon, but Black Ghost agents saved him before he could successfully do so. Subsequent adaptations removed this for being too dark, but the Archaia novel kept it.
• Eyes Always Shut: They usually resemble a pair of "3"s. He does open them at points throughout the anime and manga, although sometimes Ishinomori depicted his very pupils as "3" symbols in the later chapters. In the '60s anime works, they vary between having sclerae or being Black Bead Eyes.
• Gag Nose: Identified by his big, round nose. It even carries over to his RE: and "Call of Justice" self, to an extent.
• Lethal Chef: the English dub of the 2001 anime has a few lines that imply he could either be a Supreme Chef or, more often, this.
• Mundane Utility: Uses his fire-breathing to cook.
• Playing with Fire: He can breathe torrents of fire that are hot as 3,000 degrees. In Conclusion: GOD'S WAR, Ivan gives him a psychic upgrade in the form of pyrokinesis.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Shares this role with G.B./007, though unlike G.B., he does it completely straight without covering for any personal tragedy - he really is just that cheerful! Then again, considering what he had gone through right before being kidnapped, he likely sees being a 00 Cyborg as a sort-of "improvement".
• Psychic Powers: Gains these thanks to 001's Next Tier Power-Up in the 2012 God's War manga and its OVA adaptation. He gains pyrokinetic abilities that allow him to change the shape and direction of his fire breath, and breathe freakin' flame dragons!
• Stealth Pun: He can use his powers to tunnel through rock and catch his enemies by surprise. That's right, he's a Chinese Fire Drill.
• Team Chef: He serves as the chef of the cyborg team. It's a constant throughout all adaptations that he's a Supreme Chef (with Chinese cuisine, anyway). He even runs a worldwide chain of restaurants in the 2012 movie and during the beginning of the '79 series.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With 007. Much of their comedic banter involve lots of squabbling, but they actually care deeply for each other.

Once one of the best British actors, he was transformed into a Shapeshifting Master of Disguise who could transform into anything simply by touching his bellybutton. He frequently plays a Large Ham to entertain the others and distract them from navelgazing.

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Gained a more youthful, less cartoony look in the more realistic style of the 2012 film and the Archaia graphic novel, although some fans may feel that he might look a little too much younger.
• Age Lift: In the '60s animated movie and the 1968 TV series, he's portrayed as a young child rather than a grown man. This was due to the producers wanting a character for the kids in the audience to relate to.
• The Alcoholic: What he became in his backstory after his fall from stardom. It's incredibly downplayed after that, with him only drinking once or twice in a few adaptations.
• An Arm and a Leg: Loses his left arm via the giant Buddha in the climax in "Conclusion: God's War".
• Astral Projection: Gains the ability to project his spirit and straight-up possess living creatures instead of just shapeshifting himself to look like them, thanks to 001's Next Tier Power-Up in Conclusion: God's War.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Uses this against a stampede of mutated animals in "Monster Island". Doubles as Full-Frontal Assault as he's either naked (manga) or in a Loincloth (2001 series).
• The Atoner: Tries to be this in "The Fog of London" episode of the 2001 series. He was supposed to act with his girlfriend Sophie in a small theater, but he ditched it for a greater acting chance. Twenty years later, he finds out that Sophie's daughter Rosa is acting in a revival of exactly the same play...
• Backstory: In all continuities, he's a former actor, but the details behind his fall from the spotlight vary:
  • '60s series: A Former Child Star who's still Just a Kid when Black Ghost decides to use him in their experiments.
  • '79 series: Used to go hiking in the mountains with his best friend, a fellow actor named Henry Brown. During one of their trips, however, equipment failure led to Henry falling to his death. Since this happened shortly after Henry had gotten a lead role over the future 007, everyone assumed he'd killed him out of jealousy. Unable to clear his own name and reeling from the loss, he descended into depression and became a drunkard.
  • 2001 series: Started out in a small theater with his close friends and his girlfriend, Sophie. As they were preparing to perform "Mists of London", he received an offer to act at a prestigious theater; though he was reluctant at first, Sophie encouraged him to go. He became a great actor, but left his old friends and flame behind in the process. When his star fell, he was too ashamed of that abandonment to contact them, especially as he spiraled into drunken depression.
• Beady-Eyed Loser: A cartoon-eyed 00-Cyborg who was a washed up actor and former drunkard before he was converted.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Given how he's mostly a comic relief character and that his general personality is very posed, Great's rare bouts of anger can be really scary. At one point in the manga version of the Underground Empire arc his rage manages to intimidate Jet, of all people.
• Dark and Troubled Past: All of his incarnations depict him as a washed-up actor who turned into a drunkard after his fame ran out. The '79 anime upped it further by having being accused of murdering his friend during a climbing trip shortly after the latter got the lead part for a major production, when it was actually equipment failure that killed him. Unable to clear his name due to bad timing, 007 spiraled into depression and turned to alcohol to ease his pain.
• Deadpan Snarker: Later adaptations try to play up his British heritage by giving him a dry wit.
• Demonic Possession: A heroic example; in the 2012 manga and its OVA adaption, 001 gives G.B. a psychic upgrade in the form of possession, in where he astrally projects himself into the body of a living being and takes control of them.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In "Conclusion: God's War", he gets a giant foot dropped on him.
• Dual Age Modes: Had this in the manga while the '66 film was popular. The child form was mainly used as Sleep-Mode Size after its introduction.
• Evil Former Friend: 007's fellow actor and friend Henry Brown in the '79 anime, who actually survived the hiking accident and was turned into a cyborg by Black Ghost, and now resents 007 a great deal believing he was responsible for what he became.
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Flashbacks of 007's past in the 2001 anime depicted him with blonde hair, while the '79 anime gave him white hair. It's all gone now.
• Horrible Judge of Character: In the 2001 anime, he fell in love with a rich lady who was revealed to be Cyborg 0012 and a member of Black Ghost. Even after The Reveal, he kept defending her actions and was still willing to act as her Knight in Shining Armor in the end.
• James Bondage: Mainly in the original manga and '79 series, where his attempts to spy on the enemy often went awry. He was more savvy in the 2001 one and later adaptations.
• Magic Pants: Zig-Zagged in the original manga, where he had to strip out of his clothes before transforming, but usually got to keep his underwear. All later adaptions let him stay dressed.
• Morphic Resonance: Tends to keep his distinctive eyes while transformed, except when playing Body Double.
• Psychic Powers: 001's upgrading in the GOD'S WAR manga and OVA adaptation gave him the ability to outright possess his targets instead of changing his own appearance to mimic them. The manga ups it further by giving him an additional ability to change the appearance of those he possesses.
• Rubber Man: What his shapeshifting powers sometimes function as. He was able to transform his own body into a weapon and kill a man by squeezing him to death in the 2012 movie. In the Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman OVA, he used his own body to crush multiple monsters to death at once, and making himself impervious to electricity by converting to a rubbery state. And boy oh boy was it awesome to see!
• Sad Clown: He usually serves as Plucky Comic Relief, but his backstories tend to be very, very complex and sad.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: He's usually wearing a suit of some kind to contrast his more casually-dressed teammates.
• Shout-Out: A British person named 007, huh?
• Stepford Smiler: Behind his clownish and dramatic front is a guilt-ridden and emotionally broken man.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Subverted. He's so good a stage actor that it seems like he's become the person he's shapeshifted into, but on the inside it's still 007.
• Took a Level in Badass: The 2001 anime depicts him as more stealthy and cunning, compared to his bumbling character of the original manga and especially the '79 anime. The 2012 CGI film also has him getting the jump on a suspicious-looking man and actually crushing him to death. The Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman OVA made him even more awesome, being able to turn himself into perfect duplicates of a person (complete with voice), using his own body to crush multiple monsters to death at once, and making himself impervious to electricity by converting to a rubbery state.
• Verbal Tic: In the '79 series, he'd interject the proper animal sounds while in a matching form, such as meowing as a cat or crying as a bird.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: His main power. He can transform into anything he wants, including live animals and inanimate objects, by just touching his belly button.

An African ex-slave/guerrilla warrior (depends heavily on which media we're talking about) who was remodeled into an underwater warrior, able to swim at great speeds and breathe underwater. Was also one of the only cyborgs who had combat experience before crossing paths with Black Ghost.

• Ace Pilot: Operated the Dolphin (and any other vehicles the 00-Numbers use).
• Art Evolution: Had a rather... "special" design in the manga, and both the '60s anime adaptations and '79 series (although he was colored purple in the last example). And if an early pitch trailer is to be believed, he would've been drawn in the same way in the 2001 series. Thankfully he was given a more regular, less caricaturised design in Legend of the Super Galaxy, as well as in a 1992 one-shot by Ishinomori called "Emergency Simulation 1992". This evolution carried over to the actual 2001 series, as well as the 2012 movie and the newer media.
• Blackface: What he was initially designed with. Thankfully he had been redesigned come Super Galaxy due to the controversy surrounding his appearance.
• Child Soldier: He grew up as a child soldier and guerilla resistance fighter against the cruel dictatorship ruling his country, spending his entire life in one battle after another. Because of this, he has the most combat experience out of all the 00 Cyborgs.
• Darkest Africa: Subverted in the 2001 anime; played straight in the original manga and earlier adaptations, where he was an ex-slave.
• Evil Former Friend: In the 2001 series, his childhood friend Mamado, Brainwashed and Crazy thanks to Black Ghost. 008 had to Shoot the Dog in the end
• Face–Heel Turn: Seemingly betrays the team in "Conclusion: God's War", opting to side with the Gods. However, he then appears to change his mind just in time and reveals that he was actually faking his betrayal. He then sacrifices himself in an attempt to save the others.
• Gadgeteer Genius: In the manga and '79 series; if Gilmore wasn't avaliable for a technical issue, like figuring out how to rewire a Black Ghost console in time to stop a strike, it fell to him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices himself in order to buy the others some time in "God's War". Unfortunately, it still isn't enough to save the others from their predicaments.
• Jack of All Stats: Underwater, he's probably the single most advanced fighting anything on the planet, but outside of it he's merely a powerful cyborg with combat training.
• Kill It with Water: Both the 2012 "God's War" manga and its OVA adaptation give him the ability to manipulate water pressure. The manga gives him a second upgrade in the form of hydrokinesis.
• Made of Iron: In Call of Justice: while not to the same extent as Geronimo/005, being built to withstand the crushing depths of the deep sea makes him among the more durable Cyborgs.
• Making a Splash: In the 2012 "God's War" manga, 001 gives him two psychic upgrades in the form of manipulating water pressure, then full-on hydrokinesis
• Psychic Powers: As mentioned above, he gets hydrokinetic powers from 001 in the 2012 manga, first as manipulating water pressure, then later as straight-up water manipulation.
• The Smart Guy: Skilled tactician, very level-headed, and apparently the only 00-Number with a University degree.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman:
  • Played straight and constantly lampshaded in the '79 series: whenever a battle involved going underwater, he always explictly pointed out he was the best man for the job before diving in ^note Most of the other cyborgs, save 007, had to use breathing apparatuses whenever they headed underwater.
  • Partially averted in the 2001 series: he was one of the more experienced fighters and good at tactical combat due to his guerrilla past, but he didn't get many chances to show off his powers before Gilmore upgrades him following his Near-Death Experience. Then in the God's War OVA adaptation, he gets to Kill Things With Water Pressure.

The Hero and most advanced of the nine cyborgs, with a more powerful body and his semi-unique Acceleration Mode, which enabled him to move at incredible speeds via a switch hidden in one of his teeth. Very sensitive and compassionate, he sometimes wound up juggling the Hero Ball while trying to avoid difficult decisions.

• Ace Pilot: Despite never flying anything before, Joe is able to use the stolen Black Ghost flyers to great effect in his first run, albeit, not before nearly crashing at first and with a lot of help from 004.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Joe seems to get a new hair color with every new anime adaptation despite the manga clearly describing him as having "chestnut" hair (simplified to "brown" in Tokyopop's release), although Ishinomori later refers to him as a "blond" in the Aztec arc. In the early Toei films and '68 series, he has black hair. In the '79 series, his hair changed to a dirty mustard-like blond. He finally received brown hair in the Legend of the Super Galaxy film and 2001 series, only for it to be switched to a gingery orange shade in the 2012 movie.
  • His eye color can shift as well. Ishinomori's earliest colored artwork gave him blue eyes, only for his irises to then be depicted black, and then as brown in even later artwork. The animated adaptations vary between giving him brown eyes or red.
• All-Loving Hero: He holds no grudges against anyone and he even tries reasoning with the antagonists.
• Art Evolution: Started out with large, innocent-looking eyes in the early manga artwork and was drawn looking a bit younger. Ishinomori's style gradually evolved to have him appear a little more mature.
• All of the Other Reindeer: In early installments, he was ridiculed by both children and adults for his half-Japanese heritage. In the manga and '79 series, it's stated and shown that because of this treatment, he was driven to delinquency, which led to him being imprisoned in juvenile hall, which led to the attempted escape, which led to being found by Black Ghost...
• Badass Driver: In the '79 anime and manga continuities he is a proficient Formula-1 racer.
• But Not Too Foreign: Half-Japanese, with the ethnicity of his father unknown. The manga goes as far as to state that Joe was bullied for his "half-breed" status by those around him, and wound up becoming a delinquent because of the discrimination that he faced.
  • The biracial aspect is unfortunately absent in both the '60s and 2001 incarnations, although the '79 series retained both this and Joe's delinquent history when it stated that Joe wound up at Kurihama for getting in a fight when protecting a fellow "half-breed" friend.
• Calling Your Attacks: He often yelled, "Acceleration Mode" when going into Bullet Time.
• Cartwright Curse: Helen, Princess Tamara (from "Legend of the Super Galaxy"), and Helena/Artemis die, Princess Ixquic is stranded in time in the anime and dead/deactivated in the manga. Only Francoise/003 (and Jet/002, if you like your Ho Yay) are immune.
• Character Development: Is forced to throw away a part of his naivety as time goes on, but does his best to remain gentle and compassionate without losing his backbone.
• Chick Magnet: Francoise, Helena, and Tamara all fall for him at various points in the series, albeit with Francoise being the front-runner in her relationship to Joe. He can also be suave when he wants to be, having Francoise go from being pissed at Chang's and G.B.'s blatant attempt to use her as eye candy for Chang's restaurant to blushing like a schoolgirl with just a few words.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: It's more apparent in the 2001 series, but no matter which side someone's one, he will do his very damn best to help them. If they're allied with Black Ghost, he'll try to convince them to perform a Heel–Face Turn. Most of the time, his efforts blow up in his face, thanks to Black Ghost pulling a Sadistic Choice on him.
• Combo Platter Powers: In the original manga, it's explicitly shown that Joe received many of the abilities of the previous Cyborgs. Joe has Geronimo's Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability, except not as pronounced, Pyunma's ability to breathe underwater, and Jet's formerly unrivaled speed. Aside from those, he also has the an automatic translator in his brain and voicebox that allows him to understand and speak any language he needs to, a special breathing mechanism that allows him to recycle oxygen to survive in areas without it for one hour, night vision, and the ability to receive and perceive electromagnetic waves and activity.
• Conveniently an Orphan: His father is never acknowledged. In the 2001 series, his mother died when he was a baby, right after entrusting him to a priest. This plays out similarly in the manga, where Joe admits to having never known either of his parents, although he sees a vision of his mother during his final battle with Black Ghost.
  • In the continuity of the 2007 Skull Man anime, its heavily implied that Joe's father is Hayato Mikogami, the second man to become the titular Skull Man. Who, as it happens, gets resurrected as Black Ghost in the series finale.
• Delinquents: Actually started up like this in the manga, before Black Ghost captured him. His delinquent past was kept in the 1979 anime series, but removed in the other animated adaptations.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Aside from his more youthful-looking design in the early manga, Joe was prone to use "ore" in the earliest printings to denote his rough past and former delinquency. Ishinomori later had him using "boku" in later arcs and some reprints, which carries over to the anime adaptations.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The '79 anime was the only depiction of 009 where he had blonde hair, though that didn't change his heroic character much at all.
• Heroic BSoD: In the Psychic Assassins arc of the 2001 series, he gets catapulted into a Bad Future where Black Ghost had successfully killed off the 00-Cyborgs and turned Earth into a Crapsack World, and promptly breaks down upon seeing it,
• Jack of All Stats: Has the highest base specs as a cyborg amongst the 00-Numbers, but the others all beat him out in specific areas.
• Japanese Delinquents: Was one in the original manga and some adaptations (such as the 1979 one). The 2001 anime made his backstory Lighter and Softer by depicting him as an orphaned youth who was caught by the police at the wrong time, as an alternative explanation for how he ended up found washed up on the beach by Black Ghost (which was taken from the manga).
• Lightning Bruiser: Very powerful and very fast.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Starts the 2012 film with this, though he's aware that he's not entirely human. Due to his age and how cyborgs age, it's just easier to erase his memory and have him relive high school every three years.
• Men Don't Cry: Averted. Joe is a sensitive soul. Arguably a combination of Manly Tears and Tender Tears whenever he cries.
• Mundane Utility: Can be seen using his Accelerator to get fresh ingredients to 006's restaurant, at one point.
• Nice Guy: The 2001 anime strongly emphasized this trope, depicting 009 as very empathetic and kind. Despite being dedicated to protect Earth and humanity from Black Ghost, he is willing to talk to the bad guy and try convince them to pull a Heel–Face Turn. Unfortunately, thanks to Black Ghost's hobby of creating Sadistic Choices, 009's efforts end up in vain, often in the worst ways possible. He also reacts strongly to situations whenever he is forced to seriously harm or kill someone, like his beloved dog Kubikuro who became so obsessed with revenge that he had to be put down.
• Not Himself: Happens twice; first during the Ixquic incident, and later during The Yomi Arc. He also starts the 2012 movie this way.
• Orphanage of Love: Lived in one of these in the 2001 series. Until the owner, a Catholic priest, is gunned down after he finds out that some of the orphans he used to shelter were not Happily Adopted, but used as guinea pigs by Black Ghost. Joe finds the corpse, is mistaken as the murderer and gets caught by Black Ghost while trying to escape from the police.
• Shoot the Dog: He winds up having to do this to Kubikuro in the manga, '68 anime, and '79 anime.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: The Archaia novel had 009 falling in Love at First Sight with a beautiful girl he met at a juvenile delinquent facility and they planned to elope. The girl's brother hired thugs to beat 009 to death so he can keep them apart. 009 spends most of the first part of the novel angsting over his lost love and trying to get his former life back.
• Super-Speed: Joe's trademark. He's able to hit a switch on his molar that allows him to enter "Acceleration Mode", in which he moves so fast that time seems to have slowed to a crawl. Machine gun rounds fly at painfully slow speeds relative to Joe and he can walk right around lightning bolts and other attacks. When running at full speed, time basically stops for him, making him nearly untouchable. However, the story also takes the time to heavily deconstruct this ability. While in Acceleration Mode, Joe can't touch anyone or anything flammable, as his sheer speed means that the resulting air friction will cause it to ignite and spontaneously combust, turning pieces of paper into ash nearly instantly with a light touch and making metal red hot while holding it in his hands. This naturally makes high-speed rescues difficult unless he turns off Acceleration Mode right before catching someone or tackling them. It also means that all of his clothes have to be specially tailored and reinforced in order to withstand his speed and prevent everything he runs on from being set ablaze. He also can't hear anything other than his own voice in Acceleration Mode, as he's moving way too fast for sound to keep up, with Ivan being the only one able to communicate with Joe through telepathy. This is most prominent in "Frozen Time", where an adjustment by Dr. Gilmore accidentally renders Joe incapable of turning it off, making him spend an entire month in the amount of time it takes for a gas explosion to go off while forcing him to come up with a way to rescue everyone from it without touching them. For reference, Francoise didn't even finish blinking until that month-long period wore off.
• Tears of Joy: Although it turned into a case of I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why due to his memory being erased, Joe wept upon meeting his mother when he time traveled to the past.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's actually more of a Jerkass towards everyone in earlier adaptations (specifically the 60's anime). In the 2001 version, he's a really Nice Guy right from the start.
• Time Stands Still: How he perceives the world while accelerated. The "Frozen Time" chapter in the manga and its adaptation in the '01 anime leaves him stuck like this for a while. It's nightmarish for him. Depending on the adaptation, he also can't hear or touch anything 'normal' for collateral damage reasons, in this state.
• You Are Number 6: His callsign is "009", as he is the last 00-Cyborg to be made (at least until the 00-Cyborg assassins came along)

An Ambiguously Jewish scientist who worked on the cyborg project before deciding to defect from Black Ghost and helping them escape. He comes to view the cyborgs as his adoptive children, and serves as The Professor and Team Dad.

• The Atoner: In all adaptations, Dr. Gilmore was one of the scientists responsible for working on all nine of the 00 Cyborgs, only to do a Heel–Face Turn on Black Ghost out of guilt.
  • The 2001 anime takes it even further. When he was younger, he joined Black Ghost because he wanted to try everything he could with Black Ghost's technology, and felt like he was on top of the world. However, he first discovered Black Ghost's true motives when, during the production of Cyborg 005, he discovered that 005 was installed with a weaker heart model instead of the one he wanted, and it caused him to have such a massive Heroic BSoD that he had a heart attack, which he barely survived. After that, he decided that enough was enough and freed the 00 Cyborgs.
• Defector from Decadence: He was once a consummate Mad Scientist who joined Black Ghost willingly to test the limits of his scientific skill on hapless innocents and prove his own brilliance. After decades of service, he had an epiphany of his various wrongdoings during his surgery of Cyborg 005, had a heart attack from the stress of years of suppressed guilt, and swore to do what he could to make amends and take down Black Ghost upon recovering.
• Gag Nose: An Ishinomori trademark.
• Love Triangle: In the '79 series with his old friends Dr. Gerhardt and Astacia when he was younger. Both Gilmore and Gerhardt competed for Astacia's affections, and she eventually chose and Happily Married Gerhardt. But after a horrific car accident left her severely burned, blind, and dying, Astacia mistakenly confessed, to her husband's face, that she actually loved Gilmore. The revelation turned Gerhardt into a bitter old man obsessed with getting revenge on Gilmore for ruining his life.
• The Mentor: To the 00 Cyborgs, often acting as a source of guidance for their sense of heroism and abilities.
• Parental Substitute: To the 00-Cyborgs, who all look up to him as their mentor/father figure, especially the ones who were orphaned (such as 009). In the 2001 anime, he tries to deny it at first, but he embraces his role after Dr. Kozumi basically tells him he's starting to the 00-Cyborgs like his own family.
• The Professor: He's an intelligent scientist who worked on each of the 00 Cyborgs.
• Reluctant Mad Scientist: He claimed that he and his co-workers were tricked into working for Black Ghost and participating in the 00-Cyborg project. Subverted in the 2001 episode "Black Ghost Lives"; he knew damn good and well what he was getting into, and his subconscious doesn't let him forget it when he starts contemplating his Heel–Face Turn.
• Team Dad: Becomes a father figure for the Cyborgs. Good thing, since several of them were orphans or abandoned by their parents.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Gets called out twice in the 2001 series: once by his younger self calling him on his motives during a Heroic BSoD in "Black Ghost Lives", then again by the 00-Cyborgs themselves after using a very poor excuse to justify upgrading a seriously injured 008.
  • The '79 series also had him getting called out by the daughter of two of his colleagues, who were killed during the escape.