“ | Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku! | „ |
~ Seasons 1-4 intro |
Summary
Aku is the central main antagonist of the cartoon Samurai Jack and goes by numerous titles. He was originally a surviving fragment of a primordial evil vanquished by gods, later given sentience by a daimyo who was trying to protect his village from the fragment's continued growth. Aku went on a rampage until he was sealed by the daimyo using a sword created to wound the demon, Aku breaking free a decade later to take revenge. Though the daimyo made preparations for his son to succeed where he failed, Aku sent the Samurai to the distant future where Earth is now under Aku's control.
Powers and Stats
Tier: Low 7-C, up to 4-A with Creation
Name: Aku, Ikra, The Hermit
Origin: Samurai Jack
Gender: Male
Age: Thousands of years
Classification: Demon, A reincarnated fraction of the Nameless Evil, Master of Masters, The Deliverer of Darkness, Shogun of Sorrow
Powers and Abilities:
- Superhuman Physical Characteristics
- Self-Sustenance (Types 1 and 2)
- Enhanced Senses (Can smell blood to sense where others are[1], recognized Jack's blood at a glance because he knew his father[2]. Eventually sensed a nearby presence[3])
- Shapeshifting
- Necromancy
- Time Manipulation
- Energy Projection
- Afterimage Creation
- Regeneration (Low-High)
- Immortality (Types 1 ,2 and 3)
- Intangibility
- Size Manipulation
- Elasticity
- Fire Manipulation
- Explosion Manipulation
- Weather Manipulation
- Matter Manipulation
- Telekinesis
- Teleportation
- Transmutation (Aku can turn people into smaller versions of himself and Aku transformed sheep into giant sheep monsters)
- Minor Reality Warping
- Precognition (Through his dreams)
- Clairvoyance
- Mind Manipulation, Mind Reading
- Empathic Manipulation
- Duplication (Forged a exact clone of Jack out of his negative thoughts/emotions. Able to create clones of himself)
- Biological Manipulation (Created a potion out of nothing that made a woman pregnant with multiple children and Aku turned small sheep into giant mutant sheep)
- Sound Manipulation (Sent Jack flying with just a scream)
- Crystal Manipulation
- Age Manipulation (Can grant people Type 1 Immortality. Created a crystal that stopped Lava Monster from aging)
- Healing
- Cloth Manipulation (Restored Scaramouche's body and clothes)
- BFR (Sent Samurai Jack to the future through a portal in time and Aku can send his opponents to the pit of hate)
- Explosion Manipulation (Aku, just by looking at Scaramouche, blew his head off)
- Electricity Manipulation (Aku is chasing jack with the electricity from his eyes)
- Danmaku (Aku it increases its size to cover the whole sky and shoots hundreds of shots per second from the air to the ground)
- Duplication (Aku creates an exact demonic copy of jack)
- Sealing (Aku is sealing a man with a beam from his eye)
- Earth Manipulation (Shown in the Battle scene with Samurai)
- Corruption (Type1; It was said that Aku was behind the power of Ozric Well. The Well led 3 archers to corruption and he can also corrupt people with his essence, like he did with Ashi)
- Curse Manipulation (was said that Aku was behind the power of Ozric Well. this power was said to be cursed)
- Hive Mind (Types 1 and 2; when he made a psychologist out of himself,When he had Jack he shared the same mind)
- Illusion Creation (Created an illusion of Jack and Aku showed Jack many illusions of himself)
- Summoning (He brought Demongo)
- Statistics Amplification (Made the Soul Witch Grow in Size during her Fight with Jack)
- Body Puppetry (Aku controlled Ashi)
- Inorganic Physiology (Type1;Aku is a Dark Mass, and his body exhibits an acidic nature that melts ordinary weapons)
- Fusionism (Aku combined 2 robots)
- Pocket Reality Manipulation (Aku created a time pocket)
- Time Travel (Aku should be able to travel through time like Ashi, who has his powers)
- Bodily Weaponry (Aku can use his claws)
- Weapon Creation (Aku can create a sword from his own body)
- Possession (Aku possessed Jack)
- Body Control (Aku can reshape his body)
- Darkness Manipulation (As the Lord of Darkness, Aku can create minions from Darkness,Aku was born from darkness and can use his dark matter at will)
- Breath Attack (Aku can create fire with his breath)
- Flight (True Flight; Aku can fly comfortably both in the atmosphere and in space)
- Portal Creation (Aku can open a portals)
- Magic (Aku can use magic)
- Hair Manipulation (He can reshape his body, including his hair)
- Social Influencing (Deception; Aku deceived many races with lies and made them do his work)
- Underground Mobility (Shown during a fight with Jack)
- Acrobatics (Used it while fighting Jack)
- Large Size (Type 2; Aku is as tall as a skyscraper within his city)
- Technology Manipulation (Can fix technological objects, and give them power)
- Non-Physical Interaction (Aku should be able to touch ghosts just like Ashi, as Ashi is Aku's daughter and has his abilities)
Attack Potency: Small Town level (Harmed Jack on several occasions) up to Multi-Solar System level with Creation (Aku creates a reality that is different from the future and the past and is in between time. This place has a starry sky. Aku's death caused this reality to collapse)
Speed: Relativistic+ combat speed (Can easily keep up with Jack), Massively FTL+ travel speed (Flew to the Milky Way Galaxy from an unspecified region in outer-space and flew from planet to planet quickly)
Lifting Strength: Varies from at least Class 25 to up to at least Class M within his forms
Striking Strength: Small Town level (Can harm Jack with punches, kicks, and claws)
Durability: Small Town level. Immortality and Regeneration makes it difficult to kill him (Provided he isn't harmed by something like Jack's Sword, for instance)
Stamina: Superhuman
Range: Tens of Meters normally, Tens of Kilometers with beams, up to Interstellar with Creation
Standard Equipment: None notable
Intelligence: He is as intelligent as he is powerful, and his cunning knows little end, from taking the form of a woman to trick Jack or manipulating various races into serving him. He has no remorse whatsoever about telling someone he will save their village if they obey his command, only to destroy said village as soon as he gets what he wants.
Weaknesses:
- Color Scheme: Aku's shapeshifting is limited to his color scheme and will remain red, black, and green no matter what form he takes.
- Reflection: Aku's own reflection will reveal his normal form.
- Divine Magic: Though Aku cannot be harmed by normal weapons and attacks, he can only be harmed, defeated and vanquished by Jack's sword and other mystical forces, such as divine weapons and power. Furthermore, the Goddess of Water and her 3 elemental servants are able to harm and defeat Aku with very little effort, although not at the same degree as three 3 gods Odin, Ra and Vishnu. Since Aku was a fragment of the greatest manifestation of evil, he can be destroyed by the strength and purity of a human's (and likely any other living creature) spirit, as stated by Vishnu. This can be seen by Jack's katana, forged from the purity and strength of his father's spirit, are able to inflict an extremely agonizing injury to him, judging by his scream. When possess by Aku, Jack, in his psyche, vanquish, and exorcise the demon from him completely by the light of his spirit.
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
Shape Shifting
- Calling himself the "Shape Shifting Master of Darkness" at the opening of each episode, Aku can change into virtually any form he desires, from a giant dragon to a small insect, or even a beautiful woman. He can also change his size, liquefy himself, stretch, and expand his body. Aku's consciousness can exist even in a part of himself. He typically changes into animal forms that are threatening to fit certain situations, such as a scorpion or an octopus, adapting to the situation. He is however limited to his own color scheme, no matter what form he takes, it will always be black, red and green. Also, his true reflection will always appear, even in another form.
- Superhuman Strength: Aku can manifest considerable physical force when needed, though due to his shapeshifting and mystical nature, he rarely utilizes simple brute force.
- Immortality: A significant aspect in the series is that Aku is ageless and immortal. Therefore, he needs no food, air, or water and his wounds will merely regenerate from any conventional injury. He can only be harmed and finally defeated by Jack's samurai sword.
Dark Magic
- Aku, being a demonic manifestation of an ancient formless evil, is naturally tapped into various dark forces. This gives him magical power beyond any mere mortal. There appears to be little to no limit to it, as he can perform acts of necromancy along with manifesting demons, energy projection and various supernatural feats. The powers he has demonstrated so far are:
- Laser Eye Beams: Aku used this ability in numerous battles with Jack and he also used it to destroy the majority of Jack's Kingdom. He can also teleport beings through this ability.
- Pyrokinesis: Aku can breathe streams of fire from his mouth and project it from his hands.
- Scrying: Using mystical forces, he can create mid-air images to spy upon Jack and other enemies. He seems to need to be aware of their existence before he can track them.
- Time Travel: This was the very ability that Aku had used to send Jack into the future at the beginning of the series, though so far it has only been used once and was a one-way portal forward in time.
- Teleportation: Aku uses this quite often to appear before those he has business with him.
- Telekinesis: Aku has shown the ability to manipulate objects with his mind alone.
- Object Materialization: The ability to create objects out of thin air. He once used this ability to conjure gold, jewels, and treasure for the Imakandi.
- Interstellar travel: Aku is capable of interstellar travel.
- Sonic Scream: Once sent Jack flying away from him by screaming "BAH!"
- Necromancy: Aku has been shown in one episode to be capable of animating countless dead bodies, and bending them to his will, for they lack mind and soul.
- Weather Manipulation: Aku is capable of conjuring thunderstorms at will.
Note: Aku was not the the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, this was a fraction of the Black Mass/Ultimate Evil, and in turn another fraction of it was later reborn as Aku. When born, Aku had some control over the dark mass around himself, but it was not part of his body.
Gallery
Notable Matchups
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
References
Discussions
Discussion threads involving Aku |