Dr. Hell (TV)

Dr. Hell is the main antagonist of Mazinger Z, and the archenemy of Juzo and Koji Kabuto. A brillant scientist and a derranged madman bent on conquering the world, Dr. Hell uses both an extensive series of Mechanical Beasts as well as a small cadre of lieutenants he personally created to achieve this goal. He was apparently killed in the final assault on his island fortress by Mazinger Z. However, it is later revealed in Great Mazinger that the Emperor of Darkness revived Dr. Hell as the Great Marshall of Hell (地獄大元帥 Jigoku Daigensui), doing so to replace the fallen military commander of the Mycenae Empire the Great General of Darkness.

Background
His date of birth is unknown but it was revealed that his real name is (Wilhelm Von Hell); that said, it is known that he originated from Germany. He served in WWII at one point as a medic and a scientist often designing some doomsday weapons but ended up keeping them to himself. At some point he met Count Brocken and began the process to transform him into a cyborg.

He was part of the Bardos Expedition, alongside Dr. Juzo Kabuto. On Bardos, they discovered the remains of the Mycenae Empire, and with it the Mechanical Beasts. Realizing the tremendous advantage now in his hands with these mechanical beasts, Dr. Hell began re-creating them to realize his quest for world domination. His first act: dispose of his fellow expedition scientists including Juzo Kabuto.

After this dastardly act, Dr. Hell eventually discovered a tomb containing the mummified remains of a male and a female; however, each mummy had been partially crushed (one on the left side, one on the right) by fallen debris. It was these remains that Dr. Hell would use to create his first lieutenant, Baron Ashura. He later finished the cyborg process on both Count Brocken and Viscount Pygman, while spending the next several years re-creating more of the Mechanical Beasts to build his army.

However, Dr. Hell found out that Prof. Kabuto survived the slaughter of the Bardos Expedition and sent Baron Ashura to assassinate him, believing him to be the only threat to his plans. While Baron Ashura was seemingly successful, this did not stop the rise of Kabuto's grandson Koji Kabuto and the formidable Mazinger Z.

Appearance
Dr. Hell is a surprisingly tall and well-built elderly man with long gray hair, mustache, and beard. Unlike his enemy, Prof. Kabuto, Dr. Hell is in much better shape. His most unique features are his light purple skin and his eyes have yellow sclera and black irises. After his revival, Dr. Hell has an eyepatch covering his left eye and his skin has become light blue. The Great Marshall of Hell body has a purple body with light gold highlights including shoulder padding. The face of the Great Marshall body is very similar to Dr. Hell's own with long aged white hair, a beard, and mustache. On the head is a pair of horns that are attached to a cockpit where Dr. Hell's body is attached. The right arm is a hooked blade that can be used in combat.

Personality
Dr. Hell is a power-mad scientist bent on ruling the world with an iron fist. To do this, he not above killing innocent people to achieve his goals. He is also gets rather annoyed with his lieutenants failures as well as the bickering between Baron Ashura and Count Brocken. But the biggest thorn in his side is the Mazinger Z created by Juzo Kabuto and used by his grandson Koji Kabuto. Time and again, Dr. Hell tried to destroy the Mazinger and the Photon Power Laboratory; officially becoming the biggest threat to his plans. With his death and revival as the Great Marshall, revenge became the most important thing to Hell next to world domination even in spite of now being under a major power. A major weakness Dr. Hell has is his pride and cruelty, unable to see the consequences of what is going to happen. However in one occasion despite his pride and ego, after Koji Kabuto devised a rudimentary yet working way to made Mazinger Z flying for the first time, Dr. Hell mumbled some words of sincere admiration for the boy.

Kabuto Family
Dr. Hell made enemies with Juzo Kabuto after his assault on the expedition scientists. While Dr. Hell declares himself unstoppable he nevertheless saw Juzo as a threat and had one of his lieutenants kill him. But Juzo's death only got him more enemies with his grandson Koji Kabuto piloting the only threat to him, Mazinger Z. As Great Marshall of Hell, his hate for the Kabuto family and the Mazinger robots only increased as he nearly decimated Tetsuya Tsurugi piloting Great Mazinger and killed Juzo's son Kenzo Kabuto in cold blood.

Subordinates
Dr. Hell had created all of his lieutenants to serve him, his first Baron Ashura faithfully served him without question and would often compete with Count Brocken for his approval, especially after Dr. Hell became dissatisfied with Ashura's failures. Count Brocken also faithfully serves Hell but often lets his competition with Baron Ashura get in the way of the doctor's goal, much to the doctor's annoyance. His other lieutenant Viscount Pygman betrayed him to destroy the Mazinger on his own. In spite of all their failures however Dr. Hell never gets rid of or kill them in spite of how more competent he is in battle compared to them. In fact when the lieutenants ask for death, he never complies. Dr. Hell even mourned Ashura's death.

Besides his lieutenants Hell had other problems controlling his subordinates, one of which was a reverse engineered robot from Prof. Kabuto's plans, Minerva X. Another was Dr. Schtroheim Heinrich, who after creating a Mechanical Beast deserted Dr. Hell to destroy the Mazinger with his own power. When the doctor was backed against a wall, he had no choice but to get help from Archduke Gorgon who would eventually abandon Hell for the Mycenae Empire's plans.

As the Great Marshall of Hell, he had little love for his subordinates in the Mycenae Empire with only Scarabeth and Ligern actually supporting him. This is mainly because he lacks the same will and determination of the Great General as he prefers the more taboo means of getting anything done.

Abilities
While Dr. Hell, usually has his lieutenants do the dirty work Dr. Hell is an accomplished scientist in certain fields including robotics such as repairing and modifying the Mechanical Beasts as well as creating his own after destroying his original batch as well as the creation of powerful mobile fortresses. While seldom seen in combat, he is able to use a saber in a few short instances and use the Bardos Wand in different circumstances such as controlling the Mechanical Beasts or shooting a non-lethal beam that he uses to punish Ashura for his/her failures.

As Great Marshall of Hell, he controls the armies with fear and is willing to go to more serious extremes than the Great General of Darkness. Compared to the Great General who stuck with brute force, Great Marshall employs strategy that had ultimately worked to the empire's advantage given their cruelty and manipulative nature. He is armed with a whip and the bladed right arm that can be used to ensnare enemies.

As Dr. Hell
When Baron Ashura had successfully killed Prof. Kabuto, Dr. Hell began his attack with the Mechanical Beasts Garada K7 and Doublas M2. Aphrodite A is the first robot to put up defense but it is the arrival of Prof. Kabuto's completed giant robot, Mazinger Z that destroys them. Realizing that the Mazinger was the Professor's creation, Dr. Hell set in motion different plans to stop the Mazinger. After the first few waves proved fruitless, Dr. Hell destroyed the original Mechanical Beasts and decided to create his own Mechanical Beasts that could overpower the Mazinger. For a while the flight capable Mechanical Beasts seemed to work until the use of the Oppai Missile System and later the Jet Scrander.

With Baron Ashura's repeated failures, Dr. Hell introduces Count Brocken but Brocken has as much success as Ashura (sometimes because of their bickering). Furthermore, he is met with betrayal several times even by his lieutenant Viscount Pygman and later by Dr. Heinrich. Out of ideas, Dr. Hell is forced to make an alliance with the mysterious Archduke Gorgon (who is later revealed to be sent by the Mycenae Empire to destroy the Mazinger by manipulating Dr. Hell). Gorgon assists Dr. Hell in providing Ghost Mechanical Beasts but even these fell to the Mazinger. Eventually even Baron Ashura fell in battle.

After so many battles Koji and his allies assault Dr. Hell's island fortress of Hell Castle. Losing the battle despite using his remaining Mechanical Beasts, Dr. Hell attempts to retreat in his air fortress Gool only to be shot down by the Mazinger killing Dr. Hell and Brocken.

As Great Marshal of Hell
In an ironic twist of fate, the people who used Hell bring him back to life to lead the Mycenae army after the death of the Great General of Darkness. Now dubbed Great Marshal of Hell, Hell begins his quest for vengeance against the Photonic Research Lab. Unlike his predecessor Great General of Darkness, Hell is less charismatic and was losing faith with some of the empire due to lacking the Great General's winning sense of honor. Hell finally gets his chance to strike back against the Photon Power Lab, nearly destroying the Mazinger Z's successor Great Mazinger only to be stopped by a returned Z and Koji. However, while Hell cannot destroy the power plant, he succeeds in destroying the Science Fortress Lab and Kenzo Kabuto with it. Great Mazinger's pilot Tetsuya Tsurugi and Koji team up along with Venus A and Diana A to once and for all defeat the Mycenae Empire. At the end of the struggle, Hell is killed by the Mazinger robots.

Return
Through unknown means, Hell returns decades later, alongside Baron Ashura and Count Brocken. Despite the length of time, he rebuilds and fortifies his Mechanical Beasts in a fashion that even Great Mazinger cannot manage to defeat them. With his resurrection comes a new goal- Capturing Infinity and initiating Goragon, a universal reset in order to observe whether new potential worlds are worthy of existence. With the capture of Tetsuya Tsurugi at a Texas Photonic Power Plant and Infinity at the New Photonic Power Research Lab, Hell makes his return known to the world, proclaiming a message of peace and cooperation, stunning the world. Despite this and the fact that Great Mazinger is being used as a dummy key in place of LiSA, the actual key, a plucky few prepare for one last showdown. Koji Kabuto returns in Mazinger Z to assault Hell's stronghold to stop Infinity and save Tetsuya. After dispatching a number of reinforced Mechanical Beasts, Koji meets Hell in a body much akin to that of what he used as the Great Marshall of Hell at the crown of Infinity. After lecturing his adversary, Hell begins to attack, soon dominating Mazinger Z. Despite this, Great Mazinger is rescued, leaving the would-be conqueror at a loss. However, he reveals one final gambit- Data from Great Mazinger inside his personal Bardos Wand that allows his machine to interface with Infinity, fully initiating Goragon. However, thanks to the efforts of both mankind and LiSA, Dr Hell is finally dispatched, along with Infinity, ending the threat of Goragon and his ambitions.

Trivia

 * In the English dub for Mazinger Z: Infinity, Dr. Hell is voiced by Mike Pollock, who is best known for voicing Dr. Ivo Robotnik from the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise, an equally recurring mad scientist with a passion for extravagant robot designs.
 * Dr. Hell himself was possibly inspired by Professor Gill from Kikaider. Like Dr. Hell, Gill is also a mad scientist with an army of deadly robots with extravagant designs. Both Dr. Hell and Professor Gill also bear a strong resemblance to each other, sharing long black robes, long hair, beards, and both being of old age. They also both wield canes that they use to control and activate their robots. Considering that Go Nagai worked as an assistant for Shotaro Ishinomori (the creator of Kikaider), the similarities Dr. Hell shares with Professor Gill are probably not coincidental.
 * Strangely enough, during Great Mazinger's anime, no one at the Science Fortress Laboratory seems to realize Dr. Hell and the Great Marshall of Hell are the same person despite having meet him during Great Mazinger Episode 38, Don't Cry, Tetsuya!! The Stolen Mazinger!!.
 * When Koji returns to Japan, Hell explicitly shows interest in finally revealing himself to his nemesis, but is stopped by Minister Argos. As the anime ends without Koji ever meeting the Great Marshall of Hell, is possible the Science Fortress Laboratory team never realized Dr. Hell was resurrected before killing him by the second time.
 * Even so, In Mazinger Z: Infinity, Koji recognizes Hell's mecha as the Great Marshall of Hell.