Duke Fleed

Duke Fleed (デューク・フリード Dyūku Furīdo) is the main protagonist of UFO Robot Grendizer and pilot of the titular robot. He is the crown prince of Planet Fleed, the older brother of Maria Fleed, the adopted son of Genzo Umon under the name Daisuke Umon, and fiance of Rubina until their separation.

Background
Before coming to Earth, Duke was engaged to Princess Rubina of Planet Vega. However, King Vega then attacked Planet Fleed with the intention to expand his military power and steal the Grendizer. It was eventually found by the Vegans with Planet Fleed reduced to a toxic wasteland, Duke stole the Grendizer back using a Spazer and fled (the anime reveals that Duke was hit by a Vegatron attack and is dying from its radiation). The robot's navigational computer brought him to a planet with an atmosphere similar to Fleed's, Earth. Crashlanding, he was found by the Earth scientist, Dr. Umon (in the original Grendizer manga he was found by Koji Kabuto) and was renamed Daisuke Umon. Eventually, Daisuke got a job as a ranch worker for the Makiba family's ranch where he made friends with the owner's children Hikaru and Goro Makiba.

Appearance
Duke is a young man of average height with an athletic build. He has shoulder length brown hair, thick eyebrows, and dark blue eyes that blend with his irises.

As Daisuke, he wears an old American western outfit that has a brown tasseled vest, a yellow long-sleeve shirt, brown pants and black boots. As Duke Fleed, he wears a red and black pilot suit based on the royal clothing of Planet Fleed which also includes a gray knight-like helmet that features red spiked decorations with a yellow mask and a green visor that covers his face.

Personality
As Daisuke, Duke appears to be relaxed and just another person in the crowd. As Duke Fleed, he is much more serious especially when it comes to fighting the Vegan Empire, in order to protect Earth and prevent another incident like what happened to Planet Fleed. Much like other Mazinger protagonists, he is hot-blooded when it comes to a battle or as a pilot but to a much lesser degree than Koji or Tetsuya, only acting on some serious feelings. He however suffers a great loneliness of being the only survivor of Planet Fleed especially when seeing the deaths of his family and the citizens of Fleed. He also feels guilty about having to run away in spite of knowing that he could do nothing at the time, this worsened when it was revealed that some of the Saucer Beasts are controlled with implanted brains of Fleedians, as well as fighting in a strange land. Duke actually hates fighting, having been through the turmoil that was Planet Fleed's ruin but knows that he has to in order to prevent the same catastrophe to hit Earth.

Genzo Umon
Dr. Umon found Duke when he came to Earth and raised him like his own son. Duke also respects Dr. Umon like a mentor and a father.

Hikaru Makiba
As Daisuke, Duke started working for Hikaru's family. Daisuke and Hikaru got along well, despite Hikaru's bossy demeanor for getting others to do their jobs. By the time Duke started fighting the Vegans, he eventually told Hikaru his true identity, to which Hikaru replied to fight alongside him as pilot of the Marine Spazer. Hikaru is usually the closest person towards Duke often taking time to comfort and speak to each other about what goes on.

Koji Kabuto
During their first meeting, Duke saw Koji as little more than a naive nuisance; but when Koji displayed his piloting skills and desire to fight, Duke accepted him as an ally. Despite their earlier rivalry, Duke and Koji are easily the best team among their allies. In the manga, Koji was the first person Duke encountered on Earth who introduced him to Dr. Umon which lead up to later events in the manga.

Maria Fleed
Maria is Duke's younger sister, as well as another survivor from Planet Fleed. During their first encounter on Earth, they did not remember each other due to their faulty memories and Maria wanted revenge on the Grendizer for accidentally killing her butler. But when their necklaces are revealed the siblings remember everything about each other. Duke was more than happy to know that he had a sister and that he was not the only Fleedian survivor.

Rubina
Princess Rubina was Duke's fiance and were scheduled to meet to form an alliance between their kingdoms. However Rubina's father, King Vega went behind their backs and invaded Planet Fleed. When Rubina travels to Earth to find him, Duke was cautious since she was King Vega's daughter. However, Duke recalled Rubina as nice and loving compared to her father; his anxiety waned when Rubina sacrificed herself to save Duke from a blast shot at him. With Rubina's death Duke became more than determined to defeat the Vegan Empire.

Abilities and Skills
Duke is able to generate a pilot suit from his own body in order to pilot Grendizer. The suit also provides protection from different types of hazards, such as lasers. His Fleedian physique also gives him greater agility and a faster healing rate.

Robots and Vehicles
Duke is an accomplished pilot, able to control the Grendizer with relative ease and has been shown to pilot vehicles like a motorcycle and ride a horse after some lessons from Hikaru.
 * Grendizer: The secret weapon of Planet Fleed modeled after a Fleedian God of War.
 * Spazer: A UFO-esque vehicle that allows flight through the atmosphere and outer space, it can also connect to the Grendizer to allow it to fly.
 * Dizer trike: A red motor trike with passenger seats that Daisuke/Duke used for personal transport at times. It is equipped with projectile fan-like blade to launch at enemies.

History
Daisuke and the Makiba family ranch receive a visit from Koji Kabuto in the TFO. Duke gets an uneasy feeling from the conversation about UFOs appearing throughout Japan and tells Koji that it is a bad idea to try to communicate with them. Koji shrugs off Daisuke's warnings and goes to a swarm of UFOs to negotiate. Daisuke's feeling turns out to be true as the UFOs are from the Vegan Empire. Duke's memories fully resurface and goes to the Grendizer to fight the Vegans and save Koji. Telling Koji what really happened, Koji offers his service to Duke. This service proves to be invaluable from the swarms of Saucer Beasts that would come.

Hikaru Makiba became curious about what Daisuke was doing and Duke revealed who he really is to her. Understanding, Hikaru decided to help out as well, piloting the Marine Spazer. Duke also encounters a mysterious girl also from Planet Fleed who wanted revenge on Duke for the death of her butler, who lost his life in an accident caused by the battle between Grendizer and a Saucer Beast. Duke then finds out that the girl is his sister Maria Grace Fleed from when their necklaces are revealed. Duke embraces his long lost sister and the siblings reconcile, with Maria becoming pilot for the Drill Spazer.

After many battles, Duke encounters another girl. This one being the Vegan princess Rubina, Duke's fiance. Duke is wary of her due to what her father did to his home planet. When Rubina notices a Vegan assassin pointing a blast at Duke, Rubina saves him by taking the hit. Realizing that Rubina was nothing like her father, Duke embraces her determined to defeat King Vega.

When King Vega issues the order to attack, Duke and his allies move out to space for an epic battle. Duke deals the final blow by having the Grendizer destroy the Vegan Empire mothership. With the empire's defeat, Duke leaves with Maria to restore Planet Fleed.