Heck Ben

Heck Ben is a reoccurring character in the Osamu Tezuka Star System. He usually appears playing a villain or an antihero, and is most often seen in American settings, especially pioneer-era western stories.

Origin
Heck was created in 1951 for Tezuka's manga Saboten-kun (The Cactus Kid). In a prototype version of this manga, Heck Ben was the lead villain of the story, but his role was cut down in the final version. Heck plays the older brother of titular lead character Cactus Sam, and has left home to a town called Deadland to become a bandit. Sam unknowingly gets into a showdown with Heck, shooting him, and Heck tragically dies after revealing they are related.

Since Heck was created specifically to be in the American wild west, he most often appears as a bit character to show the story is taking place in America. He tends to play villains or henchmen, but is never truly evil. Heck appears as an American sailor in Goodbye, Night, and cameos dressed as a samurai in the manga People With Pistols On Their Heads.

Appearance
Osamu Tezuka modelled Heck after American actor Tom Tyler, specifically his role as Luke Plummer in the film Stagecoach (1939). Heck has a long, narrow face and a heavy brow line, which has made him appear typecast as a villain. He has striking blue eyes and is usually blonde.

He is not to be confused with Biwamaru, a different Star System character. These two have similar-shaped faces, but Biwamaru is much older and partially blind.

1963 anime
Heck has a major role in the 1963 series episode "Westward, Ha!". He is introduced in the beginning of the episode by his father, Dr. Ben. According to the doctor, Heck’s strange fascination with the Wild West roused him to jumping into his father’s time machine and going back 150 years ago to find out what the old west was really like. Since the incident, Dr. Ben gets the help of his old friend Professor Ochanomizu, along with Shunsaku Ban and Astro Boy, to find his son. Once in the past, the three run into a gang of criminals chasing a carriage on horseback. Astro stops the crooks in their tracks, which swiftly had him shot up by ‘Patch’, right hand man to Heck who was unknowingly the leader of the gang. After the bullets deflected off Astro, Heck ordered his men to retreat.

Eventually the same gang happens to meet Astro and the others in a small town. Although they see Heck face to face, they don’t recognize him. All they know about Dr. Ben’s son was that he was left handed. Patch challenges Shunsaku Ban to a duel, and with Astro’s help, Ban’s able to trick Patch and the others that he’s a great shot, causing the gang to retreat once more with Heck’s order.The townspeople begin to open up to the three strangers, grateful or their help. Patch returns to the town during the commotion and finds one of Shunsaku Ban’s spurs that had broken off, using this, the group of outlaws rob the bank and leave the spur behind to frame Shunsaku Ban's group. The three are then taken to be hanged and Astro is able to convince the townspeople to let him go and prove their innocence. Astro discovers the gang’s hideout and a “micro-wave transmitter” that belongs to the gang’s boss. Meanwhile, Heck and the rest of his men return to the small town to catch buildings on fire and threaten more destruction unless they are given the entire town’s money. As the townspeople gather their valuables, Astro returns and shows Ochanomizu the transmitter. They then piece together that the boss must be Dr. Ben’s son, either that or he could’ve stolen it from him. Astro pursues the gangsters and corners Heck, calling him by his full name ‘Heck Ben’. Heck’s confused as to how Astro could’ve known, but it’s pointed out that he owned the transmitter and that he was holding a gun with his left hand, meaning he was in fact the son of Dr. Ben. Ochanomizu and Shunsaku Ban show up to talk with Heck, Ochanomizu explaining that he can’t just go back in the past to do evil deeds and further emphasizing that his father is very worried about him, which has Heck accepting the fact he has to return to the present.

1980 series
In the episode "The Secret of the Mayas", Heck plays a bandit contracted to excavate a Mayan tomb in Mexico. Astro is brought in to protect the excavation and its labourers from a robotic sphinx and rogue crab-like robots called the Crab Men. Heck and the other labourers are initially distrustful of Astro, but once in the tomb, they begin to appreciate him, or at least just Astro's super strength and eye beams.

The group dodges the Sphinx and a guerrilla fighter for long enough to reach the centre of the tomb. There, they discover a hidden lab, where the guerrilla fighter's brother is in stasis. Among the other technology is a hefty uranium core. The core is worth a tremendous amount of money, so Heck and his boss grab it and attempt to flee the tomb. However, Heck takes the core for himself, after rolling a boulder over his boss and killing him.

While attempting to flee the scene, Heck accidentally drives over a cliff. Fortunately, he bails out of the car and survives, but unfortunately lands in a cacti patch. Astro apprehends Heck, and the group returns the uranium core to the tomb.

2003 anime
Heck has a brief speaking role in episode Secret of the Blue Knight. He is a background character in the Mars diner, and can later be seen with a girlfriend. They are watching the staged battle between Blue Knight and Astro on TV: in the Japanese version, Heck immediately bets his money on Astro. In the English dub, he simply cheers the robots on.