Lord Deadcross is the leader of a militant anti-robot terrorist group. He lives in a country called Guravia, which is run by the world's first robot president, Rag. He is a brutal man who hopes to usurp Rag and become Guravia's dictator. Deadcross appears in the Astro Boy manga, the 1963 anime series, and the 1980 anime series.
Appearance[]
Lord Deadcross is a tall, imposing human man who appears to be somewhere in his 40s. At all times, he is dressed in full military regalia. He wears a Roman-style galea helmet with a long crest made of white fur. His face is mostly obscured, leaving only his mouth, chin, and some of his nose exposed. In many series, this is not Deadcross's true face; he wears heavy prosthetics and heeled boots to disguise his strong resemblance to Rag.
In the 1980 series, Deadcross's uniform and helmet are slightly altered. The sides of his helmet taper down to the back of his neck, and he wears a long coatee tunic. This gives him a strong resemblance to Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam. The character and anime originally debuted in 1979, and were tremendously popular around the time of the 1980 anime's release.
Personality[]
Lord Deadcross is cruel and vengeful. He considers himself superior to most others, and will stop at nothing to get his way. Despite his bravado, Deadcross is secretly a disorganized and immature politician. He is Rag's true creator, but Deadcross only intended for Rag to be a tool in handling Deadcross's work duties. He sees Rag's success as a personal insult and a callout to his own shortcomings.
Story[]
Lord Deadcross exclusively appears in the Astro Boy canon. He originally debuted in the manga chapter "His Highness Deadcross", which was serialized between September and December 1960. This chapter has been faithfully adapted over many series, much like the story of Astro's birth and the Robot Land chapter.
Manga[]
In the chapter "His Highness Deadcross", Lord Deadcross and his anti-robot minions try to terrorize President Rag of Guravia into stepping down from power. Astro and Higeoyaji are brought in from Japan to protect Rag. After a struggle, Deadcross gets the upper hand and abducts Rag, and Rag's artificial intelligence is removed in exchange for Astro and Higeoyaji's safety.
Deadcross takes control of the deactivated Rag, remotely operating Rag and speaking for him. When Astro catches on that Deadcross wants to make Rag publicly step down as president, Astro takes Rag's place by swapping heads with him. At the attempted public resignation, Deadcross and his motivations are officially revealed. Deadcross was Rag's creator who grew bitter after Rag "stole" the presidency. Deadcross is unmasked after jumping off a building, and his face is identical to Rag's.
Anime[]
In the 1963 series episode "His Highness Dead Cross", Lord Deadcross appears in episode 43, in a faithful adaptation of the original manga chapter. In the 1980 series, Deadcross appears in episode 11, "The Robot President". The plot goes through a number of changes, including making Deadcross look different from Rag when unmasked.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor[]
Rock and Rag
While Deadcross does appear in Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the Game Boy Advance, released in 2003, his unmasked alter ego is played by Rock Holmes via the Osamu Tezuka Star System. In this canon, Rock is a young politician living in Antarctica. He builds a robot duplicate of himself, originally intending to use the robot as Rock's stand-in during his political campaign, but the robot developed his own personality, and took on the name Rag. Rag would go on to become popular and was elected into the senate.
Rock became vengeful and begun to harbour stronger anti-robot sentiments. Rock took on his own new identity, disguising himself with prosthetics and decorum in order to become Lord Deadcross. Astro and his detective mentor Higeoyaji befriend Rag, and must save him from being assassinated by Deadcross.