Mister X (ミスターエックス, Misutā Ekkusu) is a reoccurring foe of Lupin and one of the most prominent members of his rogue's gallery. He is the wealthy commissioner of The Scorpion Crime Syndicate, who has a massive grudge against Lupin and Fujiko Mine.
Is Lupin Burning...?!
Mr. X as he appeared in 1971.
Mr. X initially appears as a well dressed, balding, and heavyset man who sat in a dark boardroom with several other high ranking members of The Scorpion Syndicate. Mr. X planned to lure Lupin to the newly constructed Hilder Speedway, where he was to be murdered by Scorpion enforcers. The Scorpion desired to eliminate all criminal competition and the jewel thief was their top liability. Seeing as Hilder was secretly owned and operated by The Scorpion, it was the ideal place where they could whack somebody and easily cover it up. Mr. X new of Lupin's affinity for motor racing and sent him an invitation to participate in Hilder's inaugural grand prix.
Lupin figured the invitation for a trap from the get-go but took the bait regardless, set on outwitting The Scorpion. X and his associates observed the race from the boardroom, staring in dismay as Lupin easily evaded all of their traps. Mister X then noticed Fujiko sneak into the room who was intent on spying on The Scorpion; X promptly ordered his thugs to apprehend the beautiful interloper. After Fujiko is captured, Mister X briefly insults her before he begins to torture her by tickling
Fujiko slowly getting tortured to death by Mister X.
her in front of his associates, much to her embarrassment. She pleads for her life, but it's hopeless.
Eventually, Lupin was able to infiltrate The Scorpion's headquarters as well when he discovered that it was located within the Miracle Hotel which adjoined Hilder. Lupin flooded the building by breaking the water main and stormed into the boardroom, coming to Fujiko's rescue, who almost laughed to death from her torture.
With the whole room flooded, Lupin threw two severed electrical wires into the pool and made his escape with Fujiko, leaving Mr. X and his associates to be horrifically electrocuted.
The Dashing Entrance of Lupin III
Mr. X as seen in 1977, after he was rebuilt into a bionic superhuman.
After narrowly escaping Lupin's death trap, Mr. X dragged his mangled body from out of the rubble and managed to seek out medical care. Over the next five years, Mr. X had his electrocuted body painstakingly rebuilt by the world's top experimental scientists. The doctors were successful in transforming the once pudgy old man into a sleek cyborg; Mr. X now appeared as a shiny, robust, metallic android who enjoyed bearing his new herculean frame by rarely clothing it.
This time around, Mr. X desired not only to kill Lupin but his friends as well. Similar to how he spent $50,000,000 on building The Hilder Speedway, X poured a whopping $1,000,000,000 into constructing The Sirloin: a massive state-of-the-art luxury cruise liner.
The Scorpion's official insignia.
X lured Lupin and his gang to the ship under the pretense that it was Lupin who sent them all invitations, intent on reuniting the group. The gang quickly caught on to this and decided to play along until the moment Mr. X decided to reveal himself, dodging his murderous attempts in the process. Eventually X was able to trap the group within the bowels of the ship, there he revealed his superhuman abilities and was able to overpower the group with the greatest of ease.
Lupin eventually managed to have the room lights come crashing down and as the fire sprinklers filled the room with water, the light's frayed wires caused the whole chamber to light up with electricity, zapping Mr. X once again. As the gang quickly made their escape, X swore that Lupin would never make it out alive and set off the ship's self destruct mechanism, which was conviniently placed within his back molar.
Lupin's Enemy Is Lupin
Mr. X in 1979, sporting his final form.
Mister X seemingly perished in the blast which sunk The Sirloin and was widely believed to be finally dead. Two years later he resurfaced, this time in his most ingenious form yet: Lupin the 3rd!
On the birthday of a princess who went by the name of Yasmin, X made his first move. He kidnapped the girl and made his escape, leaving behind his calling card. Left distraught, her father summoned the world renowned Lupin gang to his court and made them a generous offer. Lupin accepted and headed for the heavily armed fortress Yasmin was taken to. After evading the missiles and Yasmin decoys that guarded the palace, Lupin finally met face to face with the Lupin impostor.
Mister X challenged Lupin to a duel with water sabers (blades that formed from a high pressure stream of water which hardens into a metallic alloy), but was once again defeated by Lupin. With X disarmed, Lupin was about to finish him off but it was soon interrupted by the appearance of Jigen and Goemon. There was a brief confusion to which Lupin was the real one but Jigen quickly sniffed out the impostor and shot Mr. X in the heart, killing him once and for all.
Anime Appearances
- Is Lupin Burning...?!
- The Dashing Entrance of Lupin III
- Lupin's Enemy Is Lupin
Gallery
Trivia
- Mister X is the only villain from the first TV series to have returned in the second TV series.
- Along with Fantoma Mark III, X is the only villain to make more than one appearance in The Red Jacket Series (excluding villains from two-part episodes).
- Mister X seems to be fond of tickle torture.