Dark Zagi

Dark Zagi (ダークザギ, Dāku Zagi) is a dark, evil, twisted, demonic clone of Ultraman Noa. He was created by a race of aliens known as The Visitors, who had hopes of creating their own protector after seeing the power Noa possessed. But something went wrong and Zagi turned on his creators, who in turn destroyed their home planet. Zagi then took an army of creatures known as Space Beasts and began a spree of universal destruction on any planet in his way. He is the main antagonist of the Ultraman Nexus tv series.

Subtitle: Evil God of Destruction (邪悪なる暗黒破壊神, Jaakunaru Ankoku Hakai-shin)

Pre-Nexus
Space Beasts were a menace in to the galaxy harboring the M-80 nebula in the Scorpio constellation, they were similar to the monsters of the Showa universe, and their origins are unknown. Zagi came into existence on the homeworld of the beings known to TLT as the Visitors, the jellyfish-like race, as an answer to this problem. They had witnessed the awesome power of a being of light known as Ultraman Noa, an immortal force of good who had visited other planets to defend them against monsters. Desiring a protector of their own, they went to work to create a duplicate of the great giant, a bio-weapon bearing the form and power of ancient protector. However the end result was a horrid, dark and twisted mockery of Noa's form known as Dark Zagi. The dark giant forced his creators to destroy their homeworld, by causing their star to go supernova in an attempt to destroy him, their endeavor cast him into a tear between universes where he fought the Ultas from the Land of Light, among them was a young Zoffy and the other Ultra Brothers. This was a battle that made Ultraman Noa a legend in the Land of Light as he eventually cast his doppleganger back into the tear. In his home universe Noa sealed the tear at the expense of most of his energy forcing him into lesser forms, while Zagi lost his physical form, presumably as a result of the conflict. Knowing the supernova would carry the particles of Space Beasts to another galaxy, his creators fled to Earth, the world they predicted would suffer because of their actions and Zagi took after them followed by Noa.



Arriving in Colorado, where TLT, the Terrestrial Liberation Trust, was being formed with help from the newly arrived visitors, he possessed a resident scientist and proceeded to slaughter the scientific team, all save a young girl, the child of two of the scientists, somehow knowing her destiny, his goal was to use that for his ultimate plan. Later on he called his favorite Space Beast to be the first to attack the people of Earth, called The One by military, it had the Ultra like ability to merge with another being which it used to absorb organisms to enhance it base form before being killed by Ultraman the Next; Noa's weakened form with the first Dunamist Maki Shunichi. As TLT was formed Zagi infiltrated it as Mitsuhiko Ishibori, having erased all memories of his host's previous life. There he watched the young girl he spared, Nagi grow, corrupting her crush and mentor Mizorigi to further deepen the darkness in her heart. With the appearance of the Second Dunamist Jun Himeya, the host of Noa's semi-evolved form Nexus, Zagi began the long scheme to gradually strengthen the light using his pawns, the Space Beasts, Dark Faust and Dark Mephisto (Mizorogi) and Dark Mephisto Zwei.

Ultraman Nexus
For five years while TLT was creating the division called, Night Raiders, Zagi hid as Mitsuhiko manipulated the situation so that the power of Nexus could be strengthened to recreate his body. With the appearance of the second Dunamist he began his plans sending ever more powerful Space Beasts and the dark giants Dark Faust, Dark Mephisto. By the time of the third Dunamist, Zagi was left with no Dark Giants o his own to command his monster legions so he backed them up with his own dark power. After displaying his power of the Dark Field G he would codenamed Unknown Hand, due to the fact the he never physically appeared as far as TLT knew. All of these creatures were intentionally sacrificed so that the power of Nexus could increased allowing him to regain his body. Following the fall of second Mephisto, he began the last phases of his plans, having his beast MegaFlash attack a city in broad daylight, creating the fear needed to increase his power, while weakening the power of the Visitors potential barrier which limited the appearance of Space Beasts. After the destruction of Ezmael, Ren Senjyo, the third Deunamist seemingly died and Nagi Saijyo became the fourth. It was then that he revealed himself as Mitsuhiko for the first time Zagi told the truth of how he destroyed the lab that included both of Nagi's parents as a small child, traumatizing her, knowing she would turn to hate space beasts like Zagi planned. Leaving a shock and wounded team, Zagi departed to Level 0, where Lethe was housed, the power of the Visitors was now to weak to stop him. There defeated Komon, Captain Wakura, and Illustrator with Nagi shortly after. Zagi proceeded to tell the Night Raiders his entire plan. After Nagi turned into Nexus, Lethe, the storehouse for all the deleted memories of Beast attack survivors and based on the body of Zagi, synchronized with Nagi's emotions and memories and consumed all the energy in her body because of her hatred, allowing Zagi to absorb this energy in turn to restore his physical body.

After Zagi returned to his true form he attacked the city of Shinjuku and released all the space beasts in the world. After saving Nagi from Lethe's hold on her, Komon became the fifth Dunamist of Nexus and transformed as Zagi was destroying the city. Zagi had not anticipated another Dunamist acquiring the light, as Nexus used Amphans, Junis Red, and Junis Blue as he barely held his own against Zagi. As the crowd of humans were in awe and had great hope of the silver giant hero winning Nexus turned into Ultraman Noa. Zagi roared in rage at the sight of his template restored and challenged to a final battle over Earth. As much as Zagi tried Noa easily over powered the fiend and after being literally punched into orbit by the Noa Inferno, Noa used the Lightning Noa to destroy Zagi once and for all. While there would still be space beasts roaming the Earth no one lost hope as humanity fought back many times.

Ultraman Ginga
The diabolical Dark Zagi is set to return in the Ultraman Ginga mini- series' special as a villain, working for Darker Gale (wether intentionally is unknown). His role is yet unknown (besides being a villain) and it is not known if it is the same Dark Zagi that Ultraman Noa fought before.

He appears a Spark Doll and used by Hikaru Raido. However, due to the Spark Doll's dark nature, Zagi himself controls Hikaru. Zagi then battles Jean-nine and overpowered him easily. Though, Hikaru soon regains his sense and untransformed himself. It is believed his doll will then be used by either an alternate Riko Saida or a woman that looks just like her, due to the fact that images of Ginga fighting Zagi have been seen. At the final confrontation, both Ginga and Dark Zagi fire Ginga Cross Shoot and Lightning Zagi, respectively at point blank range. However, only Ginga who survived. Though, Darker Gale retrieved back the Spark Doll before it was claimed by Hikaru.

Nexus
Mitsuhiko Ishibori (石堀 光彦Ishibori Mitsuhiko):The analyzer and tactician of the team and an expert in computers. Unknown to everyone, he is Dark Zagi in disguise. He made contact with the Night Watchers by in the form of Unknown Hand (It is described as the unlimited darkness which controlled the Dark Giants and Space Beasts behind the scenes). He has the ability to generate a Dark Field G and it can power up Space Beasts, and is the power identified as Unknown Hand. In the end of the series, his identity was revealed as Dark Zagi. Mitsuhiko Ishibori of the Night Raiders. Dark Zagi eventually took his true form and assaulted the city before being confronted by Nexus. While Zagi was able to hold off Nexus' physical attacks and even deflect all his finishing attacks with his bare hands, Ultraman Nexus eventually evolved into Ultraman Noa. Noa proves to be too powerful for Dark Zagi to contend with and Zagi was literally blasted into space. Noa fired his Lightning Noa attack and Zagi attempted to counter with his own beam but was overpowered and finally killed in a huge explosion.

Profile

 * Height: 50 m
 * Weight: 55,000 t
 * Home World: The Visitor's home world in the scorpio galaxy in the M80 nebula

Physical Attributes

 * Eyes: Unlike most Ultras and his template's, Zagi's eyes glowed bright red. It is assumed they had similar but lesser abilities to Noa.
 * Energy Core: Like his template, Zagi's equivalent to an Color Timer was the Energy Core. Unlike his giants', his was the same design as Noa's.
 * Ultra Armor: Like Noa, Zagi's body was covered in natural armor that appeared to be similar to Protectors. Despite being stronger than any of the other Ultras (Faust, Mephisto, Zwei and Nexus) it was clearly weaker than Noa's as Nexus in Junis and Junis Blue form were able to hurt him, while he was barely a challenge for Noa.
 * Arms: Zagi was physically stronger than any of the other Ultras save Noa, he was stronger than Nexus in Junis Mode who was known for being strong.

Techniques

 * Dark Field G Deployment: Zagi can create a special type of dark field known as Dark Field G to do his bidding. He can use it to create a battlefield, transport Space Beasts or in human form to reflect attacks. He can use it regardless of his state.
 * Mind Powers: Zagi has mental abilities of his own, like the visitors who made him, he could erase memories at his leisure as well as use the darkness in people's heart to control them, usually when they are hosting one of his Dark Giants. He can also show people images and illusions like he did to Mizorogi when he gave him back his memories
 * Prophecy:Like Noa, Zagi can possible can predict events that happen in the future. For example, he predicted that Nagi will become the fourth Deunamist.
 * Lightning Zagi: Zagi can emit an extremely powerful beam of dark energy from his vertical left arm, with his right placed on the back of it. This beam rival's Ultraman Noa's in power, but is still not as strong. It is his strongest attack
 * Zagi Shot: Zagi can emit extremely powerful blasts of dark energy from his knuckles. These have an huge amount of force behind them and can be fired in rapid succession.
 * Gravity Zagi: Zagi can emit an extremely powerful beam of dark energy from his crossed arms. This has a large amount of force behind it. It is fired in a way similar to Ultraman Hikari's Hikari Light Stream.
 * Flash Travel: Zagi can incase himself in a large aura of energy to fly to any area he wants as a ball of blue light.
 * Zagi Reflection: Zagi can emit a purple barrier that can reflect energy attacks. It is a dark version of the Noa reflection.
 * Extraordinary Jumper: Zagi is able to jump to great heights with ease.
 * Dark Ultra Powers: As the creator of the Dark giants Faust and Mephisto, Zagi in theory posses all of their powers. He was stronger than any Ultra shown in the series save Ultraman Noa, being able to withstand all of Nexus' strongest attacks.
 * Space Beasts: These monsters, like the dark giants, are Zagi's minions, they can be created via his power and are under his total control. When Zagi appeared in person at the end of the series it caused the Space Beasts all over the world to go active and rampage. After his defeat it appeared the Space Beast, while still remaining, were no longer such a threat as before.

Techniques not used in the series

 * Zagi Inferno: A dark version of the Noa Inferno using dark flames weaker than the original.
 * Zagi Spark: A dark version of the Noa Spark, is weaker than the original.
 * Zagi Blizzard: A dark version of the Noa Blizzard, is weaker than the original. Zagi freezes his opponent using a dark storm he summons.
 * Darkness Zagi: A dark version of the Shinning Noa creating a pulse of darkness.
 * Zagi Wave: A dark version of the Noa Wave which heals only Space Beasts.
 * Zagi Sight: A dark version of the Noa Sight.
 * Zagi Galaxy: Zagi's version of the Noa Galaxy using a dark wave.
 * Zagi Punch: A dark version of the Noa punch, which uses energy waves to induce 'super gravity to empower the blow, is weaker than the original.
 * Zagi Kick: A dark version of the Noa Kick, which uses energy waves to induce 'super gravity to empower the blow, is weaker than the original.
 * Zagi The Final: A dark version of the Noa the final, it turns all nearby light into darkness, because he lacked the Ultimate Aegis it is different from it light counterpart and has a different effect.
 * Zagi Ultimate: A dark version of Noa Ultimate, what is entails is unknown.

Toy Release Information
Dark Zagi was released as an Ultra Hero Series EX & Special (Yellow Eyes) in 2004. He was re-released as an Ultra Monster Series EX figure.

Trivia

 * Originally, Dark Zagi was to somehow survive his demise against Noa and transform into his proposed ultimate form, Dark Lucifer. However due to the show's cancellation due to poor ratings, Lucifer was never seen. It should also be noted that Dark Zagi lacks the two spikes in his back, but Lucifer, Dark Zagi's ultimate form, has them.
 * Since Zagi appears in the Dark Spark War, he did in fact somehow survive his final battle with Noa.
 * In the Tsuburya All Monster Photobook, Zagi has the second subtitle of Dark God of Destruction.
 * Originally Zagi had yellow eyes in the stage shows, but in later appearances, toys and on the show they were changed to red.
 * Being that he is a clone of Noa, his weight and height are the exactly the same as Noa when the Noa Aegis are not taken into consideration.
 * Dark Zagi actually makes an appearance in the show's second opening. During a line up of all the giants; Faust, Mephisto, Junis and finally Junis Blue, Zagi's blurry reflection can be seen in Junis Blue's eye. It is only brief and easy to miss.
 * Before he was physically seen in the last episode he was seen in the dimension of the strange ruins, rampaging. This was a vision by the illustrator and it's true nature is unknown. However, the next Deunamist to gain the light, met Stone Fleugal in a forest area instead of the temple, implying it had been destroyed.
 * Zagi is one of the few Ultras not based on either Ultraman or Ultraseven, instead he design entirely after Ultraman Noa
 * The fact that Zagi has the same mental powers as the Visitors implies that part of his DNA (or the ultra equivalent) stems from them, this may have attributed to him  going mad. While Noa may posses the standard mental abilities of an Ultra, Zagi's powers are emphasized implying they are unique to him and the Visitors.
 * Zagi may be the first instance of an Ultra Clone, but the first artificial Ultra was Terranoid.
 * Zagi's origins were revealed in Stage shows and interviews from Nexus series staff as well as art books.
 * While Noa's name may have been drawn from the Biblical character, Zagi's name is an anagram of Giza, specifically the Great Pyramid of Giza and Nagi Saijo, the fourth Deunamist (by spinning the N letter clockwise into Z) as she is the key to Zagi's return of glory.
 * Dark Zagi's intended Ultimate form Dark Lucifer was originally put forward as the villain of the movie Ultraman Saga, it was turned down in place of Alien Bat and Hyper Zetton.
 * Oddly, despite his animalistic behavior in Ultra form, Zagi has shown to be rather intelligent, having created a long term plan that actually succeeded and his human disguise showed remarkable skill with hacking and analyzing. Even in stage shows he has been shown as being more in control of himself in battle yet his film and TV appearances show him as something akin to a berserker in battle, even when he was Ultralived his host, Hikaru began to loose control after winning a battle.
 * Dark Zagi is currently the only known Dark Ultra that participated in Dark Spark War, which also marks his appearance on Ultraman Ginga's Special.
 * Dark Zagi is one of few Evil Ultras that it's host is a good guy. In this case, Hikaru Raido.
 * Zagi final confrontation with Ginga mirrors his final confrontation with Noa, due to they fire their beam and collides. Even, Ginga Cross Shoot was inspired by Lightning Noa.