| “ | Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku. | „ |
| ~ Aku speaking the orignal intro of Samurai Jack. |
Aku is the main antagonist of the Samurai Jack series.
History[]
Samurai Jack[]
During Ancient times a Black Mass grow into existence only for the three Gods to fend it off and destroy it, yet a peace of that Mass fell to Earth and slowly devoured the land it was stuck on as well as some humans and animals in the episode The Birth of Evil, Part 1. A samurai warrior, however tried to destroy this growing evil with a magic arrow but instead made rise of what is now known as Aku. Aku, after waking up, imprisoned the samurai warrior and began terrorizing his village.
In the episode The Birth of Evil, Part 2, Aku fought against the samurai warrior once again in various forms but was defeated by him and turned into a pillar in the ground.
In the Episode The Beginning, Aku returned due to a solar eclipse and so went to look for his old enemy and enslave almost all of his village. It was until The Prince went to face against him. After nearly being defeated, Aku sent the prince to a future that he ruled over.
Aku was mentioned in the episode Young Jack in Africa, as he hired a tried to hunt down the prince while in training.
Over the years after sending the prince to the future, Aku enslaved and conquered the Earth until he became the ruler of it, even having himself on various billboards sponsor random brands. He even hired scientists to create various armies for him until he went for the Beetle Drone brands.
In the episode The Samurai Called Jack, Aku was confronted by a three-eyed, alien waitress and was told that a worrier came to this timeline from the past. He later sent his minions known as the Beetle Drones after him.
In the episode The First Fight, after seeing the prince, now known as Samurai Jack, destroyed his army. Aku stated a long speech and laughed at the Samurai for what his quest will be about.
Aku had a cameo appearance in the episode Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites, as the elder was telling Jack how to travel back in time.
In the episode Jack and the Warrior Woman, Aku disguised himself as a woman known as Ikra, where he was trying to win the trust of Jack and destroyed the merchant's machine, she told Jack that Aku trapped her father in a ring of fire and so the two traveled across a desert until they found the oasis that contains a jewel. This jewel saw through Aku's disguise and summoned a creature to destroy it, Ikra sought this creature and won, she also destroyed the jewel and turned back into Aku. Aku taunted Jack and flown away.
In the episode Jack vs. Mad Jack, Aku saw various bounty hunters fail, Aku later created Mad Jack to try and defeat Jack by his own hands but failed.
In the episode Jack Under the Sea, Aku tricked down an underwater civilization and bargained with them to trick Jack so that they could have their city resurface. He later appeared underwater to collect Jack but not before he went battle the underwater people he lied to. He later left after Jack stabbed through him with his sword.
Aku made a cameo appearance in the episode Jack and the Lava Monster, as the Lava Monster stated to Jack that a demon destroyed his village and infused him into a crystal, which turned him into the being he is today.
Aku was also mentioned in the episode Jack and the Scotsman, as both Jack and The Scotsman stated that Aku is after their heads.
In the episode Jack and the Gangsters, Aku was mentioned to fight the Goddess of Water and her Elementals over the power of water but failed. Aku was seen later the gangsters and told them that they were banished from his castle, this was until they tried to give him the Jewel of Neptune. They showed Aku their newest member witch was Jack, the two fought until Jack was knocked out by the gangsters, leaving Aku to recuperate.
In the episode Aku's Fairy Tales, Aku saw kids pretending to be Samurai Jack, he was mad at this and so decided to bring those kids to a single area so he could read to them propergander. Aku first tried to tell the kids about 'his' heroic deeds, he later tried to slander Jack until he gave up on them, with one last fairy tale about a powerful wizard defeating a pathetic wondering warrior and left. The kids, however told their own story about Jack winning a fight against Aku.
In the episode Jack Learns to Jump Good, Aku appeared to tale a Time Portal just before Jack could jump in, even taunting him about it and fly off. He would return at the end of the episode as he would take what looked like the same time portal from Jack once again, only to see that Jack has learned a new ability.
In the episode Jack and the Ultra-Robots, Aku made a deal with a scientist to create machines to defeat Jack and not be affected by his sword, after their complition Aku gave them a peace of his substance and turned to Ultra-Robots to the Scientist's village. Aku would also feel the pain of Jack's Katana striking his substance, knowing that he might need a better plan.
In the episode Jack vs. the Five Hunters, Aku hired five of the Imakandi to hunt Jack and went back to Earth. He returned after they have captured Jack but when they decided to free Jack, Aku tried to take him by force but failed.
In the episode Jack vs. Demongo, The Soul Collector, Aku made one of his powerful minions known as Demongo to capture the essence of Samurai Jack. Aku was later seen at the end of the where he destroyed a glass skull that held a defeated Demongo and claimed to look for a way to defeat Jack one day.
In the episode Jack and the Zombies, Aku was seen trying to move a stick to make Jack go in a direction suited for his own needs, Aku also brought a bunch of Dust Zombies back from the dead to fight against Jack and later stole his sword. Aku fought Jack with his own sword but when he tried to murder him with his own weapon, it did not work and so Jack took his sword and cut through Aku until Aku flown away.
In the episode Jack and the Scarab, Aku with some of his robotic assassins brought the Minions of Set out of their prison to hunt down Samurai Jack.
In the episode Jack and the Swamp Wizard, Aku disguised himself as a Hermit so that he could accumpany Jack to make him collect the Gems of Cronus in hopes of resurecting the Titan himself. However Jack stole one of the gems and the two fought until Aku fled.
Aku has made a cameo appearance and was mentioned in the episode Jack, the Monks and the Masters Son, trying to fix his television.
In the episode Jack vs. the Ninja, Aku was shown to train a robot ninja to hunt Samurai Jack until he was ready.
In the episode Samurai vs. Samurai, Aku was seen telling Jack about his new machines to hunt him down with.
In the episode The Aku Infection, Aku was seen with the common cold until he flew away but not before given Jack a part of his essence. This was slowly turning Jack into Jack-Aku, where he would often do crimes the made Jack feel fear. Jack however destroyed the Aku infection inside of him and tried to re-wright some of his wrongs afterwards.
In the episode Jack and the Flying Prince and Princess, Aku seen where Prince Astor and Princess Verbina where trying to ask him for help, but Aku decided to imprison them and destroyed their robot companion.
In the episode Jack vs. Aku, Aku hired some bounty hunters to fight Jack, but seeing them fail Aku decided to meet up with Jack. Aku had a chat with Aku, telling them about their usual rutean and challenged Jack to a dual but the two gave each other rules that they had to follow. After Jack reached the ruins, Aku in a human-sec form teleported their, the two stretched and later fought each other until Aku was losing and so decided to cheat. Aku summoned some minions after Jack went to look for his sword and fled after Jack picked up his original sword and tried to strike him down.
Aku made a cameo appearance in the episode The Four Seasons of Death.
He also appeared in a flashback in the episode Tale of X9, where he was holding X9's dog known as Lulu hostage so that X9 could hunt down Jack.
Aku is the final boss in the videogame known as Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time, and after he is defeated he will teleport Jack back to the beginning of the game.
Aku also appeared in the videogame known as Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku, where he was maintained by a lot of the NPCs an as the one who imprisoned most of their people and was also the final boss that Jack had to fight. The Scotsman saved Jack with Aku asking "Who was that?".
Aku was mentioned in the first issue of The Threads of Time, where he used the Rope of Eons to study time magic and later tore it in peaces, while holding on to one peace of it so that no one else could study it.
In the fifth issue of The Threads of Time, Aku was seen cleaning his teeth with a Thread of Time, until Samurai Jack came to his castle and fought Aku while taking the thread from him and completed the Rope of Eons with Aku striking him down, only to see Jack get back up and leave.
In the comic Crystal Caves of Calamity, Aku was shown to place a capsule that held Jack and placed it in a crystal cave and later left.
In the comic The Villainous Vortex, Aku was shown controlling a robot ti fight against Jack but failed.
The comic Brain Battlelion, takes place just after the last comic with Aku planning to enter Jack's mind and so does. He would often try to destroy Jack's memories, only to find out that Jack would later fight back until Aku lest his mind and was took out of Jack's ear and was placed on a rock.
Aku was maintained in the comic The Quest Four the Broken Blade Part One, by Soule the Seel and the Samurai four the main reason of the state of the world as it is in now.
In the comic The Quest Four the Broken Blade Part Two, Aku found out that Jack had his sword broken and so stated that anyone that finds Jack will have whatever they would want.
In the comic The Quest Four the Broken Blade Part Three, Aku was mentioned by various characters about his new bounty for the capture of Samurai Jack and appeared in a flashback where the Emperor fought against him. He was later seen talking to the robot that fought against the Swordless Jack.
In the comic The Quest Four the Broken Blade Part Four, Aku was mentioned by the three gods about his battle against the Emperor and later appeared to fight the swordless Jack.
In the comic The Quest Four the Broken Blade Part Five, Aku fought Jack one-on-one, even going as far almost murdering him until Jack had his sword fixed and was cut by the blade with Aku leaving.
In the comic The Fallen Four, Aku disguised himself as a salesman so he could trick Jack into reviving his old army of robots, he then watched from a distance to see Jack's defeat but his wish did not come true.
Aku was maintained in the comic Mako the Scribe, by various characters as they where saved by Jack.
Aku was also maintained in the third issue of Quantum Jack, by one of his slave drivers.
Aku also makes cameo appearances in the fourth issue of Quantum Jack, where he was seen on the news where he was telling people to either vote for himself or himself.
In the fifth issue of Quantum Jack, it showed that Aku was the reason the Samurai Jack's spirit was hopping from either different realities or other beings with the name or nickname of Jack and same authenticity.
After the Samurai's many travels, Aku pulled him out of a Time Portal and turned three small rams into monsters and later fled in hopes of Jack to die of old age or by one of the many foes he created or hired.
Aku was shown to also visit a Cult that worshiped him and complimented a statue of himself while also giving then a part of his essence.
Aku can be heard in Episode XCII, where a bounty hunter named Scaramouche tried to phone him but was destroyed by Jack.
In Episode XCIII, Aku was seen waking up from his bead in and streaking, he then yelled at a bunch of mudpeople and told his scientists that he does not care about "the pathetic Samurai who wonders around like a made fool." Aku then went to speak to his Therapist Doppelgänger about the Samurai.
In Episode XCIV, Aku was siting on his chair until an army came to fire at his castle, he went fight off this army to rid him of his melas and so fought them until he saw an old man and desintagrated him for trash talking him and talking about the Samurai and jumped back to his castle.
Aku was mentioned and spoke on the phone in Episode XCVII.
Aku was seen in a flashback in Episode XCVIII, where he took Jack out off a Time Portal, caused the return of Mad Jack and transformed three Rams into monsters and left.
In Episode C, Aku returned to meet Jack one more time with Sacarmouche, and when Aku saw Jack with his sword he destroyed Sacarmouche and decided to leave but not before he smelt something, himself in the form of Ashi. Aku was remembering a time that he game a cult his essence and thought that a women drank it and gave birth to the Daughters of Aku, mainly Ashi and then corrupted her into a demonic form and so made her fight Jack until he gave up.
In Episode CI, Aku showed the world his propergander and that he captured Jack. Aku was planning a way to finally dispose of his enemy but could not think of anything until he decided to make the corrupted Ashi do it. All of Jack's friends and allies from around the world to fight Aku, with Aku, himself fighting back until Ashi snapped out of her corruption and sent both her as well as the Samurai back to the past where Jack would finish off Aku when he sent Jack to the Future and was eliminated once and for all with the land around his also being destroyed. Aku has also been mentioned as the soul reason the Ashi faded from the past.
In the video game Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, Aku brought Jack in a pocket dimension to prevent Jack from trying to defeat him in the past as well as brought back various enemies and foes from Jack's past to fight against him. He later went to fight against Jack himself, only to be truly defeated. This also caused the timeline to change.
Cartoon Network Bloopers[]
Aku would often appear in various Cartoon Network Bloopers, with one showing him going to the movies with a bunch of kids.
Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion[]
Aku is a playable fighter in the Console versions of Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion, as well as one of the antagagonistic bosses.
Villaionus[]
Aku once appeared in the episode The Lost Cases of the Future, where Black Hat Organization where looking at old footage of him. It was also shown that Aku may have been friends with Black Hat in the past and may have also met Dr. Flug Slys and Demencia before. The episode ended with Aku fading from history.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Shapeshifting: Aku has the ability to shapeshift into various forms; Original form, Ram, Kraken, Human, Bird/Bat, Dragon, Flying Dragon, Carp, Mouse/Rat/Hair, Large Cannon Ball and a Storm Cloud of Spikes.
- Laser Beam Eyes: One of Aku's most common and iconic abilities is his Laser Beam Eyes, it is usely to disintegrate his foes, although it could also be used to teleport them.
- Time Travel Scream: Aku has been shown to use a scream to make his victim's travel to the past or the future.
- Telepathy: Aku has been shown to use Telepathy when he had in the episode Jack and the Zombies to move a stick from far away.
- Necromancy: Aku has also been shown to be a necromancer as to why he has some undead minions.
- Power Giving: Aku has been shown to give others his essence, witch usely gives them his personality, his powers or both.
- Immortality: Since Aku is a part of a large cosmic entity, he has the power of immortality.
Appearance[]
Samurai Jack
- Season 1
- Episode I: The Beginning
- Episode II: The Samurai Called Jack
- Episode III: The First Fight
- Episode IV: Jack, the Woolies, and the Chritchellites (cameo)
- Episode VI: Jack and the Warrior Woman (disguised)
- Episode VIII: Jack vs. Mad Jack
- Episode IX: Jack Under the Sea
- Episode X: Jack and the Lava Monster (cameo)
- Episode XI: Jack and The Scotsman (mentioned)
- Episode XII: Jack and the Gangsters
- Episode XIII: Aku's Fairy Tales
- Season 2
- Episode XIV: Jack Learns to Jump Good
- Episode XVIII: Jack and the Ultra-robots
- Episode XXII: Jack vs. the Five Hunters
- Episode XXIII: Jack vs. Demongo, The Soul Collector
- Season 3
- Episode XXX: Jack and the Zombies
- Episode XXXI: Jack and the Scarab
- Episode XXXIV: Jack and the Swamp Wizard (disguised)
- Episode XXXVI: Jack, the Monks, and the Ancient Master's Son (cameo)
- Episode XXXVII: The Birth of Evil, Part 1
- Episode XXXVIII: The Birth of Evil, Part 2
- Season 4
- Episode XL: Jack vs. the Ninja
- Episode XLII: Samurai vs. Samurai
- Episode XLIII: The Aku Infection
- Episode XLVII: Jack and the Flying Prince and Princess
- Episode XLVIII: Jack vs. Aku
- Episode XLIX: The Four Seasons of Death (vision)
- Episode L: Tale of X-49 (flashback)
- Episode LI: Young Jack in Affrica (mentioned)
- Samurai Jack: The Amulete of Time.
- Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku
- Comics
- Issue 1 The Threads of Time (mentioned)
- Issue 5 The Threads of Time
- Issue 8 Crystal Caves of Calamity
- Issue 9 The Villainous Vortex
- Issue 10 Brain Battlelion
- Issue 11 The Quest of Four Broken Blade Part One
- Issue 12 The Quest of Four Broken Blade Part Two
- Issue 13 The Quest of Four Broken Blade Part Three
- Issue 14 The Quest of Four Broken Blade Part Four
- Issue 15 The Quest of Four Broken Blade Part Five
- Issue 18 The Fallen Four
- Issue 20 Mako the Scribe (mentioned)
- Issue 23 Quantum Jack (mentioned)
- Issue 24 Quantum Jack (cameo)
- Issue 25 Quantum Jack
- Season 5
- Episode XCII (voice only, mentioned)
- Episode XCIII
- Episode XCVI
- Episode XCVII (voice only)
- Episode XCVIII (flashback)
- Episode C
- Episode CI
Other
- Cartoon Network Bloopers
- Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion
Villainous Seaspn 2, Epsiode 7 The Lost Cases of the Future
Trivia[]
- Aku's line in the episode Jack vs. Aku known as "Extra Thick" became a part of internet culture.
- Both he and Slade from the Teen Titans are the only antagonists that were not truly defeated in the orignal run time of their respected shows.
- Aku's voice actor, Makoto "Mako" Iwamatsu, also voice Iroh from Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender series died after the show's run time, due to cancer. Both Aku and Iroh was later voice by Greg Baldwin for both of the show's sequels.
- Mako was in the credits of the final episode as Past Aku.
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