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| “ | That's right. I don't know who I am. I am always living as someone else for my assignments. I don't remember what my face looks like... ...or even what my personality was like. My face, memories, personality, beliefs, emotions, and soul... I left them all behind. I have no... "self." I am no one. I am nothing but an endless abyss. | „ |
| ~ The Phantom. |
The Phantom is the main antagonist of the 2013 visual novel Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, the fifth installment in the Ace Attorney franchise and the second installment in the Apollo Justice trilogy.
He is an almost completely emotionless and cold-hearted spy, who is responsible for the murder of Metis Cykes, Athena Cykes' mother, and framing Simon Blackquill for the crime, as well as numerous acts of terrorism. He impersonates the police detective Bobby Fulbright throughout the game, before being found out in the last case.
Because of his actions, he is the arch-nemesis of both Athena Cykes and Simon Blackquill, as well as one of the arch-enemies of Apollo Justice, since he murdered one of Apollo's friends.
In his disguise as Bobby Fulbright, he is voiced by Dave B. Mitchell. In his disguise as Phoenix Wright, he is voiced by Sam Riegel, who also voiced Furio Tigre in the Ace Attorney anime.
Appearance[]
As he keeps wearing a mask, the Phantom's true face and appearance remain unknown, but in the flashback pictures, The Phantom is seen wearing an Japanese Noh Mask, a Cosmos Space Center Uniform, green pants and dark shoes and since his face almost half exposed in one of the flashback pictures he has white skin. While pretending to be Bobby Fulbright, he wears a white suit with a red shirt and a blue tie. He has white skin and yellow hair and curved eyebrows, brown eyes and an holster in his right side.
History[]
The Phantom killed Metis Cykes and forced her then 11 year old daughter, Athena, to watch; Prosecutor Simon Blackquill subsequently took the blame for Metis' murder to prevent Athena from being accused. Before that, he killed Detective Bobby Fulbright and assumed his identity. The Phantom also sabotages a national symbol of pride, known as the HAT-1, a rocket, almost killing the astronaut on board. He also killed Apollo's close friend, Clay Terran, who had almost revealed the Phantom's identity. He is indirectly responsible for almost every murder in the game, including setting off the bomb in the courtroom that was thought to be the work of Ted Tonate, which could have caused massive amounts of death. The Phantom always framed someone else (including Athena, her best friend, Juniper, Prosecutor Blackquill, and the astronaut Solomon Starbucks) for his crimes. He has information on all kinds of organizations around the world, which is why most of them want him dead; there may have been assassins following his every move.
Before Dual Destinies began, it has been implied that The Phantom killed Detective Bobby Fulbright and mutilated his body so he would be unrecognized and disguised himself as Detective Bobby Fulbright from then on. During The Cosmic Turnabout, Phoenix accused Detective Fulbright of being The Phantom which shocked everyone in the courtroom including Apollo.
After an impromptu trial that proved that neither Simon nor Athena killed Metis Cykes, which spawned the theory that "Fulbright" was the Phantom, he was called to testify.
Breakdown[]
| “ | My... own, true face...? No! Please don't! I know you're here! Where are you?! See? I haven't revealed anything yet! Honest! ...A-AAAAAAAAAAAGH! My own, true face...! I don't have one! My face! My face! My face! Is this my face?! Is it?! Is it?! No! That's not it! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! This isn't me, either! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Is this me?! Which one is my face?! What am I?! Who am I?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! | „ |
| ~ The Phantom during his breakdown. |
When Simon Blackquill slashes "Fulbright's" mask, it gets torn apart, revealing a Solomon Starbuck mask. When Blackquill says that Starbuck couldn't be the phantom due to being on the rocket, the phantom then reveals an Aristotle Means mask. When Phoenix Wright tries to convict the phantom by using a small fragment of the meteorite, the phantom reveals a Wright mask. Each personality of said mask is mimicked perfectly. When finally proven to be the Phantom and the murderer of Metis Cykes, he looks around and shouts to someone (possibly an assassin mentioned above) that he hasn't revealed anything yet and pulls his mask. He begins to panic as he starts removing masks trying to find his true face, each mask being a villain in the game - Ted Tonate, Florent L'Belle and Aristotle Means, while debris falls. He then subsequently changes to Damian Tenma, his daughter Jinxie, Hugh O' Conner, Simon Blackquill, and even Aura Blackquill. The scene flashes between all the transitions while he questions who he really is. After changing back into his torn Fulbright mask, he is shot by an unseen sniper and collapses. The mask falls off his face, but his true appearance is hidden by darkness. Simon Blackquill confirms that the Phantom survived the shot and will be protected and questioned by the Prosecutor's office.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Phantom is a master of disguise and is skilled with lots of weapons.
He is skilled at impersonating people. He could mimic Bobby Fulbright's dedication to justice and his ditzy yet passionate character. After being revealed as an impostor, he was able to perform impersonations of Aristotle Means and Phoenix Wright. The problem is that he is unaware of his real identity.
While a master impersonator, he is terrible at improvising lies. After the lighter that incriminated Athena was revealed to actually have Clay's blood, "Fulbright" claims that he is an undercover agent, that the Phantom uncovered him and that he kidnapped his family to keep him compliant. His previous speech in which he "believed" Athena was guilty and his failure to say which family member was kidnapped made him less credible. Before ditching the Fulbright persona, he tried to express emotions, but his dialogue mismatched his gestures.
He is also able to perform dangerous feats without succumbing to fear. The Phantom uses this to his advantage in the murder of Clay Terran, as he makes an over twenty-foot jump to escape.
Personality[]
Phantom[]
The Phantom was a sociopath incapable of feeling genuine human emotions. He was an excellent actor, being able to perfectly replicate Bobby Fulbright for several years without anyone but Simon Blackquill (who was an excellent psychologist) becoming suspicious of him. He could understand emotions but could not feel them, with the only time he got close to experiencing an actual emotion being when he was afraid of being caught.
Despite being a great actor, he was terrible at improvising, as he needed time to prepare how he was going to act out his personality. When caught reciting his speech about Justice, it was ignored as a warning sign, due to being something that Fulbright could do without raising suspicion, as he was known for being a loud and talkative person. His lies in court were abysmal, as he had no time to fabricate an alibi, leading him to spout gibberish and easily proven lies that were spotted almost immediately. Despite the noose tightening around his neck, he still wasn't discouraged, as he was patiently waiting for the correct time to either clear his name or escape the courtroom.
When his mask was finally shattered, he jumped between different characters, adopting their faces and expressions to taunt the court. It became increasingly obvious how cowardly he really was, as he was willing to kill anyone to save his own skin, caring more about finishing the job he was assigned than himself. This gave him an almost inhuman persona, as he was so detached from humanity or reality that he couldn't even remember his own face. Despite this, he had a clear sense of right and wrong, but his lack of a moral compass made him willing to go to any length, even including trying to murder a child to cover his own tracks.
His real personality was never fully explored, as the Phantom spent so much time in other people's minds that he lost all his identity. When he realized that his mind was irreparably damaged, he had a genuine emotional breakdown as he learned that, without adopting other people's personas, he was nothing but a cowardly empty shell.
Bobby Fulbright[]
| “ | In justice we trust! | „ |
| ~ Detective Fulbright's catchphrase, wantonly used by the Phantom. |
Bobby Fulbright was an energetic, optimistic, and loud man who would constantly announce his love of justice at the worst possible moments. He was easily manipulated, rather bad at his job, and treated like an annoyance or idiot by everyone around him. Despite his eccentric behavior, he was also shown to be rather fearless, as he remained completely unfazed after Simon Blackquill broke free of his shackles. He also had a habit of going off on tangents—either during investigations or trials— relating to his morality and desire to be fair and just.
However, it was eventually revealed that the real Bobby Fulbright had been murdered several years prior and replaced with an imposter. Despite this, due to how the Phantom would attempt to mimic whoever he impersonated as closely as possible, it can be assumed that the personality he adopted was almost identical to that of the real Fulbright.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Phantom's name is always written in lower case whenever displayed in text boxes, enforcing his lack of identity. Additionally, his text boxes never identify him as The Phantom; instead, he is identified as '????' and 'Phoenix?' during the trial.
- The Phantom's face is never clearly shown, as even the Phantom himself doesn't know who he is.
- The Phantom and Simon Blackquill are polar opposites. Simon dresses almost entirely in black while the Phantom dresses almost entirely in white. Simon is likened to a samurai, while Fulbright is likened to a ninja. Simon is shown to be extremely honorable, willing to take the fall for a crime he didn't commit to protect a young girl he hardly knew, while the Phantom was a coward who would sacrifice others to save his own hide. Blackquill came across as intimidating but was revealed to be a genuinely kind person, while The Phantom came across as a loyal and honorable man but was revealed to be a monster. Simon was excellent at understanding emotions but hid them behind a stoic nature, while The Phantom was incapable of understanding emotions but hid behind an extremely emotional façade. Simon was absolved of his crimes and given freedom while the Phantom lost his freedom.
- Fulbright could be a reference to Full Bright, as it is hard to recognize somebody when their face is blindingly bright. Relatedly, no one could recognize that "Fulbright" was an imposter, due to him shining a metaphorical light into their eyes.
- The Phantom's impersonation of Det. Fulbright bears similarity with Liquid Snake impersonating "Master" Kazuhira Miller in Metal Gear Solid. Both villains are covert operations specialists who take the identity of a sun-glasses-wearing supporting character. Both of them take their guises in order to observe a main characters (Phantom mainly keeps eye on Athena Cykes and Simon Blackquill, while Liquid keeps Solid Snake and Naomi Hunter under observation) and also start to get more manipulative/active in misdirecting the player in later parts of the game. Also, both of their covers are revealed in same way, as when player characters start to realize the impersonator's role in the villain's scheme, another supporting character (Edgeworth with Phantom, Colonel Campbell with Liquid) comes to reveal at the last minute that a recent investigation has just unveiled the bodies of their originals, whom have been murdered before the incidents of the game took place. Funnily enough, while the Phantom is an unemotional infiltrator who poses as the exuberant Det. Fulbright, Liquid is a melodramatic terrorist mastermind posing as the forbearing Master Miller.
External Links[]
- Phantom on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Phantom on the Ace Attorney Wiki
