METAL HERO

BIOGRAPHY –

What we know of METAL HERO comes from an alleged leak of classified documents from the Japanese Ministry of Defense…

Most historians would tell you that the intent of the Manhattan Project was to create and develop a nuclear bomb. What they do not know is that the Project began much a different purpose entirely.

After the Battle of the Coral Sea during 4-8 May 1942, a cohort of disgruntled Japanese military officers led by Lt. Commander Takeda Okita approached the Imperial General Headquarters. Although the press celebrated the battle’s outcome as a victory, Okita believed a revolution in warfare had occurred which would claim too many lives for little gain. He foresaw the defeat of Japan and pleaded that the government negotiate a ceasefire in the Pacific. The Supreme War Council rejected his pleas and reassigned him along with his supporters away from the field to staff duty at the Ministry of War.

Convinced in the futility and destructiveness of the war effort, Okita and his followers contacted an American spy to hatch a plan to depose Hirohito and subdue the mainland garrisons of the Imperial Japanese Army. U.S. officials at the time feared a land invasion led by conventional U.S. forces would result in the losses of tens if not hundreds of thousands of American troops. It seemed that neither side had a solution to end the war.

But eventually these two groups began coordination with nuclear scientists of the recently formed Manhattan Project. They began their project not to develop a nuclear weapon, but instead create a nuclear-powered cybernetic soldier. With superhuman strength and speed and potentially infinite stamina and endurance, this fighter could replace an entire battalion of ground troops. After two years of development, METAL HERO was born.

Much of what we know of METAL HERO’s field deployment remains lost to the chaos of the war. Unearthed photographs show the jet black helmeted warrior raising hell against the Tokyo Garrison armed with nothing but a high-powered rifle and a motorcycle. Legend has it he would launch raids on munitions depots and after destroying weapons and ammunition he would disappear into the shadows. His attacks on the supply lines hastened an end to fighting in the Pacific.

If the above accounts are true, it begs the question: why drop two nuclear bombs if METAL HERO had proven such an effective weapon on the mainland? A radical interpretation by several historians suggests that the atomic weapons used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not meant to intimidate Emperor Hirohito into surrender. American officials feared that after the war they could not control METAL HERO and he would become a grave security threat. Thus, they decided that the very technology used to create him… became necessary to destroy him.

He holds a mixed reputation amongst those Japanese people who believe the tales of his exploits. No one has ever revealed his identity. Some say one of the disgraced Japanese military officers, perhaps Lt. Commander Okita himself, volunteered for the assignment. Others alleged a vengeful American sailor who escaped from Japanese custody during the Pacific War took the job to take revenge against a country that tortured and held him hostage. But whether he was an American enemy or a Japanese traitor, during the war many on the mainland regarded METAL HERO with scorn as a sworn enemy of the Empire. Yet after the war and with the rise of pacifist movements throughout Japan, METAL HERO became beloved as a symbol of comeuppance against those willing to wager Japanese lives in needless war. Presumed dead at Hiroshima, the legacy of METAL HERO seemed to have remain resigned to the catacombs of history…

Nearly half a century later, numerous sightings of a jet black helmeted fighter fueled speculation. Rumor had it this fighter would enter a tournament, win, and unexpectedly vanish for several months at a time. At one point, over half the heavyweight championships of federations based in the Chugoku region were vacated because the mysterious warrior who simply fought and vanished for months on end. A twenty-one-year-old Julian Cutlass, later of Lion’s Road fame, allegedly fought METAL HERO to a draw during a sparring match one evening in Fujiyama Dojo in 2003. METAL HERO later appeared in SEKAI SHINING PRO-WRESTLING to win the GPWS Heavyweight title and vacate the belt to fight in MAX-J. Now with Maximum Japan Pro-Wrestling’s ascension into the top pro-wrestling leagues in the world, has METAL HERO returned from the shadows for good?

Is the METAL HERO of today truly the mid-20th century wonder of science meant to end Japan’s involvement in the war? Or is he simply an homage to this controversial historical character? No one knows for certain. Some suspect that Lt. Commander Okita’s grandson, Nobuhiro, who enjoyed a ten-year career in pro-wrestling in northern Japan before retiring due to injury, has donned the jet mask to honor his family’s contribution to ending the war. While no one truly knows the identity of METAL HERO, what we do know is that MAX-J will soon feel the strength of the Atomic Assassin, the Nuclear Ballistic Ranger… the METAL HERO has arrived.

EQUIPMENT/APPEARANCE –