I won't let you do this! You must be defeated!
Shadow, to M. Bison
Shadow is an original character in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. He's a palette swap of Charlie representing him after being captured by M. Bison and turned into his enforcer.
Backstory[]
In Charlie's ending for X-Men vs. Street Fighter, he is captured by M. Bison and subjected to Shadaloo's experiments. The ending itself doesn't reveal Charlie's fate after these experiments, instead showing Guile (or "Charlie's friend" as he's called) finding his dogtags and swearing to avenge him, in an obvious nod to his story in Street Fighter II.
In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Charlie returns as a secret character under the name "Shadow". According to his ending in the Japanese version of the game, Shadow escaped Bison and was on the run, but his "battery" runs out of power and Bison is able to recapture him and perform further experiments to turn him loyal, this time transforming him into a fully cyborg version of Charlie. Although this ending didn't happen, the process which turned him into Shadow is later referred to as "cybernation", implying cybernetics played a part in the transformation.
In Marvel vs. Capcom, Shadow returns as a secret assist character in the same form as before. In Chun-Li's ending, Shadow stops M. Bison from attempting to turn her into another slave, showing that he was still free from Bison's control. In Shadow Lady's ending, the two arrive too late to stop Bison from fatally injuring Jin, and utilize cybernation to turn him into another "shadow" form as a way to save him from dying.
By Marvel vs. Capcom 2, however, Shadow's plot is dropped and Charlie is featured in his original form with no reference as to how (or if) he was restored back.
Gameplay[]
Shadow is a palette swap of Charlie with nearly his entire body blacked out, and a white eye shining behind his glasses. He has all of Charlie's moves, but his attacks set his opponent alight with blue Psycho-Power flames. His supers also has a brief pause where his eye would gleam before the move is pulled off; this detail made him somewhat unpopular as the gleam could give an opponent enough time to block or avoid the attack. He has a new level 3 Hyper Combo, "Final Mission", and is faster than Charlie.
Special Moves[]
- Shadow Boom (シャドウブーム Shadou Būmu): A Psycho Power-enhanced version of Charlie's Sonic Boom, making it slightly stronger.
- Shadow Shell (シャドウシェル Shadou Sheru): A Psycho Power-enhanced version of Charlie's Flash Kick, which sets the opponent on blue flames and has greater knockback. Shadow Shell also generates a massive crescent-shaped shockwave that fly upward at 45 degree angle, covering almost an entire air space above Shadow. This shockwave counts as projectile but goes through everything and can't be clashed against another projectile.
- Shadowsault Slash: A reverse Shadow Shell, goes on a downward angle.
Assist Attacks[]
| Assist | Counter | Cross-Over |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Boom | Shadow Shell | Shadow Justice |
Hyper Combos[]
- Shadow Break (Level 1): Like Charlie's Sonic Break, but has some start-up lag and isn't mashable.
- Shadow Justice (Level 1): Shadow does three consecutive Shadow Shells at his opponent. Like all of Shadow's hypers has some start-up lag.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Shadow does this when summoned as an assist. The move has fair damage and can be used to setup other attacks. the shockwave generated from the kick also covers massive air space but has short horizontal range, whiffing completely if the enemy stands all the way across the screen. Can be used a total of three times.
- Cross Shadow Blitz (Level 1): Shadow rushes and does a barrage of punches and kicks ending with a Shadow Shell.
- Final Mission (Level 3): Shadow's signature Hyper Combo. Shadow will attempt to launch the opponent into the air, if he succeeds the screen turns black (in a Shun Goku Satsu fashion), and Shadow does a series of air combos on his opponent, when the screen turns visible again the opponent falls and explodes.
Theme Song[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Shadow received a profile in the Street Fighter V encyclopedia site in September 2016. The bio uses the backstory garnered from his appearances in the Versus series, him being Charlie modified with Psycho Power and technology and turned into Bison's enforcer until he rebelled after slowly regaining his memories. In a nod to his original ending, Shadow is stated to have a "Psycho Battery" which provides him with 48 hours of autonomy.
- The bio also gives him a new move called Shadow Assault (シャドウアサルト, Shadou Asaruto), described as an energy-draining attack. The attack is likely Shadow's version of one of Charlie's new moves from Street Fighter V, the Tragedy Assault.
- Charlie's fallen status as Shadow, along with some moves from his brainwashed persona becoming his current personality and obtaining some of Shadow's moves (mostly teleport-based) in Street Fighter V.
- However, despite being accomplished to opposing villain organizations, the difference between Shadow and the current Charlie is that the latter becomes a Frankenstein undead (yet limited lifespan) instead of being a cyborg, becomes an anti-hero and bitter of his former heroic-self, as well as being associate to Gill’s Illuminati organization.
- His name is never said by the announcer in both Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.