Black Doom

"I gave you life, and THIS is how you repay! The irony of it all.. is that I gave you life.. NOW, I'll take it back."

- Black Doom

Black Doom is the primary antagonist of the Shadow the Hedgehog video game. He is the sinister leader of the Black Arms and the oldest member of his alien species. The Black Arms are Black Doom's own spawn and appear to operate with an insect-like hive intelligence, seemingly preventing any attempts to challenge Black Doom for rulership. He claims that the Black Arms have visited Earth for at least as far back as 2000 years.

It is currently unknown just how much of an effect he has had on Earth's history, although the bird-shaped ruins in Glyphic Canyon and Sky Troops are revealed to be flying temples transported to the planet Earth by Black Doom over two thousand years ago to be used as weapons. He presents an almost religious front and shows little respect for humanity due to its sins against each other and the planet Earth. In fact, his philosophy is little more than egotistical justification for his own dark and evil deeds. He wants to enslave the humans (and likely everyone else on the planet) and use them as food for him and his army.

Role
50 years prior to the game, Black Doom formed a sort of alliance with Gerald Robotnik. He and Gerald created the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog, in order to expand Gerald's research and help Black Doom retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow was created from Black Doom's blood. However, Gerald realized the threat his new alliance presented to Earth and secretly planned to use Shadow and the newly built Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Black Comet when it made its next regular 50 year visit. However, soon after the events detailed in Sonic Adventure 2 occurred and Gerald's initial plan was forgotten as he sunk into grief and madness.

Black Doom appears at the beginning of the game as a hologram projected by Doom's Eye (his third eye) to inform Shadow that "the day of reckoning" will soon be here. Black Doom uses Shadow throughout the game in order to retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds for him. He ordered his army to attack six major cities around the world in search of the emeralds and in order to weaken Earth's defenses. He continuously pressures Shadow to denounce the home he has made on Earth and swear allegiance to the Black Arms and their goals.

He often tries to accomplish this by trying to manipulate Shadow into believing that no good can come from the continued existence of humanity, offering to tell him about his past, and even goes so far as to put Shadow into a recreation of what happened to him on the Space Colony ARK to better justify the evil humans are capable of. Black-Doom's plans included the taking of the ARK for his nefarious desires. Once the ARK was taken over by the Black Arms, Black-Doom took control of the Eclipse cannon and used it to destroy Central City. He did this so that it may be used as the site for the Black-Comet to root in with the planet.

His other plans included strengthening his armies by reawaking the temples, which were actually flying fortresses, destroying the human's data base, wiping out all the world leaders, destroying the humans military bases, and planting the Black-Arms plants around the world to slowly transform the planet into a blood ridden one.

When Shadow gains all of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, presumably gaining the seventh one by defeating Black Doom at the Black Comet, Black Doom steals them, and reveals that he needed them all to amplify his Chaos Control to full power so that he can warp the Black Comet to Earth. The comet's own velocity was not fast enough and so he needed the Emeralds to perform a mass Chaos Control so that he could root the comet to Earth and use it to unleash a paralyzing nerve gas on the planet's population to make them food for his Black Arms spawn.

Shadow's inherited genetics from Doom make him the only other creature on the planet capable of resisting the effects of the gas. Retreating to his inner sanctum at the very center of the comet, Black Doom defends himself from his advancing offspring with a perimeter of his most elite Black Arms soldiers, but they were all defeated. When Shadow reaches him, Black Doom finally reveals the truth of Shadow's parentage but is soon after interrupted by a 50 year old transmission of Gerald from the Space Colony ARK, accidentally activated by the Chaotix Detective Agency.

The transmission reveals to the world Gerald's secret plan to destroy the Black Comet and gives Shadow the resolve to defeat Black Doom. Before he can attack, Black Doom teleports outside and transforms into his most powerful form - Devil Doom. Shadow uses the left behind Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Shadow and give chase. The two engage in a final battle in the red sky over the rooted Black Comet. Super Shadow is ultimately able to defeat Devil Doom, sending him tumbling down to the city below. After Devil Doom's death, Super Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport the Black Comet back into Earth's atmosphere, and lets the ARK's Eclipse cannon destroy it.

Battle
Black Doom is fought as the final boss if Shadow completes the hero mission of Final Haunt, Cosmic Fall, or GUN Fortress (however, Black Doom's battle in Final Haunt is presumed to be the canon final battle before Devil Doom). Black Doom attacks with Swift Strike, an energy blade that strikes near the ground and bounces off a surface it hits. This cannot hit Shadow if he is standing on a platform. He can also shoot two fireballs, or five meteors, which can be avoided either by moving or by hiding behind a platform. To damage him, Shadow must either jump onto a platform once Black Doom is done attacking and use a Homing Attack on his head, or else grab a gun from a crate and shoot Black Doom in the head with it.

After three Homing Attacks, or quite a few gunshots, Black Doom will teleport. This holds true even if Shadow uses Chaos Control to slow time. Black Doom will eventually teleport after several seconds even if Shadow does not attack him, or only gets one or two hits on him. The more damage Black Doom takes, the more he will attack in succession, attacking as often as three times when half of his health is depleted, and four times when he is near defeat.

Trivia

 * When Black Doom reveals to Shadow that his blood was used to create him, this has often been compared to Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker that he is his father. Interestingly enough, if Shadow disobeys Black Doom's orders, he says "You've deliberately disobeyed me", a line also spoken by Mufasa in The Lion King, who shares the same voice actor as Darth Vader
 * When Devil Doom is defeated and falls, the way he falls and the lines he speaks are similar to Metal Sonic's defeat in the previous game as Metal Overlord, except that Metal Sonic survived.
 * Black Doom is said to be immortal. It's implied the only thing that can destroy him is his own power, which is why Shadow was the one who had to defeat him.
 * Like the other Black Arms, his blood is green. This could likely mean that Shadow's blood is green as well.
 * Black Doom is voiced by Sean Schemmel, a well known actor who plays as Goku and King Kai from the Dragon Ball series.
 * He also made a cameo in Sonic Rivals as a card.