| “ | You don't understand a thing, do you? There is no such thing as good and evil. You haven't realized that yet, have you? | „ |
| ~ Dark Mantis |
| “ | You're awfully innocent for a prototype of us new Reploids. I'll admit I'm a bit jealous. | „ |
| ~ Dark Mantis being "coddling" to Axl. |
Dark Mantis, known as Darkneid Kamakil in Japan, is one of the eight Maverick bosses in Megaman X8. He is the wielder of the Shadow Runner, which Gravity Antonion is weak to. Mantis himself is weak to the Shining Ray.
He was voiced by Tsuneyoshi Iwatsuru in Japanese and by Tommy James in English.
Character Description[]
Personality[]
Dark Mantis is described as having a cruel side to his character, as he loves to see his opponents suffering from being slashed by his scythes after lurking in the darkness and taking them by surprise. To him, good and evil are nonexistent, even though aware of the fact of his evil actions despite him truly believing in his understandable cause. He showed a kind of affable appreciation for the Hunters as well, wishing Zero could join him and admiring Axl's naive optimism.
When not cruel, Mantis himself is cynical but realistic, and is very truthful and honest with the reasons for his actions.
Appearance[]
Dark Mantis resembles a praying mantis. He has two large purple eyes on the sides of his head that resemble a mantis' eyes. Two more human-like eyes can be seen by his "nose". His forearms contain scythes that allow him to slash at his opponents. He wears purple armor.
His Weapon[]
Mantis wields Shadow Runners, which manifest as Boomerangs when X uses them and black arrows when Axl uses them. The Shadow Runners deal damage and disintegrate when an enemy blocks their way, but if they strike the terrain when X uses them, they will return instantly. X can reabsorb them to regain his usage of them, although Axl cannot due to firing them as non-boomeranging arrows from his gun. Mantis is able to use both versions. Zero cannot use this weapon, although he makes up for it with the Rasetsusen, which is a powerful wheel slash with his saber, based on the slashes that Mantis does for his Overdrive Attack.
Gravity Antonion is weak to these weapons, referencing how gravity, which is the basis of his motif, can affect light, and darkness is the absence of light.
Biography[]
Dark Mantis is a Reploid who was originally designed to work as the head of security in an underground military facility with an advanced security system. However, when he was taken over by the Maverick Virus, he used the facility for the production of weapons for Sigma to use.
Gameplay[]
In battle, Dark Mantis is very ninja-like with his attacks. He can dash along the ground to try and grab the player. If he succeeds, he will start draining their health. His overdrive attack sees him attack with large scythe-like energy blades, first attacking one side of his room, then switching to the other. He is weak to the light-based weapons of Optic Sunflower.
Quotes[]
Pre-battle Dialogue[]
Versus Axl[]
- Dark Mantis: "Hey, do you even know what the term "Maverick" means?"
- Axl: "Maverick? It means scumbags like you, doesn't it?"
- Dark Mantis: "Hmpf. How dare you accuse me of being something that I cannot be?"
- Axl: (unamused) "Are you talking about the new generation Reploids' inability to go Maverick? If you're not Maverick, then just knock off the evildoing and we'll call it a day."
- Dark Mantis: (amused and surprised) "You're awfully innocent for a prototype of us new Reploids. I'll admit I'm a bit jealous."
In-battle[]
- Shadow Runner: "Scared?"
- Black Arrow: "This is fun..."
- Wall Jumping: "Hahaha!"
- Blood Scythe: "Does it hurt?"
- Rage Aura: Time to play...
- Overdrive Attack: "I wanna see you cry!"
- Defeated, English: "I... can't... believe it...!"
Trivia[]
- If you zap the generator within his stage with a Thunder Dancer (Roll's Lightning Flash will work.) Dark will change his entrance from wall-jumping into the room from somewhere to already being in the room, clinging to the far wall to X's position and then dropping down. As a result of this, Mantis is one of two bosses to have different entrance animations. The other is Slash Beast from Mega Man X4.
- Dark Mantis seems to speak with a slight U.S. Southern Texan accent.
- "Darkneid Kamakil" literally translates to "Dark Mantis" from Japanese.
