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| “ | International Rescue, if only I knew their secrets, I would be the wealthiest man in the world! | „ |
| ~ The Hood plotting to steal International Rescue's secrets. |
The Hood is the main antagonist of the Thunderbirds franchise.
He is the archenemy of the Tracy family, and even his own half-brother, Kyrano (and his half-niece, Tin-Tin). His primary intention in life appears to be getting his hands on the secrets of International Rescue, for they will make him, in his words, "the wealthiest man in the world".
He was voiced by the late Ray Barrett, who also voiced John Tracy, Jeff's second oldest son (behind Scott), the controller of Thunderbird 5. In the 2004 film, he was portrayed by Sir Ben Kingsley, who also played Cosmo in Sneakers, Dr. Xavier Fitch in Species, Don Logan in Sexy Beast, Fagin in the 2005 Oliver Twist film adaptation, The Rabbi in Lucky Number Slevin, Nizam in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tamir Aladeen in The Dictator, Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Archibald Snatcher in The Boxtrolls and General Woundwort in the 2018 Netflix Watership Down adaptation. In the rebooted TV series, he is voiced by Andres Williams.
Biography[]
TV series[]
Feared as the world's dangerous man, The Hood (so named because of his many disguises) is the half-brother of Kyrano and wields an uncanny supernatural power over him. Unlike his slightly-built half-brother, he is massive in stature and his main aim in life is the acquisition of wealth regardless of justice and ethics. His primary target is International Rescue, as the plans of their amazing high-tech vehicles and machines could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Operating from his hidden temple deep in the heart of the Malaysian jungle, the Hood has successfully eluded capture by the world's security forces for many years. Ruthless and calculating beyond comprehension, he uses mystical powers steeped in voodoo and black magic allowing nothing to get in the way of his evil objectives, as well as his own scientific knowledge.
The Hood's precise origins are unknown. While it is known that he is the half-brother of Kyrano, the precise details of their relationship - such as which parent they share, or which of them is the elder - remain a mystery, as do the origin of his mysterious hypnotic powers. Even his real name remains a mystery; throughout the entire TV series, he was only ever referred to as 'Agent Seven-Nine', and even that was only on one occasion when he was in contact with the even more mysterious 'General X'; in another incident, with General Bron, he was referred to as '#671'. Even his name is never used in the TV series - it was revealed in spin-off media and promotional materials.
The Hood is known to be well-known to the criminals of Earth, such as Generals X and Brom, who use him for schemes, such as sabotaging the British Red Arrows aerial acrobatics team and getting footage of International Rescue on film. His Aztec-looking temple, which he calls home, is outfitted with hi-tech devices such as advanced CCTV, an underground helicopter bunker, to name but two elements of his lair. In contrast to this high quantity of futuristic equipment, he also has a massive statue of Kyrano, which he uses to psychologically torture him for information, or to use him for his own purposes (such as in "Martian Invasion", where he managed to get Kyrano to disable Thunderbird 1's Automatic Camera Detector).
To facilitate his plans to capture the Thunderbirds' craft and use them for evil, the Hood has been known to make phony rescues in order to lure the Tracy brothers away from their secret base, such as putting nuclear warheads on passenger aircraft, sabotaging film sets, and sending a self-aware camera into Thunderbird 2. However, these plans fail, usually due to his shortsightedness or due to simple bad luck.
Appearances[]
Although he's been considered one of the staple characters of the show, the Hood has only appeared in six episodes of the original series.
Trapped in the Sky[]
The Hood's first appearance is in the pilot episode of Thunderbirds, entitled "Trapped in the Sky". The very, very first scene of the show depicts him in his temple, planning to find out about International Rescue, via his unsuspecting half-brother, Kyrano. He uses his powers to probe Kyrano's mind, to find out when International Rescue will start operating, but to no 'proper' avail.
Soon after, the Hood goes to London International Airport and, disguising himself as an engineer, he attaches a nuclear explosive to the wheel-well of Air Terranean's revolutionary new nuclear-powered hypersonic airliner, the Fireflash, the first of which is about to go on its maiden flight to Tokyo. After the Fireflash takes off, the Hood phones Commander Norman (London International Airport's chief air traffic controller) and tells him about the explosive, saying it (the explosive) will automatically detonate when the Fireflash lands at Tokyo, blowing it into one million pieces and releasing the toxic contents of the nuclear reactors over a large area of Japan.
After two unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the explosive, Commander Norman is horrified to hear that if the Fireflash doesn't land with the space of the next two hours, then the radiation shielding will fail and all onboard will be exposed to lethal radiation. His conversation is picked up by John in Thunderbird 5, who then informs his father, Jeff, of what's happened. Jeff then realizes the Fireflash is carrying Kyrano's daughter, Tin-Tin (who is, by extension, the Hood's half-niece). He then sends Scott in Thunderbird 1 and Virgil in Thunderbird 2 to London.
Whilst Scott tries to hold the fort with Norman until Virgil arrives, the Hood (who by now has disguised himself as an airport policeman) sneaks into the now-unguarded Thunderbird 1 and uses a camera concealed inside his policeman's cap to photograph the inside of Thunderbird 1. However, the Automatic Camera Detector in Thunderbird 1 goes off; the Hood, together with the photographs of Thunderbird 1's insides, makes an escape in a police car, in the direction of Birmingham via the M1.
Scott then radios Lady Penelope and tells her that the Hood has photographic records of Thunderbird 1, is heading towards her area and also tells her the Hood's car's license plate number. She summons her butler, Parker, and tells him to ready FAB1, as they're "going for a drive". They pursue the Hood up the M1, and Parker fires FAB1's cannon, which causes the Hood's getaway car to flip over and crash. Despite the Hood surviving the crash, the photographs of Thunderbird 1 are destroyed, and he swears revenge upon International Rescue.
Meanwhile, Virgil gets three Elevator Cars out of Thunderbird 2 to get the Fireflash to land. The first attempt fails, as Elevator Car 3 develops a fault and crashes into some empty planes. Virgil readies Elevate Car 4, and the Fireflash lands on top of all three cars. However, the Master Elevator Car 1 (which Virgil is driving) crashes, but Virgil isn't hurt. Although the Hood's explosive falls, it doesn't go off, and everybody is saved.
Edge of Impact[]
In Edge of Impact, the Hood participates in a business deal with the (implied to be) Russian military officer, General Bron, who has just finished constructing a new military aircraft, which he hopes will exceed the power of Great Britain's own Red Arrow project. Not wanting to be second to Red Arrow, Bron tasks the Hood with destroying the British aircraft so that his own creation will be unrivalled by anything in the world.
During a test flight in London of Red Arrow 2, the Hood causes the jet to go off-course, and his actions are picked up by Brains, whose new diversion detector has recorded the deviation. However, the Hood plans to cause maximum carnage, by placing his own creation, a device that lures jets to it, in a communications tower. After pilot Goddard fires his ejector seat, Red Arrow 2 crashes into the tower, exploding on impact and leaving its two technicians trapped inside.
Movies[]
Thunderbirds Are Go[]
The Hood is still the Thunderbird's archenemy in the 1966 film Thunderbirds Are Go, where he plans to sabotage the revolutionary new spaceship, Zero-X, which is about to blast off on a mission to investigate the surface of Mars. The Hood smuggles himself into one of the lifting bodies of Zero-X. He gets his foot trapped in the control flap mechanism, causing Zero-X to crash (all five crewmembers, and the Hood, survived). This postpones the mission for two years, due to an investigation into the disaster.
At the end of the investigation (which lasted for two years, ending in 2067), the Hood boards Zero-X on its next Mars mission by disguising himself as one of the crew, Dr. Tony Grant. He is discovered due to Lady Penelope having given each member of Zero-X's crew a special St. Christopher badge at a press conference the previous night, which are disguised radio transmitters. After Scott confronts him, The Hood tries to flee, but during his many-layered escape (involving transferring from his car to a speedboat and then into a helicopter, which is piloted by an accomplice), he appears to finally die when Parker fires FAB1's cannon at the helicopter, causing it to crash into the sea and explode.
Note: Several scenes were cut from the film for time, one of which featured The Hood in his temple, using his powers to contact Kyrano and extract information from him regarding International Rescue's role in the next Zero-X mission.
Thunderbird 6[]
Following his apparent death in Thunderbirds Are Go!, the Hood doesn't appear in Thunderbird 6 at all. However, the Hood's puppet was recycled into the film's antagonist, Black Phantom, who was voiced by Gary Files. Furthermore, Sylvia Anderson (the ex-wife of the show's creator, Gerry Anderson), who created the characters of the show, said Black Phantom could be the Hood's son, or the Hood could've survived his demise in the helicopter crash.
Thunderbirds (2004)[]
In the panned live-action remake of the series directed by Jonathan Frakes, the Hood is played by veteran actor Sir Ben Kingsley, and his nationality is changed from Malaysian to Indian. He is described as running his own illegal diamond mines somewhere in Malaysia. However, one day, there was a cave-in, and International Rescue, led by Jeff, were called out to rescue the miners. However, the Hood wasn't rescued in the Mole tunnelling machine, and this was when his vendetta against the Tracy family started.
In the film, the Hood is shown operating from his own futuristic-looking submarine, with his aides, Transom and Mullion. The Hood plans to lure the Tracy brothers away from their island and steal their machinery. To facilitate the plan, he fires a missile at Thunderbird 5, from his futuristic-looking submarine. The missile tears through Thunderbird 5's outside ring and seriously injures John. True to the Hood's prediction's, Jeff, Scott, Virgil and Gordon immediately blast off in Thunderbird 3, leaving Brains and his son Fermat, Kyrano and his family, and Alan, the youngest son, behind. The Hood soon invades Tracy Island, uses his mental powers to disable Thunderbird 5's life support and altitude systems (leaving the older Tracys to suffocate and burn up in the atmosphere), and uses Brains to give him access to Thunderbird 2 and the Mole, which he will use to rob the ten largest banks in the world, starting with the Bank of England; his plans will cripple the world's monetary system, with International Rescue taking the blame. When Alan tries to attack the Hood after Lady Penelope arrives, they all get thrown inside the villa's deepfreeze, while the Hood launches his attack on the Bank of England. He flies Thunderbird 2 to London and deploys the Mole to tunnel into the vault, causing a cable car to fall into the Thames in the process.
Alan escapes from the deepfreeze (after Parker unseals the door using the wire from Lady Penelope's bra) and, following a conversation with Jeff, during which life support is returned to Thunderbird 5, gives chase in Thunderbird 1, along with Lady Penelope, Tin-Tin and Fermat. He launches the abandoned Thunderbird 2 and drops himself into Thunderbird 4 and rescues the cable car (with a hand from Tin-Tin). Thunderbird 3 lands, and Jeff congratulates his youngest son, before they all go to thwart the Hood's plot.
In the vault, the Hood seals Jeff and Lady Penelope in a cell, and challenges Alan to a duel, during which Alan is telekinetically thrown against a wall, strangled and lifted off his feet. However, he is arrested, and at the film's climax, he is carried out of the vault by a policeman, and mutters "See you soon, Jeff" as Thunderbirds 1, 2 and 3 leave, hinting at possible future encounters. What his fate is after this is never revealed (most likely because of the film being panned), though it can be safely assumed that he was tried and imprisoned.
In a departure from the original TV series, the Hood can no longer hypnotise people, and doesn't appear to be mentally linked to Kyrano. In place of this, he is telekinetic (this ability appears to be hereditary, as his niece, Tin-Tin, can also use this power; her eyes turn green reptilian, or more probably like a wildcat). However, quite how they both have the same power is never explained. When he uses his telekinetic power, his eyes turn red and reptilian-looking, and the power is quite effective (such as guiding Brains to the "Command and Control" Switch, picking up Thunderbird 2's guidance chip when it is thrown away from him, and strangling Alan in a Star Wars-esque moment). However, if he overuses these powers, he is drained temporarily.
It was revealed during the film that these powers apparently manifested after the Hood was left for dead during one of International Rescue's first missions; the Hood accuses Jeff of leaving him to die in the cave-in at the diamond mine, but Jeff later tells Alan that, at the time, he left the Hood because he could see no way to save him that wouldn't kill them both. Despite what the Hood had done to him and his family, however, when faced with the chance to let the Hood fall into the Mole's drilling mechanisms, Alan instead saved him when the Hood was weakened by over-use of his powers, subsequently allowing him to be captured.
Thunderbirds Are Go! (2015 series)[]
In the series, The Hood (now voiced by Andres Williams, following the death of Ray Barrett in 2009) is once again the uncle of Tin-Tin (now named Kayo), and had something to do with the disappearance and apparent death of Jeff Tracy.
Contrary to his previous selves, this Hood no longer has any powers of any sort (which has aroused disappointment in fans of the original series); however, he still maintains his mastery of disguise, albeit through menacing holographic projections over his head, rather than using masks. Instead of his incredibly jewelled gold tunic, he always wears a black business suit. His base of operations is now a flying-fortress (with three thugs), as opposed to his original self's temple in Malaysia and move self's submarine.
Before the series began, Lady Penelope had helped Jeff unmask seven of the Hood's alter egos, before he apparently killed Jeff in a boat accident. Amongst Jeff's sons and adopted daughter (Kayo), his existence was more of a theory than actual fact.
At the end of the first season, the Hood, in a similar vein to the 2004 film, locates Tracy Island and takes control of International Rescue's property; however, here, he does not take Thunderbird 2 exclusively, as he did in the film, but he instead takes all five of them. He also reveals the truth about his and Kayo's uncle/niece relationship, leading to a strain in the inner workings of International Rescue. However, the Tracy brothers reclaim control of their fleet, and Scott, Virgil and John destroy the Hood's ship before he can escape. He is captured and imprisoned.
When Jeff returns, alive, at the show's very last episode, the Hood reveals that he and Jeff were once friends, but the relationship soured when Jeff refused to allow him to carry out his plans for the world.
Quotes[]
| “ | Curse those foolish boys! Curse their stupid father! And curse International Rescue! | „ |
| ~ The Hood in Cry Wolf before he falls into a lake after his jeep crashes. |
| “ | International Rescue haven't heard the last of me! | „ |
| ~ The Hood's final lines in the very first episode of the 2015 version of Thunderbirds after crashing his police car, having been taken out by Lady Penelope and his photographs of Thunderbird 1 are ruined. |
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- The Hood on the Thunderbirds Wiki
- The Hood on the Wikipedia
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Template:Thunderbirds Villains