So it has been a while for sure but I have a new proposal for a candidate that I have thought about and reevaluated. The conclusion is that he's worth an offer. So without further ado let's get into dissecting this character.
May look like a perfect creation from the outside but inside he is a whole different ethical story because he loves them babies.
What is the Work?[]
The work is Choushinsei Flashman which is an installment in the long running Super Sentai franchise which started with the military based Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. In this installment in particular it is about kidnapped babies who grew up in the Flash system due to being taken from their parents who they have no clue about. These abductors were the alien hunters who failed in trafficking our group of Earth but not Earthlings. Therefore the aliens who guided them through their life up until adulthood the Flashians decided to train them to fight evil forces who were behind this human trafficking ring. When they were ready they left the planets without permission and began their long fight on Earth, against the masterminds known as Reconstructive Experiment Mes.
Who is He?[]
Our candidate is the enigmatic being called Lah Deus who created the aforementioned empire in order to create the perfect genetic being. He himself is a pile of genetics that at one point assembled together and after that it set out on a conquest. All his minions are creations made by Le Keflen who is Lah Deus' head scientist (but I'll talk about that later). Throughout the universe they began to invade and lay waste to countless worlds collecting their genetics and sprouting new life itself. Deus himself was secretive and refused to share his true origins instead for pushing that beings should be kidnapped for his ruthless experiments by the alien hunters.
What Has He Done?[]
Lah deus at one point was a pile of genetics that came together through unknown means and developed sentience to seek other life. After this it set a new goal to assimilate life to create the strongest being that would ever exist. At one point it arrived originally to Earth and set its eyes on a human baby that it captured and brainwashed into essentially become his son. Feeding him with lies that he was Le Keflen a genetic creation, they produced other genetic productions from the many species they experimented on. Although Lah Deus decided that polluting planets for their species wasn't enough and so hired alien mercenaries. The head being Sa Cowler who started abducting infants for the emperor.
By the start of the show Lah Deus returned to Earth and waged a campaign to assimilate all the life on Earth into his Mes creations so an ultimate being can be created. All so he himself can grow more powerful. At first his subordinates didn't view the Flashman as a threat but saw their teamwork destroyed their first elephant creation. After this there were more failures when more and more experiments miserably failed. At this new revelation Lah Deus tortured and lashed at his minions for their failure and demanded their goal come to fruition.
One time such a breakdown occurred was when a "defective monster" was made called the The Powaburu. He deemed its existence a curse and ordered it to be terminated immediately. In the end Pink Flash who had befriended and pacified the monster couldn't stop it from turning feral and sacrificed as an out of control meat puppet. Around the same time the Flashman learned about Dr. Tokimura and his family whose child is one of them. In fact as a baby they were kidnapped and stolen from their family who overtime had forgotten about this baby. Now the doctor wanted to time travel but Deus and Mes wanted to use this technology for themselves but to no avail. Furthermore, there were other times where Mes under Lah Deus permission had schemes of terrorizing, ruthlessly battering, and one time draining the blood of Red Flash to make a monster.
Later Sa Cowler descends to Earth and comes under direct service of Lah Deus, planning to defeat the Flashman and guarantee Deus his goals. Through this time more plans are thwarted before an old traitor to Mes arrives in the form of Le Baraki who was convinced to betray Mes by a flashian hero. Therefore he now opposes Mes but is dragged to Lah Deus who doesn't treat kindly to him. Anyhow the Flashman almost completely fall to Mes until they get another robo to even the odds and finally defend the Earth against Mes once again. At the end though the Flashman soon learn they will die if they are on Earth for too long.
After many defeats Lah Deus allows Keflen to use his DNA to create monsters and while this initially tough the Flashman persist and blow through each and every of the creations. As this happens Cowler decides to turn against Lah Deus and Le Keflen and their immoral ways, feeling some hatred to Lah Deus as he took his friends in the form of the Alien hunters and transformed them into mindless beasts to fight the Flashman. This ends up with Cowler's death but then Keflen realizes the truth. No longer hiding it Deus admits to kidnapping Keflen and in rage Lah Deus is mutated and sent to fight the Flashman. Although he sadistically breaks it and decides to end his enemies.
This ultimately fails and he is grown as a mindless monster and later his remains are used by his "son" to create a fusion monster. At the end Mes falls with Keflen and all beings harmed in Mes' experiments are avenged.
Heinous Standard[]
The heinous standard for Flashman is complicated because they are very powerful enemies that constantly tower over the heroes yet they do very standard things. Leh Keflen in particular though does experiment on innocent humans victimizing them into scapegoats that are given fates worse than death (at least for a time) that are taken seriously. Although seeing as Keflen was created by Lah Deus the genetic being has some responsibility in that action. Since he directly rules Mes and doesn't control it loosely or through proxy. Other villains like Sa Cowler just kidnap for him with other minions just following orders.
Other villains from different installments:
Star King Bazeu- Was an entire planet and even though still being a genocidal destroyer had more resources in terms of power.
Vulgyre- Even though also similar has different resources and seems to cultivate a higher size of raw power.
So as you can see other villains from the series are influenced by him who himself ordered the death of an innocent beast, set up an infant trafficking ring, and brainwashed Keflen in the first place. Standing out in a franchise full of heinous big bads due to his own set of resources. Not to mention his pollution and destruction was shown on screen.
Also what he does to Sara's family lets him stand out on a personal level.
Mitigating Factors[]
Lah Deus is a being devoid of moral and is obsessed with becoming the greatest being he can. In order to do this he will abduct any being matter if they are an adult, animal, or even babies as long as they have useful DNA. In this case (Spoiler Alert) Sara was the child of the doctor and because of Lah Deus they never got the chance in their lives to be with their child. All because he wanted to rob her for his experiments which would include killing her and creating an unethical being. This was the same case for all the Flashman and they never saw their families at all. Knowing this he wasn't phased and is sadistic about the things he does, not even being a little remorseful in ruining the Flashman's could be happy lives.
On top of that he already experimented on beings where he showed satisfaction at his actions treating them as achievements. Every world he came across turned into a polluted wasteland. Not to mention he would readily torture his minions and no problem brainwashing Keflen from birth into his pawn through lies. When it came to the monsters it was worse because he treated them as objects more than living beings like wanting to execute defects for not aligning with his unethical and disgusting philosophy.
Overall he is an infant trafficker that has no remorse in anyone he harms or experiments on as long as it benefits his goals and literally his body too.
Final Verdict[]
YES. The more I think about the more I'm convinced about this heartless social darwinist.