| “ | I have experience, my child, and the money and power attained through using those powers for personal gain, you'd say. I could train you; teach you everything I know. And all you have to do... is renounce your idiot father! | „ |
| ~ Vlad Plasmius (to Danny Phantom). |
Vlad Plasmius (real name: Vlad Masters) is the main antagonist from the Nickelodeon cartoon series Danny Phantom. He is Danny's arch-enemy and Jack Fenton's former best friend and Maddie's former lover. He is voiced by Martin Mull.
Origin
Vlad Plasmius as Vlad Masters
Vlad Masters was the childhood friend of Jack Fenton, the father of the series protagonist, Danny Fenton. They were working together on a science project, trying to create a portal to the ghost world, when the project
Vlad just moments before he would get his ghost powers.
exploded and infected Vlad with "ecto acne". Believing himself to be hideous, he assumed he was unworthy of his true love, Maddy. He held a grudge against Jack Fenton since, believing his infection to be Jack's fault. In what was perhaps the final episode episode, a TV special titled "Phantom Planet", he gets hit by an asteroid. It is unknown if he survived, though since it was rather comical it was implied that he did.
Goals
Aside from winning back his college love and even get Danny to be his adopted son, he tries to gain power, in all ways he can. Throughout the series he makes life hard for Danny, hoping to break his will. At the beginning of the third season, Vlad seems to lose interest in having Danny as a son and simply sought to torment Danny. He even goes so far as to become mayor of Amityville and start a campiagn against ghosts despite being half-ghost himself. In "The Ultimate Enemy" special, he accidentally gives birth to Dark Danny in an attempt to help ease the emotional pain Danny had been going through.
Personality
Vlad's general outer appearance showcase him as a well to do man: rich, debonair, suave, creative, manipulative, knowledgeable, and mysterious, but deep down he has Narcissistic personality disorder. He plans out his well strategized ideas to get what he wants, when he wants it, showcasing patience as well as a slick side. He isn't above using others as his pawn in his well played game of chess to reach further into his goals, never giving up when he is down and going into another phase of his multiple plans. To compensate for his losses, Vlad savors the small personal victories (such as in "Bitter Reunions" where he lost the battle, but pointed out Danny's blackmailing before leaving). When under stress, he frequently shouts out snack names ("Oh, butter biscuit", "Oh, sugar cookie", etc). He usually works alone, but has required help from Skulker several times, as well as the vulture ghosts, ectopusses, and the failed clones. It is also probable that he struck a deal with the Fright Knight.
He's a complicated soul however, often a double edged sword as he uses the wrong methods (killing, stealing, etc.) to gain the right, namely his painful loneliness and wanting acceptance of love which he frequently shares with Maddie and especially Danny or to try and gain the things he can't have (Maddie and Danny). Unfortunately this is also used to his disadvantage when his emotions were often used to trick him into losing a battle. However, the fact that he retains such emotions shows that he is not above redemption.
Old Vlad in from an alternate timeline.
Though he is powerful, (having more than 20 years of ghost experience as compared to Danny), Vlad is not invincible. Like other ghosts (and half ghosts), Vlad is vulnerable to the various (Fenton) ghost gadgets. Danny's Ghostly Wail (a sonic scream) and Ghostly Ice (Cryokinesis) are also clear advantages, seeing as these are powers that Vlad seems to lack, giving Danny a substantial edge, while Vlad's powers have remained consistent throughout the series. His arrogance has also proven to be a significant disadvantage; on one occasion when he fought Jack as Plasmius- Jack, naturally, being unaware of his identity as Vlad Masters- part of the reason for his defeat was the fact that he was so surprised at Jack's ability to successfully battle him that he didn't launch any effective attacks. He (like all ghosts) is also powerless against the anti-ghost element Ectoranium, which ultimately leads to his downfall and his realization.
Powers and Abilities
- Human-Ghost Physiology: Vlad has all the same powers that Danny has, but his powers are far more developed. He is able to perform techniques that Danny has yet to learn (like duplication, until the episode Torrent of Terror), and for all the feats that Danny can perform, Vlad can perform them better, possibly due to the 20 year experience in which he has had more time to develop new abilities, improve his existing ones, and patch up any weaknesses he might have, although it seems Danny is slowly catching up to him. Furthermore, it's been shown that Vlad lacks Danny's Ghostly Wail ability. He also doesn't seem to have a ghost sense, and, by extension, hasn't developed ice powers like Danny did. Vlad's powers eventually grew (creating more duplicates of himself, an Ecto-Tornado, etc.) It is possible the reason Vlad increased in power a bit through the series is because he never really had any worthy opponents to train to defeat, until he became Danny's arch-nemesis.
- Transformation: Vlad's rings are black, as opposed to Danny's, which are white. Vlad's ghost form is similar to a vampire, unlike Danny who just has a "negative image" of himself. The reason for this is that Vlad Dracula from Romania was thought to be a "vampire" for his blood lust, therefore, when they're names crossed the makers decided him to be a vampire. While in his ghost form he can use all his ghost powers.
- Intangibility & Invisibility: Vlad can phase through solid objects and not be seen. He has used this often to steal money before the start of the series.
- Fly: Vlad can fly, float, and hover, presumably with the same speed as Danny. This is never noticeably seen before or again as Vlad does not use flying as an advantage as much as Danny does. He can even fly in his human form.
- Ghost Tail: Vlad’s lower half became a wispy tail as he quickly tries to escape Pariah Dark.
- Superhuman Reflexes & Agility: Vlad has built on these skills during the 20 years of practice he has had to hone his ghost powers. Vlad's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete. His reflexes are heightened in a similar manner and are, likewise, are superior to those of the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Durability: Vlad is highly resistant to all forms of external physical damage. He is able to withstand higher amounts of damage than Danny. In his ghost form, Vlad's body is incredibly resistant to damage. His ghost tissues and bones are considerably harder and more resistant to physical injury than those of an ordinary human.
- Pain Resistance: He also demonstrated a high threshold for pain.
- Superhuman Strength: Vlad is stronger than Danny. He punched away a giant dragon-like ghost with ease, though he didn't hurt him and he used an Energy Strike. However, we can assume that his strength is about 40 to 50 tons. Even after been weakened by having duplicated himself in hundreds of duplicates, he was still strong enough to punch Danny hard enough to pierce through a brick wall.
- Superhuman Stamina: In his ghost form, Vlad's musculature produces almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for hours before fatigue begins to impair him.
- Power Augmentation: He can increase his physical strength, becoming strong enough to destroy the Fenton Ghost Fisher.
- Possession: Vlad can overshadow any human. He has used this ability to get rich tycoons to give their companies to him.
- Ghost Ray: His blast consists of pink ectoplasm; however he is seen using green, turquoise, violet and blue, with each color presumably being at a different power level. He can also fire ghost rays from his eyes in human or ghost form. His full powered ghost ray is enough powerful to dig a crate of 4 meters.
- Energy Disks: He can also fire his ghost rays in the form of explosive disks.
- Energy Strike: Vlad can concentrate his ecto-energy within his fist, in order to enhance the strength of his physical attacks. He does this when he was fighting Behemoth. His Energy Strikes can break solid concrete of the street.
- Ghost Shield: His shield consists of pink or green ectoplasm. He has been shown to shape his shield in the form of a wall, a barrier, or a mirror shield.
- Mirror Shield: Also known as reflecting shield. He can create a pink ghost shield that can reflect any attack, including physical attacks.
- Force Field: He can create a ghost shield shaped like a dome to protect himself from explosions.
- Duplication: Vlad can effortlessly split into 4 duplicates. It is one of his most commonly used and advantageous techniques. Also manages to create well over a hundred shadows of him that possessed many people to make them vote for him in the city mayor elections. Creating that many duplicates still weakened Vlad to the point where Danny could easily defeat him in combat. Creating that many copies of himself seems to indicate that there might not be a limit to the number of duplicates that he or possibly Danny would be able to create. It's been shown that when Vlad creates a duplicate, he can make them invisible in the process. He can also transform back to his human form while forming a ghost duplicate of himself, which explains how he's been able to get away with some events that may link directly to his footsteps.
- Ecto-Energy Absorption & Redirection: Vlad can absorb energy attacks from his enemies and use them as his own. This is considered one of the rarest Ghost Powers for any ghost or half-ghost. Though he's the only ghost/half-ghost in the series to be known having this power. For unknown reasons he only used this power once.
- Ecto-Energy Constructs: Vlad can create solid objects with ectoplasmic energy; from shields to nooses, ropes, even a racket and a cage, or a sword capable of great damage. He can also trap people in ectoplasmic bubbles.
- Teleportation: Vlad can disappear from one location and reappear elsewhere by wrapping his cape around him and vanishing in a cloud of green or pink mist.
- Ghost Stinger: An attack that utilizes electricity, it has been used against Danny drain him of energy until he was forced into his human form. It is unknown if it will have similar, if any, effects on full ghosts.
- Ghost Tornado: Vlad spins like a tornado, deflecting any ectoplasmic energy and causing huge wind gusts almost like a real one.
- Spectral Body Manipulation: Vlad can be able to shape-shift his body at any position he desires. He usually doesn't use this power as much as Danny does.
- Immunity: As Half-Ghost Vlad is immune or resistant to several effects that can hurt a ghost or a human. Like Danny, he's is immune to some Fenton Ghost Weaponry like the ghost shield when he is in his human form and it's possible that he is immune to some powers meant to affect humans like Ember's music.
- Healing Factor: Vlad can be able to regenerate quickly like Danny. When Pariah Dark effortlessly knocked out both Vlad and Danny, who both healed very quickly in a small period of time.
- Vacuum Resistance: Like Danny, Vlad has been shown to survive the vacuum of outer space without any form of protection beyond his normal clothing and a helmet connected to an oxygen tank. This is only shown when trying to stop the Disasteroid.
- Self-Sustenance: Despite first entering the voids of space with a helmet and oxygen tank, Vlad can be seen sitting on the Disasteroid without said equipment. This indicates that Vlad either: doesn't require oxygen to survive while in his ghost form, or that he can utilize a form of self-sustenance while in his ghost form; either way, Vlad has shown to be capable of surviving in low-pressure, low-temperature environments.
- Insanely Rich: One of Vlad's greatest gifts is his wealth. According to his words he "overshadowed enough millionaires to become the richest man on the planet".
- Genius Intellect: Vlad is one of the most intelligent characters in the series. He has created hundred of devices and various equipment to hunt ghosts, all of them being of high standard technology. He even created a secret lab better than the Fenton's own lab and improved the Ecto-Skeleton so the suit wouldn't drain or kill the wearer.
- Skilled Combatant: He is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, although he has had no formal training. He fought Danny using an ectoplasmic sword with ease.
- Gifted Businessman: Vlad is one of the most shrewd businessmen in the world, a trait that has earned him an immense fortune. Vlad is not above using cutthroat tactics, unethical practices and illegal operations to maintain the success of his business empire; he has admitted to overshadowing other businessmen.
- Swordsmanship: He demonstrates some ability with the sword when fighting Danny.
- Master Strategist: Vlad has cunning mind and over the series he has developed complicated plans in order to get what he wants such as power or vengeance. However most of them are spoiled by Danny's interference or unexpected problems.
Trivia
- Vlad appears to be the opposite of Danny with several differences:
- Vlad has white hair and wears a black tuxedo, Danny has black hair and wears a white T-shirt.
- Vlad's ghost form has black hair and his suit is white, Danny's ghost form has white hair and his suit is black.
- Vlad has wealth and power, Danny has friends and family.
- Whereas Vlad's love interest ultimately chose another man due to him believing that his ghost powers would draw her away from him, Danny successfully managed to hook up with Sam despite her being aware of him being half-ghost.