Commander Red

, born ,Dragon Ball Super chapter 91, "The Red Ribbon Army's Revival" is the dwarfen commander-in-chief of the most feared and ruthless militaristic crime organization: the Red Ribbon Army. After discovering that his enemy, Goku, has a much more sophisticated and superior Dragon Radar, he is angered at the fact that he invested so much in his radar and takes many wary chances only to be contested by a mere child.
Commander Red is the main antagonist of most of the Red Ribbon Army Saga.
Gero later developed a fully artificial replica of him named Android 9, which eventually came to act as the "leader" of the Red Pants Army.
==Appearance==
Red's appearance consists of an eye patch covering his right eye (the eye patch is red in the manga and black in the anime), a black suit (although on a few occasions, he has worn more detailed outfits), large white hair in the manga and ginger in the anime, a thin moustache, and, most importantly, his short height which he despises, a huge plot point in the Red Ribbon Army Arc.
==Personality==
Commander Red is shown to be a very terrible leader of the Red Ribbon Army, yet also a very ruthless one as well. He is often very sarcastic and insulting towards Staff Officer Black, even when the latter makes valid suggestions to him. He is also very disloyal to his own army, viewing them as nothing more than pawns for his own goals, as evidenced by his desire to get the Dragon Balls as well as his own willingness to destroy his own army to, in Black's own words, "satisfy his own vanity" to wish to become "as tall as a mountain". Black even went as far as to accuse Red of having absolutely no concept of loyalty at all just before killing him in the anime. Despite ultimately only caring about himself, he was shown to at least be capable of gratitude, as he implies that he only considered sparing General Blue provided he managed to best Mercenary Tao in battle instead of immediately executing him for his failure in getting the Dragons Balls themselves and delivering them to him due to his finding the Dragon Radar as compensation, and in the anime went as far as to prepare a massive feast for Mercenary Tao for not only retrieving most of the dragon balls, but also being believed to have successfully killed Goku. 
He is also shown as very childish and impatient and is not willing for the army to take a slight misstep in their operations to achieve his goals. Owing to this more childish aspect, he is also shown to be extremely petty towards even unforeseeable failures, which is best evident in the Japanese version of the anime where he orders Black to have the research team responsible for developing the Global Dragon Radar executed purely due to Goku having in his possession a far superior model (the English dub omits this in favor of Red ordering Black to instead issue a stern reminder to General Blue that he is to spare Master Roshi for questioning regarding the radar in question, due to the mistaken belief that the latter created it), as well as the manga where, after getting a full report from Silver about the circumstances behind the latter's defeat and the Dragon Ball's disappearance, he angrily sentences Silver to be executed with it being heavily implied that the main reason behind the execution was learning that Silver got beaten by a single boy in addition to the loss of the Dragon Ball itself.Dragon Ball chapter 56, "The Dragon Ball Scramble" His pettiness also extended to even results that, while technically mission failures, nevertheless achieved a successful result towards their goal, as evidenced by his deeply considering having General Blue executed purely for failing to retrieve the Dragon Balls and bring them before him, despite the latter managing to successfully steal Goku's Dragon Radar as compensation. As such, he was also shown to have no qualms about having many of his own men killed for even the most trivial reasons. 
He also demonstrates absolutely no remorse for the lives he throws away for his pointless goals of becoming taller even right before Black kills him after protesting against his goal upon learning it, which alongside his aforementioned frequency in executing his own soldiers for small offenses implies that Red was a psychopath. Owing to this, he also shows some traits of megalomania, namely by claiming at least twice that he is one and the same with the Red Ribbon Army. Red is also a chain smoker, always having a pipe or a box of large cigars close to him, smoking often. His smoking habit is retained after he becomes Android 9, although he instead uses a metallic pipe. In the Funimation dub, he spoke with a Scottish accent during his early appearances but dropped it until just before his demise, and even there only at various moments. He may have been somewhat lecherous, as another motive for his desire to become taller was to have various girls fall head over heels for him.
He is shown to despise his short stature, perfectly willing to get the Dragon Balls just to make himself taller at all costs. As an extension of his self-loathing of his short height, he also despises being around those who are taller than him, as evidenced by his constantly telling his second in command, Staff Officer Black, to not stand near him, and sometimes also utilizes methods to make himself appear taller, such as having a spring raise up in his personal car to appear towering after a game of golf as well as ordering a goat painter to paint a "portrait" of him that greatly exaggerated his height. In The Path to Power, his hatred of being in close proximity to people who are taller than him was such that he ordered for General Blue's execution because he happened to stand over him when delivering the Dragon Balls to him in person (though he used the convenient excuse of Blue missing one of the six he had collected).
Commander Red owns a cat, which he frequently uses to attack Red Ribbon Army personnel entering his office to test their reflexes, such as Colonel Silver. It is also implied in the English dub that any soldier who fails to effectively evade the cat (such as one soldier who allegedly lost an eye due to not reacting quick enough) is executed. In the Japanese version, he is a bit less severe and simply warns Silver not to have even the slightest degree of pretentiousness due to it potentially resulting in death.
==Biography==
===Background===
Ever since Elementary School, his friends often made fun of Red's size, calling him "shrimp" and even remarking that even though he is short, he has an old man's face. In addition, various girls did not want to have anything to do with him largely because of his evident dwarfism. These were the reasons why Commander Red hates being short and desires to be taller.Daizenshuu 7, 1996 At some point, he also loses his right eye, necessitating the use of an eyepatch. At some point, upon learning of the Dragon Balls, he founded the Red Ribbon Army to obtain the balls, allegedly so the army could use them to wish for world domination. However, while Red did indeed intend to use the army to conquer the world (as he later noted to Black), his reasons for wanting the balls were actually so he could wish to increase his height.
===Dragon Ball===
====Red Ribbon Army Saga====
Commander Red is first introduced when he summons Colonel Silver to his office. As soon as Silver arrives at his office, he sicks his pet cat at Silver, and then congratulates Silver for managing to have the reflexes to dodge the cat, noting in the English dub that the previous soldier summoned to his office lost his eye when he attempted to dodge his cat and hints that the soldier in question was executed. He then gives Silver his mission to retrieve the Dragon Ball located in the Jungle. After Silver had failed his mission, he has Silver brought to his office, and chews Silver out on his failure, also remarking that he will be executed, as there are no second chances in the Red Ribbon Army (In the manga, he was far harsher to Silver, as he repeatedly demanded that he find his tasked Dragon Ball at a faster time than Colonel Brown with the implied threat of execution if he failed, and also bellowed into the phone that Silver will be sent to the firing squad upon learning that not only did he fail to find the Dragon Ball, but also ended up losing to a single boy in the process). He then alerts General White to Goku's arrival. After White fell to Goku, he hires Hasky to steal the Dragon Balls and presumably assassinate Goku.
Shortly after Hasky fails to retrieve the Dragon Balls from Goku, as well as failing to assassinate him, Commander Red decides to give General Blue the mission to kill Goku, along with a report on Goku. Eventually, Commander Red gives Blue orders to retrieve the Dragon Balls after supplying Blue with information on the closest locations of the Dragon Balls via their own Dragon Radar, as well as retrieve Goku's Dragon Radar and to retrieve the creator of the Dragon Radar (then believed to be Master Roshi), and (in the Japanese version) also has Black arrange for the Global Dragon Radar's development team's execution for building a faulty radar (referring to how Goku's Dragon Radar was superior to their own). During this time, he also has a goat painter paint a mural of him, although he also has the painter try to make him much taller, being even taller than Staff Officer Black while painting the portrait, resulting in him telling off Black when he decides to joke about it. Afterward, when Goku manages to get to the camp General Blue's unit was occupying, Goku starts playing with a communication radio, causing Red to demand attention, and then demand if Goku knows who he is. However, the feedback static, as well as their shouting, cause both Red and Goku's ears to hurt, with the latter eventually destroying the radio.
When the Red Ribbon Army is having problems with Goku, Red plans to hire the famed contract killer named Mercenary Tao to assassinate Goku and return with the four Dragon Balls that General Blue was unsuccessful at retrieving. When Red does call in Tao, General Blue arrives shortly after also, handing Red the Dragon Radar that he managed to confiscate from Goku. Red however still proceeds to punish Blue, due to failing the exact mission given to him. However, Red offers Blue a deal: if Blue manages to defeat Mercenary Tao, he would be spared, and keep his position in the army. When the fight begins, Tao easily manages to kill Blue only using his tongue, much to Red's shock, yet pleasant, knowing that Tao was worth his money. After Tao supposedly kills Goku, he calls Red to tell him the job was done, but Tao realizes he only found three Dragon Balls instead of four. In the meantime, Red plays a bit of golf with Officer Black and later receives the Seven-Star Dragon Ball from Colonel Violet.
After Mercenary Tao fails in trying to receive the fourth, Goku heads straight for the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters, attacking in its very stronghold to collect the Dragon Balls necessary to resurrect Upa's father, Bora, who was killed by Tao. Despite Staff Officer Black's constant advice for Red to abandon the Dragon Balls and escape for safety, Red stubbornly refuses, putting them both in further danger. When it becomes clear that Goku has virtually defeated his entire army, with many escaping from the base, and coming for him, he takes the Dragon Balls and orders Black to fight him. He then runs into a secret compartment. As Black and Goku are fighting, Red uses one last trick and activates the ceiling to be flattened, in a desperate attempt to kill Goku, believing him and Black to be dead. Black becomes very lucky as he is knocked outside the window by Goku when the ceiling comes down, however, Black questions why Red would betray him in order to kill Goku, beginning to feel more negative emotions about his boss. As Commander Red returns to the room, he gloats at his victory and reveals his wish to become taller. Black overhears this and pleads that the Red Ribbon Army did so much and risked a lot for Red's stupid ambition instead of world conquest, and therefore it was not worth the risk and could lead to their ultimate defeat. When Commander Red does not listen and insists his petty desire is one that shall bring his army's legacy to true greatness, he is shot in the head and killed by Black, who then renames the army the Black Ribbon Army. (In the manga, Red instead blurts out his true wish in a state of panic due to Goku's impending arrival, with Black only turning against him after learning that Red didn't care at that point about the fate of his soldiers regarding the wish).
====Fortuneteller Baba Saga====
Commander Red appears in a flashback when Bulma tells Grandpa Gohan about Goku's feats since they knew about the Dragon Balls.
====Piccolo Jr. Saga====
Commander Red appears in Kami's relate about the wars and conflicts caused by the Dragon Balls.
===Dragon Ball Z===
====Androids Saga====
Owing to his death, Commander Red does not actually appear in the anime, although he did appear in several flashbacks depicting Goku's taking down of the Red Ribbon Army. In the Funimation dub, when Master Roshi relays to Maron the story of the Red Ribbon Army war as well as the connection to the then-current conflict against the Androids, the narration implies that all the back shots of Commander Red, and to a certain extent, a frontal of Red, had in fact been that of former Red Ribbon Army scientist Dr. Gero.
===Dragon Ball Super===
====Super Hero Saga====
During Krillin & Sergeant Nutz's debriefing on the history of the Red Ribbon Army to the Sunset City Police Department, an image of Commander Red & Staff Officer Black in front of what appears to be the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters can be seen.
==Film appearances==
===The Path to Power===
Commander Red has a slight redesign, but to a lesser extent than that of most of the Red Ribbon Army. He is also shown to be slightly more ruthless in the pursuit of his goals, evidenced by how Red had General Blue executed via firing squad simply because the latter had missed one Dragon Ball when retrieving them (although it should be noted that it was heavily implied that this had merely been an excuse to execute Blue and his true motivation for doing so was simply because the much taller Blue obliviously walked right up to him to deliver the balls and thus caused Red to angrily react towards Blue's taller disposition). The way he meets his end is also slightly different; although Red is still killed by Staff Officer Black after the latter discovers his true intentions with the Dragon Balls, he falls off a ledge right after being shot by Black and was shot in the side rather than in the head. In addition, how he ended up admitting his true wish was closer to in the manga where he admitted it in a state of panic over Goku's impending arrival, instead of privately admitting it after believing he had killed Goku and Black.
In the English dub of the film, he does not retain the Scottish accent that he would often speak with in the English dub of the anime series. Instead, he only speaks with an American one.
===Super Hero===
Commander Red was briefly seen in the opening sequence detailing the events of the Red Ribbon Army's reign, downfall at Goku's hands, and Dr. Gero's attempt at revenge. In addition, the leader of the Red Ribbon Army's legal front Red Pharmaceuticals, Magenta, is later revealed to be the son of Commander Red.
==Power==
;Manga and anime
Commander Red was not a fighter and is never seen fighting. Indeed, in the anime, when Goku is closing in on his office when storming the Red Ribbon HQ, Red ducks into his bunker and opts to have Black fight him in his stead. However, he was shown to have particularly good aim in at least the anime, as he threw a knife in Colonel Silver's direction with it eventually being revealed he tossed the knife at a statue just slightly behind Silver, and apparently doing so via his blinded eye. Similar to Emperor Pilaf, he is a short and not particularly strong individual who barks orders at henchmen and tends to rely on others fight for him such as his cat and/or uses death traps to kill would be adversaries. It is implied that he is no stronger than a normal human as he is easily killed by a gunshot to the head.
;Statements according to authors and guidebooks
The movie pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might states that Red has a power level of 100.
==Manga Appearances==
==Video Game Appearances==
*Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden
*Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden
*Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle
*Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu
*Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
*Dragon Ball
*Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
*Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
*Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World
*Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
*Dragon Ball: Origins 2
*Dragon Ball RPG: Shōnen-hen.
In Super Battle, Commander Red is seen with other members of the Red Ribbon Army in the background of the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters battle stage.
Commander Red is seen with bandages where he obtains his fatal bullet wound on his forehead in Budokai 3 on the Dragon Arena screen, and in Infinite World where he is seen in the Fighter's Road mode. Coincidentally, both those two video game modes are secret modes that have to be unlocked.
In Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, although Red himself does not appear, he is mentioned by General Blue during the cutscene involving him, where he is called "Supreme Commander Red".
In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, the Commander Red Costume is based on the suit worn by Commander Red which can only be equipped by the Future Warrior if they are male.
In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, the Commander Red Costume returns though this time it can be worn by the Future Warrior (Xenoverse 2) regardless of gender. Commander Red also appears as the subject of one of the Gaccho and Wabara's Magical Majin History Quiz questions in which they ask what Command Red's Dragon Ball wish was. Interestingly, Gaccho admires Red's dedication to trying to obtain the Dragon Balls just to gain a few inches, though Wabara points out that Majins can simply stretch themselves out to make themselves taller.
==Voice Actors==
*Japanese: Kenji Utsumi †
*English:
**Funimation dub: Josh Martin (DB, The Path to Power), Mike Wiebe (DBZ Episode 128 [113 Edited] flashback)
**Blue Water dub: Noah Umholtz
**Ocean Group dubs: Ted Cole (DBZ Episode 128 [113 Edited] flashback)
*Spanish:
**Latin American Spanish dub: Alejandro Villeli (DB first dub), Armando Réndiz (DB first dub Episode 44), Roberto Sen (redub)
**Castilian Spanish dub: Idilio Cardoso (DB), Jesús Prieto (The Path to Power)
*Portuguese:
**European Portuguese dub: António Semedo
**Brazilian Portuguese dub: Gilberto Baroli (DB 1996 dub), Luiz Carlos de Moraes (DB 2002 and 2006 dubs)
==Trivia==
*In the Funimation dub, Commander Red speaks with a Scottish accent through most of his appearances, but it later faded for the most part save for a few scenes during Goku's assault on the base where a Scottish accent is present.
*Despite being the primary antagonist of the Red Ribbon Saga, Red never once meets Goku face to face, although they do briefly interact on the radio at General Blue's Camp in the anime.
*A running gag throughout Dragon Ball is how whenever he is not watching the radar, he is playing some sort of game to show how "good of a leader he is."
*Commander Red, although being the leader, is mostly very naive as he often needs Staff Officer Black to point out what he needs to do next to stop Goku. This is sometimes seen as strange since he is able to be a great strategist, as shown when he defeats Black in chessDragon Ball episode 48, "Deep Blue Sea" and how he is very good at pool.
*Commander Red and Staff Officer Black look-alikes both reappear as movie makers in Dragon Ball Z (episode 205) during the Great Saiyaman Saga. They are working together on a "Great Saiyaman Film" project for Satan TV. The Commander Red look-alike is the director, and the Staff Officer Black look-alike seems to be his assistant. The only notable difference between the two is that the director does not possess an eyepatch.
*His short stature and desire to take over the world militarily may be an allusion to Napoleonic complex a pejorative term describing a psychological condition which is said to exist in people of short stature and is derived from a popular misconception that Emperor Napoleon I was short and compensated for his lack of height by seeking power, war, and conquest.
**On a similar note, his despising having anyone taller than him standing next to him is reminiscent of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who was known to hate having people taller than him be in his immediate presence, resulting in his inner circle being composed of people either as short as him or even shorter (Stalin himself was 5'4"). Also similar to Stalin, he also tended to exaggerate his depictions to appear taller such as having his portrait dramatically increase his height (Stalin in various propaganda films has a tall actor represent him, and has paintings and statues commissioned depicting him as appearing significantly taller than in reality, as well as disguising childhood deformities).
*One of the medals seen on Red's uniform during the time he had his portrait painted (with exaggerations) resembled the Iron Cross.
*In the manga chapter where he dies, Red, in addition to mentioning the time people bullied him for his short height, also mentioned how the girls didn't want to have anything to do with him due to his short height. This bit was not made clear in the English dub of its Anime equivalent. Ironically, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero revealed he had a son named Magenta.
*For unknown reasons, despite various members of the Red Ribbon Army returning from Hell in the Super 17 Saga of Dragon Ball GT, Commander Red was not among them.
*In the anime, prior to his official debut, he was never shown directly, instead being largely hidden from view in a manner similar to various James Bond villains (particularly Ernst Stavro Blofeld).
*In a way, Commander Red and his actions with the Red Ribbon Army, including his personal objective of becoming taller, was indirectly responsible for the Android attack in Future Trunks' timeline as well as the main timeline.
**Similarly, it also indirectly caused Zamasu's Project Zero Mortals to be jump-started due to Future Trunks' time-traveling.
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