Rufus Shinra

<tabber widths="400">
|-|Rufus Shinra=
|-|Dark Nation=
</tabber>
==Summary==
Rufus Shinra is a major antagonist in the original Final Fantasy VII and its prequel Before Crisis, later appearing as a supporting character in the sequel movie Advent Children, as well as having brief mentions in Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus.
Son of the president of the Shinra Electric Power Company and vice-president himself, Rufus is an brilliant, charismatic and ruthless man who always considered himself a better fit to lead the company over his father. Earning himself the respect and admiration of his colleagues wasn't enough and despite president Shinra's intention to give the company to him, Rufus decided to take it by force by becoming an ally and leaking information to the anti-Shinra extremist group AVALANCHE, in order to take down his father and rebuild the company in the direction he chose. However, one of AVALANCHE's leaders, Fuhito, had other plans and betrayed Rufus leading to him being taken back by Shinra, however there was no punishment as the president simply told Rufus he was the right heir all along.
Time later, AVALANCHE had been disbanded, but a second incarnation, led by a man named Barret Wallace and accompanied by a former 1st Class SOLDIER, Cloud Strife, reappeared destroying Shinra's reactors in Midgar. Shinra managed to capture this new group, but Shinra's greatest hero, Sephiroth, a SOLDIER long thought to be dead, suddenly showed up that same night and set AVALANCHE free murdering the entire personnel of Shinra's upper floors in the process, including the president himself. With the head gone, Rufus finally took over the company and confronted AVALANCHE in person, establishing his philosophy. This was met with opposition from Cloud and both realized they were looking for Sephiroth, but with different goals in mind. After a brief fight, Rufus was forced to flee and Cloud escaped from the city with the rest of the group, beginning a race through the Planet between these two old opposing sides.
==Powers and Stats==
Tier: | 
Key: Rufus | Dark Nation
Name: Rufus Shinra
Origin: Final Fantasy VII
Gender: Male
Age: 19 (Before Crisis) | 25 (Final Fantasy VII) | 27 (Advent Children)
Classification: Shinra Company's Vice-President, Shinra's President, the Idiot President
Powers and Abilities:
<tabber>
|-|Rufus=
Abilities:
*Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Weapon Mastery and Martial Arts (Should be comparable to his Remake incarnation, who could skillfully playFinal Fantasy VII Remake (2020) around Cloud's swordsmanship with precise parries and dodges using his rifle. Can easily keep Cloud at bay with his gunplay), Acrobatics (Hypermobility, like his Remake counterpart, he should be able to perform agile jumps and moves to evade Cloud's attacks), Social Influencing (Rufus prefers to talk and negotiate with his enemies, usually pulling the strings to manipulate othersFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Shinra (2009), turn situations to his advantage or his opposition to his side. With this he deceived Kadaj about Jenova's remains whereabouts and strung him in a way the Remnant didn't even think of using his memory reading abilities to get the information he needed), Spirit Energy Manipulation (Should be able to use his Spirit Energy to a basic level at the very least, as any fighter above Infantrymen can do so), Non-Physical Interaction (Spirit Energy allows users to interact with non-corporeal beings like ghosts or Summons, whom trascend physicalCrisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-: The Complete Guide (2007) matter), Supernatural Willpower (Rufus has such a powerful will that he wasn't overwhelmedFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Yuffie (2009) by Sephiroth's presence in currents of Negative Lifestream and the GeostigmaFinal Fantasy VII: 10th Anniversary Ultimania (2007) disease never managedFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream White (2009) to preyFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black (2009) on his negative emotionsFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Nanaki (2009) to worsen the symptonsFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Shinra (2009) or the conditionFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Yuffie (2009)) 
Resistances:
*Resistance to Fear Manipulation (Despite having direct contactFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Shinra (2009) with Negative Lifestream and being infected with GeostigmaFinal Fantasy VII: 10th Anniversary Ultimania (2007), he wasn't overwhelmed by Sephiroth's terryfing presenceFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Yuffie (2009) which permeates it, nor is unsettled by Kadaj's whose proximity communicatesFinal Fantasy VII - The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story (2017) the feeling of death drawing near and could affect even Tseng, a professional Turk) and Empathic Manipulation (Has a will strong enough that Geostigma never managedFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream White (2009) to preyFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Lifestream Black (2009) on his negative emotionsFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Nanaki (2009) to worsen the symptonsFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Shinra (2009) or the conditionFinal Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode Yuffie (2009)), Death Manipulation (Resists Death and Doom), Madness Manipulation (Type 2, resists Confusion and Berserk), Body Puppetry (Resists Manipulate), Sense Manipulation (Resists Blind and Silence), Transmutation (Resists Toad), Size Manipulation (Resists Small) and Petrification (Resits Petrify), Power Nullification (The Silence ailment prevents the use of spiritual, mental and magical abilities. Toad prevents the use of any kind of ability altogether), Gravity Manipulation (Takes no damage from Demi/Gravity spells) 
|-|Dark Nation=
Abilities:
*Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Acrobatics (Hypermobility), Bodily Weaponry (Conventional, has claws and fangs it employs in combat), Spirit Energy Manipulation and Magic (Can use magic despite not being equipped with Materia), Non-Physical Interaction (Spirit Energy allows users to interact with non-corporeal beings like ghosts or Summons, whom trascend physicalFinal Fantasy VII: 10th Anniversary Ultimania (2007) matter), Electricity Manipulation (via Bolt), Damage Reduction via Forcefield Creation (via Barrier and MBarrier/Manawall, to halve physical and magical damage, respectively)
Resistances:
*Resistance to: Madness Manipulation (Type 2. Unaffected by Confusion)
</tabber>
Attack Potency: Multi-Continent level (Held his own against Cloud in a duel at the end of the events of Midgar. Shortly later, Cloud would prove he had the power to command Summons like Ifrit and Shiva) | Multi-Continent level (Its physical and magical attacks can hurt Cloud)
Speed: Sub-Relativistic+ (Can keep up with Cloud in a fight. If Remake is to go by, Rufus is quick enough to skillfully work around Cloud's attacks and keep him at distance with gunfire) | Sub-Relativistic+ (Can catch up Cloud during a fight with its movements and attacks)
Lifting Strength: Class M (Can easily throw Cloud off-balance with his parries if given the chance and even graple with him to an extent. Cloud should be on the level of Summons like Ifrit and Shiva, who are comparable to Titan) | Class M (Can easily pin down Cloud when attacking him)
Striking Strength: Multi-Continent level (Though he mostly relies on his gunplay and assists from Dark Nation, Rufus' physical attacks can knock Cloud off-balance and push him back) | Multi-Continent level (Can hurt Cloud with his bites and claws)
Durability: Multi-Continent level (Can endure attacks from Cloud, who shortly after their duel would display he had this kind of power by commanding Summons like Ifrit and Shiva) | Multi-Continent level (Can withstand attacks from Cloud)
Stamina: At least Above Average. Despite fighting a very intense duel against Cloud and being defeated, Rufus didn't show any signs of exhaustion and retreated without losing his composture- | Average. The Dark Nation is a powerful partner for Rufus, but it can't hold for too long against opponents on a similar level, as seen in the battle against Cloud and how easily it can fall in battle or run out of Magic power to cast spells.
Range: Tens of Meters with his shotgun | Standard Melee Range with physical attacks. Tens of Meters with magic
Standard Equipment: 
FFVII Shotgun.png|Rufus using his Shotgun against Cloud
Final Fantasy 7 AC Rufus shooting.jpg|Rufus' Custom Model Shotgun in Advent Children
*Shotgun: A double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun with fires a spread shot towards the target. Rufus carries this weapon in his duel against Cloud.
*Custom Shotgun: Seen in Advent Children when Rufus decides to escape from Kadaj. This custom model has a large barrel, but is capable of firing smaller bullets in quicker succession.
*Handgun: As seen in Chapter 15, "Bad Timing", of the novel Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, Rufus carries a gun hidden in his pockets as an extra safety measure. When Evan had to escape from Healen Lodge, taking the chance when his friends came to rescue him from the Turks, he tried to held Rufus hostage with a knife, Rufus, amused and surprised at the move decided to let Evan go and indicated Kyrie, Evan's friend, where he had his gun hidden so they could use it in the way back to Midgar in the case monsters appeared.
Intelligence: Gifted. Rufus is an very intelligent, cunning and manipulative man, capable of not only handling the Shinra company despite his rather young age, scheme brilliantly against it before that, but easily pull the strings to switch conversations in his favor and goad people to manipulate them however he sees fit for his own ends. He also can keep his head cool no matter how bad the situation gets and take pragmatic choices for the best outcome. Combat wise, Rufus is an extremely skilled and technichal fighter combining precise gunplay and close combat to both keep his opponents at distance but also easily dance around their close range attacks, managing to be a very hard opponent to catch even for opponents stronger and faster than him such as Cloud. Rufus can flawlessly cooperate with Dark Nation for combinations and taking advantage of his partners support magic. | Above Average. Despite seeming like a feral animal, Dark Nation can work surprisingly well with Rufus in combinations and takes a very tactical approach to defend its master, being very obedient to commands and knowing when to retreat should Rufus deem it necessary.
Weaknesses: Rufus may run out of ammo during battle needing to reload. Taking advantage of this is not easy as it seems as Rufus will parry and evade attacks while he readies his firearm once again. | Dark Nation has a limited pool of magic which can run out.
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
*Rufus:
**Shotgun: Rufus takes aim and fires his shotgun at the target. Depending on the model he can fire a spread shot like a regular shotgun or quicker fire like a handgun with smaller bullets. His shotgun's gunfire is powerful enough to hurt Cloud.
**Manipulation and Charisma: Perhaps Rufus's greatest skill is his way with words. Rufus not only is sharp, but also soft spoken and charismatic, allowing him to easily entice other people and control conversations and the outcome of events. He also he can acutely read people's demeanor and their implications to pinpoint what he can take advantage of to manipulate, deceive or simply use them, be it fears, ambitions, insecurities, desires and such. This not only has helped Rufus to establish deals with sworn enemies like the first AVALANCHE, but gained him the admiration of the Shinra directors, known for their petty infighting, as well as the Turks' devotion.
*Dark Nation:
**Bolt (Thunder): A weaker level thunder magic that conjures a bolt of lightning to fall on the opponent.
**Barrier: The user casts a barrier around the target that halves physical damage. Dark Nation will always prioritize using it on Rufus.
**MBarrier: Similar to Barrier but halving Magical Damage instead. Like Barrier, Dark Nation will use it on Rufus instead of itself at first.
==Explanations==
*Though Remake is not a separate continuity, rather the very same setting of the original game branching off to an "unknown journey" due to the characters breaking free from fate, due to the many differences between the game and the original due to the updated setting and gameplay, characters are still considered separate incarnations for the most part (such as abilities, available equipment and such), with the exception of their basic capabilities and skill as they are consistent between both games and don't play into the differences between Remake and the original.
*The reason Rufus scales to "Multi-Continent level" instead of "At least Multi-Continent level, likely higher", Cloud's tier, is because Cloud's tiering considers the end of Disc 1 a point by which he had feats of scaling far above the level he had when he fought Rufus, which happened at the end of Midgar at the early parts of Disc 1.
==Gallery==
Rufus_enemyFFVII.png|Rufus' in-game battle model
Rufus_advent_children.png|Rufus in Advent Children, infected with Geostigma
Rufus-reno-and-rude.jpg|Rufus alongside his Turks, Rude and Reno
BeforeCrisisRufus.jpg|Rufus in Before Crisis
PFF_Dark_Nation.png|Dark Nation in Final Fantasy: Record Keeper
==Notable Matchups==
Victories:
Losses:
Inconclusive:
Category:Gun Users
Category:Final Fantasy VII
Category:Final Fantasy
Category:Antagonists
Category:Chi Users
Category:Martial Artists
Category:Magic Users
Category:Forcefield Users
Category:Electricity Users
Category:Weapon Masters
Category:Acrobats
Category:Social Influencers
Category:Body Control Users
Category:Anti-villains
Category:Characters