Black Hat

Black Hat is the primary antagonist of the *Villainous* cartoon and Toon Wars Legacy who is the leader and founder of the Black Hat Organization, selling weapons to evildoers and causing terror to many parts of the universe; often crossing over to aid or belittle other villains. Though Black Hat seemingly appeared in CN Crossover Nexus frozen among others from Strike, it was really a clone of himself acting as a decoy and informant. This was sent out while he was at his manor sleeping until the upcoming crisis could be averted, giving him the opportunity to make his presence known by then. Following Toon Wars: The Final Days, he was introduced to Catra by his head scientist, Doctor Flug, and began scheming an elaborate plan to take over the Toonverse by gaining everyone's trust as the false Blue Hat while Catra served as the main villain. When his plan failed thanks to the New Toon Force led by Mao Mao, he was imprisoned by Clockwork and forced to use clone bodies to carry on his work. This lasted up to Dark Disney where he successfully sold *Villainous* to Disney and influenced Mickey Mouse enough that he transformed all media into the Disneyverse regime before it was erased from history thanks to Max and The Underground.

In Venomous Syndicate, his original recenge scheme to corrupt Pure Heart with unstable modified glorbs was spun around to have Professor Venomous assassinated, considering him a bigger threat due to his Shadowy persona's influence on the criminal underworld. He placed a bounty on him, leading to multiple supervillains coming to claim their reward while Black Hat continued his master plan in secret, aiming to turn the already agitated heroes and villains of K.O.'s world fully turbonic. He was ultimately stopped thanks to the unforeseen actions of Cosma and Venomous taking the mantle of a One Blade to kill Black Hat at the final stage of his plan. He first appears in Toon Wars Legacy in Crossover Forces as well as Jenniferthehuman's New Beginnings series.

## Appearance

Black Hat appears as a tall slender man sporting a long dark trench coat, black hat, and a monocle on his left eye. He has a dark neck tie, red and grey shirt, black shoes with white spats (pointed as though its one shoe in Frozarburst's designs), and dark gloves. Occasionally, he is shown holding a walking stick forming from his shadow, later redesigned to have a blood red ruby on top instead of an arch. He has jagged teeth with a slight green tint, sharp eyes, and a long forked tongue. In Dark Disney, he takes on a modified form where his body has jagged shoulders and no visible legs.

## Personality

By all accounts, Black Hat is best described as absolute evil incarnate, much like Aku from *Samurai Jack*. He is a manipulative man with somewhat of a spoiled attitude given the scale of his criminal empire and supernatural abilities. To his henchmen and heroes, he can be incredibly abusive and sarcastic, often shouting at both and trying to frighten them. Most especially at 505, who to him embodies multiple things he despises (i.e. kindness and cuteness). His egotism shows when in the few times he addressed other cartoons, he often mocks at them while favoring himself, such as the time he poked fun at Nohyas from *Mighty Magiswords* or Mojo Jojo from *The Powerpuff Girls*. Despite how rude he can be to others, he is not without a unique degree of compassion so long as those who seek his assistance can provide a sizeable profit for him. Or in most cases, if they have a certain level of evil he can at best respect. Such was the case with Penumbra (whom he would later trust enough to learn of his contingencies) and most especially Catra. Catra specifically was regarded by him as the perfect evil, having lost her sanity and frequently showed she was unafraid of the man. While most villains would often betray one another if given too much control or raw power, Black Hat and Catra respected each other so much that both would share the load, even when something as cosmic as the Fourth Wall was in one or the other's control.

As Blue Hat for a time, he was presented as kind, compassionate, and determined in his mission to stop Cyber Catra, encouraging to the heroes he gathered. Especially Mao Mao, who he coined as squad leader. When his facade was broken, he made it his mission to belittle the heroes and civilians as much as humanly possible, taking his evil to the next level by subjecting everyone to either torture, demoralization, public deletion, or instant lobotomy. He isn't, however, insulted when Adorabat is the one who stands up to him, actually welcoming Mao Mao to try and stop him if he were supposedly alive. By the time it came true, Black Hat still held confidence that his and Catra's plans are unbreakable, having already succeeded in subjugating the Toonverse. This quickly turned into sheer humiliation when his palace and empire were crippled, and became desperate the moment Mao Mao broke his ego. In spite of this tremendous loss, Black Hat ultimately remained true to his ego and partnership with Catra, vowing to revert Kitra back to her true self. However, just when he was showing confidence once again, he was frozen in time by Future Timmy.

Black Hat's manipulation and cunning was key to influencing Mickey enough to start the events of Dark Disney. However, his desire to reach a level of Godhood similar to what he had while in control of the Fourth Wall became his primary goal once the regime was formed. Interestingly, he feared Bimm even after her passing, admitting to forming elaborate plans that would work to avoid making contact with her unless he was certain he would succeed.

## Biography

### Early Life

Although it isn't known what his origins are, Black Hat is said to have lived an incredibly long time; presumably the same range as Aku and the Mawgu. From what is implied, his supernatural abilities and practical immortality kept him alive. However, with the introduction of cloning in the Toonverse, it's possible he may have used the method for himself as well.

### Crossover Nexus

Although he appeared in Crossover Nexus as a "hero" frozen from Strike's Medusa Cannon, this was actually a docile clone of himself sent to observe those in CN City and other worlds. Being a crude copy, it was destroyed following the restoration of the city, but not before sending valuable intel back to base that a cartoon war had begun (or that the Teen Titans were beginning to take over as seen in New Beginnings). This anomaly in the timeline led to the *Villainous* characters having free will outside whatever scripts they were given, even if their series wasn't completed.

### Toon Wars

Black Hat was one of a number of characters who didn't appear in the Toon Wars, even during the Final Days when the multiverse was truly at stake. While a majority of the new shows remained in a state of stasis until the crisis was averted, *Villainous* at this point only had a pilot and shorts that directly influenced or took part in other cartoons. When word was given to Black Hat over the dawn of the Toon Wars, he chose to simply watch the heroes fight on until they eventually died out, giving him the opportunity to take over what is left. To wait it out, Black Hat requested Dr. Flug to construct him a special capsule where he would remain in stasis for an accurate total of 5 years, during which his minions would continue to carry out his work in his absence.

In his master's absence, Flug had been documenting the events surrounding the war and the virus incident, including new details about the Nickelodeon Universe and the Syndicate, hoping to impress Black Hat. During the time of the Toon Force's final battle against the Toon God, the doctor along with Dementia and 5.0.5. recovered a mangled and corrupted copy of Catra stranded near whatever remained of their world, introducing her to Black Hat once he awoke from stasis. Although, all the information provided by Dr. Flug was highly beneficial to his master, neither of them peaked his interest apart from the Fourth Wall and Catra herself, finding her twisted worldview and evil schemes to be perfect for the both of them. To aid in Catra's repair, Black Hat supplied her with parts scavenged from the Toon Wars as part of an elaborate plan they began to draft out, and frequently relocated her to avoid discovery. Their scheme became known as the Zero Heroes Plan, which included both their primary goal and a series of contingencies should either of them fail.

### Crossover Forces

Black Hat debuted in the Toon Wars: Legacy series 7 years following the start of the Toon Wars. He assumed the false identity of Blue Hat; a heroic version of himself from an alternate timeline destroyed by an evil Toon Force. He and his colleagues (mostly unaltered but now suiting the heroic role) escaped into the Toonverse and found and repaired Catra into Cyber Catra. However, by the time they realized she was a villain, she had already founded the Horde Syndicate. To stop her, Blue Hat transferred to the Toonverse to locate select heroes of the newer generation of cartoons. Particularly *Mao Mao*, *Victor and Valentino*, *Infinity Train*, and *Summer Camp Island*. After his men retrieved the primary characters of each show, he set up operations at the capital of Toon City at the behest of Future Timmy Turner.

He explains his abridged backstory and gave motivation on defeating the Horde Syndicate, guiding the heroes he dubbed "The New Toon Force" on their missions in each occupied world. Eventually, he lost contact when they teleported to CN City, reuniting with them once they defeated Cyber Catra, her Echo Drones, Sky Pirates, and shut down the hidden Battloon Fleet. Afterward, he convinced the heroes to help him break into Jimmy Neutron's Lab to get to the Fourth Wall Controls, restoring his timeline to the way it was prior to the war. Beforehand, he informed Future Timmy about their plan to avoid an alarm as Jimmy was the only one who knew how to get to the controls for security reasons. He also sent Dr. Flug to Pure Heart to warn Mao Mao that Catra had escaped to a specific coordinate in space he could be warped to. This led Mao Mao in a spacial anomaly that led to the Trashbin while Black Hat continued to act as his heroic self to assist the rest of the heroes through the Retroville lab. Once they reached the Fourth Wall Controls and evaded the security protocols, Black Hat quickly turned against them, revealing his true identity and master plan. He and Catra (still accompanying him instead of being where Mao Mao was sent to) have the rest of their crew took the New Toon Force captive while Black Hat himself made a grand announcement to the Toonverse about his takeover.

He started by cutting off access to other worlds from Toon City, froze (cancels) Toon Force associated cartoons, and enslaved the people in his new empire. As time went on, he and Catra began transforming the Toonverse into the Horde Empire, terraforming planets into resembling the Fright Zone and Black Hat's personal designs. When Dexter and many others refused to obey, Black Hat publicly erased them from reality, sending their data to the Trashbin and lobotomizing much of his civilians in the newly created Horde Capital. While providing Catra with the Battloon Fleet needed to teleport to Etheria in a week once the portals were opened, he repaired her using the reality controls to turn her back into her original form. Somehow, through all of the New Toon Force's torment, Adorabat remained firm on the belief that Mao Mao was alive and was planning on stopping Black Hat somehow. Though Black Hat tried to antagonize her by instilling doubts, this would actually prove to be true as Mao Mao later returned with a full rebellion at his disposal. The mastermind kept his cool long enough to face the sheriff in a duel with his new Dark Whirlwind Magisword, stolen when he and his henchmen visited the Magisword Armory at Rhyboflaven to gather better equipment. Even when the planet is teleported into Despondos in front of Etheria and The Invincible crashed directly into the palace, Black Hat still continued to brawl against Mao Mao, who had assistance from Bob and Tanya Keys. He ttempted again to use taunting and spite to demoralize the sheriff multiple times. But instead, this caused Mao Mao to overpower the man, ending their duel with a Double Attack from him and Tanya.

Black Hat's henchmen were defeated one by one from the New Toon Force; even leading to 505's death when the dreadnought crashed. In disbelief, Black Hat tries to process his defeat stating that he earned his victories, and that he is the protagonist of his own cartoon, Villainous. As a last effort in influencing the heroes, he defends himself saying that without him, they wouldn't have ever become a team at all. In spite of the truth behind it, Black Hat was still slated for punishment, but was almost killed when Catra installed assets from the Fourth Wall to make herself into a new Toon Goddess. The deflected attack from Mao and Tanya nearly erased her, leaving only a toddler form of her from whatever remained for her to regenerate. Black Hat vows to get revenge on the Toonverse and bring Catra back on his side when he's immediately frozen by Future Timmy with the reality controls as punishment.

Black Hat's paused body was later sent to a time prison invented by Clockwork in the Ghost Zone, monitored by Walker. However, when given the chance to clone hundreds of copies of his master, Dr. Flug ultimately decided to terminate the program in favor of making only one heavily altered copy, including clones of 505 and Dementia; presumed dead after the dreadnought crash. He did this after Penumbra offered to help him with the process only if Flug made the right choices from then on, indirectly causing him to realize how pointless it would be to have so many clones of someone who ultimately neglects him and his work.

### Venomous Syndicate

In his new clone body, Black Hat, out of pettiness for his loss 5 years earlier, hatched a scheme against Mao Mao to use glorbs to turn everyone in Pure Heart completely turbonic. However, around this time, a small war broke out on K.O.'s world out of fear of another Shadowy Figure and Cyber Catra situation. Both of which were influenced by Professor Venomous, who by all accounts ran the criminal underworld for a time. Seeing him as the greater threat, Black Hat reworked his plan to have Venomous assassinated while gathering unrefined glorbs to corrupt the people of Lakewood Plaza Turbo instead. To do this, he struck a deal with the alien warmonger Vilgax, offering a yet to be completed dreadnought originally intended for Catra, along with a robot army in exchange for Venomous' demise. This was in part knowing that all the previous bounties set on the Professor's head would fail even before he knew of his training with Cattus the Ultimate.

Thanks to these bounties, however, Black Hat's plan was able to come to fruition, albeit slowly despite Venomous' efforts to stop him. He made a secret purchase with the CEO of Enterra Drive Yards for the saucer portion of the retired Dogstar Patrol Ship while Dr. Flug and a clone of Dementia were tasked with gathering the unrefined glorbs underneath the Ghoul School. Eventually, when Vilgax confronted the Professor, along with his team aboard his completed dreadnought above Lyvsheria, Black Hat revealed that his offer to the warmonger was part of his plan to have him, Venomous, along with Cattus, Bimm, and any other opposition killed all at once by setting the ship's warp drive to detonate while in-atmosphere. As this happened, he had already flown his makeshift bomb to the top of P.O.I.N.T. Headquarters, using the floating island as both a toxicity point and where the explosion will spread across the world, making everyone go permanently turbo. He also added a portion of his blood to each vat to ensure that all the corrupted could become monsters like himself. The only factor he admits to Venomous when confronted was Cosma, who was caught in the crossfire months back when he struck the deal with Vilgax, and since then had become an ally to the Professor before sacrificing herself to send the unstable warp drive to space with her before it exploded.

Having assumed his old heroic identity, Laserblast fought all the corrupted aboard the patrol ship to get to Black Hat, who had already beaten Mr. Gar and manipulated their old team into attacking each other. When it was just the Professor and him, however, he revealed both through his updated suit and prior knowledge that this scheme was originally intended for Mao Mao but circled back the moment he saw Venomous as the bigger threat, taking advantage of the mini-Toon War to turn the world completely turbo. But as Venomous pointed out, no one would be loyal to Black Hat if everyone thought the same as him, which was demonstrated when people beneath the island began to bombard it with their master inside. Thanks to this, he was easily distracted long enough for Laserblast to raise the island with Cattus' Magisword and jump out before Black Hat could reach him, leading to the bomb going off with the mastermind in it.

With his plans foiled, Black Hat was forced to transfer to another clone body kept in storage at one of his island facilities. But he was only left with two more after Vilgax destroyed the others and seized control of the base.

### Dark Disney

More than a decade after Crossover Forces, the original Black Hat body returned and managed to leave Etheria in ruins, taking half the Toon Force with it. He reclaimed his evil lair on his private island, plotting to kickstart his new rise to power by manipulating those remaining in the Toon Republic. But before he had time to prepare, he was assaulted by Cattus, Jimmy, Bimm, Nicole, Bob, and Entrapta, demanding answers for his crimes. Black Hat explained that his original goal was to bring Catra back on his side after she was converted to Kitra. However, his plan ended with her and her prime counterpart being killed during the Heart of Etheria's activation. Knowing the Toonverse would never recover from the crippling blow made outside their universe and the lack of the Fourth Wall Controls, long since locked away after Crossover Forces, Black Hat pridefully mocks at the heroes, stating for a final time that his uprising is already in motion. Angered, Entrapta silently kills him with Bob's wrist cannon.

Though his original body was destroyed, one of Black Hat's clones was sent off to Disney, selling *Villainous* to the company to great success, making it one of Mickey Mouse's most popular cartoons. Soon enough, however, the supervillain was able to get into the Mouse's mind, influencing him to the point where he dove into absolute madness. With the construction of Elysium, they were able to brainwash all sorts of media into following the new regime, creating the Disneyverse. For those who refused or were undesirable to them, Mickey would have them rebooted or executed, leading to Oswald secretly forming the Underground. Unbeknownst to everyone, Black Hat was literally inside of Mickey and was aiming to use Max's data to unlock the Toonverse's technology in an attempt to reach a level of godhood similar to what he possessed during Crossover Forces with the Fourth Wall Controls. Because he brainwashed Steven enough to the point where he became a monster under Disney, and due to Bimm's body having uncontrollable power Elysium cannot repurpose beyond fueling the universe, and locking down time itself, Black Hat was forced to reveal himself once Mickey Mouse was defeated by Oswald and Max, killing him in the process. He unleashed the monster Steven and attempted to use Elysium to reboot the Disneyverse and gather Max's data to finish his goal. Fortunately, when Bimm's body was recovered out of the engine and resurrected by Max, she immediately doused the supervillain in flames, cut the lock on time and gave the coordinates for Black Hat's island before he could take off to Disney in the past. Bimm's Erasure of the Disneyverse timeline forcibly reset to the main one, giving Max the chance to prevent the dark future from ever repeating itself, foiling all but Black Hat's mission to Etheria yet to occur. Though Penumbra protests since Black Hat had died, Dr. Flug insists she break into Clockwork's prison to free a mysterious villain to free the real body of Black Hat from his frozen state, promising him that he'll have his revenge on those who put him there if he helps the mutual ally.

## Abilities

* Telepathy
* Enhanced Strength
* Shapeshifting - As demonstrated in Villainous and against Mao Mao, Black Hat has the power to shapeshift into exact copies of different characters. Like Tanya, he can also transform other objects into something else, such as turning ice cream into a roaring creature.
* Regeneration/Immortality - Although it is said Black Hat is pretty much immortal, its shown in Crossover Forces that this is really an advanced process of regeneration. This is what kept him alive when he was nearly buried under the heavy ruins of the Horde Capital Palace, and from Mao Mao and Tanya's Double Attack. However, if damaged enough while healing or through use of the Fourth Wall, its very likely he can be killed.
* Body Manipulation
* Teleportation
* Energy Constructs
* Magisword Prowess

## Stats

Like in his series, Black Hat is considered one of the biggest supervillains in history, not only for his powers but for his cunning. When he isn't manipulating people into fighting for him or against each other, he typically exerts himself through shapeshifting, which tends to horrify anyone who sees him do this. Even his mere presence much of the time is enough to shake those on his world to their core. When he does fight, this ability along with others similar to Aku and the Mawgu's prove to be more than a match for most heroes in his cartoon.

However, even before Crossover Forces, he is made fully aware of his limitations. He understands for all his work in *Villainous*, he won't last long in a fight with much of the experienced veterans of the Toon Force. Especially cosmic entities such as Nicole Watterson, Clockwork, or Bimm. To aid him, he uses the aforementioned manipulation tactic for his long-term schemes. But in combat, he'll utilize both his own powers and weapons from other characters; primarily copies of Cattus' Whirlwind Magisword as it is the strongest one in Lyvsheria besides the Final Magisword. He mainly does this in Crossover Forces against Mao Mao, while in Dark Disney, he goes on the defensive and uses the corrupted to do his bidding. This is especially clear when he openly admits he isn't able to face Max and the Underground alone, and with the Soul Retrievers being used against him.

## Trivia

* Jenniferthehuman is one of, if not Black Hat's BIGGEST FAN. So much so, she cameos in Crossover Forces as one of the many voices heard when interfacing with the Fourth Wall, almost giving Black Hat's true identity away while he was still acting as Blue Hat.
* It's not exactly clear whether Black Hat is inhabiting clone bodies or each clone has a life of its own. Either way, it seems Dr. Flug's experiment in Perception of Evil became the inspiration for the project as multiple copies of Black Hat were spawned in the episode with the scientist's experiment.
* Although Black Hat is portrayed as being invincible in Villainous, he's said to have a healing factor giving him a sense of immortality in Toon Wars Legacy. This was to have him still be an incredible threat to the Toonverse while also being somewhat grounded with it.
* Apparently, Slenderman bought suits from the guy... Yeah...
* The only beings in the Toonverse who Black Hat fears most are Bimm and Nicole knowing their power is infinite compared to his own. To avoid their interference, he uses more subtle tactics and employs backup schemes on a frequent basis.
	+ He's also prone to be on the lookout for villains with an authoritative power similar to his own; namely Professor Venomous/Shadowy Figure and by extension, Cosma.
* Frozarburst refers to Black Hat as the Sigma (from Mega Man X) of Toon Wars Legacy since he's used as the primary antagonist for the main stories and tends to come back with different bodies and schemes. Both villains also have a strong fascination for their enemies, X, Zero, Mao Mao, and Max, for one reason or another.
* Out of all the villains seen in Toon Wars and Toon Wars Legacy, Black Hat is perhaps the longest lasting one thanks to his number of clone bodies and backup schemes.