Staff Officer Black

This article is about The Red Ribbon Army assistant. For the character that goes under the same name, see Goku Black.

"Looks like I've been promoted. You squandered your power, but I will lead the army into a new era of greatness. My first order of business will be to rule this planet!" — "The End of Commander Red"

Staff Officer Black
ブラック参謀
Burakku Sanbō
Anime name	Staff Officer Black
Alias	Adjutant Black Assistant Black Officer Black Commander Black
Debuts
Appears in
Manga Debut	"The Dragon Ball Scramble"
Anime Debut	"Cruel General Red"
Movie Debut	Dragon Ball: The Path to Power
Characteristics
Race	Earthling
Gender	Male
Death Date(s)	Age 750 Age 790
Professional Status
Occupation	Military
Allegiance	Red Ribbon Army
Address	Red Ribbon Army Headquarters
Personal Status
Relatives	Unnamed sister (English dub only)

Staff Officer Black (ブラック参謀, Burakku Sanbō) is an assistant of Commander Red, and is not given much of a role until the near end of the Commander Red Saga. Black carries out Commander Red's orders and informs Commander Red of the current situations with the remaining Red Ribbon Army officers.

Appearance

Staff Officer Black is a tall, dark skinned man. He is bald, has black eyebrows, and large red lips giving him an appearance similar to blackface. He is seen wearing teal slacks with black pinstripes, a white, long-sleeved dress shirt with black armbands and the Red Ribbon Army insignia on the sleeves, black dress shoes, and a black tie. He also wears a long-sleeved black suit jacket over his shirt, which has a red ribbon pinned to it.

Personality

Staff Officer Black is an extremely soft-spoken and quick-witted adjutant, loyal both to Commander Red and the Red Ribbon Army itself. He always obeys Red's orders, from handing him cigars to putting himself into extreme danger to protect Red.

Black, however, is not a drone of Red and does have limits on how far he will obey someone, as he refused to serve the commander any longer after knowing of Red's selfish wish to make himself taller and then takes the army into his own hands.

If faced in great danger from a different force, Black will attempt to trick his opponent with a civil discussion into forming an alliance, before carrying on with his original plans once their backs are turned.

Black's loyalty to the army also can only go so far as he showed that he, like Red, couldn't care less about his army as he was willing to endanger them as a last resort to eradicate a threat when he fired a high-powered missile at both Goku and the army's base. Similarly, he also made no attempt to petition for General Blue's pardoning and voiced support for his execution in The Path to Power after the latter failed to retrieve one of the seven Dragon Balls. The dub for The Path to Power also implied that even before Red admitted to using the Red Ribbon Army to wishing himself to become taller, Black had some treacherous aims against his boss due to him claiming that he had developed the Battle Jacket without even Red's knowledge.

Biography

Dragon Ball

Red Ribbon Army Saga

Main articles: Red Ribbon Army Saga, General Blue Saga, and Commander Red Saga

Staff Officer Black during the Commander Red Saga

Throughout Commander Red's mission to acquire all seven Dragon Balls, Black assists him with small things, such as handing Red his cigars or complimenting his intelligence, while getting insulted by Red constantly, mainly when Black stands too close to Red, as Red does not wish to feel like a child due to his height. When Commander Red hires Mercenary Tao to eliminate Goku for interfering with the Red Ribbon Army's plans, Black has doubts about Tao when he first sees him. When Tao kills General Blue, an officer who Black said had not done well for the Red Ribbon Army before, with just his tongue, Black is in shock. When Tao has supposedly killed Goku, he informs Red and Black that he will return with the Dragon Balls in three days. In the meantime, Black continues to assist Red, and they also have a golf match together. After Goku defeats Tao, the assassin hired by Black's Boss, Commander Red, and promises Upa that he will get the Dragon Balls to resurrect his dead father, Goku storms the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters to get the Dragon Balls that Tao had previously stolen from him. Black repeatedly attempts to persuade Commander Red to evacuate the fortress to a much safer and secure location, but Commander Red refuses. Black ends up having to fight Goku by himself but loses outright. Goku actually ends up unwittingly saving Black's life, as the final punch Goku delivered made Staff Officer Black crash through a window. When a trapdoor ceiling fell down on Goku, Staff Officer Black survived, because he was hanging onto the windowsill. Overhearing Commander Red's joyful speech about becoming a taller person, Black was appalled, saying that his mad ambition has cost the Army dearly as shown in Goku's invasion, and may eventually lead to its defeat.

Black as he is to face off against Goku

Commander Red replies that it doesn't matter how many soldiers he risks as long as he reaches his goal, and makes it clear that he is just an expendable lackey, as is the rest of the Red Ribbon Army. Angered, Black shoots Commander Red between his eyes with his pistol, killing him instantly. Goku survives the falling ceiling and finds Black, who offers him a position in Black's new army - the Black Ribbon Army, which Goku refuses. The two battle again, and Goku is predictably too powerful for him to fight.

Staff Officer Black in the Battle Jacket

Black then enters a super-powered robotic suit called "Battle Jacket," and the tables suddenly turn against Goku. The fight continues outside, and Black in the suit throws Goku onto the ground. He attempts to finish him off with a Full Power Energy Wave, but Goku quickly recovers and proves too nimble and has him attack himself. Black then snaps and fires a rocket to destroy Goku, threatening even his soldiers and staff, but Goku kicks the rocket away. After realizing the boy is too powerful, Black tries to escape from Goku but the young warrior sufficed and double punched straight through the Battle Jacket, which exploded, with Black trapped in it as the one thing not installed in the Battle Jacket was a parachute.

Dragon Ball GT

Super 17 Saga

Main article: Super 17 Saga

"Well, that may be the case, but at least I wasn't beaten by a girl." — "Piccolo's Best Bet"

General Blue alongside Staff Officer Black in Dragon Ball GT

Red Ribbon Army members, including Black, who appears in Dragon Ball GT are drawn in a style based on their appearance in the original Dragon Ball, not in the "redesigned" forms that appear in the 10th-anniversary special. Black has brief appearances in the Super 17 Saga. After he and several other Red Ribbon Army members are sent back to Hell by Pan, he is seen speaking to General Blue in the Check-In Station. As King Yemma is busy stamping villains back into the dimension, the workload is heavily packed as all the villains are on a long line extending out of Yemma's domain, and General Blue and Staff Officer Black are chatting while in line. Staff Officer Black declares that it did not take long for all of them to be defeated and sent straight back to Hell, referring to everyone in line as "losers". General Blue responds by reminding him that he is also in line with all those losers; all waiting to meet their fate together. Later, Black is seen in Hell approaching Piccolo alongside Blue, Major Metallitron and Nappa.

Film appearances

The Path to Power

Main article: Dragon Ball: The Path to Power

Staff Officer Black redesigned in The Path to Power

In the film Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, Black has a similar role as Commander Red's right-hand man. Similar to the series, Black kills his boss by shooting him after discovering the latter's true intentions with the Dragon Balls. He also renamed the organization the Black Ribbon Army and got ready for a battle with Goku in his Battle Jacket. He was ultimately defeated by Goku's Kamehameha after Black destroyed Android 8. It is implied that the revelation that the Red Ribbon Army's motives were false drove Black partially insane, as he ended up immediately attempting to destroy Goku and endangering the base in his attempt to do so.

Power

Manga and anime

Staff Officer Black kicks Goku

Staff Officer Black is proficient with firearms, as seen with his gun usage. Black is also a capable hand-to-hand combatant and possibly the strongest member of the Red Ribbon Army as he tells Goku he will not go down as easily as the others. However, he proves to be no match for Goku. Goku also implies that Black was weaker than Mercenary Tao since he mentioned after the first fight that he wasn't much of a challenge compared to him, although that could also be due to a combination of both his increase in strength from nearly being killed and his training under Korin.

Black fights mainly with the use of a Battle Jacket.

Statements according to authors and guidebooks

The movie pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might states that Black has a power level of 150.

Techniques and special abilities

• Double Axe Handle - Used via the Giant Robot in The Path to Power.

Equipment

• Gun - Black carries an ordinary handgun.
• Battle Jacket - Black's ultimate weapon, a powerful mech suit.
  • Hikou – The Battle Jacket is able to fly with rockets.

Rocket Storm

• • Blaster – Energy beams can be fired from the Battle Jacket's right arm.
  • Full Power Energy Wave – An energy wave can be fired from the Battle Jacket's left arm's palm.
  • Rocket Launcher – There is a huge and powerful rocket launcher inside the back cavity of the Battle Jacket.
• Giant Robot - A more powerful variant of the Battle Jacket used in The Path to Power.
  • Hikou
  • Rocket Storm – Hundred of small rockets fired from the chest in a machinegun-esque fashion (slightly similar to Super 17's Hell's Storm). Used by the Giant Robot variant in The Path to Power.
  • Laser Blast – The Battle Jacket's ultimate beam weapon fired from the chest. It is used by the Giant Robot variant in The Path to Power, as well as the original version in Dragon Ball: Origins 2.
  • Crushing in Hands – A physical technique which consists of crushing the opponent's bones. Used by the Giant Robot variant to destroy Android 8 in The Path to Power.

Video Game Appearances

Officer Black in Origins 2

Staff Officer Black is a boss in Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen. He is a boss in his Battle Jacket in Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden and Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen. Staff Officer Black is both a boss and playable character using the Battle Jacket in Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure. Using the Battle Jacket, he is also the last boss of the Red Ribbon Army Saga in Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo and in Dragon Ball: Origins 2.

Staff Officer Black appears in cutscenes in Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu, in the opening cinematic of Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, and he is seen with other members of the Red Ribbon Army in the background of the RRA Headquarters battle stage in the arcade game Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle.

Voice Actors

• Japanese: Masaharu Satō
• English:
  • Funimation dub: Christopher R. Sabat
  • Blue Water dub: Jonathan Love
• Portuguese dub: Ricardo Spínola
• Brazilian Portuguese dub: Nestor Chiesse
• Greek dub: Manos Venieris (DB), Dimitris Antoniou (The Path to Power)

Battles

Dragon Ball

• Staff Officer Black vs. Goku
• Staff Officer Black (Battle Jacket) vs. Goku

Dragon Ball GT

• Staff Officer Black (Battle Jacket), Major Metallitron, General Blue and Captain Yellow vs. Pan

Films

• Staff Officer Black (Battle Jacket) vs. Goku
• Staff Officer Black (Battle Jacket) vs. Android 8
• Staff Officer Black (Battle Jacket) vs. Goku

List of Characters Killed by Staff Officer Black

Dragon Ball

• Commander Red - Killed by being shot.

Films

• Commander Red - Killed by being shot.
• Android 8 - Destroyed by Black's Battle Jacket.

Trivia

Commander Red and Staff Officer Black lookalikes

• In Dragon Ball Z, the baseball player Pepper Johnson resembles Staff Officer Black, except he has more hair. In the Imperfect Cell Saga, a member of the Battle Ball Team is seen, who looks like Staff Officer Black as well. During the Great Saiyaman Saga, a man who closely resembles Black is seen working as a producer of some sort for a Great Saiyaman Film in "I'll Fight Too!", along with a director who closely resembles Commander Red without the eyepatch.
• In the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball GT, Black claims he was not killed by a girl saying "at least I didn't get beaten by a girl." However, he was in fact seen in his robot suit when it is destroyed by Pan. In the original, he says that he would be good (in the Polish translation he says that he would grow a cactus, keep in mind that the translation was based on the Japanese version, so the dialogue change is unknown)
  • Similarly, in the dub for The End of Commander Red, Commander Red when complaining to Black about how badly the soldiers were doing against Goku despite their training alludes to the latter having a sister.

Gallery

Staff Officer Black Officer Black with Commander Red Commander Red and Staff Officer Black in the manga Black advises Red to leave the base Staff Officer Black Staff Officer Black Goku punches Black in the gut Staff Officer Black kills Commander Red Staff Officer Black holds the Dragon Balls after executing Red Black after getting hit by Goku Moments before death Black redesigned by Akira Toriyama (Supplemental Daizenshuu) Black goes mad from the knowledge of Red's deceit Officer Black in The Path to Power Officer Black Officer Black in his hovercar Officer Black in his hovercar Officer Black controls the giant Battle Jacket Officer Black Officer Black mad Officer Black teases Goku Officer Black defeated Officer Black in Advanced Adventure Officer Black in Dragon Ball Z: Sagas Black laughing as he thinks he's killed Goku.

See also

• Staff Officer Black (Collectibles)