Shadowmasters
Encyclopedia
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
(Earth-616
Earth-616
In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.-Origin of Earth-616:...
continuity), created by Carl Potts
Carl Potts
Carl Potts is an American comic-book writer, artist, and editor best known for creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics.-Early life:...
in 1989. They first appeared in The Punisher War Journal
The Punisher War Journal
The Punisher War Journal is the title of two Marvel Comics comic book series featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher...
, leading to their own 4-issue limited mini series starting with Shadowmasters #1 in October 1989.
In Shadowmasters
The Shadowmasters are an ancient clan of martial arts masters of ninjutsuNinjutsu
or may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
native to the Iga Province
Iga Province
was an old province of Japan in the area that is today western Mie Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iga bordered on Ise, Ōmi, Yamato, and Yamashiro Provinces.-Geography:...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. For centuries they have served as protectors of Iga and its people, posing as half-demon and half-human beings. When Japan surrendered after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Shigeru Ezaki was one of the last Shadowmasters and the mayor of a small town in Iga named Ueno
Ueno, Mie
was a city located in Mie, Japan. The city was founded on September 10, 1941.On November 1, 2004 Ueno was merged with the old town of Iga, the town of Ayama, the villages of Ōyamada and Shimagahara, all from Ayama District, and the town of Aoyama, from Naga District, to form the new city of Iga.In...
, whose his wife has been just killed in the U.S. atomic bombing
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
in the closing days of the war. But when the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Captain James Richards, who oversaw the occupation of Iga Province, saved the life of Ezaki's son, the two became friends and together fought against a fanatical die-hard band of Japanese military stragglers
Japanese holdout
Japanese holdouts or stragglers were Japanese soldiers in the Pacific Theatre who, after the August 1945 surrender of Japan that marked the end of World War II, either adamantly doubted the veracity of the formal surrender due to strong dogmatic or militaristic principles, or were not aware of it...
holed up in the mountains of Iga. The decimated enemy group appeared to be forced to disband, but really they just changed their tactics: led by a man named Umezu, they founded a supposed business corporation called the Sunrise Society, serving as a cover for a Japanese ultranationalist
Uyoku dantai
Uyoku dantai are Japanese nationalist right-wing groups.In 1996, the National Police Agency estimated that there are over 1000 right wing groups in Japan with about 100,000 members in total.-Tennō period:...
crime syndicate with the aim of seizeing control of Japan and bringing the country back to its Imperial glory.
Over the years, Ezaki began training Richards's son Philip along with his own offspring Manzo and Yuriko in the arts of ninjutsu. In the meantime Umezu's organization greatly grew in power and eventually struck back, killing Richards and kidnapping Shigeru, who then saved his family but apparently at the cost of his own life. In reality however he has been recaptured and secretly held prisoner by the Sunrise Society, which subjected him to human cloning
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
experiments to create an army of invincible super-soldiers. In the final confrontation of the series the Shadowmasters storm the Umezu's research facality to kill him and destroy his army of clones, but Shigeru dies too.
In The Punisher
The Shadowmasters indirectly came into contact with the PunisherPunisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
(Frank Castle) when Kathryn Yakamoto (daughter of the elderly ninja master Hatsu Yakamoto from the Hokkaido
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
-based Yakamoto clan teaching the young Shadowmasters) incognito helped him as a mysterious female ninja when he went to infiltrate a suspicious survivalist "ninja training camp" run by a shady American group. Later they joined forces with him and the Black Widow (Natalia Romanova) in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
against the forces of resurgent Sunrise Society, now renamed as the Eternal Sun (which was also later featured in the 2005 The Punisher video game
The Punisher (2005 video game)
The Punisher is a 2005 action game which stars the Marvel Comics antihero, The Punisher. After his family was murdered by the mafia, Frank Castle devoted his life to the punishment of criminals. Players take control of the vigilante hero to track down criminals and kill them...
).
The conflict led to destruction of the Eternal Sun headquarters in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, attacked together by the Punisher and the Shadowmasters, but also to death of Hatsu Yakamoto (who wanted Castle, who also became his student, to bring the art to America), assassinated by the Punisher's long-time foe and the Eternal Sun's mercenary associate Iris Green. Kathryn and the Punisher then went back to the States to kill Green and a corrupt U.S. Congressman Hargreaves also working with the Eternal Sun. They succeed and Kathryn promptly leaves the Punisher and vanishes again, while the latest generation of the Shadowmasters stay in Japan to continue their vendetta against the Eternal Sun.