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Template:DB Character Mr. Satan is a fictional character in the manga and anime of Dragon Ball Z and appears frequently in Dragon Ball GT.

In the original Japanese media his name is Mr. Satan, however he is referred to as Hercule in FUNimation's English dub (though he retains his original name in uncensored releases) as well as Viz's own English versions of the manga. This is attributed to the typical process in Dragon Ball (and shōnen in general) of stripping Judeo-Christian references for the sensitivities of Western audiences. "Hercule" originates from Hercules, in Greek mythology. In the U.S. edition of Shonen Jump, it is explained that Hercule is the real name of the character while Mr. Satan was his stage name, though no such explanation was present in the original. He is voiced by Chris Rager in the English FUNimation dub, Don Brown in the English dub from the UK and Canada, and by Daisuke Gouri in the original Japanese.

It should be noted that, because he so frequently goes up against the Z-Warriors and their adversaries, Mr. Satan usually comes off looking completely helpless. However, he is actually a genuinely skilled martial-artist when compared to the average human; it is only against the Z-Warriors and those at that level that he finds himself completely out of his league.

Character history

Template:Spoilers During the Dragon Ball Z time period, Mr. Satan is the reigning Tenka'ichi Budôkai Champion, a title won fairly by beating other normal humans in a time when Son Goku and other powerful fighters were not competing. During this time, Mr. Satan became rich and famous, but also egomaniacal. He boasted endlessly on television about his strength, and that he was the "best fighter in the world." Most fighters who he claims to be his disciples were actually the Z warriors.

In spite of being a dishonest, greedy, conniving, coward, Mr. Satan is still a fundamentally good and kind-hearted person. He genuinely cares about protecting the innocent and fighting for justice to the best of his (hopelessly limited) abilities, and is prone to violent and righteous anger when faced with the abuse of helpless innocents by villains and wrongdoers. Recognising that Fat Buu was used in his innocence by Babidi, he tearfully begged Vegeta to spare his life, as he laid helpless after being beaten by Kid Buu, even willing to risk death to protect the monster. Mr. Satan's love for his friend moved Goku enough to join in his defence, allowing the formerly evil genie to start a new life as a hero and benefactor to society.

Mr. Satan is one of the few characters to have never died (alongside Pan, Bra, East Kaioshin and Fat Buu.)

Cell Saga

After hearing Cell's announcement of the Cell Games, Mr. Satan, brave and foolish at the same time (mostly the latter), decides to enter the tournament and face Cell head on, despite Goku's warnings not to do so. While Mr. Satan and his top students face Cell and lose pathetically, Mr. Satan's personal news reporter ridicules Goku on the television until he finally shuts up after seeing Satan get smacked out of the Cell Ring by one slap ("tip" would be more like it) from Cell's finger.

Claiming it was a trick, Satan and his pupils sit the rest of the Cell Games out of the ring, watching Goku fight Cell. But Satan manages to keep his fame and pride by telling his friends and family, who were easily tricked, that he has a stomach ache and cannot fight.

But a bit of foreshadowing of Satan's future is shown here: when the severed head of Android 16 asks Hercule to throw him near Gohan to consult him, Satan does so, and Cell's reaction to 16's advice pushes Gohan off the edge and he transcends to Super Saiyan 2, ultimately destroying Cell in a massive Kamehameha duel.

However, after the Z Warriors fly off, Mr. Satan convinces his friends that Gohan was beaten and that he defeated Cell single-handedly with his chopper-move. Despite the impossibilities of Mr. Satan's honesty, he is easily believed, and he becomes the world's new hero and hottest celebrity, with the trust of mankind placed in his hands. Even so, when Cell's victims seem to be waking up, the Earthlings immediately suppose that Satan's defeat of Cell has revived the fallen, and Mr. Satan becomes even more famous before he can claim it himself.

Later on in the anime only, while Mr. Satan is at a strength show, he thinks of the human race as a "bunch of lost sheep who need a Hero," and obviously, of himself, as the hero.

World Tournament/Babidi Sagas

Seven years after Cell's defeat, Mr. Satan has become rich and famous, but has also became a joke amongst those who knew the truth of Cell's defeat, namely the Z-Warriors. Mr. Satan is seen in several moments, including for a few seconds training his pupils, and cowering away in his home to avoid a gang of thugs, even as they take advantage in a fight against Videl. He is also briefly mentioned during a conversation between Gohan and Videl, his daughter, as they both secretly hoped for Gohan to beat Mr. Satan at the next Tenkaichi Budokai so that Satan could be taught a lesson in humility and respect.

Mr. Satan is seen once again at the Tenkaichi Budokai, eyeing the Super Saiyans (The "Golden Fighters") with utter fright, having remembered them from the Cell Games. Satan is also seen talking to himself about the "guys who beat Cell" because he knew that they would easily beat him if they showed up. After the Goten-Trunks Junior Final, Hercule was set to fight an exhibition match with Trunks. Trunks knocks him out of the ring with one hit, but the audience just believe Mr. Satan let him win, though he was knocked against a wall and brutally injured his nose, and is seen grieving over the pain in private shortly afterward.

At the Tenkaichi Budokai, after it is interrupted by the ruthless Babidi, Satan is set to fight against Android 18, who does not want the fame of winning and agrees to throw the final if Satan pays her 20,000,000 Zeni (double the prize money). At one point in an anime-exclusive filler, he foolishly tries to fly, only to land on and hurt his weak point: his nose.

Buu Saga

After Majin Buu (Fat, but still evil) kills Babidi and starts terrorizing the Earth, Mr. Satan is sent to kill Buu by giving him deadly presents such as cyanide-filled chocolates and an explosive video game.

But Buu likes them, and makes Satan his playfriend. The cunning Satan then tricks Buu into posing for a photo, having him lie on his belly while Satan strikes a pose, and then becomes Buu's servant. But while Satan plans to use a super-explosive to try and kill Buu, Buu returns early from a killing spree with a hurt puppy, showing signs of good in him. Satan brings this good to the surface by helping Buu heal the puppy and convincing him kindly that killing is wrong. Mr. Satan and Buu then form a true friendship, and name the puppy Bee.

After Mr. Satan and Bee are shot by a thug named Van Zant (who is unnamed in the original Japanese, referred to by his servant as "Young Master"), Buu is torn between the promise he made and the anger he holds. He manages to heal Mr. Satan and the dog, but loses control and tells Satan to flee before it is too late. He then involuntarily spits out the bulk of his power in the form of an evil, sickly Buu: Majin Buu (Pure Evil), or Evil Buu, which kills Van Zant mercilessly by blasting him, along with a cluster of mountains. After being pummeled badly by the evil Buu, the good but weaker form, in an act of desperation, attempts to turn the evil Buu into an edible form using his Henka Beam. However, this attack is reversed and the evil Buu emerges as the victor before devouring the good Buu and transforming into Super Buu.

Super Buu is pure evil, but he still refuses to harm Satan, since he possesses the memories of Fat Buu. Obvious examples are as follows:

• When Super Buu looks down at Mr. Satan, he could have easily killed him, but instead, he merely spoke his name and left to go up to the Guardian's lookout.
• When the new Super Buu pulls off his human extinction attack, Satan is one of the three humans present on the ground to survive (the others being Tenshinhan and Chaozu), not because he is skilled enough to avoid it, but because Buu simply does not target him.
• Satan's daughter, Videl, also causes Buu to make an agreement allowing Gotenks an hour to prepare for fighting, as Piccolo tells Super Buu that Videl is Mr. Satan's daughter. Super Buu nearly weeps after hearing this, as he had been about to kill Videl at the time.

During the battle against Super Buu, Mr. Satan is angered to the point that he screams "I hereby terminate our friendship, Majin Buu!" and gets out a gun. In one hilarious moment, when Super Buu fires an energy ball to destroy the Earth, Mr. Satan shoots at it and it explodes, when in reality Tenshinhan intervened and countered it. When Super Buu prepares another one (and a much more powerful one, one which Tenshinhan had no method of nullifying), Satan once again starts shooting at Super Buu, and Super Buu is sliced in half, when in reality Goku returned and fired a Kienzan at him.

Mr. Satan, along with Dende and Bee, then sits out the rest of the battle and sees Vegetto pound Super Buu around. When Super Buu absorbs Vegetto, Mr. Satan and Dende tail him around the city as he eats countless cakes and sweets. Ultimately, when Super Buu reverts back to Kid Buu, Satan decides to attempt to fight him, but Dende advises him otherwise. Ultimately, when Kid Buu finally succeeds in destroying the Earth, Satan, Dende and Bee are rescued by Goku, Vegeta and Kibitoshin at the last minute via Kibitoshin's Kai Kai to Planet Kaioshin. At first, Satan believes it all to be a dream, but changes his mind when he is unable to fly, and also when Kid Buu shows up and resumes the battle against Goku and Vegeta.

During the battle, Mr. Satan becomes angered to the point that he challenges Kid Buu to a futile duel. Satan punches and kicks Buu, but it doesn't even faze him. Just when Kid Buu is about to kill Satan, he hesitates and spits out a blue stone that explodes into an unconscious Fat Buu, who turned out to be the bug stopping Kid Buu from harming Mr. Satan. Believing Fat Buu to have sacrificed himself to save him one last time, Mr. Satan, tears dripping from his eyes, challenges Kid Buu with all his might. Just as Kid Buu is about to finish him, Fat Buu intervenes and fights Kid Buu alone while Mr. Satan cheers him on.

Mr. Satan also participates in convincing the people of the newly-restored Earth to give their energy to Goku's Genki Dama, since they refuse to listen to Vegeta and Goku (except for Goku and Vegeta's friends and family, of course). The people end up believing they were giving their energies to him when instead, it supplies to the Genki Dama making it a lot bigger than before.

When Goku prepares to throw it at Kid Buu, Fat Buu holds Kid Buu down while Satan carries Vegeta's limp body aside. The Genki Dama destroys Kid Buu after Goku goes Super Saiyan, and Fat Buu and Mr. Satan make it back to Earth with Goku, Vegeta, Dende and the Kaioshins, now accepted as two new Z Warriors.

Post-Kid Buu Saga

Mr. Satan is seen once again after a few days, having been invited to a great party at Capsule Corp., where he drinks and plays cards with Yamcha and Muten-Roshi. After spending time on the sidelines watching with Dende, he also seems to have formed a friendship with him, asking about Dende's "job" as god of Earth. Despite his earlier ambitions and attempts to learn how to fly, he never masters it.

Ten years later, Mr. Satan is still the World Martial Arts Champion, due to his and Fat Buu's (now Mr. Buu) cheating the public by having Buu defeat the participants and then lose to Satan in the finals. At the start of the next one, Mr. Satan is greeted by Goku, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, and Pan (Gohan and Videl's daughter). Satan is only seen hugging his granddaughter, wanting to spoil her sick, and worrying himself sick when he sees Pan go up against a hulking fighter called The Wild Tiger.

When Goku departs with a boy named Uub, Mr. Satan and Mr. Buu watch their friend leave.

Mr. Satan's Family Tree

Dragon Ball Movies

Mr. Satan appears in the following Dragon Ball Movies and Specials:

• Bojack Unbound: Taking place after the Cell Games, Mr. Satan's friend organizes a Tenkaichi Budokai (that they call the Tenkaichi Dai Budokai), but Satan chickens out when he sees Gohan and Trunks (The Golden Fighters) participating. By sitting on the toilet with a fake stomach ache, Mr. Satan steals Gohan's credit for defeating the evil Bojack. The world believes Mr. Satan defeated Bojack with his psychic powers.
• Bio-Broly: Taking place after the Babidi Saga, Mr. Satan, while being attacked by Android 18 (he hadn't paid her the 20,000,000 Zeni he promised her) is invited by his old rival Jaguar to fight Jaguar's bio-warriors. 18, Trunks, Goten, and Kuririn follow Mr. Satan (secretly to save him from any possible danger), and defeat the bio-warriors, pretending to be Mr. Satan's students. That is, until Broly reappears and tries to kill Mr. Satan. In the end, after Broly is killed, Mr. Satan ends up stranded in the water, and the greedy 18 refuses to save him unless he pays her an extra 80,000,000 Zeni. Fuming, he swims off.
• Fusion Reborn: When the dead are resurrected, Mr. Satan is only seen for a few seconds, beating up walking skeletons and zombies. (This is perhaps the only fight where Mr. Satan actually succeeds at winning, he even says "Finally an adversary I can actually beat! I need to do this where someone can see me!" )

Name change in the English-language versions

Due to editing, Mr. Satan was renamed "Hercule" in the edited and dubbed American version on television and in the English-translated manga; he remains "Mr. Satan" in the uncut English anime on DVD, as well as the Mexican InterTRACK dub. The original name was considered too offensive due to its connection to the biblical Satan, a connotation that was intended but does not have the same religious significance for most in Japan. The new name originates from its use as his name in the French DBZ dub, which was based on Hercules in Roman mythology.

(This was not the only case of a Japanese character named "Satan" having a forced name change in an American dub. In Zyuranger, DaiSatan was one of the most powerful villains and was meant to actually be Satan, just as the mecha in the series were, essentially, God. In America, however, his name was changed to Lokar for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and his power was somewhat marginalized. Most of the names were changed in the Zyuranger to Mighty Morphin Power Ranger conversion, such as Bandora to Rita Repulsa, so his case is not rare at all.)

Also in the Kamen Rider Stronger series, the name Satan implies evil as well as in most anime series, with "Mr. Satan" being the only exception.

Despite its use in the French and Portuguese versions, it should be noted that the changes there were not motivated by editing away offensive content, but instead to distinguish him from Piccolo, whom had been renamed "Satan Petit Cœur" and "Coraçãozinho de Satan" respectivly (both loosly translate to "Satan's little heart").

In the U.S. edition of Shonen Jump published by VIZ Media, an explanation is given that Hercule is the "real name" of the character while Mr. Satan was the name he used as a wrestler (though he has always been a martial artist) perhaps because his design and general showboating personality is similar to a stereotypical western wrestler.

Mr. Satan was also named "Mr. Savage" on early English Dragonball products long before the Cell saga was dubbed or published in English.

In the tradition of Dragon Ball name puns, Mr. Satan and his family are named after demons/figures from mythology and religion. His daughter's name, Videl, is an anagram of the word devil. His granddaughter, Pan, can also be taken to mean the figure from Greek mythology (though since her father is Son Gohan, it could just as easily mean "bread"; given Toriyama's love of puns, it could be both).

Meanwhile in the Philippines, being one of the only two Christian nations in Asia, the name Mr. Satan would sound unpleasant for a cartoon character (whose Filipino translation means "Satanas" or "Demonyo"), therefore it was also dubbed to "blend" with the character. Although there are no manipulations made in the animation (such as changing the names where "Satan" are written, like in "Satan City"), instead they made use of a more slapstick monicker called "Master Pogi", which literally means "Master Handsome" (making his city "Pogi City" or "Handsome City") to match the sense of humor that he brings to the story (the irony being that he isn't that good looking). Eventually, Satan City was renamed Pogi City.

Name Changes in Dragon Ball Z Videogames

Dragon Ball Z videogames released in the English-speaking world since 2000 (including the Budokai and Legacy of Goku series) use "Hercule" rather than "Mr. Satan," ostensibly because this is the most familiar name to English-speaking fans. For this same reason, the fusion of Hercule and Son Goku that occurs in the game Budokai 2 is called Gokule. In the Japanese version of this game, however, the character remains "Mr. Satan" and the fused character is called Gotan. The European version of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai had him named 'Mr. Satan", but was later changed to "Hercule". In the booklet for the American release of Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22, the character's name is given as "Mr. Hercule Satan" with Hercule being his first name, and Satan his last.

Abilities

Hercule has only a few known moves. Ones that stand out among the rest are below:

Dynamite Kick

Used in the Budokai games and referenced to in Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

Satan Punch

Mr. Satan's signature move, this is just an ordinary punch preceeded by Satan shouting "Satan Punch!" when he uses it. He actually used this on the punching machine for a Budokai, which was destroyed by Vegeta. This is also known as the Megaton Punch. (Called Hercule Punch in the edited Funimation version)

Present Bomb

This is one of Mr. Satan's humorous last resort moves. The attack consists of Mr. Satan dashing towards his opponent, stopping at the last second, handing his opponent a giftwrapped box (which contains a handheld game), then running off as his opponent is distractedly playing the portable game. Mr. Satan then pushes a remote-control button to make the handheld game explode. The move is likely derived from Satan giving Buu a Game Boy and pressing a button to make it explode in the Buu Saga. In the Budokai series, this move is called "Present for You", and is his ultimate move.

Manga crossover

• He gathers the Dragonballs and grants a wish from Shenlong to become king of an island in a crossover with One Piece. This makes everyone on the island happy.

Video games

Mr. Satan appears in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II as a secret character. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Mr. Satan is the only other human besides Kuririn to have a "transformation" (in which he raises his tension). In most of the video games, he flies around using what looks to be a "Capsule Corp." jetpack. In the video games, the jetpack is the reason that Mr. Satan is able fly and run like everybody else. He is considered a joke character, especially due to his ridiculous (yet effective) special skill moves in the games.

His list of appearances as a playable character includes:

• Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
• Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22

• Dragon Ball Supporting Characters
• Fictional millionaires