This article is about a power/concept introduced in Kamen Rider Wizard. |
- "It doesn't matter if I'm not human. Even if I have the same powers as you, I'm not like you. And if you say you want to destroy the world, I will use this power for love and peace. That's the kind of Kamen Rider I believe in!"
- ―Ryuga Banjo defying Blood Stalk[src]
The Cross of Fire (クロス・オブ・ファイア, Kurosu obu Faiyā) is a concept featured in the Kamen Rider Series. It is an idealogical concept referring to the general idea that all Kamen Riders, in some shape or form, share some connection with their enemies, which can range from a shared origin of their powers, or that an action performed by a Rider's civilian identity's past that was responsible for the rise of their enemies. Because they strayed from the path of evil to pursue a life of heroic justice, their sins of being creations from or creators of evil are symbolized by a burning cross, resulting in enemies such as Amadum considering the Riders flawed versions of themselves.
Riders Association with Evil[]
Series/Rider | Connection with Evil |
---|---|
Showa era | |
Kamen Rider | The Double Riders were two men who were kidnapped by Shocker and modified to become their ultimate cyborgs. The first Kamen Rider was Takeshi Hongo, later known as Kamen Rider #1, who was freed by Professor Midorikawa before he could be brainwashed. The second was Hayato Ichimonji, later known as Kamen Rider #2, who was rescued by Hongo. |
Kamen Rider V3 | Though Shiro Kazami was rebuilt into V3 by the Double Riders for benevolent purposes, he was built with their power and remodeled just as they were by Shocker. Joji Yuki was a Destron scientist that became the cyborg Riderman that was intended to defeat V3. However, Riderman (gradually) joined V3's side when he realised the evil of Destron. |
Kamen Rider X | X-Rider is an anomaly; while indeed reminiscent of the previous Riders, the Kaizorg was an invention intended for marine exploration before Keisuke Jin was modified by his father, Keitaro Jin, to fight G.O.D.. However, there's a minor connection in that G.O.D. itself was created by Dr. Noroi who worked alongside Keitaro Jin in the past but betrayed him to push his ambitions forward. |
Kamen Rider Amazon | Daisuke Yamamoto was given the Incan GiGi Armlet by Elder Bago to fight as Amazon and prevent Gedon from misusing the GaGa Armlet. |
Kamen Rider Stronger | Shigeru Jo joined Black Satan after the death of a close friend, one whom he considered his mentor. Promised power, and fueled by a desire for revenge, he underwent surgery to become one of Black Satan's super warriors. However, Shigeru knew that Black Satan were in fact the murderers of his friend; he was using Black Satan in order to gain new powers. The newly powered up Shigeru (Kamen Rider Stronger) escaped from the Black Satan headquarters before they could brainwash him into following their campaign of evil. |
Kamen Rider (Skyrider) | Neo Shocker intended for Hiroshi Tsukuba to serve them when he was modified into a cyborg. However, Hiroshi escaped their complex and fought them as Skyrider. |
Kamen Rider Super-1 | Super-1 is an anomaly, as he was created by the International Space Development Program for space exploration before fighting the Dogma Kingdom. However, there's a clear parallel between Super-1 eventually becoming a martial artist cyborg and the Dogma Kingdom's rankings being mostly filled by martial artist cyborgs. |
Kamen Rider ZX | Ryo Murasame was captured by the Badan Empire and turned into the cyborg warrior ZX; he only snapped back to good after an on-field accident. |
Kamen Rider Black/Kamen Rider Black RX | The Kingstones were created for the Gorgom Century Kings, with Kotaro Minami (Kamen Rider Black) and Nobuhiko Akizuki (Shadow Moon) turned into cyborg Century Kings, and the sole victor would become the Creation King by having both stones of the Sun and the Moon. |
Kamen Rider Shin | Though Shin was modified by doctors at the Institute of Super Science as part of a project to strengthen the human body from disease, they were funded by a syndicate group who planned to use the research to create super-soldiers. As well as that, ISS geneticist Giichi Onizuka, who had himself modified, wanted to create a new species, by fusing a grasshopper's DNA with the test subject's, in order to start a new civilization and be their god. |
Kamen Rider ZO | Both ZO and the Neonoid he fought against were created by the mad scientist Doctor Mochizuki, who dreamed of creating the "perfect lifeform". |
Kamen Rider J | J is an anomaly, as he was created by the benevolent Earth Spirits. But from S.I.C. Hero Saga, the prototype of J is ZO. |
Heisei era Phase 1 | |
Kamen Rider Kuuga | While Kuuga was created to protect the Lynt Tribe, the "Kuuga" character was not invented by the Lynt but is actually borrowed from an incomplete Gurongi, tied to N·Daguva·Zeba who like Kuuga possesses an Amadam. |
Kamen Rider Agito | The powers of Agito (as well as Gills and Another Agito) and the Lords he fought against originated from rival god-like brothers known as the Overlords, with the Overlord of Light bestowing the Power of Agito to humanity on his deathbed so they could evolve beyond the control of Overlord of Darkness. According to the Kamen Rider Agito Art Archives Icon, the Overlord of Light himself was a creation of the Overlord of Darkness so the origin of everything goes back to him. Project G1 additionally completes the Cross of Fire for G3 when the armor is forced to be upgraded using parts from Kamen Rider G4, a variant of the G3 system exploited by Risa Fukami for the vain end of becoming the strongest weapon in the world. |
Kamen Rider Ryuki | Ryuki and his contemporaries, whose nature varied between good and evil, fought by making contracts with certain Mirror Monsters. Though the Mirror Monsters were not created for evil purposes, they did result in the deaths of innocent humans. This is however not out of malice, but simply because they were considered food by the Mirror Monsters. |
Kamen Rider 555 | The Rider Gears of Kamen Rider Faiz and his contemporaries were created by Smart Brain to protect the Orphnoch King when he awakes, with the Faiz and Kaixa Gears being made for only Orphnochs to wear, with Delta still being in the prototype stages (thus allowing normal humans to use the Delta Gear). Takumi Inui, the main user of the Faiz Gear, is an Orphnoch himself, the Wolf Orphnoch. This however, is slightly questionable as some Orphnochs only tried to protect the Orphnoch King for their own survival, due to Smart Brain's many connections. |
Kamen Rider Blade | Blade and his contemporaries fought using the power of the Undead they fought against via the Rouse Cards, which are sealed forms of the Undead. Also, the users of the Rider Buckles must meet a level of synchronization with Undead DNA to use them, with Blade's synchronization being so high, it made the King Form combine all of the sealed Suit of Spade Undead and put him at risk of becoming a Joker-classed Undead, which he eventually becomes to stop the Battle Royale. |
Kamen Rider Hibiki | The Oni Rider contemporaries of Hibiki and himself, while trained to fight the monstrous Makamou, are demons that have the potential to become evil and, in the case of the A.R. Hibiki, part-Makamou themselves. |
Kamen Rider Kabuto | The Masked Rider System that Kabuto and his contemporaries herald from was developed by the Native Worms to give to the humans that would form ZECT, to fight against the more malevolent Worms that would arrive later, although their primary goal would be the protection of the Native, above humanity itself, with some of them secretly plotting to take control of the world after the Worms had been eliminated. |
Kamen Rider Den-O | Den-O, as well as Zeronos and New Den-O, fought against evil Imagin by bonding with benevolent Imagin partners. Not all the Imagin's seemed evil however, as they mostly seemingly tried to change the timeline to ensure their own survival rather than to kill humans for the sake of killing humans. |
Kamen Rider Kiva | The Kivats can freely bestow their powers to any creature they choose with most of the hosts being good from the start, though the energy they emit through their fangs to allow the individual to transform into a Kiva must have Fangire blood or DNA within them, otherwise the energy will kill them, such as was the fate of the second Dark Kiva. Since Kivat-Bat the 3rd chose to help humanity with Wataru from the start, this wouldn't make Kiva's source of power evil. It should also be noted that not all Fangires are evil by nature, with some choosing to co-exist with humans. |
Kamen Rider Decade | The Decadriver was created for Tsukasa Kadoya to become Decade and lead Dai-Shocker as its Great Leader, only for Tsukasa to fight monsters and eventually Dai-Shocker itself after losing his memory. The Diendriver was a prototype stolen by Daiki Kaito. By extension, since they use the powers of previous Kamen Riders, they're connected to their evils as well. |
Heisei era Phase 2 | |
Kamen Rider W | Both the Futo Kamen Riders and the Dopants they fought against transformed by using Gaia Memories. In addition, Philip created some Gaia Memories during the Begins Night event. |
Kamen Rider OOO | The OOO Driver and Core Medals were created so the First Kamen Rider OOO could rule the world. The creation of the Core Medals resulted in the Greeed, and by extension the Yummies, that would be fought by the modern OOO, Eiji Hino, who was aided by the rogue Greeed, Ankh, who had helped the first OOO until he was betrayed. Eiji was also mutated into a Greeed for the Purple Medals for a time until the ones in his body were destroyed when they got sucked into the black hole caused by the Kyouryu Greeed's death, reverting him back to a normal human. |
Kamen Rider Fourze | Both the Kamen Riders (Fourze and Meteor) and the Zodiarts transform using Switches reverse-engineered from the Core Switch. |
Kamen Rider Wizard | Wizard and his contemporaries could use magic and transform thanks to the usually malovelent Phantoms, by holding an immature Phantom (which are then known as an Enslaved Phantom) within their bodies. As noted by Amadum, Wizard was born from the Sabbath which created the Phantoms, and Beast had Chimera inside in his body after donning the Beast Driver. |
Kamen Rider Gaim | The Sengoku Drivers used by Gaim and his contemporaries were produced by the Yggdrasill Corporation; while not known to have truly malevolent ambitions, the higher-ups (who later use Genesis Drivers) have been shown to commit malicious acts. The Lockseeds that they use to transform also empower the Inves that they fight against, and can even turn people into monsters by consuming the raw state of the Lockseeds. Kouta and Kaito also became Over Lord Inves through respectively exposure to the Forbidden Fruit via the Kiwami Lockseed and eating one of Helheim's Fruit with sheer force of will. |
Kamen Rider Drive | Krim Steinbelt, inventor of the Shift Cars, Tridoron, and the Drive Driver, gave his collegue, Dr. Banno, the "heart" of his inventions, Core Driviars, out of a wish by Banno, when research of his inventions, the Roidmudes, had hit a dead end, only for them to go rogue and kill Banno and Krim, but not before Krim could upload his conscience into the Drive Driver. Eventually, the Roidmudes invented Viral Cores, dark knockoffs of the Shift Cars that would serve the purpose of helping Plain Roidmudes evolve much faster into more powerful forms. Go Shijima outright stated that since his and Shinnosuke's powers come from the same source of the Roidmudes, that makes the Kamen Riders monsters as well. However, in a technical sense, the Roidmudes are an inversion of the Cross of Fire, as the Core Driviars are the reason they were even able to move. Furthermore, the first Roidmude Chase (Drive) was created by Krim to be a protector of the innocent, as well as being the first user of the Drive system. Kamen Rider Mach would eventually become a direct example of the Cross of Fire through Super Dead Heat, which is dependent on the Viral Cores themselves to function rather than a Shift Car or Signal Bike. |
Kamen Rider Ghost | Both Ghost and the Gamma use the power of the Eyecons to transform, with one of the Gamma transforming in a similar manner to a Kamen Rider. |
Kamen Rider Amazons | Amazon Alpha, Amazon Omega & Amazon Sigma are all members of the artificially created Amazons race. |
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid | The Bugsters first manifested from ten of Genm Corp.'s prototype games, these same games eventually being converted into the Rider Gashats used by the Ex-Aid Riders. Furthermore, Ex-Aid himself is actually the main progenitor of the Bugster virus. |
Kamen Rider Build | The Smash compositions and the power used by Riders are both Nebula Gas. As revealed late in the show, the Build Driver was made based on the Evol-Driver. In addition, Sento Kiryu (Kamen Rider Build) is the alter-ego of Takumi Katsuragi (The Devil's Scientist), who is responsible for the creation of the Smash and Project Build as a purpose to combat Evolto. |
Kamen Rider Zi-O | Sougo Tokiwa is believed to be the identity of the tyrant Ohma Zi-O. Also, the Another Riders and Kamen Riders' Ridewatches are both derivative of the Blank Watch. Like Decade, Zi-O and Geiz use the powers of previous Riders through Ridewatches, meaning that they also have the memories of those Riders, as well as the villains their predecessors fought. Also, all the Future Riders are created by Sougo's time manipulation abilities carries the same evil abilities from him. Even if the prime Sougo avoids his fate of becoming the Demon King of Time, other versions of him from alternate timelines could falter, thus the danger of Ohma Zi-O is ever present by versions of him existing in all realities and possibly obtaining the Ziku-Driver.
Rento Makina, also known as Kamen Rider Kikai, is a Humanoise, a group of human-like robots that attack humans, however, Rento switches sides and starts to protect the humans. |
Kamen Rider Shinobi | Kamen Rider Shinobi and Kamen Rider Hattari can both utilize Ninjutsu, much like the Niji no Hebi clan, also Niji no Hebi is responsible for the events that leads to the Ninja Act being passed by the Japanese government in the first place. Furthermore, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada is revealed to be Rentaro's father. |
Reiwa era | |
Kamen Rider Zero-One | Kamen Rider Zero-One and his contemporaries fight using Progrisekeys while the rogue Humagears controlled by MetsubouJinrai.Net, known as Magia use corrupted versions of the Progrisekeys called Zetsumerisekeys. On top of that, the Ark, a maligned artificial intelligence, is also capable of creating Progrisekeys and corrupt Humagears into purging humanity. Two of Zero-One's forms: Shining Assault Hopper and MetalCluster Hopper are linked to the Ark, carry the risk of Zero-One losing control of said forms to the Ark. Later on, after Is's death, it shows that even humans can become willingly corrupted in the process as Aruto temporarily loses his idealism and powers the Ark-One belt before coming to his senses in the show's finale. However, like Drive, most of the tech from the Ark and Ark itself belong to Hiden Intelligence. |
Kamen Rider Saber | The Almighty Book is the source of both the Alter Ride Books used to create the Megid and the Wonder Ride Books used by the Riders. Later it was revealed that Isaac, who was supposed to safeguard the Almighty Book, has become corrupt and uses Sword of Logos to hunt down Touma. |
Kamen Rider Revice | Through the power of Vistamps, one can connect with demons, Ikki as Kamen Rider Revi must join forces with his demon Vice, a wild and impulsive being that only cares about destruction, to destroy the demons of Deadmans. The Deadmans are a demon worshipping cult that seek to use Vistamps on humans to revive their leader and create monsters in order to achieve that goal. Later it was revealed the Vistamps were made from Giff Vistamp, and that the Igarashi siblings are all descendants of Giff due to Genta having been infused with Giff's cells. |
Kamen Rider Geats | The Kamen Riders and their enemies Jyamato are both deployed by the Desire Grand Prix to kill each other in the game show of the same name for their audience's entertainment. |
Kamen Rider Gotchard | The Gotchardriver is not only Houtaro Ichinose's main method of transformation, but it is also sought after by the Geryon and Three Dark Sisters for their main goal of opening the "Door of Darkness". In addition, the Chemies not only provide the power source of Kamen Riders but can also be fused with humans possessing malicious intent to become Malgam. |
Notes[]
- The Cross Fire is one of Shotaro Ishinomori's working concepts for the original series. His name was used for the Cross of Fire concept in the Rider series itself. In addition to that, Another Rider #1 carries Cross Fire's emblem on its chest while dialogue in the movie reaffirms the shared origin of Riders and their enemies.