Kazuya Mishima

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Kazuya
{{{content1}}} {{{content2}}} Official artwork of Kazuya from Tekken 6 and Tekken 7.
Universe	Tekken
Debut	Tekken (1994)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Astro's Playroom (2020, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	Arcade
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Japan
Created by	Seiichi Ishii
Article on Wikipedia	Kazuya Mishima

Kazuya Mishima (三島 一八, Mishima Kazuya) is a major character from the Tekken series of fighting games. He has acted as both main protagonist and main antagonist multiple times, alternating roles between entries.

Origin

Born from the union between Kazumi and Heihachi Mishima, Kazuya began his life with happiness. Heihachi would later say that he and Kazumi were "overjoyed" to have a son, and they treated him with utmost care. Kazuya began martial arts training at a very young age, under the guidance of his father and his grandfather, Jinpachi.

Heihachi, at age 31, overthrows Jinpachi and takes over his family business, renaming it to Mishima Zaibatsu. Under his control, it becomes a corporation bent on warfare, fueling Heihachi's desire to conquer the world. This change startles Kazumi, who realizes that Heihachi is becoming a threat to the world, and conspires to kill him before he can cause any further damage. Meanwhile, Heihachi thwarts his father's coup attempt by restraining him in a prison built on the Mishima estate called Hon-Maru, where he eventually dies of starvation.

When he was five, Kazumi discovered that Kazuya had inherited her Devil Gene, offering him the possibility of transforming into a demon. Knowing that her husband could discover the truth at any moment, and still seeing him as a threat to humanity, Kazumi makes a pact with the demon Akuma; having saved his life in the past, Akuma is indebted to her. Kazumi asks Akuma to kill Heihachi should she fail to do so herself, and to kill Kazuya should he follow the same path as his father. Heihachi soon discovers the truth about his wife and kills her soon thereafter, leaving him alone with Kazuya.

The five-year-old Kazuya, aware that Heihachi was responsible for his mother's death, directly confronts his father, but he is easily defeated. As punishment for his weakness, Heihachi throws Kazuya off the top of a cliff, to confirm that he had inherited the Devil Gene and to test that he could succeed him as the heir of Mishima Zaibatsu. Kazuya nearly dies from the fall, but the incident causes his Devil Gene to activate and his demonic powers to awaken, allowing him to climb back out of the ravine.

Following this incident, Kazuya continued to train to prepare his revenge against his father. During one of these trips, he fought Paul Phoenix; the match ended in a draw. Since then, Paul has seen Kazuya as his rival, and he continually attempts to rematch him, with no success.

In Tekken, a 26-year-old Kazuya participates in the first King of Iron Fist Tournament that Heihachi organizes. The winner of this tournament would be rewarded with a large sum of money. Kazuya participates in hopes of revenge and taking the family business. Making it to the final fight against his father, Kazuya defeats Heihachi with his "Demon Kazuya" form, and throws his body off the same cliff from which Heihachi threw him more than two decades prior.

After the end of this tournament and the apparent death of Heihachi, Kazuya inherits his father's corporate empire. This sudden influx of wealth and power gives Kazuya an obsession with surpassing his father in every way. Under his control, Mishima Zaibatsu becomes a military force and seizes Hokkaido to create an independent nation. Two years after the end of the first tournament, Kazuya announces the second King of Iron Fist Tournament to prove his dominance.

During the events of Tekken 2, Kazuya meets a woman named Jun Kazama, who attempts to stop the Zaibatsu's illegal animal trading. They later fall in love and eventually bear a son, Jin Kazama. Kazuya's love for Jun causes him to question his corrupted lifestyle, but he proceeds with the tournament regardless. The final opponent is Heihachi, who had survived his fall and came out of hiding to take revenge on his son. Despite Kazuya unlocking his devil form as a last resort, Heihachi reigns victorious. He throws Kazuya into an active volcano from a helicopter, whereupon he is presumed dead.

While Kazuya does not physically appear in Tekken 3, he makes a cameo in the opening movie next to Jin Kazama. Pictures of him are also seen in Eddy Gordo's arcade ending.

Soon after his death, Kazuya was brought back to life by a mysterious biotech firm known as G Corporation. With their aid, Kazuya studied his Devil gene in an attempt to control it and take back the Mishima Zaibatsu from Heihachi. This period lasted for twenty years until the Tekken forces under instruction of Heihachi raided G Corporation and stole the research data. Kazuya was furious and made even more determined to exact his revenge. A fourth King of Iron Fist tournament was suddenly announced soon after. Kazuya knew full well that this was a trap to lure him out of hiding, but he entered anyway for the chance to defeat Heihachi.

During the events of Tekken 4, he was scheduled to fight his son Jin in the semi-finals, but Jin did not show and seemingly disappeared. The Tekken forces captured him at Heihachi's command. Kazuya was declared winner by default and advanced to the final round. Personally disrespected and worried for his son, he met Heihachi as his final opponent to get some answers. After canonically losing the fight, Heihachi to Kazuya to the Hon-Maru temple, where Jin was being held. Initially surprised to see his son, Kazuya was quickly overpowered by his alternate devil personality, who took control of his body. Devil explained that half of himself was taken away when Kazuya was thrown in the volcano in Tekken 2 and the other half resides in Jin. Devil then knocked Heihachi out and attempted to assimilate Jin into him, but was unsuccessful. He speculated that the Kazama blood within him was preventing the merger. Kazuya used this momentary distraction to regain control of his body. He urged Jin to awaken his Devil gene and defeat him. Jin awoke and became Devil Jin, who knocked Kazuya unconcious.

Once Kazuya and Heihachi regained concsiousness, they were ambused by a Jack-4 squad. G-Corporation sent the squad to kill them. The two fought side by side for a while, but Kazuya quickly assumed his devil form and flew away, leaving Heihachi to die. Heihachi was pronounced dead, but an unknown figure assumed the Mishima Zaibatsu soon after and announces a fifth King of Iron Fist tournament. Kazuya enters the tournament to find out the identinty of this person and exact revenge on those that betrayed him in previous games. During the events of Tekken 5, Kazuya meets a man named Raven, who hey both recognize each other from the Hon-Maru incident. Kazuya interrogated Raven and learned that officials from G-Corporation betrayed him, as they wanted the Devil Gene research for themselves and saw him as a potential threat. He also learns that something was awoken underneath Hon-Maru. Kazuya realizes that his grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima, was sealed under Hon-Maru and was likely the sponsor behind the tournament. It is unclear how far Kazuya got in the tournament, though he did not win.

After killing the officials that betrayed him, Kazuya managed to take control of G-Corporation behind the scenes. Since Jin managed to defeat Jinpachi, he took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and the world was thrown into chaos from his actions. Kazuya used the might of G-Corporation to supress the Zaibatsu, and was heralded as a hero for saving the world. However, Kazuya only did this because he could accept a world not run by him and him alone. Kazuya uses his newfound political sway to place a bounty on Jin's head, dead or alive. During the events of Tekken 6, Kazuya learns about Azazel, the supposed source of the Devil Gene. He eventually locates Azazel in a temple in the desert and goes to obtain it's power. However, he and several G-Corporation soldiers are ambushed at the temple by Lars Alexandersson, a rogue tekken soldier and Kazuya's half-brother. After fighting for a while, Kazuya simply walks away, only telling Lars that the life of a Mishima is not a life worth living.

Later, Kazuya learns that Heihachi is still alive, has taken control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and announces a seventh King of Iron Fist tournament. Not surprised by any of this, Kazuya sends his minions to thwart whatever plan Heihachi has. During the events of Tekken 7, Kazuya sends a Jack-6 army to kill Heihachi, who was battling Akuma at the Mishima Dojo. Heihachi and Akuma fight off the army and successfully destroy all of them. Kazuya then learns that Akuma was sent by his late mother to kill both Heihachi and himself. He disregards this revelation and laughs it off, believing it to be absurd. Akuma eventually kills Heihachi, though Kazuya believes his death was faked. Akuma then tracks down Kazuya and confronts him on the top of the G-Corporation building. Kazuya agrees to have a 1-on-1 fight. Initially overwhelmed by Akuma, Kazuya resorts to his devil form, not knowing that the fight was being recorded and the world now knew he was a demon. Both Heihachi and Akuma are then hit by a laser shot from space by one of Heihachi's satellites, destroying the building. Public opinion is now on Heihachi's side. Kazuya survives the laser attack and uses his own laser to destroy the satellite, which falls to earth and destroys a whole city. With the world believing Heihachi destroyed his own satellite, public opinion is once again on Kazuya's side. Several hours later, Kazuya and Heihachi confront each other inside a volcano. Both manage to severly injure the other, but Kazuya eventually manages to apparently kill Heihachi and throw his body into a river of lava. Kazuya is then confronted by Akuma, who survived the laser attack and still had his mission. The outcome of this battle is currently unknown.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a playable character

Kazuya as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Kazuya is part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 as Challenger Pack 10. He was revealed on June 15, 2021, during E3 2021. His design is based on his appearance in Tekken 5 and Tekken 6, with an alternate costume based on his appearance in Tekken 7. Kazuya will appear as a playable character.

Trivia

• Kazuya is the second third-party villain to be playable in Smash, the first being Sephiroth from Final Fantasy.
  • However, he was the protagonist of the original Tekken.
  • He is also the second villain to be the sole representative of his franchise, following Wario.
• Kazuya’s appearance in Smash marks the second time he is playable in a 2D fighting game, with the first being Street Fighter X Tekken.
• Kazuya, Joker, and Cloud are the only third-party fighters whose debut games were not released on a Nintendo console prior to their debut in Smash.