Masked Man

Masked Man 仮面の男 Masked Man
Art from the manga
Gender	Male
Hometown	Unknown
Region	Johto
Trainer class	Boss
Member of	Team Rocket
Rank	Boss

Note: This soft redirect exists to avoid revealing a critical plot twist without warning.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

The Masked Man (Japanese: 仮面の男), also referred to as the "Mask of Ice" (Japanese: マスク・オブ・アイス), is the main antagonist of the Gold, Silver & Crystal arc in the Pokémon Adventures manga, serving as the leader of Team Rocket after Giovanni disbands it but before the Rocket Executives take over.

History

The Masked Man initially used Ho-Oh to kidnap Green, Silver, Keane, Chermaine, Will, and Karen as children based on their potential as trainers. Silver and Green escaped from him, and went to great lengths to figure out his identity. When Team Rocket disbanded in Kanto, he collected the remaining grunts and revived the organization in Johto with himself as the new leader and the remaining kidnapped children as administrators. The Masked Man's goal was to capture Celebi and make use of its time travel powers.

Gold was able to retrieve a scrap of his clothing and gave it to Professor Elm, who examined it and later realized that there were particles of the substance used to make Gym Badges owned especially by Gym Leaders on his clothes, revealing to Gold that he must be a trainer of some gym.

The Masked Man first appears in the Ilex Forest, controlling the Charcoal Kiln and his Farfetch'd to battle Gold. He then appeared to Gold, who thought that his Pokémon were wild, and told him to leave this forest. He easily defeated Gold and disappeared. Later, he would show up to battle Silver and Gold at the Lake of Rage and reveals Silver's past to Gold before defeating them both by freezing the entire lake and sending them both plummeting toward the rock bottom, a measure that would have been fatal had Entei not arrived and saved them.

He then lays low at the headquarters and commands grunts to capture Suicune. To keep Crystal and Eusine distracted, he sent a Ditto disguised as Suicune to battle them. The grunts failed in their mission however and Suicune escaped because of Parsee's Spore.

He is then confronted by Lt. Surge at Team Rocket's new base in Mahogany Town. He defeated Lt. Surge, but he was able to escape and have his Electrode blow the base up. However, the Masked Man was confident Lt. Surge would not report him to the police since was formerly a member of Team Rocket and would be arrested as well.

The Masked Man eventually gains the control of the legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh and Lugia, both of which he captured before, and leads them to rampage at the Pokémon League so he can gain the secret behind the time-traveling Poké Ball from Kurt.

Later on, by completing the GS Ball, he captures Celebi in the Ilex Forest and goes back in time. Gold follows him and reveals his real identity: Pryce From Mahogany, and eventually succeeds in defeating him and freeing Celebi.

Pokémon

Main Team

Delibird

Masked Man's Delibird

Debut	You Ain't Nothin' but a Houndour

Delibird is the Masked Man's most used Pokémon, typically assisting his ice-controlling abilities with its flight ability. It is so well-trained that, even with a type disadvantage, it was used for and succeeded in capturing the powerful, legendary Ho-Oh. However, with quick thinking on Gold's part, it was taken down by Polibo's Perish Song. Although it is very likely that it is the same Pokémon kept in Pryce's gym, the issue was never expounded upon.

Delibird's known moves are Present, Blizzard, and Fly.

Houndour

Masked Man's Houndour

Debut	You Ain't Nothin' but a Houndour

Houndour is another one of the Masked Man's battlers. It first debuted in a round named after its species, and casually overwhelmed Gold's Exbo and its entire team with alacrity, as did its fellow team members. It is later seen again on the Masked Man's team in both the battles at the Lake of Rage, as well as in the Team Rocket HQ situated in Mahogany Town when Lt. Surge infiltrated the base. There, it displayed the ability to use its howl to call upon many wild Houndour for assistance when needed.

Its known moves are Bite, Flamethrower, Headbutt, Iron Tail, and the aforementioned Howl.

Ariados

Masked Man's Ariados

Debut	You Ain't Nothin' but a Houndour

Ariados is another one of the Masked Man's team members, typically used for battles that require its String Shot. Although it is kept on his main team, it hardly saw any action after Gold's first meeting with the villain, instead being shown once with Houndour in a group attack and deftly defeated by Aibo's Double Team maneuver.

Besides String Shot, Ariados also knows Spider Web, the signature move of its evolutionary line.

Gastly

Masked Man's Gastly

Debut	You Ain't Nothin' but a Houndour

Gastly is technically the first member of the Masked Man's team to be seen on-screen, doing so when it unmasked itself and showed that it had possessed a trainer and his Farfetch'd. Because it is not as powerful as some of the other Pokémon that he trains, it uses it's ghostly possession abilities to do its dirty work, and, when possible, uses surprise attacks while hiding in its trainer's ragged clothing.

Its known moves are Shadow Ball and Curse.

Released

Ho-Oh

Masked Man's Ho-Oh

Debut	The Mightiest Ho-Oh

Although the appearance of this Pokémon was alluded to as early as flashbacks in the Red, Green, & Blue arc, where it was described as being a huge bird Pokémon that kidnapped Green, it wasn't until midway into the GSC arc that it made its first true appearance. There, it clashed with its former master, who had earlier had a team of Grunts demolish the Tin Tower and most of Ecruteak City to draw it out. Soon enough, its battle with "him" was shown to Gold and Crystal, confounding them as the Masked Man's identity was narrowed down to those among the 16 Gym Leaders in Johto and Kanto. Eventually, it was caught by the PokéGear-controlled dummy that was set up by Pryce, and rampaged in the Indigo Plateau alongside Lugia. Soon, after its Rainbow Wing had been extracted, both the legendary Pokémon were lent to Karen and Will, and fought against Green's legendary birds, and was eventually brought back to its senses. As it has yet to be shown upon it regaining freedom, it is not known where it and Lugia ended up settling in.

Its known moves are Fly and Sacred Fire.

Lugia

Masked Man's Lugia

Debut	Lugia (Part I)

Lugia's first appearance dates back to the end of the Yellow arc, where it was summoned by Lance to complete his plans of creating a utopia for Pokémon where humans that abuse Pokémon or destroy their habitats would be no more. Lance was eventually beaten, and the Badge Amplifier energy Lugia had absorbed transferred to the soils of mainland Kanto, where it would spread life instead of bringing about death. It was in the Whirl Islands where it made its proper debut, finally identified as a Lugia for the first time. Although the resusciated Gold, Silver, and Crystal stood little chance against its might at first, their starters all evolved and helped deliver a critical blow by aiming straight for its forehead to maximize its catch rate. A bright flash of light soon followed, after which it seemed to have been trapped in the ball Crystal had kicked, the three young Pokédex Holders were shocked to find that it was empty, and were led to assume that it ran. In reality, however, the Masked Man was behind the attack which caused its rampage all along, and was revealed to have caught it himself as he appeared at the Indigo Plateau and led an attack on the league alongside Ho-Oh, which he also had recaught. Eventually, after much turmoil, Lugia was freed and flied off with its fellow bird.

Its known moves are Psychic, Fly, and Aeroblast.

Celebi

Masked Man's Celebi

Debut	The Last Battle XIV

This Celebi was the object of the Masked Man's longing, and, the only Pokémon he could never manage to capture on his own. His dedication to acquire it for his plans (later revealed to have been for the sake of reuniting his Lapras with its deceased parents) was so strong that he would visit the shrine in the Ilex Forest to attempt to catch it, not being aware of the existence of the GS Ball's purpose or existence at the time. Six years prior to the events of the series, he was in one of the weakened periods where he lay comatose from the wounds he received, and this allowed Green and Silver to make their escape. 9 years later, he would finally complete the GS Ball using the Rainbow and Silver Wings he plucked from Ho-Oh and Lugia, and succeeds in capturing this very elusive legendary pokemon. However, though his Lapras, Glacier, succeeded in traveling to the past to meet its parents, the GS Ball was destroyed by Pichu, and he ended up stuck in the voids of time, where Celebi sends past memories of the song his old chums had wrote for him when his two Lapras died. It is worth noting that before Ruby moved to Hoenn, he had also acquired a Celebi that he rarely used, but it has never been confirmed whether the two are one and the same.