The Black Baron

"Y'all know who I am. That's right, the bishop of blood and carnage! The Black Baron!"

- The Black Baron

The Black Baron serves as the face of the Bloodbath Challenges as well as DeathWatch's master of ceremonies.

In a twist he is also the contestant ranked 1st on DeathWatch, making him the current champion. As such he is the thirteenth and thus final boss of MadWorld.

Background
The Black Baron is a celebrity and as DeathWatch's master of ceremonies he is responsible for introducing the Bloodbath Challenges as well as explaining the rules to the audience and participants. He also announces important news regarding the games, such as a bounty of one million dollars that was put on Jack by the DeathWatchers.

At some time he became the reigning DeathWatch champion. It is not known whether he earned that title legitimately or if that title was simply assigned to him, since the last official DeathWatch games were held in 2001, when Jack Cayman was DeathWatch's champion.

The Black Baron is always accompanied by his assistant Mathilda.

Appearance
The Black Baron appears as a stereotypical pimp. He wears a brightly colored coat with a leopard pattern inseam. He also wears a fedora of similar design. He wears white gloves and a ring resembling a king's crown on each of his middle fingers. Around his neck he wears a golden necklace with a large pendant in the shape of "BB", standing for his name. Further accessories include two golden earrings, diamond adorned sunglasses as well as a walking cane.

True to his name, his skin is colored black, but his hair seems to be of a brighter color.

Personality
The Black Baron, fitting of a show host, speaks and acts in a lively and energetic fashion, and he often uses catchy phrases like "Pimps, Playas, and Pain Purveyors." when referring to the audience of DeathWatch.

He holds a strong emotional attachment and affection for his assistant Mathilda, as he usually refers to her with pet names like "Mama" or "Baby", he also seems to be very forgiving and patient with her, as he only gets angry with her when he is thrown by her into the Turbinator, and seems to be distressed at the situation he is in every other time she kills him to demonstrate a BloodBath Challenge.

He speaks in a way that is stereotypically associated with black people. He speaks very quickly and uses lots of contractions and slang words.

Involvement in the Jefferson Island DeathWatch games
As the face of the Bloodbath Challenges, it is up to the Black Baron to introduce them to the audience and participants. After each explanation of the rules, he is then used by Mathilda as a live demonstration, but seems to have survived miraculously by the time the next Bloodbath Challenge is introduced.

He later is revealed to be the reigning champion of DeathWatch. Jack fights him atop of the tower in Casino Land, the games' final level.

Strategy
The Black Baron specializes in close combat. At the beginning of the fight, he attacks with quick hook punches and occasionally with a powerful straight punch or a dropkick. After he lost the first Power Struggle, the Black Baron will unleash his full power and perform much stronger attacks, such as an uppercut with gravitational pull or a ground shattering dive kick.

The Black Baron also has a pretty strong defense, effectively blocking or dodging Jack's attacks. The best way to harm him is to let the Black Baron attack first, dodge his attack and then use the opening in his defense to punish him.

Power Struggle
The Black Baron can initiate a Power Struggle at any time when he dashes towards Jack. Jack and the Black Baron will have their fists collide violently with and increasing speed. After that, they hit each other with a series of blows that connect at the same time. If Jack is successful, he will jump into the air and hit the tumbling Baron on the back of his head with both his fists.

However, if Jack should lose the Power Struggle, the Black Baron will quickly dash behind Jack, who is then struck by a very quick series of invisibly punches, before he falls over.

Death
After he is defeated, Mathilda will toss her spiked bat at the Black Baron. Jack will then pick it up as two helicopters position the board from Man Darts behind the Black Baron. Jack repeatedly pimp slaps the Black Baron with his mechanical arm while the crowd continues to cheer. Jack then swings the bat and sends the Black Baron flying towards the board, where he hits the bullseye with such a force, that his upper body is completely destroyed.

Commentator Quotes

 * Howard: "Jack has climbed a mountain of bodies to reach this, the pinnacle of the DeathWatch competition! Here in this amazing stadium in front of a bloodthirsty crowd of the city survivors, Jack will face his final foe in the ultimate fight for the championship!"
 * Kreese: "There can be only one Number 1 in this fight to the death!"
 * Howard: Well, duh. It's a mathematical fact there can only be one Number 1!"
 * Kreese: "For the last fucking time, NOBODY SAID THERE'D BE MATH!!!!!"
 * Together (singing): "I BLAME OUR SCHOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLSSSSSSS!"
 * Howard: "Jack's didn't give two shits about that bang."
 * Kreese: "Jack's gonna have to take a page out of your book and do it by hand."
 * Howard: "Are you saying I flog the sausage too much?"
 * Kreese: "Only if you consider 24 hours a day, 365 days a year 'too much'."
 * Howard: "I live for leap years!"


 * Howard: "So, is this guy really a baron?"
 * Kreese: "No, as a matter of fact he's not even black."
 * Howard: "Really? I thought he was a black guy."
 * Kreese: "Why does it matter? Why do you have to bring race into it?"
 * Howard: "I didn't, I was just asking if he was a real baron."
 * Kreese: "Fucking racist."

Trivia

 * Despite being killed multiple times to demonstrate various events on Deathwatch, he seems to survive and come back, only to be killed again. This has led many fans to believe that the deaths you see in the demonstrations are staged or made-up for comic-relief.
 * The gloves he wears resemble the gloves that many rubber hose animation cartoon characters wore, such as Mickey Mouse.
 * The Black Baron is one of only four bosses who can initiate a Power Struggle without requiring any input by the player.
 * The other two are Little Eddie, Von Twirlenkiller and Martin.
 * The Black Baron is the only boss in MadWorld to have two boss theme songs.
 * He does not appear directly in Anarchy Reigns, but a new character, who calls himself the Blacker Baron, acts as his successor. He is differentiated from the original by having a grill that spells out "FUCK YOU" in comparison to the original Black Baron's "DEATHWATCH".
 * His successors weapon of choice, the "Super Sexy Fists of Fire", have a phoenix motif in their design. This is likely to be a reference to the originals apparent ability to miraculously come from the dead.
 * Multiple elements of his fight reference the character Azel from God Hand, a CAPCOM-published beat 'em up for the PS2 that was developed by Clover Studio, whose former members founded PlatinumGames, the developer of MadWorld..
 * His energy fist attack attack heavily resembles the Shaolin Blast attack of Azel from the Capcom Beat Em' Up God Hand, which was worked on by several developers of MadWorld.
 * His ability to dodge exactly like Jack Cayman can by preforming a backflip is likely a reference to Azel's ability to dodge in the exact same fashion as Gene can.
 * His Power Struggle heavily resembles one of Azel's attacks where he rushes to grab Gene, and begins to rapidly punch or kick him, which can be countered and turned against him by rapidly pressing any four of the buttons.
 * Him having a second phase that is activated halfway through his battle, and takes off his sunglasses (and hat), is a reference to Azel's second phase in his final battle, where he discards his sunglasses and begins to unleash the power of the God Hand.
 * The stage of Casino Land, and the setting of the Black Baron's arena is a reference to Stage 8 and the Final Stage of God Hand, where the player character Gene must fight a small army of enemies then face off against three sub bosses in a row while ascending a tower, and then facing off against the final boss at top of said tower.


 * Despite his ethnicity, Kreese Kreely states the baron isn't actually black. This implies The Black Baron is actually in blackface, which is when someone paints their skin to look African American. Alternatively, he could also be covered in blackout tattoos, which is when the body is inked with a solid, opaque covering of black ink.
 * The Black Baron has some neo-nazi imagery; as shown by his jewellery (which looks like "88", which is a political term for "Heil Hitler"), his lightning tattoos and his hair has lightning bolts designed into them, which closely resemble the Schutzstaffel (SS) bolts. Kreese Kreely's comment also indicates that The Baron isn't actually black, which reflects the racist ideals of the Nazi regime.