The Big Five



The Big Five, initially known at the "Board of Directors for Kaiba Corporation" are a group of five businessmen that used to work for Gozaburo Kaiba, producing weapons of mass destruction for KaibaCorp, and then later for Seto Kaiba making video game-related software.

KaibaCorp & Duelist Kingdom
When Gozaburo Kaiba's step-son Seto decides to make his play for power, he convinces the Big Five he'll restore them to their former power and claims that Gozaburo does not give them the respect or power they deserve. The Big Five agree, and thus buy 49% of KaibaCorp. Combined with 2% that Gozaburo had previously given to Seto for a test to prove his business skill, the Big Five vote out Gozaburo and vote in Seto as the president of the company.

However, Seto quickly backs out on their deal, stripping them of their power and leaving the Big Five little more than figureheads and consultants. Furious over their betrayal, the Big Five strike a deal with Maximillion Pegasus, similar to their previous deal with Seto: if Pegasus defeats Seto and Yugi Muto in duels, then they will use their 49% to vote Pegasus into power of the company by kidnapping Seto's brother Mokuba, who has been entrusted with the security codes to the two percent the Big Five need.

For the majority of Duelist Kingdom, until Pegasus's defeat, the Big Five are shadowed.

The plan fails, and when Seto learns of their betrayal he threatens to fire them. The Big Five offer Seto his complete Virtual Reality game as a peace offering, sparking the Legendary Heroes arc. After being rescued, what Seto did to the Big Five is not known (in the manga, they were fired and were never seen again). Presumably their minds were trapped in the Virtual World as they had intended to do to Seto, as this sets the stage for their next appearance.

Virtual World
For some time, the Big Five wander KaibaCorp's computer banks until they are found by Gozaburo's biological son Noah. Noah also desires to take control of Kaiba Corporation from Seto, and strikes a deal with them. Noah lures Seto Kaiba, Yugi and his friends to an underground military base, and there forces them to enter his version of the Virtual World. The Big Five greet them and reveal the deal they have made with Noah: after being trapped in the Virtual World, they have lost their connection to their bodies and thus need new ones. In exchange for being allowed access to the bodies of Seto, Yugi and his friends, the Big Five will defeat each of them in a duel.

One by one the Big Five fail to defeat their chosen opponents, and Noah is furious. As a last ditch effort, the Big Five use the body of Tristan to unite into one and duel Yugi and Joey in a two-on-one match. They once again fail to defeat them, and are summoned back to Noah's headquarters after trying to take the gang's bodies by force, which infuriates Noah. Noah refuses to give them a third chance, and as punishment seals each of the Big Five in an isolated portion of the Virtual World. Following this they are never seen again and are presumably deleted when the fortress the Virtual World is stationed in explodes.

The Big Five United


When they faced Yugi and Joey, the Big Five dueled as one in the body of Tristan Taylor, rotating their Deck Masters in turn, as well as which member of The Big Five had control.

In this duel they use a deck of their combined powers, highlighted by Five-Headed Dragon, the monster they attempted to use to trap Seto in the Virtual World before he fired them. They were nevertheless defeated when Yugi and Joey combined their Deck Masters (Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman) to form Dark Flare Knight, subsequently using its special ability to summon Mirage Knight to destroy Five-Headed Dragon, before destroying their Berserk Dragon by transforming Dark Magician into the Dark Magician Knight and transferring Flame Swordsman's attack points to him, thus giving him the strength to defeat the Berserk Dragon.