Martin Empire

The Martin Empire (マルタン帝国) (English name TBA) is a fictional group of villains in the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, appearing between episodes 106-130.

The Martin Empire's members serve as the main antagonists of first half of the series' third season.

History
Following a personal tragedy, Professor Thelonius Viper was sent on a mission to another country to research an unspecified target, but the plane he and his companions were traveling aboard crashed, with Viper emerging the only survivor. Nonetheless, he carried out his objective and was successful in locating his target–the severed hand of the Duel Monster Yubel–which entered into a pact with him to resurrect his son from the dead.

From the onset of the third year, Viper calls for an exhibition match between Jaden Yuki (Judai Yuki) and Jesse Andersen (Johan Andersen) at Duel Academy. Unbeknowst to the two combatants, they are fitted with special wristwatches known as Bio-Bands (デスベルト), designed to measure emotions, intensity, concentration, and decision making during Duels. Their true function, however, is to sap Duel Energy from those that wear them following the end of a Duel, regardless of whether one defeats his opponent or not. This gathered energy is then transferred to a chamber within Viper's hideout, the lab where Wheeler (SAL) was trained, to fuel Rick's revival.

To jumpstart his project, Viper declares that students of all dormitories must participate in Survival Duels (ディスクロージャーデュエル), competitions wherein duelists are to carry Bio-Bands as means of assessing their fighting spirit. If a Bio-Band judges that a certain duelist lacks said fighting spirit, he or she will be demoted, and furthermore expelled if motivation does not improve. As a result of the Survival, a large number of students are injured and hospitalized after having their Duel Energy absorbed.

Eventually, Viper's intentions begin drawing concern from Academy staff, and Jaden and co. set out to stop him. Tracking him to the lab in the jungle, the group is exposed to various sorts of traps and defenses installed to prevent its advance. Jaden would go on to face and defeat Viper, though Yubel ultimately amassed enough strength to hurl Duel Academy into an alternate dimension—a desert plane with three suns and resident Duel Monster spirits. Preying on the loneliness of Marcel, Yubel takes control of the boy's body and begins targeting the school's students and faculty, transforming many into zombie slaves to recruit more partners, and obtains the Sacred Beast Cards.

Yubel
Yubel (ユベル) is a hermaphroditic Duel Monster spirit. In the English version, Yubel is voiced by Priscilla Everett, while Hisao Egawa and Hiromi Tsuru take the role in the Japanese version.

Yubel is the mastermind behind the Survival Duels and the creation of the empire. It was Jaden's favorite card in childhood–given to him by his father–but it grew obsessed with the boy and intended to keep him to itself. Under Jaden's request (hoping that it would gain the "powers of justice" that Elemental Hero Neos would eventually gain), Yubel was sent into outer space by KaibaCorp in a separate satellite from his contest-winning card designs after it put an acquaintance of Jaden's named Osamu in the hospital with a mysterious illness, but the card absorbed a different type of energy, and the craft crash landed back to Earth, resulting in the near-complete destruction of its body upon re-entry into the planet's atmosphere. Yubel thus enlisted Viper's aid in reconstructing its damaged form behind the false promise that his son would return to life. Later acquiring Marcel as a host, it absorbs the Duel Energy collected by the Duel Zombie army to finally become whole again.

Yubel wields numerous powers, including the ability to cast illusions, make itself invisible to detection (even to those who can see Duel Spirits), and limited reality warping. It is also capable of seeing the darkness of a person's heart, and tempting one to do its bidding by playing off an individual's desires.

Marcel
Marcel, known in Japan as Martin Kanou (加納マルタン), is a new student entering Ra Yellow in the third year. In the Japanese version, Martin is voiced by Asako Yoshida.

Marcel is Vice-Chancellor Bonaparte's (Napoleon) son, raised by the man's ex-wife. He grew depressed by the sight of his parents bickering and his father leaving their home in Paris, France at a young age. After Professor Viper's defeat, he is possessed by Yubel and declares himself king of his newly-instituted empire. During a Duel with Jaden and Jesse, Marcel was set free from the creature's influence after Yubel regained physical form.

Marcel plays an Exodia deck. Using cards such as Mad Reloader and Break the Seal, Marcel is able to quickly add the individual pieces of Exodia from his deck to his hand and declare an automatic victory. After retrieving the Sacred Beasts, he plays a Chaos deck, which exploits the ability of his Phantom of Chaos to mimic the beasts while in his Graveyard and also supports the summoning of their combined form, Amatiel, Phantasm of Chaos.

Professor Thelonius Viper
Professor Thelonius Viper, known in Japan as Professor Cobra (プロフェッサー・コブラ), is a professor hailing from West Academy. In the Japanese version, Cobra is voiced by Masaya Takatsuka.

While performing military services in a war-ravaged country, Viper came upon an infant who he believed saved his life by drawing his attention away from an area which was suddenly detonated. He adopted the child, Rick, and came to regard him as the "angel" in his otherwise torturous life. Years later, chasing after Duel Monsters cards given to him by Viper as a present swept up in the wind, Rick was run over by an oncoming vehicle. Viper enters Duel Academy in the third year in a desperate attempt to raise his son from the dead, and pits students against one another in Survival Duels. He is tricked into believing that Rick never died upon losing to Jaden in a Duel, and seemingly falls to his death after stepping off the dueling platform.

Viper plays a Venom deck, themed on the distribution of "Venom Counters" through his Reptile-type monsters (such as Venom Snake and Venom Boa) to an opponent's monsters as means of weakening and ultimately destroying them. Several of his monsters are based on the nāga, a serpent-like race in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. One of these creatures, Viper's signature card Venominaga the Deity of Venomous Serpents, is able to circulate poison in the opponent's body upon inflicting damage, declaring an automatic victory for its owner within three turns.

Three Masked Knights
The Three Masked Knights (仮面の三騎士) are group of hungry students consisting of Harada, Yamanaka, and Teraoka.

Coming across Marcel in the library, they are seduced by promises of power to join him in his cause. Through the magic of a Polymerization card, each of them is fused with a Duel Monster spirit which robs him of his free will. The Three Masked Knights simultaneously duel Jesse, Axel (O'Brien), and Jim, serving as decoys while Marcel makes his way to the area where the Sacred Beasts were sealed. They are returned to normal after being defeated.


 * 1) Emotionless Mask (「無表情」仮面) (voiced by Yūki Fujiwara)
 * 2) Laughter Mask (「笑い」仮面) (voiced by Daisuke Nakamura)
 * 3) Angry Mask (「怒り」仮面) (voiced by Kōichi Yokota)

The Three Masked Knights play decks reflecting the expressions on their masks. Emotionless Mask's strategy relies on the activation of several cards from his hand interacting with Silence's Pain in his Graveyard, Laughter Mask's on the synergy between Fool Clown and Laugh Bomber, and Angry Mask's on the Direct Damage and resurrection abilities of Anchor Knight of Anger.