- “Why, so you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I've had for twenty years. I have experience, my child, and the money and power attained through using them for personal gain, you see.”
- ―Plasmius to Danny Fenton
Vladimir " Vlad "
Masters/Vlad Plasmius is the main antagonist of the Nickelodeon animated series Danny Phantom and and the anti-villain/deuteragonist of the visual novel A Glitch in Time. He is Danny Phantom's arch-enemy, Jack Fenton's former best friend and Maddie Fenton's former love interest from college. Determined to take over the world, he is constantly tormenting Danny and his friends, and is determined to kill Danny's father Jack and take his mother, Maddie for himself. However, he is one of the most dangerous people and most-hated person on earth after revealing his true self.
He was voiced by Martin Mull who portrayed characters in Rosanne and Mr. Kraft from the sitcom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Biography[]
Background[]
Vlad Masters attended Wisconsin and was best friends with both Jack and Maddie Fenton in their college years; however, he had a crush on Maddie, despite her being in love with Jack at the time. Even then, Vlad was jealous of their relationship. The trio made a prototype portal machine to an alternate dimension known as the Ghost Zone but Vlad doesn't think that it will work. During one of their testing, Vlad stands in front of the portal when Jack activates it, the blast from the small explosion causes Vlad's face to grow Ecto-Acne. He was hospitalized for months but the accident also destroyed his social life and, in his eyes, his chance at entering a relationship with Maddie. However, the blast also rewrote Vlad's DNA, making him the world's first human/ghost hybrid. Throughout the past twenty years, he grew embittered at Jack, especially when he and Maddie married and started their own family. Still, Vlad rose with money and power, while holding a deep resentment for his former best friend. He takes advantage of his powers by committing many invisible burglaries to acquire the wealth he has now, eventually taking the identity of Vlad Plasmius.
Role in the Series[]
Before his Introduction in the series, Vlad sent a plethora of Ghosts to test Jack's strength. At some point, he learns of the ghost boy, Danny Phantom, who uses his powers for good and using them to catch evil ghosts.
Vlad sends three ghost vultures to Amity Park to annihilate Jack Fenton, giving them a torn-off picture of him. However, they are thwarted by Danny Phantom. Wanting to lure Jack to Wisconsin, he hosts a twenty-year reunion at his mansion and allows the Fentons to stay over the weekend, where they take their daughter Jazz and son Danny. However, there is still animosity Vlad feels toward Jack and Maddie, uncomfortable with the tension and sensing Vlad's anger and off behavior, offering for their family to stay in their RV instead but Vlad convinces them to stay while missing his sinister smile.
Plasmius sends the Ghost vultures after Jack as he sleepwalks but Danny's ghost senses go off and saves his father by taking him to the bathroom he was looking for. Expecting the vultures to bring him, Jack, Plasmius settled for fighting Danny instead and making it known he knew Danny as the Ghost boy who uses his powers for good and mocks him for his sentiment, knocking the boy to the ground and shows off his ability to duplicate himself. Just as he knocks Danny unconscious, Plasmius watches him transform back into his human form and to his shock, recognizes that Jack's son is the Ghost Boy before thinking of something far sinister to do with Danny.
During the reunion, Vlad frees Skulker and lures Danny to his secret lab, where he sees Vlad has a picture with the corner torn off and that he was the one who sent the vultures after his father. Danny comes face to face with Skulker before the Ghost bounty hunter traps him in a box that temporarily neutralizes Danny's ghost powers. He stops Skulker from hurting the Teenager and sends him away. Vlad mentions that after even sending other ghosts to test Jack's strength, he tells Danny he was the second ghost hybrid created from Jack's foolishness before revealing himself as a fellow half-ghost to Danny, who immediately recognizes that Vlad is the Ghost he encountered the previous night and tries going ghost but Vlad explains that Danny's powers are neutralized and he is just as human as Jack is as long as he is trapped in the box. The evil ghost tries to tempt Danny with lessons as ghost training under his guidance if Danny renounces Jack as his father, but the younger ghost/human refuses.
Plasmius leaves him, overshadows Jack's body, and wreaks havoc until Danny escapes the cage with help from their residential ghost and forces Vlad out of his father's body. Despite tempting the younger ghost with another chance at teaching him, the teen refuses a second time. After Plasmius takes Maddie out of the Fenton RV, Danny takes control of the vehicle that his mother was previously driving in and overshadows his father's body to catch his mother as Vlad drops her because the ectoplasmic substance incapacitates him. Shortly after, Danny (still in his father's body) grabs Plasmius and threatens to expose both but it doesn't bother him because Danny knows his parents will accept him for who he is but promises that courtesy will not extend to Plasmius, especially if his mother finds out unless he accepted a temporary truce. Seeing that the boy is not bluffing, Plasmius agrees to it but swears that one day, they will meet again and that Danny and Maddie will one day come to him by choice before dramatically leaving.
In the latter half of the series, Plasmius creates clones of Danny after he wants a human/ghost son out of loneliness and after being rejected by Maddie and Danny. Only one clone survives, Danielle Phantom, but he sees her as a failure. He has Danielle, or rather Dani Phantom, kidnap the real Danny and try to perfect the clone. After a warning from Danny and when Vlad states that she was only created to serve him, Dani realizes Danny was right. Vlad just sees her as another pawn and turns against him. After Vlad is rendered unconscious, Dani leaves to live off her. In D-Stabilized, he has Valerie track Dani down and capture her. As his former daughter is melting, Vlad is going to use her ectoplasmic remains to perfect the clone. However, Dani is saved by Valerie and Danny, who both help her escape. Thinking he is alone, Plasmius unknowingly reveals himself to a hiding Valerie, who now sees that Danny was correct in that Plasmius and Masters were the same person. This makes the girl realize that she has been fooled and swears she will be hunting him now too.
In "Planet Phantom," Vlad creates the Masters’ Blasters, a group of Ghost hunters who proved to be more fearful and an elite force than Danny and his friends. After Danny gives up his ghost half, Vlad reveals himself as Plasmius and says he can make the Disasteroid intangible so it passes safely to Earth, if he Is allowed to have ultimate control afterward. In space, he revealed his resentment of Jack and his intent on stealing Maddie when it was over. Vlad tries to turn the Disasteroid intangible but cannot because it is protected by a substance that repels ghost powers. He pleaded with Jack to help him but his forever friend realizes that this is not the same Vlad he knew back in college and leaves him floating in space. Just as Vlad realizes he took his friendship with Jack for granted, he contends to a self-exile in space traveling as a nomad before the Disasteroid hits him and takes him to parts unknown.
Alternate Versions[]
The Ultimate Enemy[]
- Main article: Vlad Masters (The Ultimate Enemy)
In an alternate timeline in which the Danny's family, Mr. Lancer, Tucker Foley and Sam Manson were killed in an explosion at Nasty Burger, Vlad took pity on Danny and adopted the orphan boy to move into his house because he was the only one who understood what Danny's current situation was. Per the boy's request to end his grief and suffering, Vlad separated both the boy's human and ghost selves. However, his ghost half was stolen by Danny's ghost self and merged into Dark Dan. Plasmius' evil side overshadowed Danny's goodness. Dark Danny murdered his human self but left Vlad alive to tell the tale. This version. This dark future is undone.
The Masters of Time[]
- Main article: Vlad Masters (Masters of All Time)
In the alternated timeline, Danny accidentally created in "The Masters of Time", Vlad married Maddie after Jack the one who fell and suffered fun the accident but he treated her like a possession rather than a person and lies to Maddie and Jack about loving each other. This reality was eventually undone with Danny's efforts with the help of the ghost deity Clockwork.
Personality[]
Powers and Abilities[]
- Human-Ghost hybrid Physiology: After the accident in college, Vlad became a ghost/human hybrid just like Danny. While Vlad has all the same powers that Danny has, Vlad is slightly more powerful than his archenemy because of the twenty years of experience he had that Danny does not have yet. His experience with his powers allows him to perform many techniques that Danny has yet to learn, such as Duplication (which Danny did not master until "Torrent of Terror."), and for all the feats that Danny can perform, Vlad can perform them better, possibly due to the 20-year experience in which he has had more time to develop new abilities, improve his existing ones, and patch up any weaknesses he might have, but Danny is slowly catching up to him. At the same time, however, Vlad seems to lack several powers; like Danny's Ghostly Wail, and doesn't have Ghost Sense or by extension, hasn't developed Cyrokinesis as Danny later gains, possibly because of being less exposed to the energies that gave the two their powers than Danny was.
- Transformation/Going Ghost: Being a half-ghost, Vlad can turn into a ghost and human at will.
- Duplicates: In his debut appearance, Plasmius could duplicate himself four times when he was trying to overwhelm Danny. He can also duplicate himself in his human form or make duplicates while being invisible. This is his most often used and most advantageous technique.
- Overshadowing: Plasmius took possession of Jack Fenton during "Bitter Reunions."
- Intangibility/Invisibility: While going invisible, he can pass through walls, activating his intangibility
- Fight/levitation:' He can fly, float and hover, in both his ghost and human form.
- Spectral Body Manipulation:' Shape-shift his body into any position.
- Super Durability:' Vlad is far more durable than a human.
- Superhuman Agility and Reflexes: The ability to supernaturally be more agile than a human, including his balance and reflexes.
- Ghost Tornado/Ecto-Twister: By waving his cape around and spinning at high speeds, Vlad can create his ectoplasmic energy tornado that is like a real one. It can cause mass destruction, deflecting any incoming ectoplasmic energy attacks, and causing huge wind gusts that can suck its enemies in and throw them to other places. This is arguably Vlad's most powerful technique and he only used it once in Eye for an Eye. This is also the only Ghost Power Vlad has and Danny currently hasn't developed.
- Power Augmentation
- Ghost Stinger,
- Vacuum Resistance
- Self-Sustenance
- Paranormal Immunity.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Butch Hartman originally wanted Plasmius to be a vampire but Nickelodeon would not let him, deeming it too scary for children, hence Vlad's name and vampiric appearance in his ghost form
- He was based on Lex Luthor from the Superman comic books by DC Comics.
- Plasmius was the first Human/Ghost hybrid created from Jack Fenton's ghost portal, followed by Jack's son, Danny.
- From the accident, Vlad was hospitalized, and his chances at Maddie were ruined, as well as his social life.
- Danny told Vlad to do online dating and adopt a cat, however, Vlad shouted he was not going to get a cat. He ends up getting one and named her Maddie.
- Whenever Vlad swears, he shouts in food terminology (Butter biscuits, sugar cookies, etc.), like how Mr. Lancer shouts book titles when he swears.
- Vlad is one of the few characters to call Danny "Daniel."
- His entire mansion is painted green and gold, a reference to how Vlad is a fan of the Green Bay Packers, the Wisconsin football team.
- Vlad can use his powers even when he is in his human form.
- Currently unknown how Vlad knows about Dark Dan from the future because according to the comic book sequel description, He is supposed to leave the one who warns Danny that Dan has escaped from his prison.
- In Butch Hartman's video, "Ten Years Later," Plasmius survived the attempt, was enslaved by an alien race, and was driven to insanity. He named Danny as the source of his misery and is trying to get to Earth to get revenge on him and his friends.
Quotes[]
A Glitch in Time
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