Phantom

Phantom

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"Phantom" V · T · F
Occupation	International spy
Biological information
Last known status	Incarcerated (Dec. 20, 2027)
Eye color	Unknown
Hair color	Unknown
Height (the metric (cm) values are sourced from official guidebooks and may not reflect the relative sizes of characters as depicted in-game or in other official media)	Unknown
Associates
Family	None mentioned
Friends	None mentioned
Affiliates	An unnamed organization (employer) Metis Cykes (victim; deceased) Athena Cykes (attempted scapegoat) Solomon Starbuck (attempted victim) Bobby Fulbright (subject of impersonation; deceased) Clay Terran (victim; deceased) Simon Blackquill (scapegoat & object of manipulation) Ted Tonate (bombing scapegoat; arrested)
Aliases/nicknames
Bobby Fulbright* (impersonation) Solomon Starbuck* (impersonation) Aristotle Means* (impersonation) Phoenix Wright* (impersonation)
One-off nicknames
Bloody butcher* (by Simon Blackquill)
Names in other languages
Japanese (romanization written with the given name first)	亡霊 (Phantom)
Miscellaneous
Debut episode	The Monstrous Turnabout* (as Bobby Fulbright) Turnabout for Tomorrow* (as himself)
Musical theme	"Bobby Fulbright ~ In Justice We Trust!"* (while impersonating Bobby Fulbright) "Phantom ~ UNKNOWN"

???

That's right. I don't know who I am. I am always living as someone else for my assignments. I don't remember what my face looks like... ...or even what my personality was like. My face, memories, personality, beliefs, emotions, and soul... I left them all behind. I have no... "self." I am no one. I am nothing but an endless abyss.

— Turnabout for Tomorrow

The "phantom" is a placeholder name given to a highly-skilled international spy working for an unknown organization whose true name and identity are unknown due to being a master of disguise and impersonation. Remorseless and incapable of experiencing emotions like a normal human being, the phantom has committed numerous terrible crimes, including murder, bombings, and sabotage in their line of work.

Sabotage and murder

Main article: UR-1 Incident

The phantom's first known job was the sabotage of the HAT-1 rocket launch, which they did by planting a bomb on the rocket that damaged many of its critical systems upon detonation. Finding out that the Cosmos Space Center's Dr. Metis Cykes had been making a psychological report on them, the phantom headed to the robotics lab where she worked and murdered her with a katana she had as ornamentation. In order to avoid the Space Center robots' recognition systems, they covered Metis's face with a handkerchief, put on her jacket with its built-in ID tag, and masked their own face with Metis's ornamental Noh mask. However, as they were searching the lab, the phantom was attacked by Metis's young daughter, Athena, who stabbed them in the hand with a utility knife, causing some of their blood to land on a moon rock sample in the room. Athena's attack also resulted in her mother's jacket being slashed. The phantom proceeded to knock the girl unconscious, but knew they could not leave the moon rock at the scene, as the blood could reveal their identity. Since they could not smuggle the rock out of the Space Center, they hid it inside a capsule in the lab that was due to be placed inside the Hope probe, which would be sent into space with the HAT-1 rocket the following day and therefore destroyed by their sabotage.

Escaping the Space Center.

The phantom, still wearing Metis's jacket, was then forced to escape the laboratory before they could be discovered. They later revisited the crime scene as one of the first three people to discover the body, using the opportunity to bring the torn jacket in a containment bag to be used for the Hope capsule and planting the jacket back at the scene while the other two witnesses were distracted by the body. Prosecutor Simon Blackquill was soon arrested for the murder of Metis, which came to be referred to as the "UR-1 Incident" by the police, and sentenced to death. However, the phantom's scheme to have the HAT-1 rocket and the moon rock destroyed was foiled, as astronaut Solomon Starbuck managed to safely return the rocket to Earth despite the major damage caused by the sabotage, but not before sending the Hope probe with the capsule into outer space, where it would remain for seven years. Although the phantom kept all traces of their involvement a secret, Blackquill swore that he would hunt them down even from prison.

Identity theft

Main articles: The Monstrous Turnabout, Turnabout Reclaimed, & Turnabout Academy

Disguised as Fulbright.

Six years after Metis's murder, police detective Bobby Fulbright died under mysterious circumstances; however, due to the extent of damage done to his body, his corpse was never identified. Taking his place, the phantom began masquerading as Fulbright, using his authority as a detective to attempt to destroy all evidence pertaining to his true identity.

In the course of the cases they handled while impersonating the late detective, the phantom once again encountered Athena Cykes, who had become a defense attorney working under Phoenix Wright. However, due to their new disguise and the fact that she had subconsciously repressed most memories of her mother's murder, she did not recognize them.

Return to the Cosmos Space Center

Main article: The Cosmic Turnabout

In December, the Hope probe returned to Earth. The phantom was given orders to sabotage the HAT-2 rocket launch as well, although they would also be able to take advantage of the situation in order to destroy the moon rock that linked them to the UR-1 Incident. They called the center's director, Yuri Cosmos, and told him that there would be a bombing unless the launch was called off. Cosmos, recognizing that the voice on the phone was not Blackquill, took the threat seriously. Cosmos attempted to have the launch cancelled, but the government refused to believe that the phantom posed a threat.

Left with no choice, Cosmos did all he could to fake the rocket launch by switching Launch Pad 1 with the identical Space Museum on the other side of the Space Center so that the astronauts would board the rocket replica in the museum instead of the real one. The phantom, posing as Bobby Fulbright, was one of the members of the police standing guard as a security detail. They took the opportunity to plant three bombs at the Space Center: one on the second floor of the main building, one on the rocket in Launch Pad 1, and one concealed inside a Phony Phanty doll in Boarding Lounge 1. Returning to the scene as Bobby Fulbright, the phantom organized the evacuation from the fourth floor robotics lab, leaving a means of escape for themself via an emergency ladder.

Murdering Clay Terran in the darkened Boarding Lounge 1 while Aura Blackquill climbs down.

The first two bombs were detonated before they could be disarmed; meanwhile, astronauts Clay Terran and Solomon Starbuck were evacuated from the Space Museum into Boarding Lounge 1, where Terran collapsed while carrying an unconscious Starbuck and the Hope capsule. The phantom then doubled back to the boarding lounge, where they caught sight of both astronauts lying on the floor. Using a utility knife, the phantom murdered Terran to silence him, using their transformable lighter/gun for light in the pitch-black room. The phantom took off Terran's helmet and glove, and planted the now dead astronaut's blood and fingerprints on his lighter/handgun to later use as evidence. They also planted the bomb detonator on Starbuck to pin the murder and sabotage on him.

At this point, Cosmos appeared at the scene, forcing the phantom to shoot at him and escape into the Space Museum without the Hope capsule. As Cosmos began moving the Space Museum and Launch Pad 1 back into position, the phantom leaped from the moving Space Museum corridor onto the emergency ladder they had earlier deployed; due to their limited emotional range, they kept their fear in check to make the improbable twenty-foot jump. The Hope capsule and disarmed HH-3000 bomb inside the doll were both confiscated by the police as evidence.

The courtroom bombing

Main articles: Turnabout Countdown & The Cosmic Turnabout

Starbuck was soon arrested for Terran's murder and the Space Center bombing. In order to destroy the Hope capsule and any evidence it might hold, the phantom stole the HH-3000 detonator before Starbuck's trial was due to begin in Courtroom No. 4, while Detective Candice Arme confronted corrupt police bomb disposal expert Ted Tonate over attempting to steal and sell the bomb. Tonate ended up murdering Arme, but failed to see the person who had stolen the detonator. During the trial, the phantom blew up Courtroom No. 4 with the bomb; however, thanks to Tonate realizing that the bomb was about to go off and warning everyone, the courtroom was evacuated without any causalities.

During the subsequent investigation of the case, "Fulbright" was incredibly helpful to Starbuck's lawyers, Athena Cykes and Phoenix Wright, supplying them with plenty of information and evidence. When the trial resumed three days after the courtroom bombing, "Fulbright" presented critical evidence to the court: the bloodied lighter that Aura Blackquill and Cosmos had seen the killer holding at the scene of Terran's murder. The phantom also submitted fingerprint data which identified Terran's bloody fingerprints as Athena's, indicting her in place of Starbuck for Terran's murder.

Unmasked?

Main article: Turnabout for Tomorrow

During his defense of Athena, Wright proved the presence of a third party in the murders of both Metis and Terran. Wright realized that "Bobby Fulbright" organized the evacuation, fabricated the evidence incriminating Athena, "discovered" the body, and escaped via their daredevil jump. All the evidence pointed to a third party at the scene who had the ability to suppress their emotions. "Fulbright" was called to the stand, and their facade as Fulbright was soon broken.

With their cover blown, the phantom attempted instead to pass themself off as a secret agent hunting for the phantom, demonstrating their various gadgets and ability to pose as anyone's doppelgänger. However, using Justice's bracelet and Athena's Mood Matrix, Wright quickly identified the phantom's fear of being discovered, which explained some of their recent actions; they had been trying to destroy the moon rock that held traces of their blood after being attacked by the young Athena Cykes.

After being shot by a sniper.

With their cover completely broken, the phantom screamed about unknown assailants and began tearing off their masks one by one in a mad panic and questioning who they ultimately were. They were then shot, though not fatally, by an unknown sniper who quickly vanished, leaving the phantom unmasked on the courtroom floor, albeit with their face concealed by shadow. Simon Blackquill, having now been proven innocent of Metis Cykes' murder, placed them under arrest and into the protection of the prosecutor's office in order to interrogate them about the multiple crimes they had committed over the years.

Personality

The phantom is a skilled actor and a master of disguise. Such is their skill that their true identity is unknown to everyone, even themself. They have no personal life and their long career of mimicking other people had made them forget their true identity. They don't even know what their real face looks like, their memories of their old life have faded away, and they claim to have no personal beliefs or "soul". Instead, they spend their life living a facsimile of the person whom they are mimicking.

At first it was believed that the phantom lacked the ability to feel any emotion, and that they in fact need to concentrate in order to fake emotions. However, according to the psychological profile drawn by Metis Cykes, their emotions actually instead rarely fluctuate and they were unable to experience emotions like most human beings. However, their one emotional weakness was a great fear of having their cover blown and their true identity discovered, as it would likely mean their assassination at the hands of their employers. While they proudly proclaimed their lack of identity and humanity as a weapon against being identified or broken, this lack of self became deeply distressing to them as they broke down in court.

The phantom had a number of gadgets at their disposal built into their watch, including a grappling hook, a propeller, and a jamming device that they were able to use to confuse Athena Cykes' Mood Matrix. Another of their gadgets is a lighter with an Earth emblem on one side, which changes into a .10 caliber handgun when the emblem is pressed.

Development

• The phantom is never referred to as such in their text boxes, instead using the name of the person they are disguised as (i.e., "Phoenix?" when disguised as Phoenix Wright, or "???" when changing masks). However, the in-game backlog feature shows the speech bubbles they use while disguised as Wright still labelled as belonging to the real Phoenix Wright, likely because he uses the same voice clips.
• The phantom is the second person to impersonate Phoenix Wright in court, with the first being Furio Tigre in Recipe for Turnabout. Although the phantom does a much better job at imitating Wright, this instance is rendered much less effective by the real Wright's presence in the courtroom at the time.
• The phantom is the only character in the Ace Attorney series to date to have Phoenix Wright's magatama, Apollo Justice's bracelet and Athena Cykes' Mood Matrix all used on them.
• During his breakdown, the phantom is shown to have masks of Ted Tonate, Florent L'Belle, Aristotle Means, Jinxie Tenma, Damian Tenma, Hugh O’Conner, Solomon Starbuck, Simon Blackquill, Aura Blackquill, Phoenix Wright, and Bobby Fulbright.
• The phantom appears in five episodes, which is more than any other culprit in the Ace Attorney series to date.
• The phantom is the only culprit in the entire series to not have a separate entry in the Court Record's list of profiles. Any updated information about them is instead reflected in Bobby Fulbright's profile.