“ | So you made it after all. Impressive. | „ |
~ The Phantom to Ratchet |
The Phantom is a minor character debuting in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart from Rivet's dimension. He is a key member of the Resistance in the fight against Emperor Nefarious and his Empire, acting as their hacking and undercover black ops specialist.
He is a dimensional counterpart of Skidd McMarx and physically appears identical to him. It is not known if his true name is also Skidd, as the codename Phantom is all that is known about his identity.
The Phantom is voiced by Jess Harnell.
Personality[]
Phantom, like his dimensional counterpart Skidd McMarx, has special talents in the field of black ops espionage and is a deft hacker. Phantom however is much more professional in his work than his laidback, hoverboarding star counterpart, with years of hardened experience fighting the Empire. This is reflected in their choice of codenames, with Skidd choosing "Shadow Dude". Although more professional, he still seems to enjoy the thrill of being an undercover operative in an immature sense sometimes in the same way his counterpart would. He is a proud member of the Resistance, operating in Nefarious City and helping to spread the message of freedom to the downtrodden and brainwashed. He does not seem to be skilled in combat and chooses to instead escape enemies using his athletic abilities.
History[]
Rift Apart[]
After finding himself stranded in Nefarious City, Ratchet is informed by Ms. Zurkon that someone going by the name "Phantom" can help him acquire a royal starship to leave the planet and pursue Rivet and Clank. Upon being told he can be found at Club Nefarious, Ratchet follows the sounds of the music beats and is able to locate the night spot. Here, Ratchet begins rather unsubtly asking the individual robots in the nightclub if they are the Phantom or if they know him. As a result of this, the club is soon alerted to Resistance activity and evacuated, with Nefarious Troopers rushing inside. Phantom is encountered here wearing a Hologuise to disguise himself as a robot named X-2 to blend in with the crowd, during what he exclaims is his first undercover job in a long time and believes his cover has been blown. During the hectic evacuation, Phantom bumps into a robot citizen and his Hologuise deactivates, revealing himself. Ratchet spots this and instantly recognizes Phantom's identical appearance to Skidd.
Phantom then makes his escape from the pursuing Nefarious Troopers and is followed by Ratchet who continually tries to ask him questions but is frequently told to keep quiet. Ratchet soon begins growing frustrated that Phantom keeps running from him and won't answer him. Phantom recognizes Ratchet as a Lombax like Rivet and assumes that he is a new member of the resistance. Upon reaching the Nefarious Luxury Tenements, Ratchet defends Phantom from Nefarious Troopers that have tracked them down from the club and destroys them. After the Troopers are gone, Phantom acknowledges Ratchet's skills and helps him by upgrading his Omniglove with resistance tech, allowing him to use a gadget known as the Phantom Dash to pass through security checkpoint barriers. Phantom then begins training Ratchet to use his new movement gadget, by explaining how to perform advanced parkour techniques with it, such as air dashing and running along wall panels, whilst Ratchet questions him on how he can get access to a royal starship.
Abilities[]
Phantom possesses exceptional computer hacking and covert espionage skills that he uses for undercover missions in Nefarious City, where he also employs the use of a Hologuise to blend in with the local robotic inhabitants. Using his technological talents he has also helped develop useful gadgets and equipment for the Resistance to aid members in their field operations. He likely was involved in the creation of Glitch - a nano-systems IT robot originally made for bypassing Nefarious system firewalls and clearing embarrassing search histories, but upgraded with Electro-Guns and Blitz-Infectors for deleting viruses. He is also very physically capable in his athletic abilities, allowing him to parkour across the Nefarious City rooftops, perform wall jumps and evade the Emperor's forces. He boasts to have an ability that he calls his Phantom Sense, which allows him to always be in the right spot when duty calls, although Rivet is rather dubious about his claim.
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Original Timeline Ratchet & Clank Future Ratchet and Clank (2016) Rift Apart |