What are your thoughts on Cortex? Which iteration of him is your favorite? And do you prefer him when he's a more serious threat, or when he's comedic? Let me know below, and let's chat!
I think the Warped-Nitro Kart era nailed him. The 'comically serious' era where he's starting to gain his funny side but it's unwillingly via a dignified jaded and sarcastic personality. He's just so DEAD INSIDE in that era and it's great. XD it felt like a more unique way to make a villain more comedic without just turning them into an over-the-top goofball. Also Clancy Brown just nailed Cortex's character in those games. He's so great at interchanging between suave menaces and total hammy buffoons, and Cortex encapsulates that versatility. I think Lex Lang works as a goofier Cortex, and SORT OF nailed a compromise in Twinsanity, but tried too hard to make him sound calm, slow and sinister in N Sane, while Clancy was always a bit bombastic, just in a controlled way. Again COMICALLY serious, not JUST one or the other. I don't hate everything about the other eras though. His dynamics with Nina and Uka were interesting in those later games, with them always plotting to backstab each other. Cortex admitedly seems like the guy who would only suck up to Uka to save face and was always plotting some sort of revenge. He holds grudges HARD. Crash 4 playing into that with his relationship with Crash and showing that he resents him so much because he CARED about him is also an interesting twist (also explains why he DOESN'T resent Coco or any of his other renegade mutants nearly as much, they were pretty much replacement pets to get over the first one. What? You guys thought he had some deep connection with Dingodile or Ripper Roo that made those betrayals sting real hard? :P Only guy I could see him missing is Tiny due to being his one exceptional loyal mutant, and even then it's a stretch to say Cortex LIKES the poor lunkhead).
I would say that Cortex was an evil scientist, but also caring for this enemy. Both Cortex and Crash Bandicoot has worked together before. Cortex is definitely a character that really tries his best to keep himself away from Crash Bandicoot, but at the same time, he doesn’t want anyone defeating Crash before he’s the one to do it. Cortex would had to finish the job himself.
Honestly, after all these years I'm kinda rooting for Cortex, ngl. I want him to be happy (sadly this will never happen, crash would die as a franchise after that)
I honestly do think Cortex should actually win in Crash 5, for the opening moments at least where team Bandicoot get together to make up for it, the Bandicoots seemed to have gotten cocky in Crash 4 according to Coco and are usually used to winning, what if you flip that idea on it's head by having a bigger villain exploit that cockiness possibly using Uka Uka for that thought and I can imagine Cortex's boss giving an offer to actually win for once might be enough to give him one last shot at taking out Team Bandicoot.
From the ending of C4 and scrapped concepts for C5, Cortex is gearing up to have a redemption arc and I personally think it'd be brilliant Not to become a pure goody two-shoes hero, but a more neutral, reluctant one? That fits him. Have him and Crash team up to defeat Uka Uka and permanently set their differences, maybe realizing Crash wasn't his biggest mistake, but his biggest accomplishment By doing this, it'll also give us an opportunity for future titles to finally have brand new villains, instead of relying on old ones time and time again, sometimes for no reason (seriously, why did Brio come back in C4)
It's an unspoken rule that modern family-friendly entertainment isn't allowed to have pure-evil villains. They always gotta' be misunderstood or get a hacky redemption-arc.
Ever since the canceled Cortex Chaos, I'm a firm believer that the (not-so)good doctor deserves his own adjacent sister-series. (In fact: that was what CC was initially brainstormed to be the first instalment of.)
What are your thoughts on Cortex? Which iteration of him is your favorite? And do you prefer him when he's a more serious threat, or when he's comedic? Let me know below, and let's chat!
I think the Warped-Nitro Kart era nailed him. The 'comically serious' era where he's starting to gain his funny side but it's unwillingly via a dignified jaded and sarcastic personality. He's just so DEAD INSIDE in that era and it's great. XD it felt like a more unique way to make a villain more comedic without just turning them into an over-the-top goofball.
Also Clancy Brown just nailed Cortex's character in those games. He's so great at interchanging between suave menaces and total hammy buffoons, and Cortex encapsulates that versatility. I think Lex Lang works as a goofier Cortex, and SORT OF nailed a compromise in Twinsanity, but tried too hard to make him sound calm, slow and sinister in N Sane, while Clancy was always a bit bombastic, just in a controlled way. Again COMICALLY serious, not JUST one or the other.
I don't hate everything about the other eras though. His dynamics with Nina and Uka were interesting in those later games, with them always plotting to backstab each other. Cortex admitedly seems like the guy who would only suck up to Uka to save face and was always plotting some sort of revenge. He holds grudges HARD. Crash 4 playing into that with his relationship with Crash and showing that he resents him so much because he CARED about him is also an interesting twist (also explains why he DOESN'T resent Coco or any of his other renegade mutants nearly as much, they were pretty much replacement pets to get over the first one. What? You guys thought he had some deep connection with Dingodile or Ripper Roo that made those betrayals sting real hard? :P Only guy I could see him missing is Tiny due to being his one exceptional loyal mutant, and even then it's a stretch to say Cortex LIKES the poor lunkhead).
I would say that Cortex was an evil scientist, but also caring for this enemy. Both Cortex and Crash Bandicoot has worked together before. Cortex is definitely a character that really tries his best to keep himself away from Crash Bandicoot, but at the same time, he doesn’t want anyone defeating Crash before he’s the one to do it. Cortex would had to finish the job himself.
Honestly, after all these years I'm kinda rooting for Cortex, ngl. I want him to be happy (sadly this will never happen, crash would die as a franchise after that)
And you tought that Arthur Fleck’s life was tragedy
I honestly do think Cortex should actually win in Crash 5, for the opening moments at least where team Bandicoot get together to make up for it, the Bandicoots seemed to have gotten cocky in Crash 4 according to Coco and are usually used to winning, what if you flip that idea on it's head by having a bigger villain exploit that cockiness possibly using Uka Uka for that thought and I can imagine Cortex's boss giving an offer to actually win for once might be enough to give him one last shot at taking out Team Bandicoot.
My favorite villain ever!
That good
From the ending of C4 and scrapped concepts for C5, Cortex is gearing up to have a redemption arc and I personally think it'd be brilliant
Not to become a pure goody two-shoes hero, but a more neutral, reluctant one? That fits him. Have him and Crash team up to defeat Uka Uka and permanently set their differences, maybe realizing Crash wasn't his biggest mistake, but his biggest accomplishment
By doing this, it'll also give us an opportunity for future titles to finally have brand new villains, instead of relying on old ones time and time again, sometimes for no reason (seriously, why did Brio come back in C4)
It's an unspoken rule that modern family-friendly entertainment isn't allowed to have pure-evil villains. They always gotta' be misunderstood or get a hacky redemption-arc.
Ever since the canceled Cortex Chaos, I'm a firm believer that the (not-so)good doctor deserves his own adjacent sister-series.
(In fact: that was what CC was initially brainstormed to be the first instalment of.)
Same goes for Eggman and Wily. I love the type of villains that have a formal backstory as to why they became a crazy, self-centered villain.