Dark Man

Dark Man (ダークマン) is the name of four robots created by Dr. Wily in Mega Man 5, one of which was created to frame Proto Man, taking his form. They appear in the Proto Man Fortress, each occupying their own individual stage.

[[File:Mm5dark1sprite.png]] Dark Man 1
The first is a green Dark Man with treads instead of legs, that shoots at and tries to run over Mega Man. He makes a cameo in to the left of Wily's stage from Marvel vs. Capcom, where he has hands and carries a bag.

Strategy
His pattern is simple, but hard to avoid. He advances, shoots, advances again then stops. However, his speed increases as he receives damage.

His weakness is Water Wave, which negates his shots, but if the player runs out of it, they can use charged Mega Buster shots, which deals the same amount of damage (3 units), but won't neutralize Dark Man's shots.

[[File:Mm5dark2sprite.png]] Dark Man 2
The second is a silver Dark Man that can create electromagnetic barriers around himself. He is the only Dark Man without an arm cannon and the only one that appeared in the Mega Man animated series. He appeared in Episode 15:The Day The Moon Fell and Episode 23:Brain Bots.

Strategy
This Dark Man uses electromagnetic nets to protect himself and walks towards Mega Man. His speed increases as he receives damage, like the previous Dark Man.

The Crystal Eye can go through the nets, but it should be used on a wall, to increase the chances of both projectiles hitting him. However, the Crystal Eye does only 2 units of damage per use (even if both projectiles hit him), so the charged Mega Buster deals more damage overall, although it rarely hits the Dark Man.

[[File:Mm5dark3sprite.png]] Dark Man 3
The third is a purple sniper Dark Man that can paralyze enemies with a ring shaped beam, and his right arm is a rapid fire weapon. Many find him the hardest of the Dark Men, as the ring shaped beam can be fired at any angle.

Strategy
This Dark Man's strategy is almost the same as Toad Man's. He jumps and shoots five plasma blasts, and like the two previous Dark Men, his speed increases as he receives damage. Dark Man will also fire three ring beams to paralyze Mega Man, so that he can easily hit him. He can be easily beaten by standing close enough to him, jumping at the right moment so the beams are fired above, missing Mega Man. Attacking Dark Man shortly after a beam is fired, will ensure an easy victory.

The Gyro Attack can hit him while he's airborne and after he has landed. Just make sure to press up while firing. The down side is that it deals less damage than a charged Mega Buster shot, so it's better to wipe him out with the Mega Buster.

[[File:Darksprite.png]] Dark Man 4
The fourth is the red Dark Man that impersonated Proto Man to frame him for Dr. Wily. The fake Proto Man doesn't have a scarf (as he lost it when kidnapping Dr. Light) and his whistle has a different tone.

When Mega Man reached the fourth Dark Man, he didn't want to fight against him (due to the fact that Mega Man thought he was the real Proto Man), which resulted in him getting hurt and surviving with only 1 HP. Luckily, the real Proto Man appeared and blasted away the disguise, revealing the final Dark Man, and giving an L-Tank to Mega Man before the battle to recover him.

Strategy
His attacks appear to be a combination of the previous three Dark Men. He uses an electromagnetic barrier around himself like second Dark Man, but it's launched to the sides of the screen when he jumps, and returns to him after landing. He also uses a buster that launches four volleys of shots at a time. However, unlike the others, his speed does not increase as he takes damage.

His weakness is the Star Crash, but it's can be difficult to hit him with it, as the player can easily miss and the Dark Man can deflect it.

If the player saved Beat, it's time to use him. Beat can hit Dark Man wherever he is, saving time and energy.

Defeating the final Dark Man causes the screen to go black, and Dr. Wily will appear, saying that he didn't expect Mega Man to defeat the Dark Men. He had managed to frame Proto Man for his crimes, but the real one had appeared and spoiled his plans. Dr. Wily then reveals that Dr. Light is a held captive in his lab and dares Mega Man to come rescue him.

Other media
Dark Man 2 appeared in Episodes 15 and 23 from the Mega Man animated series.

The four Dark Men appeared in the manga Mega Man Megamix. In “Warrior’s Day Off”, Dark Man 1 and 2 first appear robbing a bank, but are stopped by Proto Man. In “Power Battle” while running a shop, Dark Man 4 meets Roll, Auto, and Rush. When Roll recognizes him only as the newspaper guy, he calls the others to kidnap them to present as hostages to Wily, in exchange for greater rank. When they corner the three, Bass intervenes calling them cowards for ganging up on Roll. In “Burning Wheel,” Dark Man 4 enters the race in order to pay off his huge debt with the prize money. He goes in disguise as Proto Man.

All four Dark Men also appeared shortly in the first episode of Mega Man: Upon a Star. 

Trivia

 * The Dark Man robot may be a nod to the movie hero "Darkman", who, with his synthetic skin, can disguise himself as his enemies. Darkman had to apply his artificial skin on himself due to severe burns when his enemies attacked him. The main flaw is it disintegrates when exposed to 99 minutes of sunlight.