Phoenix Wright

Background

UMvC3

Template:InfoboxC

Give up your life of crime!

Wright

Phoenix Wright from the Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban games is a Capcom character making his debut in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Story

In his childhood, he made friends with Larry Butz and Miles Edgeworth. At the start of the series, he has recently acquired his attorney badge. While studying to become a defense lawyer, he was defended by Mia Fey and subsequently worked at her Fey and Co. Law office. He took over the office and renamed it Wright and Co. after she was murdered in the second case of the first Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game. The fourth Ace Attorney game, Apollo Justice, is set seven years after a case where Wright is falsely incriminated for falsifying evidence and loses his defense attorney's badge.

Wright first decided to become a defense attorney in his school days when he was falsely accused of stealing his classmate Miles Edgeworth's lunch money, and the class held a mock trial. In that moment when he felt alone, he decided that he wanted to become a defense attorney so that he could help people like himself who at that time had nobody to defend or believe them.

Phoenix Wright has proven to be surprisingly hardy; he has chewed and swallowed a necklace made of glass and metal that potentially contained a fatal poison, and he has been hit over the head with a fire extinguisher and sustained only temporary amnesia. He has also fallen from a 40-foot high flaming bridge into a fast-flowing river (a river notorious for washing its victims away, never to be seen again) and walked away with nothing but a cold, and has shown the strength to bust down a 1 foot thick wooden door that was secured by a huge metal lock. Finally, after getting hit by a speeding vehicle and being launched 30 feet into the air, head-first, into a telephone pole, with enough force to break the bumper off of said car, the lawyer merely suffered a sprained ankle. These events lead many characters in the Ace Attorney series to consider Wright a very lucky man.

Trivia

• Phoenix Wright has three stances, based on Ace Attorney; 'Investigation Mode' and 'Courtroom Mode' references the two main modes of gameplay in his series, while 'Turnabout Mode' references one of the main themes of the game; Wright's ability to turn a situation on its head and change everyone's view of the case.
• His alternate color schemes (which also give Maya and Missile different colors) include ones based on Miles Edgeworth (Maya's colors change to her sister, Mia Fey), Dick Gumshoe (Maya as Franziska von Karma), Larry Butz (Maya as a Tres Bien waitress), Godot (Maya as Kay Faraday), and Sissel (and Lynne). Missile's colours are the same as Amaterasu's, only with the 6P (realistic dog) and 1P (Ammy's default) costumes switched. His DLC costume is his younger self as he appears in the first case of the third Ace Attorney game (Missile takes the colors of Talbain Amaterasu, and Maya was originally meant to look like Mia Fey, but the team ran out of time before it could be done).
• The evidence Phoenix Wright finds is based on evidence in the series, including common items in the series like a knife, an autopsy report, a cell phone and a photograph. Specific items include a broken vase (which may be the vase broken by Victor Kudo in case 3 of Trials & Tribulations), a watch (which may be the watch worn by Doug Swallow in case 1 of the aforementioned game), a bottle of grape juice (Phoenix's favourite drink, at least in Apollo Justice), and a Servbot.
• His level 1 hyper, "Objection Overruled!", is a reference to a recurring nightmare that Phoenix Wright has in Justice For All.
• One of Wright's victory quotes is, "I don't like things getting thrown at me, but at least it's not hot coffee.", a reference to Godot, who liked to throw his coffee at Phoenix when he was angry.
• Wright's victory quote against Firebrand mentions a Demon Prosecutor, AKA Miles Edgeworth, his friend and rival.
• His Objection! move is named "Bridge To The Turnabout", referencing both the final case of Trials and Tribulations and the fact that it's what lets him enter Turnabout Mode.
• Phoenix Wright was planned as a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (alongside fellow Ace Attorney character Franziska von Karma). The idea was scrapped due to problems with game mechanics for his specials using the text bubbles (such his famous "Objection!"), due to the fact that the regional differences would cause the size of the bubble to vary in text, forcing an unbalanced game. In addition, this is what caused fans to want Phoenix Wright to be in a fighting game. Despite it being "silly", even Shu Takumi, creator of the Ace Attorney series, supported it.
• Phoenix Wright appears in the original Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, as a cameo in She-Hulk's ending. He and Miles Edgeworth are on a courtroom television show called Jen's Justice, with She-Hulk as the judge. Before she delivers her verdict, she accidentally smashes the judge's stand with a slight tap of the gavel, leaving both the lawyer and the prosecutor panicking and hugging each other out of fear with She-Hulk telling the Bailiff that she "did it again."
• She-Hulk and Phoenix Wright are the only characters that have had jobs involving the legal system (Phoenix Wright as a defense attorney, and She-Hulk both as a defense attorney and a judge) in the whole UMvC3 character roster.
• Phoenix Wright is mentioned in one of She-Hulk's win quotes in the original MvsC3, wherein she states "Someone once called me Phoenix Wright with muscles. I called him an ambulance."
• In an internet poll of characters fans wanted to see in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Phoenix Wright placed second, first being Mega Man X, and Strider Hiryu being third. Both Wright and Strider made it to Ultimate as playable characters, while X made it in as a DLC costume for Zero, instead becoming a core playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
• Phoenix Wright's rival in UMvC3 appears to be Nova, as they are both guardians. Wright being the guardian of his clients (defending them in court), and Nova being the guardian of the galaxy. Nova gained supernatural powers which he uses to fight regular crime. On the other hand Wright, a normal human, has had numerous encounters with the supernatural, and even faced villains of a mystic nature. They also both use very different methods of delivering justice, with Phoenix Wright using the law, and Nova using violence.
• Phoenix Wright isn't the first Capcom character to have no shown fighting ability prior to appearing in a fighting game (other examples include Jin Saotome, Servbot, Saki Omokane, Roll). He is, however, the only one of these characters to come from a series without combat mechanics, and the only one who doesn't typically utilize a weapon (Saki comes from Quiz Nanairo Dreams which is a trivia quiz game, but has an assault rifle).
• Phoenix Wright proves his lack of fighting prowess, as he throws the knife evidence very oddly, instead of throwing it straight at opponents, like a throwing knife. Phoenix Wright instead discards the knife by throwing it like all the other evidence. This could be either a reference to further emphasize Phoenix Wright's lack of fighting skill, or the developers didn't decide to make a new animation just for this piece of evidence.
• There was a discrepancy in Phoenix Wright's Level 3 Hyper Combo. When dealing the final blow, he says "Take this!", while his text bubble displays "Take that!". This was fixed on December 19 when Heroes and Heralds Mode was released with a patch.
• The gigantic Judge from Phoenix Wright's Level 1 Hyper Combo, Order in the Court, is a reference to his nightmare at the beginning of the first case in the second game, where a gigantic Judge slams him with his gavel for being "no longer worthy of his title". He has the nightmare again in the final case of the same game, as he is conflicted with knowing that his defendant is guilty but being unable to pass a guilty verdict due to Maya having been kidnapped on the defendant's orders.
• Phoenix Wright's reveal trailer ends with him defeating Dr. Doom with the Ace Attorney Hyper Combo. This may be a joke or reference to Doom's ability to evade the legal system due to diplomatic immunity, as well as the game Ace Attorney Investigations, where overruling diplomatic immunity was a major plot point.
• Wright's universal launcher and Air Combo/Aerial Rave finisher involve him sneezing. This is a reference to the first case in the third game, where a young Phoenix Wright is stricken with a bad cold. In addition, one of the items he finds as (unusable) evidence is a bottle of Grape juice, referencing his future self's favorite drink.
• So far, Phoenix Wright is the only character in the whole Marvel vs. Capcom franchise to have two theme songs (his main theme Objection! ~ 2001 and Pursuit ~ Cornered 2001 which plays during his Turnabout Mode).
• Phoenix Wright's fighting style bears similarities to the fighting style of Hakushon Daimao (from The Genie Family series), a character that was included in the original Japanese release of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, but was taken out of the international release due to copyright issues.
• Phoenix Wright and Frank West both utilize ordinary objects as weapons, as well as both characters specifically use a plunger (Phoenix Wright throws it, and Frank West uses it as a melee weapon).
• Phoenix Wright and Galactus are the only characters that use only a finger as an attack (Galactus flicks the player, or shoots lasers, while Phoenix Wright uses "Objection!", "Take That!" and a snap back attack using only his finger).
• Phoenix Wright is the only character that has his Level 3 Hyper, and three different attacks ("Objection!", the giant fingers of energy in Turnabout Mode, and "Take That!") utilizing the same movement (pointing his finger).
• Phoenix Wright, X-23, Super Skrull, Iron Fist, Felicia, Wolverine, and She-Hulk, are the only characters that don't have projectile attacks.
  • However, both Phoenix Wright and She-Hulk are able to gain projectiles during the course of the battle (Phoenix Wright by gaining evidence, and She-Hulk with her Level 3 Hyper).
• Phoenix Wright's alternate costumes (together with Maya Fey) are all references from characters in the Ace Attorney Series. Namely: Miles Edgeworth, Godot, Larry Butz and Dick Gumshoe for Phoenix Wright and Mia Fey, Franziska Von Karma, Maggey Byrde (In a Trés Bien waitress outfit) and Kay Faraday for Maya. Wright also has a Sissel alternate and Maya has a Lynne alternate, both of which come from the game Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective which is made by Ace Attorney creator, Shuu Takumi.
  • In addition, all of Phoenix Wright's alternate costume settings involves Missile resembling all the alternate colors of Amaterasu (although the size is closer to that of her son, Chibiterasu, from Okamiden).
• His Ace Attorney Level 3 Hyper Combo does the highest amount of damage of all the characters and hypers in the entire game and possibly the entire Marvel vs. Capcom series along with Vergil's Dark Angel. It is also the only Hyper that hits anywhere in the screen (similar to but possibly better than Magneto's Gravity Squeeze), though it can still be blocked like so.
• One of Phoenix Wright's after-match quotes has him saying "I don't like having things thrown at me, but at least I'm happy it wasn't hot coffee." This is a reference to Godot, the prosecutor from the third game, who would often throw his coffee cup at Wright. Another reference to Godot is "A wise, coffee loving prosecutor once said 'once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth'". Which is both a quote from Godot and famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
• Phoenix Wright and Firebrand are the only two non-Street Fighter characters from the Capcom side to have no weapons (according to their in-game profiles).
• Phoenix Wright's ending involves him defending Galactus in court. However, Galactus is naturally too big to fit in the courthouse, so he requests a change of venue.
  • However, Phoenix Wright defending Galactus is odd, as Wright proved in Phoenix Wright: Justice For All that he doesn't defend clients he knows for a fact are guilty. Though this may be a reference to one of his clients in that game, Matt Engarde. It could also be a reference to Galactus doing what he does out of hunger as well as the fact that Galactus was provoked into attacking the two worlds due to the actions of Doctor Doom and Albert Wesker's coalition stealing power from his worldship.
    • Or it might just be a gag ending, as the Ace Attorney games have a healthy dose of comedy.
• Three of the prosecutors Phoenix Wright fought against in court (Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma and Godot) in the first three Ace Attorney games appear as cards in Heroes and Heralds Mode.
• Due to Phoenix Wright sharing his first name with the X-Men Phoenix (Jean Grey) in the English version of the game, most characters will call him "Mr. Wright" when tagging out to him. Characters with Japanese voices will call him by his full name.
• If Jean Gray, as Phoenix, defeats him, she compares him and herself, a destroyer of worlds, asking who between themselves is more hated.
  • In the Marvel universe, lawyers are despised and reviled due to being successfully manipulative by possibly underhanded means, thus the X-man Phoenix's winquote.
• Phoenix Wright's DLC costume has two variants in both the American and Japanese releases of the game. While they are the same concept; Phoenix Wright's college attire plus the pink sweater made for him by Dahlia and the face mask, much like in the games the yellow "P" seen in the English version is replaced with "RYU" to fit with his Japanese name, Ryuuichi Naruhodou.
• Phoenix Wright's "Slip Up" move, which involves him slipping on a banana peel and hitting overhead, isn't a reference to anything in the Ace Attorney series, but rather, a special reference to the first "Fight without Fighting" character Norimaro, who also had this move.
• If Phoenix's voice is set to Japanese, his speech bubbles will also turn into their Japanese kanji form.
• His seiyuu (Japanese voice actor) voiced Strider Hiryu in the previous installments of Marvel vs Capcom.
• When wearing his alternate Feenie costume, performing his Launcher (Wherein he sneezes) will cause his facemask to fly off, much like it does in Trials and Tribulations when he sneezes.
• Phoenix Wright's assists were once fully invincible while in Turnabout Mode. The invincibility was removed upon the release of the Heroes and Heralds patch.