Origin
Kazuya Mishima was born to Heihachi Mishima and Kazume Mishima. His mother Kazume was a kind and nurturing woman, but his father Heihachi was the ruthless CEO of the Mishima Zaibatsu. When Kazuya was born, Kazume immediately died. Heihachi grieved for his wife and wanted to raise his son to be strong and unyielding. However, Kazuya became a kind and frail boy and that was not satisfactory for Heihachi. Heihachi decided to throw Kazuya off of a cliff to toughen him up, as lions throw their cubs off a cliff and raise the ones that survive. Kazuya had survived, but only through a deal with Devil and was scarred on his chest for life. As a result of this, Kazuya would become more cold and distant and hone his karate skills to lethal effect. He won karate tournaments, one after another, as the only one to ever take him to a draw was the American Judo fighter Paul Phoenix. He did this for 16 years until Heihachi announced the King of Iron Fist Tournament. Kazuya, aged 26, entered the tournament to take down his father and settle his feud. Along the way, he fought his adopted brother Lee Chaolan and defeated him. It would be Kazuya who would face Heihachi in the final round, right on the same cliff Kazuya had fell off when he was ten. Father and son clashed and it would be Kazuya who would be the victor. He then dropped his father off the cliff in the name of revenge and took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
Creation
The character of Kazuya Mishima, is first introduced in the popular fighting video game franchise Tekken. Kazuya Mishima was the original protagonist of the Tekken franchise and much of the core root of the games story line originate and includes him. His first appearance was in the first Tekken game, and since then he has gone on to switch from protagonist and antagonist with each games release. He appears in the Namco Bandai produced comic Tekken Forever #1.
Major Story Arcs
King of Iron Fist 2
When Kazuya ruled the Mishima Zaibatsu, he did so with corruption. He involved drug trafficking, animal smuggling, and assassination. Kazuya, now 28, had everything a young man could want, so he then decided to announce the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. He hired the Irish assassin Anna Williams, sumo wrestler Ganryu, and Muay Thai kickboxer Bruce Irvin to work for him as bodyguards. He had fingers in many pies and several enemies in this stint. WWWC officer Jun Kazama was sent to arrest him for animal smuggling. Hong Kong police detective Lei Wulong was to investigate his corruption. Nina Williams was hired to assassinate him. Kazuya wanted the mystical amulet of Michelle Chang’s tribe, so he had Ganryu kidnapped her mother and caused her to participate. He had also arranged for Dr. Geppetto Boskonovitch to be kidnapped, which is why Jack-2 and Yoshimitsu got involved; Jack-2 wanted an upgrade while Yoshimitsu wanted to rescue the doctor. Most of all, Heihachi had survived the cliff fall and had trained for two years to defeat his son. Jun had made contact with Kazuya, but could not help being drawn to him and got pregnant because of him. Later in the tournament, Heihachi and Kazuya would once again lock horns. This was a different outcome; although Kazuya had the Devil powers on his side, Heihachi emerged victorious. He then decided that his son was too dangerous and dropped him into a volcano while regaining the Mishima Zaibatsu.
King of Iron Fist 4
21 years later, Kazuya’s remains were taken in by the cutting-edge technology firm G Corporation and he was revived. Kazuya let the researchers conduct research on him to find out more about his Devil Gene and he later heard about of King of Iron Fist 4. Kazuya knew it was a trap orchestrated by Heihachi to draw him and his own son Jin Kazama out. He decided to enter anyways to defeat his father and take the other half of the Devil Gene from his son. Once again, Kazuya would face Heihachi in the final round, but lost again. Heihachi would then take Kazuya to see Jin in the Hon-Maru temple. Kazuya would use his Devil powers to knock out Heihachi and then challenged his chained-up son to a battle. Jin broke loose and the two squared off. Kazuya would lose the fight along with Heihachi who had also tried to challenge Jin. Jin spared the both of them and flew off on his wings.
King of Iron Fist 5
When Kazuya and Heihachi awoke from their beatings, Jack-4 robots started bursting in. Father and son would then fight together against the robots for a short period of time. But when Heihachi began to tire, Kazuya betrayed his father and threw him into a Jack-4 detonation while he himself flew away in Devil form. Knowing that the Jack-4 units came from G Corporation, Kazuya vowed revenge against the firm’s betrayal by entering the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5.
King of Iron Fist 6
Although Kazuya did not win, he did find out which branch of G Corporation betrayed him and killed them all, becoming the head of the company. It would then be a corporate battle between him and his son Jin (who had usurped the Mishima Zaibatsu). The world viewed him as good while Jin was shunned because of his world conquest. Kazuya uses this to his advantage for his own world domination plans and he would start by putting a price on Jin’s head while entering his son’s King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 to increase the odds of his son’s silence.
King of Iron Fist 7
Kazuya is first seen in the flashback where he, as a child, struggled against Heihachi due to him killing his mother, Kazumi; sadly, he was easily defeated and thrown off a cliff.
Cut back to present day, Kazuya is seen in G Corporation’s HQ watching the news about Heihachi’s takeover of the Mishima Zaibatsu, commenting that he already expected such turn of events. Later on, he’s informed of his search for Jin Kazama. He then orders his soldiers to hasten the preparations for a raid against Heihachi.
Later, during the G Corp’s ambush on Heihachi – using the Jack-6 androids – he discovers that Heihachi is fighting against a warrior called Akuma, and also takes knowledge of his mission: to kill both Heihachi and Kazuya. As he hears that it was Kazumi who asked such request, he seems briefly distraught and maniacally laughs it off right after.
Now knowing that Akuma is going for him next, Kazuya meets the demonic fighter eye-to-eye atop a G Corp’s building. Kazuya takes the chance to ask Akuma about how he met Kazumi, to which he simply replies that she saved his life one time. They then engage in a fierce fight, and Kazuya is forced to bring his Devil form. What he didn’t know is that Heihachi was watching – and broadcasting globally – the whole fight through his satellite. After that turned the tides to the Mishima Zaibatsu’s favour, Heihachi then blows the G Corp’s building up with a beam from his satellite; however, Kazuya survives.
Determined to have the last laugh, Kazuya goes atop the G Corp’s HQ and sends a single devil beam to the sky, managing to destroy the Zaibatsu’s satellite. It is then sent a false claim that the Zaibatsu downed his own satellite, which collides with a town, which actually makes people forget about Kazuya turning into a devil and makes the public opinion side with G Corp again.
Both Kazuya and Heihachi decide finally to have their ultimate showdown, which takes place in a volcano. They fight for quite a while, remembering all their moments of hatred and deception, but with Heihachi refusing to die, Kazuya is forced to evoke his ultimate Devil form, and Heihachi fully charges his chi as well. They continue their fight for a while longer, until Kazuya uses his most powerful attack on Heihachi.
However, Heihachi gets up on his feet again, and eventually, uses his ultimate attack on Kazuya, who collides with the wall. Going back to his normal self, an exhausted Kazuya faces an burned out Heihachi; they struggle with each other, for quite a while, until Kazuya uses a final Devil Gene-powered punch to Heihachi’s chest, which finally kills him. To make sure that’s the case, Kazuya throws his father’s corpse off to a stream of lava.
Right after that, Kazuya dodges a fireball from Akuma, who also survived the building explosion. As Kazuya brings his final Devil form, Akuma also uses his Shin Akuma form. They fight a fierce battle against each other, but as Akuma is about to perform the Shun Goku Satsu technique, Kazuya uses his ultimate attack on Akuma. The outcome of the battle is unknown.
Powers and Abilities
Kazuya Mishima is an seasoned and veteran fighter who employs a fighting style known as Advanced Mishima style Fighting Karate.
Other Media
Movies
Tekken (2010)
Released in 2010 Kazuya is featured in the movie Tekken in a main role. Kazuya Mishima is portrayed by well known actor Ian Anthony Dale. The premise of the movie centers around The Iron Fist Tournament, Tekken. The year is 2039 and the world is in a state of dystopia. Corporations run the world, the countries, and the cities and Heihachi Mishima runs the most powerful corporation, the Tekken Corporation. Kazuya Mishima his son plots to ensure his succession. He is the main antagonist of the movie in opposition to his son Jin who plays the protagonist. A key difference between the character of Kazuya in this movie compared to the traditional interpretations of the character is that he relies much more on weapons in this version.
Tekken: The Motion Picture (1998)
Tekken The Motion Picture is an animated movie released in 1998. Kazuya plays the lead role in the movie. He struggles through and must survive assassination attempts, his father who had previously thrown him off a cliff as a young boy, his blood lust for revenge and his own internal struggle against his own darkness by the influence of the Devil. The subplot of the movie involves Kazuya romantically interacting with Jun Kazama.
Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011)
Tekken Blood Vengeance released in 2011 is a computer animated movie, featuring a number of iconic Tekken characters in a battle for the M Gene. A power struggle exists with three generations of Mishima bloodline vying for the secrets of the M Gene. Kazuya heads up and controls the G Corporation. His son Jin a rival business corporation Mishima Zaibatsu. Both employ field agents to gather intelligence. Kazuya employing Anna Williams and indirectly Ling Xiaoyu. The climax of the film reveals Heihachi Mishima as the mastermind behind the scenes, and all three generations of Mishima confront each other and engage in a vicious three way battle.
Video Games
Tekken
Tekken 2
Tekken Tag Tournament
Tekken 4
Tekken 5
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
Tekken 6
Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Street Fighter X Tekken