Leon Powalski

Leon in Star Fox Assault.
Leon Powalski
Species	Chameleon
Eye color	Blue
Voiced by	Jay Green (1997, 2011-Present) David Scully (2005) Jim Walker (2008)
Debut	Star Fox 2 (unreleased) Star Fox 64 (released)

Leon Powalski is an assassin working for Star Wolf who appears as a recurring enemy throughout the Star Fox series. The background of Leon is rather ambiguous, but he seems to have some long-standing rivalry with Falco Lombardi. He appears to be the most sadistic and coldest of the group.

Background

Star Wolf was hired by Andross to deal with Star Fox during his attempt to takeover the Lylat System in Star Fox 64. During their battles, Leon focused on fighting Falco. The team initially encountered Star Fox on Fichina while leading a fleet of Venomian ships. Despite their advantage, the Star Wolf team was defeated. They fought again on Bolse, only to lose yet again. After most of Andross's forces had been defeated, Star Wolf arrived to defend Venom and were defeated yet again.

In the nine years after, Leon Powalski was the only founding member (besides Wolf) to stay on the team in Star Fox Assault. When Star Fox raided Sargasso looking for Pigma, Star Wolf attempted to take down Star Fox, but was inevitably defeated. However, as the Aparoid threat become more apparent, Star Wolf came to the aid of Star Fox, although Leon seemed indifferent to the cause. Afterwards, Star Wolf provided Star Fox backup two different times, including the battle on the Aparoid Homeworld. After the planet exploded, the Star Wolf team was nowhere to be found.

Star Wolf eventually resurfaced, and the Cornerian military put bounties on each of their heads. They established a base on Fichina to hide from the Cornerian military. During the Anglar invasion of Star Fox Command, Star Wolf decided to try stopping the threat themselves. As a team, they were doing it so that the bounties on their heads would be removed, and they would be seen as heroes for a change. As an individual, Leon seemed to be particularly excited by the large number of targets he could kill.

Leon and Panther soon split off from Wolf and traveled to Katina in order to pick up Krystal, who was planning to join Star Wolf.

Possible Fates

In three endings, the Star Wolf team lead successful raids on Venom.

• In Ending 1, Fox intervened in Star Wolf's attempt to recruit Krystal, and none of the Star Wolf members were seen for a remainder of the storyline.
• In Ending 3, their raid on Vemom was successful, but the Anglar Emperor escapes into the Asteroid Belt, where Star Fox finished him off. Fox did however promise Star Wolf that he would try to get their bounties cleared as compensation.
• In Endings 4 and 9, they succeeded in destroying the Anglar Emperor in place of Star Fox and became known as heroes throughout the galaxy.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Leon makes small non-playable appearances in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Ultimate, where hidden conversations are activated by one of the Star Fox characters on the Lylat Cruise stage (which features Arwings and Wolfen fighters caught in a battle) by special taunts. These contain interesting moments for Leon, such as one point where he is admiring Wolf's claws and how they tear things apart, leading Panther to wonder if Leon is jealous of the "shredder or the shreddee".
  • He has also been represented by a trophy and two stickers (from Assault and Command) in Brawl, a trophy in the 3DS/Wii U installment and as an Advanced-Rank Primary Spirit (using his Assault artwork) in Ultimate. When fought in a Spirit battle, Leon's Spirit would possess Yoshi and fight alongside Wolf. The player would have Falco as an ally for the battle, and Falco had to be protected from being defeated by either of the pair.

Canceled Appearances

• Leon was originally created for Star Fox 2, in which he appeared as one of the bosses faced as part of Star Wolf. The game was ultimately released with the Super NES Classic.

Trivia

• Command description: "A member of the Star Wolf squadron. His image is ruthless and cold-blooded, but perhaps a friendly face lies under that exterior... Or perhaps not."
• His first name is simply taken from the last few letters of "chameleon", his presumed species. Additionally, his full name seems to be a play on "Leon Kowalski", the name of a character from the 1982 film Blade Runner.
• In Command, Leon has the lowest bounty of the Star Wolf team, at S$1000000, despite being one of the only two remaining original members
• He has been depicted with three fingers in Assault and five fingers in Command.