James McCloud

James McCloud in Star Fox Command
James McCloud
Species	Fox
Eye color	Unknown
Relatives	Fox McCloud (son) Marcus McCloud (possible grandson)
Voiced by	Mike West (1997, 2011-Present) Jim Walker (2005).
Debut	Star Fox 64

This article is about the character from Star Fox. For the F-Zero Character, see James McCloud (F-Zero).

James McCloud is the father of Fox McCloud who acts as an important character with the Star Fox series. He was the ace pilot who formed the original Team Star Fox, a band of mercenaries-for-hire usually working with General Pepper and the Cornerian Defense Force. The team's run ended in tragedy after betrayal by Pigma Dengar, which led to James's presumed death. However, he has made several post-mortem appearances that question whether or not he is truly dead.

Background

Original Continuity

The original Team Star Fox consisted of James McCloud, Peppy Hare and Pigma Dengar. The team's final mission was an exploration of Venom to examine reports that the mad scientist Andross was amassing a new fleet of warships for invasion of the Lylat System. During this mission, Pigma turned traitor and betrayed his teammates to Andross. Peppy Hare was able to escape, but James was captured and presumably killed by Andross. With James's passing, he was survived by his son Fox, who inherited the Great Fox and ROB64, which James had bought for the team but had never gotten the chance to utilize. Fox later led a new Star Fox team.

Despite his believed death, James has shown himself to Fox at several times. In Star Fox 64, Fox ventured to Venom with his new Star Fox team and succeeded in defeating Andross. However Fox then had a limited amount of time to escape a maze-like canyon. James McCloud suddenly appeared before his son, riding an Arwing, and guided Fox through the Venomian mazes to safety. Fox was looking forward to celebrating with his father, but afterwards, James was nowhere to be found. Then in Star Fox Adventures some of the Cheat Tokens Fox found revealed messages apparently from James, and some of the messages predicted future events (such as Falco's eventual return and that Andross was still alive).

James also made a surprise appearance in one ending path of Star Fox Command, and this time he was playable. In the final raid on Venom in Ending 6, James McCloud suddenly appeared in his Arwing to aid Fox, Falco and Dash in their battles under the Venomian oceans. It seemed that Fox was the only person who could see them (although while playing as James, Dash or Falco would occasionally congratulate him for good moves). Once again James disappeared after the battle was done.

Star Fox Zero

In Star Fox Zero, James's story was similar to the original continuity. It was shown that Pigma (who in this version was not an official member of Star Fox) shot at James during the mission on Venom. James was also known to have played a vital role in sealing Venom away within an alternate dimension, but his fate was once again unknown.

James later appeared to Fox, leading him to the final battle with Andross and then helping him escape. While in other appearances only Fox was aware of James's presence, in this game Andross also noticed him and cursed him for not staying dead.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• A human racer named James McCloud appeared in F-Zero X as an homage to this character. He even wears sunglasses like the Star Fox James, has a son and leads a galactic patrol team called Galaxy Dog.
• In the Super Smash Bros. series, James has been represented as a trophy (which mentioned his F-Zero counterpart) in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and as a Legend Primary Spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When fought in a Spirit battle, his spirit possessed Fox, and his strength, defense and speed would increase when he was badly damaged.

Other Media

• In the 1992 Star Fox comics, Fox's father was given the simple name of Fox McCloud Sr. Andross, while living on Corneria, wanted Fox Senior's wife for his own. So he arranged for Fox Senior to carry a prototype bomb into space for a test, but secretly programmed it to explode while Fox was towing it. This explosion created the Black Hole and caused Fox Senior's apparent death, although later issues revealed that instead of dying he had been sent into an alternate dimension. He lived in the whale at Sector Y and occasionally appeared to help Fox.

Trivia

• In the original Super NES Star Fox, Fox's father was occasionally mentioned but unnamed. In that game, it was said that Fox's father had disappeared after entering the Black Hole, but this plot point may no longer be canon following the retcons of Star Fox 64.
• In Star Fox Assault, the real James does not appear, but the Aparoid Queen does impersonate him in a vain attempt to lure Fox into joining the Aparoids.
• In Ending 2 of Star Fox Command, after Fox has a son, Fox wears sunglasses similar to James's.
• In Star Fox Adventures, one of the messages earned from throwing tokens in the well is clearly from James and includes a line often used by Peppy Hare: "I can see you have matured into a strong leader. I am always there with you. Never give up... Trust your instincts... My son..."
• The trophy description for Wolf O'Donnell in Super Smash Bros. Brawl mentions James and says that the two had some history together which led to Wolf's rivalry with Fox. It is still uncertain if this is canon due to various errors found in the descriptions of Smash Bros. trophies, as well as insufficient evidence in the canon Star Fox games.
• Star Fox Command Description: "Fox's father and the leader of the original Star Fox squadron. He was betrayed by a teammate into the clutches of Andross, where it's said he lost his life".