Bruce Irvin

"Hehehehe, you're lucky I didn't break your arm, kid."

- Bruce after beating off Steve Fox

Bruce Irvin is an anti-villain character in the Tekken series of fighting games. Bruce first appeared in Tekken 2, and he has returned in Tekken 5 and 6 because plot demanded it, as well as Tekken Tag Tournaments 1 and 2 like most other characters of the series.

Biography
Bruce was born and raised in a rough neighbourhood in New York City, always troubled, hazed and bullied by criminals, gangsters and mobsters alike. While at a young age, Bruce was left with no family anymore when his parents and older sisters were all raped and killed by the Black Dragon Clan. With no other family nor relatives to turn to, Bruce was from one day to another, forced to survive alone on the streets or contemplate suicide. Deciding to let go of the suicide plans and put some sparks into some hope instead, Bruce trained in the arts of Muay Thai kickboxing at local dojos and training areas. Forced to fight on a daily basis to survive on the mean streets due to being harassed by the Black Dragon and Vinci Family, Bruce turned this to his advantage by competing in the underground fights in cages to earn money, a place where he soon developed a fearsome reputation due to his vicious temperament and uncompromising technique thanks to having his loved ones killed. This led Bruce to compete in professional tournaments, where he soon became the undisputed light heavyweight champion.

Just as Bruce's fortunes seemed to have changed for the better, his life took a dramatic turn when he entered a Muay Thai tournament in Thailand. A bookmaker, keen to turn over a profit, offered Bruce a sum of money to rig a fight and lose. When his turn came to fight, Bruce's pride would not allow him to lose, and he ended up beating his opponent. Enraged by the loss of revenue, the bookmaker hired a killer to take Bruce's life, while also hiring the police to capture Bruce. Forced to flee from all the drama, jail and death, Bruce took a plane out of the country, only to find that a detective and his hired killer were also on the plane. A fight soon escalated, resulting in the crashing of the plane into a forest in Japan. Whereas the detective and assassin's fates were unknown, Bruce survived, albeit with amnesia. Wandering alone in a foreign wilderness, Bruce was found by the forces of Heihachi Mishima. Mishima, seeing the potential of Bruce, hired him as a spy, and the two grew to be friends. When Heihachi arranged the second King of Iron Fist Tournament, Bruce entered, keen to test his abilities, but was ultimately defeated by Lei Wulong, a police officer from Hong Kong and partner of the detective injured in the plane crash. After the tournaments conclusion, Bruce continued to work for the Mishima Corporation, only this time under Heihachi's adopted son, Lee Carla's leadership.

Years later, Bruce heard that Heihachi's son and his worst enemy, Daiko Mishima, failed in killing his father and that his old boss was still alive (Heihachi was thrown off the WWE building during the events of 2nd tournament), and had taken control over the corp. once more. Bruce, while still working for the Mishimas, laid low for a while and avoided the tournaments until years later when the King of the Iron Fist tournament 5 was announced. He entered it, seeking information on who opened since it wasn't Heihachi nor Lee and also seek fun of testing his abilities. The 5th tournament was eventually won by Heihachi's ancestor Jin Kazama and it was found out it was actually announced by Heihachi's father, Jinpachi Mishima.

Despite working closely and loyally for the Mishima corp. almost his entire life, Bruce's pay kept getting lowered and lowered each day thanks to Heihachi's greediness and eventually his entire pay was cut off as was Mr. Toad and Richard Hughes's. Not wanting to spy around and risk his life for nothing, Bruce left the corporation some days after Hughes left. Unknown to Bruce however, is that that was one of the worst mistakes he could ever made.

Death
When the Mishimas heard of Bruce and other traitors' abandonment they did not hesitate at all to kill them, fearing they might rat out some of the info of their secret experiments and black market to the authorities. While Bruce was walking around the streets of Tokyo, searching for an apartment to live in as his house was burned down due his betrayal, he was shoot point blank in the head by Deathstroke, Mishimas' top assassin. He was one of the last traitors to be killed.

Personality and traits
Bruce has a seemingly complex personality; despite being ultimately on the side of evil, Bruce is a boring, rather remorseful individual with a warming persona, always thinks twice or thrice about killing his opponents. He even despises bullying and is constantly looking out for those more vulnerable than him, having a soft spot for children in particular, but never for the animals, making him another sithy would-be hunter. This is most likely due to his own troubled past and rough, meat-eating background. He also holds gangsters and mobsters in low contempt due to the killing of his own family by the Black Dragon, though he himself will happily beat up whoever stands in his way, especially if he is related to crime. Bruce lives to fight, is bloodthirsty and very (sometimes overly) confident of his own abilities while showing respect for his competitors despite his villainous role as said many times before.

He hates and resists capitalism in any way possible his employeers didn't pay his poor s.

Trivia

 * Bruce's favourite band is Black Eyed Peas.
 * Bryan Furry replaced Bruce in Tekken 3. However, unlike how it usually turns out, this time the rip-off is much cooler than the original.
 * Bruce is literally the only African-American character in the Tekken series. Oh, those racist and un-diverse Japanese. :P
 * In Tekken 5 and 6, Bruce's victory animations are a direct rip off of Tony Montana.
 * He is one of the most unpopular Tekken characters along with Ma tako ko Jama, Roger Jr. and Panda.
 * In Tekken 2, Bruce's sub-boss is Lei Wulong.
 * In Tekken 5, Bruce is unlocked by beating story mode four times with different characters.
 * Bruce's sub-bosses there are Steve Fox and Daiko Mishima.
 * Bruce originally wanted to fight in the WWE tournaments, but thanks to the convinces of Lee Carla, Irvin switched to the King of Iron Fist Tournaments.
 * Bruce apparently had a rivalry with Marshall's Law for some reason during the last King of Iron Fist tournament.
 * Bruce loves torturing baby chicks and chickens in general, something even the Mishima Corporation themselves found disgusting even before his betrayal.
 * Despite working for the same company, Bruce and William Sharp did not like each other, mostly due to Bruce poking fun at Sharp about his father being on his deathbed.
 * Irvin also despised Mr. Toad, but only because he was an animal.
 * Like with some other Tekken characters, Bruce's story about his adventures in the King of Iron Fist tournaments are never talked about. Mostly due because they don't deserve to be mentioned... ever.
 * Bruce was trained by Mokujin when he started to work for the Mishima corp. in order to fight in the Iron Fist tournaments.

Gallery
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