A magnificent likeness isn't it, Cooper? Almost as handsome as the real thing!
― El Jefe boasting to Sly about his gigantic statue[src]
El Jefe is a male Siberian tiger with orange, black and white fur and orange eyes. He was the first boss in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. He was one of Cyrille Le Paradox's lieutenants and was situated in Feudal Japan, the location for Turning Japanese.
He was voiced by Nolan North.
Biography
El Jefe was a high-ranking mercenary commander who had managed to conquer many countries across the entire world, selling them to the highest bidder. Being a military strategist of the highest rank, he once boasted that he was capable of conquering a country using only three blind mice armed with nothing more than plastic spoons. El Jefe vanished into obscurity sometime after INTERPOL forces were closing in on his operation.
After doing so he was more than likely contacted and hired by Cyrille Le Paradox to take on the task of erasing Rioichi Cooper from history. El Jefe is more than likely the fiend who poisoned the feudal era's shogun's sushi in order to frame Rioichi and have him thrown in jail. Then at some point, El Jefe constructed a 1,000 foot statue of himself, showing he thinks highly of himself, most likely using a time machine to travel back in time. He imprisons Rioichi, who is then freed and helps the Cooper Gang overthrow El Jefe. Before being defeated and taken to jail, El Jefe steals and gives Rioichi's cane to Le Paradox, who escapes with his blimp. At the end of the game, it is revealed that he was transferred to a South American prison, given a job rolling cigars, but forbidden to smoke them, much to his annoyance.
Characteristics
Physical appearance
El Jefe is an orange Siberian tiger with black stripes and patches of white fur on his chest and inner arms. He wears a grey jumpsuit with yellow stripes, a brown belt, and red straps across his chest. On his back are a pair of katanas. He is often seen smoking a cigar, possibly a Cuban.
Personality
BURN, COOPER!
― El Jefe to Sly[src]
El Jefe taunting Sly.
El Jefe has a very self-committed attitude and also thinks quite highly of himself, evident in his claims of being able to conquer an entire country with nothing more than three blind mice armed with mere plastic spoons. He also appears to be somewhat of a narcissist, constructing a colossal statue of himself and comparing its handsome appearance with his own. In the set up/introduction, Sly describes El Jefe as a ruthless and cunning military commander. He also notes that his glory has caused El Jefe to develop a level of arrogance and cowardice when faced with an even battle. This is evident during his battle with Sly, as despite boasts of his superiority over Sly, his constant retreats during the battle say otherwise.
Abilities
El Jefe is a formidable enemy, easily as fast and agile as Sly himself. El Jefe is also physically strong enough to lift Sly in the air with one hand and punch him some distance away. However, he comes with some very unique powers, such as being able to manipulate lightning through his katanas during the storm in his boss fight. Using the lightning as extensions to his sword and as balls of electricity to block Sly's path. His other attacks include using fire in the forms of waves and projectiles. In fact, a fireproof Samurai Costume, which is visible near Rioichi Cooper's section of the Cooper Vault, is required in order to defeat him.
Appearances
Gallery
Trivia
- "El Jefe" is a Spanish term meaning "the chief" or "the boss."
- Sly in the first part of the fight insults El Jefe for his name meaning "big baby" to annoy him.
- El Jefe has many similarities to the real life former Cuban president, Fidel Castro:
- Both are/were military commanders and dictators.
- Both are often seen smoking Cuban cigars.
- In the cutscene, El Jefe wears a similar green military uniform to Castro.
- They speak with Latin American/Spanish accents.
- The greatest similarity is that his name, El Jefe, was one of Castro's nicknames.
- El Jefe could also be a counterpart to Rafael Trujillo (True-hee-yo) a military dictator with a nickname of "El Jefe" as well as Fidel Castro.
- "El Jefe" is also the name of a cigar company.
- In the game preview, El Jefe can be seen using lightning from a storm to extend his sword reach, similar to Rajan and his staff. Although where he gains the command of fire is unknown.
- During IGN Live's gameplay of Thieves in Time, the developers revealed that in real life, the voice actor Nolan North, who plays El Jefe, has a son named Cooper.
- Nolan North also voices the main villain from Thieves in Time, Cyrille Le Paradox.
- El Jefe is the third tiger boss in the Sly Cooper series. The first two were Rajan and Neyla in Sly 2: Band of Thieves.
- Strangely, when Le Paradox was arrested, El Jefe was seen in his prison cell along with Ms. Decibel. How they got back to their own time was unknown. Although, it can be assumed and is highly probable that El Jefe went back to the present in the same way the ancestors did: the temporal abnormality correcting itself.
- El Jefe is one of three characters in the series to smoke. The others include Inspector Barkley and Dimitri, although Dimitri smokes a cigarette as opposed to the other two who smoke cigars.
- El Jefe seems to be a homage of three different previous Sly villains; the Panda King, Rajan, and General Tsao. Like Panda King, both have names associated with high social status, both use fire attacks, and both are fought close to a statue of themselves. Like Rajan, both attack the Cooper Gang with lightning attacks, both have impressive criminal records, and both are tigers. And like General Tsao, both are narcissists, and both have taken over a part of an Asian country.
- While Murray is dancing in a Madame Geisha costume during the job "Pretty in Pinker," one of the boars is holding money with El Jefe's face on it.