Alongside Marciano, Kowalski is one of the main antagonists of Lupin III: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon. After his former boss, Marciano's father, retired from the organized crime business and dedicated himself to excavating the ruins of Babylon, he was left the criminal business and took over as the boss of the crime business.
History[]
Prior to the events of the film, Kowalski worked under the father of Marciano as his second-in-command. When he finally retired from organized crime, Marciano's father left the organization in the hands of a younger Kowalski while he searched for the fabled treasure of Babylon.
Alongside Marciano's father, he designed the exact building that Marciano lives in the film. Shortly after, presumably, Marciano's father dies for unknown reasons. Afterwards, the crime organization is left in the hands of Kowalski, and the excavation business to Marciano (Junior).
Kowalski is usually the man doing the crime work for Marciano (despite his title as 'The Crime Boss'). He ensures that nothing goes wrong with Marciano's excavation and that his men stay in line by instilling as much fear into them as he can.
Personality[]
Kowalski is an incredibly ruthless and cruel individual, especially towards his subordinates. Whenever they fail an assassination or any task given by him, Kowalski punishes them with a 'Fly Swatter of Death'. He also doesn't bat an eye when his own men are either injured or killed, for example, burning up one of his own men instead of Jigen during the sewer fight. While speaking to Marciano, however, he is much softer and seemingly protective of him, referring to him as "Junior" and reassuring him when he's frustrated with Lupin trying to 'get in his way'. Near the end, however, this all appeared to be a manipulation tactic.
Kowalski also has a manipulative and cunning side, being able to trick people via a false display of emotions and being able to operate multiple different types of weapons. While in the sewer with him fighting Jigen with a flamethrower, he is presumably shot by him, falling to the ground seemingly injured and nearing death. This, however, was just a trick, and he immediately fires his weapon at Jigen before having rubble dumped onto him by Lupin.
Near the end of the film, Kowalski calls Marciano to inform him of Lupin's return to New York City. Hearing this, Marciano breaks down while Kowalski looks on and chuckles at his emotional outburst. When Lupin returns to rescue Fujiko from Marciano's building, he takes over as 'boss of Manhattan', betraying and murdering Marciano via his 'Flyswatter of Death' and then dumping him, along with Fujiko and Lupin into an underground whirlpool.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
In the PC-88 game, Kowalski is not killed by a bomb nor does he wield a "Flyswatter of Death". Instead, he traps the main four, and Marciano in a small room with some kind of poisonous gas, which they later managed to escape. When he finally believes he'd cornered Lupin, he is either chased away or arrested by Zenigata with the threat of incarceration.
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| The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
| |
|---|---|
Characters
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| Lupin III • Daisuke Jigen • Goemon Ishikawa XIII • Fujiko Mine • Koichi Zenigata | |
| Rosetta • Marciano • Kowalski • Willy • Chen | |
Music
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| Manhattan Joke | |
| Manhattan Joke | |
| Song of Babylon | |