You may be looking for the copy created from his hand, or Ash's evil double.
“ | 'Groovy.' | „ |
~ Ash's signature line |
Ashley James "Ash" Williams is the anti-hero protagonist of the Evil Dead series, played by Bruce Campbell, and created by director Sam Raimi.
First appearing in the film The Evil Dead, Ash has become very popular in modern pop culture and one of the few non-monster characters in the "horror" genre to have such notoriety. He is most easily recognized and envisioned in later material based on his final appearance in the second film however, armed with a sawed-off shotgun and a chainsaw strapped to the stump on his right arm where his hand once was.
Biography
Ash was born and raised in Elk Grove, Michigan sometime in the late 1950's, along with his sister Cheryl. After high school he attended Michigan State University and received an engineering degree and lived a relatively normal life. He was employed at the superstore, S-Mart (where he worked in the housewares department), and had a girlfriend, Linda, who worked with him at S-Mart. While dating Linda, he told her he wanted to live in Jacksonville, Florida and take her with him.
The Evil Dead
In The Evil Dead, Ash, his girlfriend Linda, sister Cheryl, and friends Scotty and Shelly all stay at a log cabin in the woods. There they find the "Naturon Demonto" (renamed or possibly translated to Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the sequels), the book of the dead, along with a tape recorder. The tape is a recording of the owner of the cabin, Professor Raymond Knowby, who was translating a passage of the book. By playing the tape, Ash and friends awake the evil spirits who can now possess the living. Ash's friends and sister are consequently possessed and killed one by one. It isn't until he's the last survivor that he finally destroys the Necronomicon by throwing it into the fireplace, and in doing so, the possessed bodies of Scotty and Cheryl rapidly decay and 'die'. The evil appears to be driven back, however the film ends with Ash attacked (or possibly overtaken) by an evil spirit.
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn
Evil Dead II continues the story, but the first 10 minutes serves as remake of the original (Sam Raimi was unable to acquire footage from the original Evil Dead. He tried shooting some scenes featuring the other characters but they were abandoned. This was mentioned in the Evil Dead II audio commentary) During this remake Ash is playing the piano while Linda is dancing. While she is changing Ash finds the book and the tape recorder he plays it until "The Evil" breaks though the window and steals Linda away and the evil spirit attacks Ash. afterwards the movie picks up again and continues where the original left off with Ash being carried a good distance by the demon, Ash is slammed hard against a tree and falls in a puddle of water. From here he becomes a deadite but shortly afterwards is released from the spirit by the coming of dawn, only to pass out. Ash regains consciousness moments before sunset. Deciding to get out of there as fast as he can, he climbs into his car and drives to where the bridge was, only to find it completely destroyed by the evil force. As the sun quickly sets, said force starts climbing up the cliff, and Ash hops into his car, driving away as fast as he can and as a result, crashing right into a treestump that sends him flying through the windshield.
With the evil close behind him, he runs into the cabin and through it trying to hide, and ducks into the trapdoor, waiting until the evil force leaves. After it does, Ash comes out, only to find himself stuck at the cabin with the spirits of the Evil Dead for yet another night. Later, the cabin owner's daughter, Annie arrives with Ed Getley and two other people arrive. It also turns out that Henrietta Knowby is still in the basement. One by one all are killed until only Ash and Annie are left.It is near the end of this film that Ash gets his famous chainsaw in place of his right hand. The film ends with Ash being sucked into a vortex and traveling back in time to 1300 AD, where the locals claim, according to their prophecies, that he is "The Hero from the Sky" who will save them from the Deadites. The film ends zooming out from Ash, who is shouting "No, No, NOOO!", to reveal hundreds of soldiers chanting their alliegance to Ash.
Army of Darkness
The next film continues the story from there (though he receives far less of a warm welcome than the end of the previous film suggests). Despite the Wiseman's attempt to convince him otherwise, King Arthur became convinced that Ash was an ally of his mortal enemy Henry the Red and ordered his execution. Ash, however, gained the upper hand using his shotgun and freed Henry and his men. He meets and falls in love with a woman living in this time period, Sheila.
Because of his status as the chosen one, the Wiseman attempts to persuade him to retrieve the Necronomicon from the Deadites. At first he is reluctant to help the Wiseman recover the book, however he agrees when the Wiseman explains that the book can return him to his on time and place. In this movie, Ash constructs a mechanical prosthetic hand out of a gauntlet from a suit of armor, using it throughout the film in place of the chainsaw (though he still carries it with him).
During his lone journey to retrieve the book, he hides from the evil force in the woods in a windmill and is attacked by several tiny reflection of himself. One of them manages to jump into his mouth and grows into a full-size bad Ash. The döppelganger is quickly dispatched and Ash retrieves the book. However, because he forgets the correct recitation to say beforehand, the army of darkness, and his evil self, rise up from the dead. He barely escapes, but when he gets back he learns the bad news, because of his blunder, Ash has to defeat his alter-ego known as Bad Ash/Evil Ash who is leading the Army of Darkness to steal the Necronomicon. He refuses until Sheila is captured by the Deadites, whereupon he rallies Henry to the causes aid, brokers a peace between them, trains themen to fight, and converts the Oldsmobile into a death coaster. There is an epic battle in which he saves Sheila, defeats Bad Ash, and destroys the army of darkness with the help of Henry and Arthur's combined forces. He then turns to the matter of returning to his own time.
The movie has two different endings, one where he returns to his own time and defends S-Mart from a possessed woman, and another, the director's cut (or Japanese version entitled "Captain Supermarket"), where he ends up in a post-apocalyptic future. Note that the endings do not necessarily contradict each other; in the one where he returns to his own time he is not shown waking up, therefore it is possible he found another way home whilst he was in the post-apocalyptic future and omitted the detail when telling the story at S-Mart.
Evil Dead (2013 remake-sequel)
In a post-credits scene, an older Ash Williams recites his iconic line "Groovy", and then turns to the audience.
Ash vs. Evil Dead
30 years have passed since the fateful night at Professor Knowby's cabin, and Ash has hung up his Boomstick, detached his Chainsaw and settled for a more simple life with his pet lizard "Eli". However Ash soon noticed that his evil past had returned to haunt him (Mainly because he got stoned and read passages from "The Book of The Dead"), the Deadites are back and there is no way of stopping them. However Ash recalled a certain bookstore owner,(who understood and could read "The Necronomicon Ex-Mortis") he once met, that maybe able to help him solve this dilemma.
With the dangers of the approaching evil growing closer, Ash continued his daily routine so as not to attract attention. After arriving at Value Stop. Ash began his daily Workplace duties, which usually consisted of him lugging boxes of light bulbs and flirting with the Checkout Attendants However Ash was confronted in the Storage Room by a Deadite that had possessed a Toy Doll,. He manged to defeat this enemy,with a little help from his co-worker, Pablo. He inevitably told his young co-worker the truth about his dark past and explained to him why he needed to leave town. However Pablo believed in his heart that Ash was sent to protect the human race from evil, and implored him to reconsider. But it wasn't enough to convince him to stay and fight the Deadites.
Ash returned to Mossy Haven Trailer Park and prepared to leave, only to be confronted by Pablo and Kelly (The Checkout Attendant at Value Stop) , who needed his help in order to rescue Kelly father. However, Ash told them, that he's not willing to put his neck on the line for just anyone. Ash, Kelly and Pablo soon realize that the Evil has reached the Trailer Park, and it has taken control of the residents. With no other options, Ash reclaims his trusty, Boomstick and Chainsaw and finds the courage to destroy the Deadites. With his fear of the past finally gone, Ash thanks Pablo, and agrees to help them save Kelly's father.
Army of Darkness 2/Evil Dead 4
Campbell has stated that he would reprise his role in a possible sequel.
Characteristics, equipment, and abilities
Ash is known for two main weapons, his sawed-off shotgun/"boomstick", a sawed-off double-barreled 12 gauge Remington Arms shotgun with a hair trigger (although this weapon has changed several times), and the more noticeable chainsaw, which was adapted to replace his right hand, amputated in Evil Dead II after being possessed by a Deadite. Later, during Army of Darkness, Ash builds himself a new, mechanical right hand using a plate, chainmail gauntlet, and customized springs. The mechanical hand is fully functional, and even allows Ash to exhibit an otherwise superhuman grip, as seen when he easily crushes a goblet full of wine shortly after obtaining it.
The Deathcoaster is seen in the latter parts of Army of Darkness, made from the remains of his car and powered by a steam engine. The main feature of it is a massive rotating blade on the front of it, akin to an angled upright lawnmower blade. The Deathcoaster was destroyed during the film's final battle, after Evil Sheila tricks him into jumping off by apparently returning to normal. At the end of the film he takes what is left of it with him, though it hasn't been seen or used in any later material. The Deathcoaster was not referred to as such in the film; the name appears in scripts and publicity material.
Besides the sawed-off Remington shotgun, Ash is also skilled in the use of other firearms like the Winchester Model 1892 lever action rifle (as seen at the end of Army of Darkness while fighting the possessed store clerk). Strangely, Ash seems to lose possession of both his chainsaw and shotgun during Army of Darkness, as he is not seen to be carrying the chainsaw after dismembering Bad Ash and is not seen with his shotgun after crashing the Deathcoaster. A continuity error exists within the series; while Ash claimed to have gained his shotgun at S-Mart in Army of Darkness, he really found it at Professor Knowby's cabin during Evil Dead II, though as some point out, Ash only says that the gun *can be found* in S-Mart, and never explicitly says that he got it there.
Bruce Campbell has stated Ash is pretty much incompetent at everything except fighting the Evil Dead [1]. Campbell also added that Ash is "a bad slow thinker and a good fast thinker". He knows some degree of hand-to-hand combat techniques, and prowess with a variety of weapons in various situations [2]. His main strength seems to be his ingenuity: he has from the second film on been shown creating such things ranging from his chainsaw bracket and shotgun harness, gunpowder from mainly referencing its elemental makeup in a chemistry book, a fully functional prosthetic hand from a metal gauntlet, and the short-lived "Deathcoaster".
In addition, during the second time he was possessed near the climax of Evil Dead II, Ash displayed some degree of superhuman strength (see Deadite Ash below), as seen when he easily lifted Jake over his head and threw him at least ten feet into a tree and ripped the back screen door of the cabin off of its hinges with his one remaining hand.
Ash's personality and state of mind change drastically throughout the franchise. In The Evil Dead and the beginning of Evil Dead II, he is something of a laid-back everyman who is cowardly and inexperienced, but by the middle of Evil Dead II and into Army of Darkness, he has grown into a much braver, even arrogant person, and becomes the voice of encouragement and confidence in Arthur's castle. It is at this point that Ash becomes known for his one-liners, and his personality takes on a more cynical, embittered tone. Sam Raimi has said that he feels Ash's personality transformation in Darkness was very out of character [3].
Ash's experiences with the Necronomicon have left him cynical, irritable, and perhaps partially, if not completely, insane; several of the horrifying things that have happened to him, prominent examples being the various sound effects he hears before Evil Cheryl punches clean through the door and grabs his face in The Evil Dead, his reflection popping out of the mirror and strangling him (see Bad Ash/Evil Ash below), as well as multiple inanimate objects coming to life and laughing maniacally at him, with Ash himself joining in soon after, when he attempts to sit down in a wooden chair and crushes it while doing so in Evil Dead II, were merely his hallucinations and not the powers of the Kandarian demons, suggesting the encounters with the evil has traumatized Ash and caused him to develop an unknown degree of mental illness.
Variant Incarnations
Bad Ash/Evil Ash
Ash's dark side manifests itself as a separate entity first in Evil Dead II, where he hallucinates his reflection tormenting him over dismembering 'their' girlfriend with a chainsaw, and then proceeds to try and choke him (only for Ash to realize he was choking himself). This side of him later splits off his body in a drawn out painful event in Army of Darkness (unlike the original, having both hands intact), becoming 'Bad Ash' and getting first blown away at point blank range by Ash's shotgun, then cut to pieces, and finally buried (though even in this state he still 'lived').
When Ash blunders and accidentally awakens the Army of the Dead, Bad Ash re-emerges from the grave quickly piecing himself together as the decayed 'Evil Ash' and takes command of the undead troops, even corrupting Ash's then-love interest Sheila into a deadite-like hag. He battles the original Ash as he makes a bee-line for the Necronomicon, and gets lit ablaze by a torch, only to re-emerge as 'Skeleton Evil Ash', a much more agile and dangerous version. As Henry the Red's troops arrive to assist in the battle against the undead and break their ranks, Evil Ash ironically has his right hand holding the Necronomicon chopped off by Ash, and is then catapulted into the sky riding a lit sack of gunpowder to be blown to pieces.
He returns in Evil Dead: Hail to the King after Ash's possessed hand releases the evil force once more into the world by playing Knowby's tape recording, emerging from the mirror in the cabin (a la his first appearance), tossing Ash aside and taking off. Unlike before, Evil Ash is closer in appearance to a zombified version of Ash, and has the ability to launch fireballs and shapeshift . Ultimately he was destroyed once more by the original. Beyond this, Evil Ash has appeared in comic spin-offs, appearing more akin to his decayed Army of Darkness version. In the comics as he is the evil side of Ash separated, this leaves Ash as "the purest soul on Earth". He is one of the central antagonists in the A.O.D. comic books and is obsessed with defeating the original.
Being referred to in the film as "the evil", it is suggested that, in addition to Ash's dark side, he is the evil from the first two films, who was also sent back in time and was chasing Ash before the smaller Ashes appeared from the mirror.
Deadite Ash
'Deadite Ash' is another story. In Evil Dead: Regeneration this version is referred to as 'Evil Ash' (and Sam calls him 'Bad Ash' in the game). Deadite Ash is Ash himself possessed by a Kandarian demon and turned into a monstrous version of himself with greatly increased strength and brutality. In Evil Dead II, sunlight and the memory of Linda seems to drive the demon out (or possibly just 'back') and reverts him to normal. In Evil Dead: Regeneration , Deadite Ash actually is shown to be a complete berserker, attacking anything in his path (namely the deadites) and with Ash having some degree of control, later on, over his actions, though the effects are short-term. Enemies in the last area of the game speak of how Ash is 'already one of them', possibly a reference to this. The shotgun and chainsaw are augmented during this period also, the gun notably firing bolts of energy.
Ashes From Other Universes
Like most franchises (ex. Star Trek, Family Guy, Doctor Who), the Evil Dead series has explored the concepts of Alternate Timelines/Universes, where something about the Evil Dead series has been slightly altered for creative purposes. Living in these alternate timelines are different versions of Ash Williams, and although they may have different lives entirely, when it's "their time", they will be brought to the doorway between Hell and Earth, one by one, and protect it until they die.
Ashley G. Williams (Earth-2149)
This Ash Williams is native to the Marvel Zombies universe (Earth-2149). A lowly employee of S-Mart, Ash takes up arms against the zombie superheroes. However, while distracted by seeing Ashley J. Williams, he is attacked and eaten by the zombie Howard the Duck (who said his brain tastes like chicken). Unlike regular Ash, this version apparently never got involved in the events surrounding the cabin or the Necronomicon, as he has both hands and lacks the regular's facial scars. Instead he feels that he was meant for greater things but in the world of super-heroes was never considered much in the public eye and stayed at S-Mart, seemingly living alone; this outcome is most especially decided by the fact that the Necronomicon, in the Marvel Zombies Universe, is kept in the private library of Doctor Doom . Like Ashley J. Williams, this Ash used both a shotgun harnessed to his back and a chainsaw. It is uncertain just how much he managed to do before Howard killed him, though he is shown encountering a zombified and duplicated Multiple Man, and dismembering Hulkling 's remains with his chainsaw.
2004-2013, 2016 Comic Book Ash (Earth-818793)
First Appearance: Ashes 2 Ashes #1
Born in 1969, when Ash was born, he was a child that had been touched by the light of God which made him the chosen one. A cult which worshiped the Necronomicon, tracked him down and cursed him to be tormented by the deadites. According to Ash, he claims he doesn't remember but always felt there was something wrong even when he was a kid. This Ash and his friends visited the cabin in the early 2000's instead of the 1980's, Ash's battles with the deadites would transcend within the past, present, and future. His adventures would include him traveling to Egypt to defeat Deadite Ash, going into the future, being trapped in a mental asylum, fighting with classic monsters, meeting the anti-hero Darkman, being killed, and ending up in another universe before finally going back to the destroyed present. After restoring the present to normal, Ash messed up again and accidentally wished he had never been the Chosen One, and lost his memories and moxie. After fixing that mess, Ash and Sheila went back in time and discovered that as long as the Necronomicon existed; Sheila would die for the price of her love. Returning to the present, Ash decided to finally take his role as the Chosen one more seriously, and guard the book. Hunting down copies of the Necronomicon, Ash wound up in the town of Forest Green, originally known as Crystal Lake, where he fought Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees. Six months later, he fought Kruger and Voorhees again, killing them for good. After that ordeal, he met Xena, The Warrior Princess, where he helped her bring down a little Ash that had taken over her world. Another encounter with Xena led him discover he had a child with Xena's friend Gabrielle. Unfortunately, Ash mucked up and he unwittingly caused the beginning of the end to the present once more. After accidentally infecting a town's water supply with evil, whilst Ash ended up becoming infected by a special kind of deadite called Hell's Prophet in the process, he traveled to Europe in search of other Chosen Ones. Ash formed a team of of Chosen Ones called the League of Light, where they save the world from Hell's Prophet. Ash laid low for awhile after saving the world from Hell's Prophet, but evil found him again in Las Vegas, Nevada when the 2012 Mayan Prophecy was coming true. After saving Vegas from the Mayan God Chaac, he joined a team consisting of Super-Heroes and Monsters that brought down Kulan Gath, the man who awakened the Gods attacking the Earth. Realizing the world was crawling with more evil than he thought, Ash hired himself out as a "Deadite Hunter For Hire", where he was called upon all around the world to stop the Deadites from taking over. While on one of these missions, he met Ashley K. Williams, his female counterpart from another universe who had been tracking him across the globe. Unlike Ash, Ashley K. Williams had superpowers that were given to her by her universe's versions of The Dark Ones, and they used her powers to overcome her so she became Evil Ashley K. Williams. Earth-818793 Ash ended up putting her down and saved the world once more. Still hunting down copies of the Necronomicon, Ash enlisted the help of Cassie Hack, another monster hunter, to help him track down a seller who was auctioning off individual pages of the book. Not long after parting ways with Cassie, Ash was accidentally summoned back in time to 1922 by Herbert West, who accidentally brought himself back in time as well using the Necronomicon. Ash was trapped in the past as West's lab assistant for a few months since West had hid his copy of the book from him, and witnessed the (second) death of The Re-Animator. Ash somehow found a way back to the 21st Century and went into hiding for 20 years. Over time, Evil Ash had taken over the world again. Ash, not wanting to face Evil Ash alone, barricaded himself in his S-Mart store until a team of witches, werewolves, nuns, and vampires needed him (and the Necronomicon) to help them stop Evil Ash for good. The 50 year old Ash agreed to help and now leads the team (what remains them, anyway) against Evil Ash's new Army of Darkness.
"Normal Ash" (Comic Book Timeline Only)
First Appearance: The Long Road Home
Last Apperance: Home Sweet Hell
When Ash filled the last page of the Necronomicon with his blood, he made a childish drawing of him and Shelia back at S-Mart, and the world was back to normal. When the two where returned to S-Mart, Ash had forgotten everything from his encounters with the Deadites (The Films and Comics), and thought he and Shelia were regular S-Mart workers. Shelia told Ash of all the events that has happend to them ("Army of Darkness" to "The Long Road Home") and he began to question how he got his Gauntlet Hand. Buck and Iggy (from "Shop Till' You Drop Dead") are shown alive (Ash killed them in the final issue of "Shop") and go to a Dr. Wiseman to find out what is wrong with Ash (They too are unaware of the Films events and "Shop").
Werewolf Ash (Comic Book Timeline)
First and Last Appearance: Ash Vs. The Classic Monsters
Ash was briefly tuned into a Werewolf after fighting a pack of Werewolves, and was turned back into regular Ash after being hit by a magical arrow shot by Eva, the daughter of Dracula. Werewolf Ash is briefly mentioned in Army of Darkness: Furious Road #1 by Eva.
Guardian Ash (Comic Book Timeline)
First and Last Appearance: Army of Darkness Volume 3 #7
This version of Ash Williams was locked up inside a mental asylum for being the number one suspect of the murder of his (Deadite) friends in a cabin in the woods. After escaping the asylum, a team was sent out to find Ash before he could murder anyone else. On this team was Ted, a half dead midget with knowledge of the dark powers written of in The Necronomicon. Ted decided to leave his team and help Ash destroy the Deadites as Ash's partner. After some time of battling the Deadites, The Necronomicon sent Ash and Ted to Hell, where they found a replica of the cabin where Ash killed his friends. Upon arrival, they found another version of Ash, with a red claw hand instead of a metal gauntlet. This Ash told the new arrivals that there are millions of versions of Ash from across the multiverse, and all of them eventually find themselves here to guard a doorway that leads back into the world of the living, and the new Ash and Ted had arrived to take his place as the guardian. When Ashley K. Williams arrives in Hell and asks Guardian Ash how he got the claw hand, he says he killed the Ash who greeted him into Hell. Later, he says that it was given to him by the old Ash. When a swarm of demons come to the cabin to get into the living world, Guardian Ash wants to die in battle to make up for killing his friends at the actual cabin. Before the demons even get close to the cabin, Guardian Ash is killed by Ashley K. Williams, and Ted escapes into the living world.
Future Ash
First and Last Appearance: Army of Darkness #1992.1
This Ash worked at SMART.COM, the world's largest online store, and was one of the few human employees who wasn't replaced by robots. One day while in a digital simulation of a cabin in the woods, his purple haired girlfriend Linda opened a malware file called Necronomicon, which corrupted both the digital and real world Linda. The malware then sent digital Ash into an MMORPG, where he meets a wise hacker who is also fighting the Necronomicon Program, and tells him the three passwords that he needs to put into the Necronomicon Program to save Linda. As he arrives to a computer terminal back in the real world, he forgets the last part of password. As he struggles to remember the word, he is unaware that a virus infected Linda is behind him with an axe.
2013-2015 Comic Book Ash
First Appearance: Ash and the Army of Darkness #1 (2013)
Last Appearance: Ash In Space #5 (2015)
This Ash, like the 2004-2013 and 2016 Comic Ash, visited the cabin in the mid 2000s. This Ash's entire S-Mart store was teleported to 1300 AD where Ash was summoned by a Deadite Wise Man who needed his assistance. When Ash and Sheila (who now fights the Deadites herself) turn The Wise Man back to normal, Sheila is then possessed and leads her own "Army of Darkness" without Evil Ash. Ash then turns her back to normal once more and decides to stay in 1300 AD with her, and the two are engaged. Before their wedding, Ash fights The Faceless Man, a powerful monster strong enough to break Ash's Boomstick in half. After defeating The Faceless Man, Ash and Sheila are married, but at the wedding reception, a drunken Ash says "Klaatu Barada Nikto" and is sent to the year 1350, where an astronomer wants to use the power of The Necronomicon to be closer to the stars, which sends both him and Ash to the 21st century aboard a shuttle headed for the International Space Station. The Station's computers are "infected" with evil from The Necronomicon, and a robotic-like Evil Ash is reborn. Ash and the astronauts aboard the station use what they can to make weapons to combat Evil Ash, and succeed, destroying both Evil Ash and The Book of The Dead. Ash and the only surviving member of the crew of the space station take a shuttle home and put it on autopilot before going to sleep, except when the two awake, they find that the shuttle's definition of home was different, leaving the two on a alien planet where horrific faces are carved into rectangular stones...
The Evil Dead (2008) Ash
First Appearance: The Evil Dead #1 (2008)
Last Appearance: The Evil Dead #4 (2008)
This Ash was in his mid-20's in the late 2000's, living a normal life and working at a supermarket, until he and four other friends journeyed to a cabin where they find a flesh-bound book titled Naturon Demonto. The main difference between this Ash and the Ash seen in The Evil Dead (1981), is Cheryl is not his sister, but just a friend tagging along.
Video Game Ash
Evil Dead: Hail to the King (video game)
Hail to the King follows the events of Army of Darkness (following the original ending not the director's cut) where Ash finds himself back in his own time. 8 years after Army of Darkness, Ash and his new girlfriend Jenny, return to the cabin to confront his past. Unknown to Ash his amputated hand is still in the cabin and it plays Prof. Knowby's tape, yet again summoning the Evil. Jenny is taken and eventually dies and Ash must survive encounters with both the deadites and a reincarnated Evil Ash.
Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick (video game)
Following Hail To The King, Fistful of Boomstick is set 10 years after the events of the previous game. It starts with Ash sitting in a bar talking to the barkeeper. The bartender informs Ash that he's sorry about Jenny, a topic that seems to bother Ash. It is now the television is showing, tuned into a late night skeptics show. The TV presenter announces that she has a treat in store and invites on a Professor, who was a colleague of Knowby, who then plays the tape from the cabin Trisha got while investigating the Knowby case which, unsurprisingly, awakens a bunch of Deadites who start to attack the town and yours truly must send back to hell.
Eventually Ash rescues the professor and the TV presenter (who he flirts with), and discovers that a stone tablet should dispel the evil. So, after fighting through the local museum, Ash brings the professor the tablet. When translating the tablet the Prof shows his true colors, whisking back in time with an army of deadites. Ash follows him through several periods of time, meeting his distant relative Williams the blacksmith and acquiring weapons such as the flamethrower and Gatling gun which replace his chainsaw hand. Finally, in columbial times, he defeats the Professor and returns to town to discover it has become a hell on earth under the command of the TV presenter and Ash must again brutally kill the new woman in his life.
Other Appearances
Films
The Proposed Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Film
In 2005, there was talk of Ash appearing in a sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason. The project went as far as a script being written by Jeff Katz; however, Sam Raimi eventually decided against it. Though tempted, Raimi thought it would be unfair to the other director to dictate rules for what Ash could and could not do, which would be required as Raimi has plans for Ash in the future. Campbell said of the original rumors that if he were to sign up, "[Ash] would have to win, or I wouldn't do it." Although comic publishers Wildstorm (a division of DC Comics) and Dynamite Entertainment teamed-up in 2007 and 2008 to create two Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comic series, fans still ask Campbell and Robert Englund if they would do a FvJvA film. When Ash vs. Evil Dead Season 2 was announced, many fans speculated the series would feature a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash story-arc because of the Freddy Kruger glove featured in the AvED episode The Dark One, but this rumor has since been debunked.
My Name Is Bruce
In Bruce Campbell's film My Name Is Bruce, Campbell plays a parody of himself, where he is kidnapped and mistaken for being a fearless monster fighting hero like Ash.
Ash 4 Emmy Campaign
In 2016, Bruce Campbell appeared in character as Ash in a series of advertisements for an Emmy Consideration Campaign for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy.
Conan Comic-Con 2016
On July 22, 2016, Bruce Campbell appeared on the TBS talk-show Conan wearing Ash's Chainsaw and helped Conan O'Brien with cutting a sandwich that sprayed blood all over Bruce's white tuxedo.
Comics
Dark Horse
Ash's first comic appearance was in Dark Horse's 1992 three-issue adaptation of Army of Darkness. It written by Sam and Ivan Raimi. Accompanying it is TheEvil Dead (2008) a comic from Dark Horse Comics retelling the story of the events of the original film.[4] In this version of the tale, Cheryl is not Ash's sister, but just a friend of his girlfriend Linda, and the book is called "Nacheron De'manto". The professor and his wife are depicted as younger adults rather than the middle-aged version seen in the film. For as-yet unknown reasons, the only character in the book that looks like their film counterpart is Ash. Every other character has been completely redesigned for this "expansion".
Dynamite Entertainment
The Ash of Earth-818793 is the main character in Dynamite Entertainment's Army of Darkness series. Beginning in 2004, Dynamite's Army series has run non-stop since then. The series is more famous for it's many crossovers rather than it's ongoing series. Some of these crossovers include Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, Darkman vs. Army of Darkness, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, and Army of Darkness/Xena Warrior Princess.
Space Goat Publishing
A new version of Ash grown from his severed hand is the star of Space Goat's Evil Dead 2 line of books that began in 2015.
Musical
In Evil Dead: The Musical is a loose musical adaptation of Evil Dead series, mostly combining the plot elements of Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. The musical is notable for being the first time when Ash is not portrayed by Bruce Campbell. Many people have played Ash though out the run of the show.
Video Games
Poker Night 2
Ash is also appeared in Telltale Games Poker Night 2 to promote Evil Dead (2013). He was voiced by Danny Webber, making it the first time Bruce Campbell did not play Ash for a video game.
Unofficial Video Game Appearances
Splatterhouse (2010)
In the game Splatterhouse for Xbox 360 & PS3, the episode of Meat Factory, at one point found a body on the floor wearing the same clothes that Ash wears, is missing a hand, and has a double barreled shotgun laying next to him.
Terrordrome
Ash appears as a character in the popular fan-made fighting game Terrordrome (Along with an S-Mart stage and a Cabin stage).
Broforce
Ash Brolliams is a playable character in the run and gun platform game Broforce. He was added to the game as a "bro" at the 11 July 2013 update of Broforce Brototype.
Trivia
- Bad Ash is a play on the phrase Bad ass, where the "Bad ass" is considered "awesome" or "cool" by their peers.
- In Duke Nukem 3D, several of Ash's quotes are used, such as "Groovy" when a new weapon is picked up by Duke, or "Come get some." and "Hail to the king baby.", which are some of his famous phrases.
- Ash is left-handed. This is a result of sawing off his own right hand with a chainsaw in Evil Dead 2 and Bruce Campbell actually being left-handed.
- Ash's character is referenced heavily in Evil Dead by both Mia and David.
- Ash is often portrayed to be a "Ladies Man" due to him being seen with multiple females.
- Sam Raimi came up with the idea to have Ash's full name be Ashley J. Williams while making Army of Darkness, the name was later confirmed by Bruce Campbell during an interview with Cinefantastique magazine. Campbell originally wanted Ash's name to be Ash Holt before Raimi approved the Williams name, and in an early script for the pilot episode of Ash vs Evil Dead, writers Sam and Ivan Raimi put Ash's full name as Ashley Holt. It should also be noted that Ash's name was spelled "Ashly" in the original Evil Dead script.
References
- ↑ Audio commentary for Evil Dead II, Bruce Campbell: "As dumb as Ash is, he's actually a capable guy with dealing with monsters"
- ↑ In Army of Darkness, Ash trains the people in Arthur's kingdom in martial arts
- ↑ Sam Raimi's comments on the DVD audio commentary for the Army of Darkness Director's Cut.
- ↑ Dark Horse Comics Solicitations for January 2008