Characters / Carmen Sandiego - Carmen's Gang

Main Character Index | Carmen's Gang | Law Enforcement | V.I.L.E. | Other Characters

A four (later five)-man band of heroic thieves led by Carmen Sandiego who make it their goal to take down V.I.L.E.

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General

Left to right: Carmen, Ivy, Zack.
Not pictured: Player and The Fifth Member

• Caper Crew: Carmen is the mastermind and main thief; Player is Carmen's second-in-command for strategy as well as the hacker and main technical support; Zack will usually be the driver and often help in the distractions; Ivy is mainly used as either the distraction or muscle and makes most of Carmen's gadgets. With Shadowsan he's added muscle and the Legendary Thief advisor of the group.
• Family of Choice: Carmen sees them all as her family, and even calls Zack and Ivy "family" when they choose to stay with her over returning to their racing careers.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: At the end of the series, Zack and Ivy are now ACME agents, Shadowsan is back in Japan reuniting with his brother and it seems as if Carmen and Player are still working together to take down all of V.I.L.E's rogue operatives.
• Five-Man Band: As of Season 2, Carmen is The Leader, Shadowsan is the Lancer with The Big Guy and The Smart Guy roles changing between Zack, Ivy and Player depending on the situation (Zack and Ivy being the former for muscle, distraction and getaways and Ivy and Player as the latter with Ivy the inventor and Player the hacker.)
• Improbable Age: Much to Shadowsan's chagrin and surprise, Carmen's been able to outwit V.I.L.E. with nothing more than a couple of rowdy young adults and an even younger Voice with an Internet Connection.
• Multinational Team: The crew consists of the Argentinian Carmen, the Canadian (possibly First Nations) Player, the American Zack and Ivy, and the Japanese Shadowsan.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: One home-schooled hacker befriends one lonely girl in a thief school, who escapes from her gilded cage, ends up meeting a brother-sister duo who are stealing from a donuts shop that is a front for a money laundering plot by V.I.L.E. to pay off debts to a loan shark, and last to join up is the atoning teacher from the lonely girl's school. Working together, even before the teacher joins them, they put a serious dent in a powerful criminal organization's financial power.
• Steal It to Protect It: They are a group of thieves who work together to steal valuable artifacts to prevent V.I.L.E stealing it first.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Discussed and subverted. When Carmen and Shadowsan are finished in Rio, Carmen notes they can either go this route in their fights against V.I.L.E. and not coordinate their tactics, which will likely result in V.I.L.E. getting what they want or escaping, or they can be reasonable and work together. Shadowsan agrees with the logic and becomes Carmen's subordinate.

Carmen Sandiego

Carmen Sandiego / Black Sheep

Voiced by: Gina Rodriguez (English), Asami Seto (Japanese), Ivett Toriz (Latin American Spanish)

"I realized that stealing isn't a game. It does harm people... especially when you're willing to steal lives."

A former V.I.L.E. Academy student turned professional thief, Carmen has made it her mission to damage V.I.L.E's global operations and keep them from hurting more lives.

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• The Ace: Carmen is the best student at V.I.L.E.'s school, excelling in all parts of the course.
• Action Girl: Any good thief has to be incredibly agile and an excellent fighter, especially when people try to interfere with her plans.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the original story, Carmen didn't have any sort of emotional conflict and simply enjoyed stealing for the thrill of it. Here, she has to come to the realization that her adoptive parents are ruthless, evil people and abandons them out of morality.
• Adaptational Heroism: Carmen's classic backstory is that she is an ACME agent turned traitor after getting bored with her job and wanting a challenge, and all the other V.I.L.E. villains work for her. The game Where in Time illustrates that her stealing historical objects could cause a moral hazard by changing history. Not to mention that in Word Detective, she subjects captured ACME agents to her Babble-On Machine and was going to steal language from everyone. This reimagining has her wanting to be a thief since childhood. But after other V.I.L.E. agents attempt to kill anyone in their way, she decides to follow the path of Robin Hood instead. No doubt they wanted to make the title character the protagonist instead of the person the Player has to stop.
  • Adaptational Villainy: A short-lived and unwilling example. After V.I.L.E. gets ahold of her in the last few episodes, they rewire her and remove her empathy to make her a proper thief. The result is a Carmen with a severe Lack of Empathy, a willingness to kill people, and even fewer moral scruples than her original incarnation.
• Adaptational Nationality: Carmen's nationality usually isn't brought up. Here, she was apparently born in Argentina and raised in a V.I.L.E. facility in the Canary Islands. Although in the previous animated version, there was speculation that she might have been born in Argentina.
• Adaptational Skimpiness: Downplayed. Carmen isn't subjugated to Male Gaze and her outfit doesn't do that. However, when she wears nice dresses, they tend to show off her shapely legs.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. Carmen is still an intelligent, skilled thief but isn't able to do the more impossible thefts she could in the game and 1994 TV series.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: In most installments, Carmen has either brown or black hair with brown or black eyes. Here, she's a dark-skinned redhead (befitting a person born from South American lineage) with grey eyes.
• Adaptation Name Change: Zigzagged. For previous installments, her name really was Carmen Sandiego. In this adaptation, it isn't. She was found as a baby by a V.I.L.E. agent and the Council named her "Black Sheep". However, after abandoning V.I.L.E., she came up with her trademark name when she looked inside a hat she stole from Cookie Booker. So far, it's unknown what her birth name is.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Brunt had several related to her codename of Black Sheep, such as "Lambikins".
  • Player calls her "Red".
  • Zack and Ivy, and sometimes Player, calls her "Carm."
• Age Lift: She's a younger woman in this depiction than previous versions, being closer to 20 or so. Most of the games and the previous animated depiction put Carmen at least in her 30s, with the Treasures of Knowledge demo the only one to explicitly specify her age.
• Ambiguously Gay: Carmen is heavily hinted to have romantic feelings towards Julia, for example giving her the nickname Jules and gifting her a bouquet of red roses in the good ending of "To Steal or Not to Steal." Conversely, despite much fan shipping, Carmen seems to show no such romantic feelings towards men, and has for example explicitly stated several items that she sees her old friend Gray as a older brother figure.
• Ambiguous Situation: Whether the Carmen we see silhouetted in the final scene of the series is Black Sheep or a successor is unknown.
• Animal Motifs: Sheep. Her codename was "Black Sheep", Brunt's nickname for her was "Lambikins" and her first lesson in Shadow-san's origami class has him fold a sheep.
• Anti-Hero: Bordering on Anti-Villain before she left V.I.L.E., she only steals from them and doesn't take lives, she even holds back when fighting her former classmates though she's not above knocking them out and leaving them for the police to find. She even donates the money she steals from V.I.L.E. to worthy causes like orphanages and homeless shelters.
• Ascended Extra: A downplayed version. Carmen was a focal character in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego TV series and games, but she was the main antagonist and often the A.C.M.E. agents were the main characters. Here, she's the main protagonist.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She was the only child in the Isle of V.I.L.E. during her youth and the youngest in the V.I.L.E. family. And the novelization stated that to enroll in V.I.L.E. Academy, the person in question has to be at least 18, and Carmen stated she wasn't "technically old enough" when she entered the academy herself, thus making Carmen probably no older than 17 and the youngest enrolled V.I.L.E. student.
• Badass Longcoat: As usual for Carmen. A badass red coat specifically.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: As a teen, all Carmen wanted was to be a V.I.L.E. thief and see the world. When she sneaks out during a graduation heist, she comes to the Awful Truth that of how cold and ruthless her organization, including her adoptive parents, really are.
• Benevolent Boss: To Zack, Ivy, and Player. It's obvious that she thinks of them as friends instead of employees, frequently treating them like when she buys a muscle car at a charity auction because it's from a favorite movie series of Zack's. And in "To Steal or Not to Steal", Carmen is utterly horrified when the VILE council reveals that they've kidnapped Zack and Ivy and the driving force of the interactive is that Carmen is willing to steal for VILE if it means they'll let the pair go once she does what VILE orders.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Even when she was an impulsive teenager, Carmen was quite genial and friendly. However, when significantly pushed she will go against her rule of non-violence and kick major butt.
• Big Sister Instinct: While it's not entirely clear if she actually is older than Zack and Ivy, she is fiercely protective of them and the only reason VILE's scheme in "To Steal or Not to Steal" worked as long as it did was because Carmen had no idea where they were holding Zack and Ivy; once she does, she's fully ready to bust in and make VILE regret taking her friends.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Carmen has thick, square-shaped, black eyebrows.
• Bound and Gagged: Happens to her at least Once a Season.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: When V.I.L.E. finally gets ahold of Carmen in the last few episodes, they rewire her memories and remove her empathy so she's nothing but a cold-hearted thief. It is only until when Shadowsan uses one of the nesting dolls that she finally returns to her senses.
• Brainy Brunette: Downplayed. Carmen has reddish-brown hair, but has been shown to be knowledgeable in geography and cultures, as well as being highly intelligent and crafty.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Carmen even states herself that since she was the only child at her home island, she could pretty much get away with murder.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Downplayed. As a teen, Carmen still did immature like throwing water balloons at Cookie Booker but was more emotionally controlled by then. She also was respectful towards her adoptive parents.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Carmen would refer to her adoptive parents by their given titles and names, though this just may be of convince given that she Has Three Mommies and Two Daddies.
• Character Development:
  • As a child and teenager, "Black Sheep" was noted to be childish and impulsive by Countess Cleo and Shadowsan, especially the latter. However, after she learned V.I.L.E. and their true nature, she decided to turn her back on them. As such, she waited for her chance to escape, making it look like she was studying her repeat year. And in doing so, the once reckless and childish "Black Sheep" became the mature and calculating Carmen Sandiego.
  • Carmen noted that she thought thieving was like a game to her but after witnessing the dangerous lengths V.I.L.E. would go to to steal, she realized that stealing can and does hurt people.
• Clark Kenting: In "The Duke of Vermeer Caper", she briefly disguises herself as a criminal called The Duchess using just a black pantsuit, wide-brimmed hat, eyepatch and long blonde wig. Chase doesn't recognize her; though to be fair to him an eyepatch, a wide-brimmed hat and a long blonde wig can conceal someone’s face more effectively than just putting your hair up and wearing casual clothes or formal dress.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Her gray eyes fit her morally gray status as being Just Like Robin Hood.
• Color Motifs: Red, of course.
  • Besides her Iconic Outfit many of her formal wear have some red in it as well as her equipment.
  • Thanks to Adaptation Dye-Job, her hair is reddish-brown.
  • Two of her four partners are redheads, the Brother–Sister Team Zack and Ivy.
  • She wears bright, red lipstick.
  • Chase calls Carmen "La Femme Rouge" (meaning "The Red Lady") and the "Crimson Ghost". Player nicknames her "Red".
  • In "To Steal or Not to Steal", if she sneaks into the party where she's fetching Countess Cleo's caviar as a VIP, she gives her first name as "Scarlet". And if them game ends with Carmen returning the stolen items to Julia, she also give the agent a bouquet of red roses.
• Combat Pragmatist: V.I.L.E. doesn't teach her to play fair but to win the fight using any means. She will go for the face in combat to knock out an opponent, or use a wrench or taser if need be.
• Cultured Badass: Learned fighting and culture on the Isle of VILE. As a child, all of her nannies and teachers taught her their languages and cultures. One of the academy's classes is on fighting and self-defense and another is on identifying culturally significant items (the ones most worth stealing). She's picked up etiquette well enough that she can instruct Zack on proper dining. Also, she's an expert of geography.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Downplayed. Apparently she was found on the side of the road in Buenos Aires, Argentina (though she wasn’t actually abandoned but orphaned after the death of her father at the hands of the woman who would later be the Chief of ACME,) and was brought to V.I.L.E Island and raised by the V.I.L.E. staff. They all raised her in a loving environment with a lot of education. However, when she requested to be trained to be a thief she would later discover the true, sinister nature of the people who raised her. As such, she waited until she could make a proper escape.
• Dashing Hispanic: An (possibly) Argentinian Anti-Villain Gentlewoman Thief.
• Doorstop Baby: A V.I.L.E. agent supposedly found Carmen abandoned by the side of a road in Argentina. It was Shadowsan. The season 2 finale then reveals that wasn't even the case, making this a subversion.
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: She was the best student in her class, but she believed that Shadowsan deliberately rigged her final exam so she'd fail and she'd ended up having to repeat her classes. Even after her defection, she's still mad about this, although Shadowsan’s revelation that he was trying to stop her from joining V.I.L.E. might have calmed her anger.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Downplayed. Carmen was affectionately called "lambikins" by Coach Brunt and the former showed no problem with it, but she only allowed Brunt to call her than no one else. And the only time she showed embarrassment at the nickname was when Coach Brunt said it in front of her classmates.
• Establishing Character Moment: Carmen has two of them in the first episode, the first through exposition and the second through action.
  • First, through exposition — Both Chase and Julia note how odd it was for the famous and elusive Carmen Sandiego to deliberately dress in attention-getting clothing and announcing her heists, adding some mystery to the titular character.
  • Second, through action — Carmen's full scene then shows her leaping from building to building, blatantly grapple her way into a locked house that's booby-trapped, finds a false wall in the atrium, and locates the jewel she was eyeing.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Carmen had wanted to be a thief her whole life, but quits V.I.L.E. in disgust at their willingness to kill people and devotes herself to bringing them down, while still being a crook herself.
• Fedora of Asskicking: She does lots of action scenes in her classy, wide-brimmed red fedora. It's also because of this hat that she gained her iconic name.
• Fiery Redhead: Zigzagged. First, Carmen has reddish-brown hair and in her youth as "Black Sheep" she was noted to be quite impulsive and reckless but she grew out of it by the time she became Carmen Sandiego.
• Freudian Excuse Denial: Gray seems to think Carmen must have had some reason to defect and betray all of V.I.L.E, and seems genuinely concerned while planning to hand her over to Brunt and the other V.I.L.E. agents she betrayed. Carmen tells Gray that she had a lovely childhood, and her reasons for defecting were not because of any abuse — no one was allowed to hurt her — or because of Shadow-san failing her on purpose. She couldn't abide that her family was willing to kill people to steal, and treating it like a game.
• Gentleman Thief: Whenever she goes to steal, she does so nonviolently. And the only people she does get violent with are V.I.L.E. agents.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: She possesses on of these to scale higher to higher ground.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Normally, she does not do this. But when she is Brainwashed and Crazy courtesy of V.I.L.E., she drops a few Spanish words into her sentences here and there.
• Happily Adopted: The V.I.L.E. Council raised and gave her everything a child could ever possibly want.
• Hartman Hips: Carmen has shapely hips, which are accentuated when she wears dresses.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Carmen severs ties with V.I.L.E. and runs away to the mainland, determined to take down her former family by stealing the objects they want. She's still a thief, however, and she trolls any local cops that are on her tail.
• Heel Realization: When Carmen talks with the head archaeologist at the dig in Casablanca, and he says that stealing their relic would mean that it would take the knowledge of it from the world. Finding out that V.I.L.E.'s last letter stands for "evil" cemented it.
• Hero with a Unique Name: Her actual birth name remains a mystery. She was named "Black Sheep" by her V.I.L.E. family, though it was more of a codename. And she gave herself her famous name by reading a label inside of a hat.
• Homeschooled Kids: As a child, she had a "revolving door or nannies" who would educate her on reading, writing, language, and culture. Season 2 reveals among others, Shadowsan and Professor Maelstrom taught her about their homelands and cultures.
• Hot Witch: Dresses up as a witch in "The Haunted Bayou Caper".
• Iconic Outfit: Bright red coat and hat of course. Carmen actually appear to use this to her advantage, wearing the collar up and the hat brim down so it obscures most of her face, resulting in most people not seeing her as much as the outfit, which leaves them prone to being decoyed away by Zack or Ivy in the red outfit. When she's not wearing it, Carmen can walk down the street without getting a second glance.
  • That said, in a subversion of Paper-Thin Disguise, Chase Devineaux actually knows what she looks like thanks to having seen her face on a couple of occasions so he can pick her out regardless of what she's wearing. Later on A.C.M.E. also is able to identify her on sight, attire notwithstanding, thanks to the Chief seeing her face-to-face when she went to rescue Chase.
• I Just Want to Be Free: The main reason she wanted to be a VILE thief was so she could see the world.
• Indifferent Beauty: When an Italian fashion designer assumes she’s a model, Carmen's response is to look at him quizzically. She’s also quick to use her athleticism and cunning to her advantage rather than her looks.
• In the Blood: Carmen's father was an elite thief and stealth extraordinaire, enough to be the V.I.L.E. faculty's authority on the matter. Carmen inherits his knack for thievery but she also inherited his desire to leave V.I.L.E. after having reservations about their line of work.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: A non-romantic example. She refuses to let an amnesiac Gray be part of her crew because she knows V.I.L.E. will hurt him to get to her.
• I Will Find You: The season 2 finale has her vowing to find her missing biological mother, possibly named "Vera Cruz", after discovering that she faked her death.
• Just Like Robin Hood: Thanks to Adaptational Heroism, Carmen steals only from villains, specifically V.I.L.E., and gives most of her funds to numerous charities and orphanages.
• Karmic Thief: As per usual, Carmen still steals valuable and historic items, but only from the hands of V.I.L.E when they get to them first.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Carmen usually wears her trademark redcoat but isn't above doing dangerous missions and fighting in fancy dresses.
• Lady in Red: As usual. She works in her red coat and hat, adding to her mystery. Even when she's not in her usual ensemble, she usually has red appearing somewhere on her outfit, red highlights on her hoodie or a red strapless evening gown. Chase calls her "La Femme Rouge."
• Laser Cutter: Possesses one of them as apart of her arsenal.
• Laser-Guided Karma: "To Steal or Not To Steal" gives you the choice to make Carmen act kindly or cruelly toward someone on two occasions: Tigress and Julia respectively. If the cruel option is chosen, then you will end up with one of the two bad endings where Carmen herself ends up captured and brainwashed by V.I.L.E. as a direct consequence.
• The Leader: Type Mastermind and Levelheaded. For the former, she usually makes the plans for whatever caper she and her crew does; for the latter, Carmen is the one most focused on the task and keeps her head in the game.
• Legacy Character: "Carmen Sandiego" becomes this in the series finale according to Shadow-san, with it even implied that the Carmen silhoutte seen at the end may not be the Carmen we know.
• Like a Daughter to Me: Of all of the V.I.L.E. Council members, Coach Brunt treated Carmen like her own child and took her defection hard. When Carmen tells her that she is never going back to V.I.L.E. Island, Brunt regretfully pulls her into a literally crushing bear hug.
• Like Brother and Sister: She describes her relationship with Gray as this, before she discovered that he was willing to resort to lethal force against an innocent. Subverted after his mind wipe, when he asks her out on a date, though it's unclear if she saw it like that.
• Line-of-Sight Name: This Carmen gets her professional name from a label inside a pilfered hat, as she herself doesn't know her real name and her codename (Black Sheep) is ill-suited for an alias.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Downplayed. Carmen had her adoptive family and the students on the Isle of V.I.L.E., but felt cooped up.
• Mafia Princess: The equivalent of one. She was raised by the five leaders of a secret, global, villainous organization that would give her whatever she wanted.
• Makeup Weapon:
  • The Compact Mirror Tracker allows Carmen to both send info to Player and track targets.
  • The Lipstick Flashdrive is a drive disguised as lipstick that can be used to hack into computers and security systems.
• Meaningful Name: Her original name is "Black Sheep", a term which usually refers to someone who is an outsider in their own family. Carmen turns out to be a White Sheep raised by criminals.
• Meaningful Rename: Justified. After escaping V.I.L.E. Island, Player suggests changing her name as "Black Sheep" couldn't be used on things like passports. As such, she took her current name from a pilfered hat.
• Monumental Theft: Averted, for now at least; this Carmen appears to lack both the means and the motive to steal the impossibly large objects (or landmasses... or natural satellites... or intangible concepts...) that past Carmens tended to steal.
• Morality Pet:
  • Zigzagged. The V.I.L.E. Council are ruthless, near amoral thieves who took in an abandoned, infant Carmen and lovingly raised her, showing a surprising amount of humanity. However, most of them still continue their violent criminal activities and go to war with their former ward after she pulled a Heel Realization.
  • It's played straight in her relationship with Shadowsan and her biological father, Dexter Wolfe, as it was their fatherly love for her that caused them to ultimately defect from V.I.L.E.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's been mistaken for a model, and in the Monaco operation in "To Steal or Not to Steal", she shows quite a bit of leg in her gala dress, especially in the dance sequence in her Imagine Spot.
• Mysterious Past: All Carmen knows about her origins is that a V.I.L.E. agent found her as an abandoned baby in Argentina alongside a set of Matryoshka dolls. In the season 1 finale, Coach Brunt hints there's more to Carmen's past, stating it's "one stone you do not want to turn". In the season 2 finale Shadowsan finally reveals everything he knows. His predecessor as instructor of Stealth 101 was a man named Dexter Wolfe “The Wolf” who was constantly out thieving. One day the rest of the faculty realized that his behavior had changed and it was clear that he intended to leave V.I.L.E., so Shadowsan, a first year operative was sent to find out the nature of his betrayal and tie up loose ends. In Argentina he found out why Wolfe was leaving V.I.L.E.: Carmen. Unfortunately it turns out the authorities were on his tail as well and in the ruckus, Wolfe was shot by the woman who would become Chief of ACME. Shadowsan then set fire to the villa to erase evidence, taking with him only Carmen and a set of Russian nesting dolls that were the only thing that could calm a baby Carmen down. He kept the details hidden to the faculty who didn’t have the heart to kill a defenseless baby. Carmen and everyone eventually discover that Wolfe was intending to meet with Vera Cruz, her likely mother and start a new life together.
• Nice Girl: Though slightly mischievous growing up on V.I.L.E.'s island headquarters, Carmen was a genuinely sweet girl who just wanted to see the world and find out about her Mysterious Past, though she was also a Little Miss Badass you did not want to cross, right, Gray? This also caused her defection from V.I.L.E. as she was too nice for their brand of evil.
• Omniglot: She knows many languages because she was raised in a highly multilingual environment.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • A young Black Sheep had a habit of throwing water balloons at Cookie Booker as a fun prank. After learning the Awful Truth about VILE and her adoptive parents, she did not do the same prank. It was not only a sign of her Character Development but also a sign that she was planning to escape her home. She even apologized to Cookie for the balloons, making it look like that was why she wanted to share an elevator ride with her instead of wanting to swipe the hard drive Cookie was carrying, although she may have had both motives since she might have thought that would be the last time she would ever see Cookie.
  • Carmen rarely loses her cool. "The Need For Speed Caper" has her chew out Zack and Ivy for causing a ruckus and getting arrested.
  • She has made it repeatedly clear that she will never return to the Isle of V.I.L.E. and even stated to Coach Brunt that the latter can "pound her to dust" before she ever went back. So, when Coach Brunt also revealed that Shadowsan supposedly assassinated her father, Carmen willingly goes back to the Isle to see if it's true.
  • Carmen is a compassionate woman who abhors taking lives. When V.I.L.E brainwashes her into becoming the operative they always wanted her to be, she lets Zack fall from the top of a giant Ferris wheel, not caring if he lives or dies.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Downplayed. Despite being raised in a criminal organization, Carmen was given a loving childhood filled with the best education and whatever she wanted. And the only reason she originally wanted to leave was to become a V.I.L.E. thief like all the students who graduated before her. However, after her defection, she begins wondering how much of what she was told about her past by her adoptive parents was true and ultimately learns that she wasn’t abandoned but taken in by Shadowsan after the woman who would later become the Chief killed Carmen’s father, and that Carmen’s birth mother may still be alive.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: She was V.I.L.E.'s best student before she betrayed them.
• Phrase Catcher: Several V.I.L.E personnel remark "Bye bye, Black Sheep" when parting with her.
• The Prankster: Often pulled pranks in her youth. The most notable being throwing water balloon at Cookie Booker.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Inverted. She was raised and taught by the criminal organization, V.I.L.E., before deciding to betray them after discovering their true sinister nature.
• Pursued Protagonist: Carmen is being sought after by both V.I.L.E. and A.C.M.E.
• Red Baron: Chase calls Carmen "La Femme Rouge," or "The Red Lady," and the "Crimson Ghost".
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Zigzagged. Carmen dons her trademark red hat and longcoat and underneath wears a black suit with matching gloves. And while she's still an Anti-Villain thief, she's also more heroic than her previous incarnations.
• Redhead In Green: The redheaded Black Sheep often wore green themed clothing during her teen years.
• Red Is Heroic: This iteration of Carmen's leaning towards the anti-hero type, but she's still wearing and using red-themed clothing and items.
• Roof Hopping: She does this a lot throughout a lot of episodes particularly in her first introduction searching for Cleo's residence and fleeing from Chase Devineaux.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Whenever Carmen classes herself up in any sort of formal event, expect her to transform from a hottie to a jaw-dropping beauty.
• Shoe Phone: Some of Carmen's thieving tools, like a lockpick disguised as a tube of lipstick, are this.
• Spicy Latina: Downplayed. Carmen is Hispanic (most likely of Argentinian descent) and while she's given a hotter and sexier design in this adaptation, she's not given too much Male Gaze.
• Spoiled Brat: Carmen admits that, thanks to Brunt protecting her from any punishment that could come from her childish pranks on V.I.L.E., she was this as "Black Sheep". She would "get away with murder," metaphorically.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She inherited her father's Big Ol' Eyebrows and eyes and her mother's hair.
• Taught by Experience: Carmen, after being told off constantly for her impulsive nature, learns from her mistakes as she plans her escape from V.I.L.E. Island. She memorizes everyone's routines, incapacitates anyone who can stop her, and improvises when items like welded bolts stand in her way.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: This, and her realization that artifacts and treasures have more value than their monetary worth courtesy of the professor in Casablanca, caused her to break ties with V.I.L.E. in her Backstory.
• Three-Point Landing: Does this frequently.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the Isle of V.I.L.E. While her adopted family and trainees were remorseless, violent thieves, Carmen was horrified at their willingness to kill.
• Tragic Keepsake: Implied. Carmen was apparently abandoned as a baby on a roadside of Argentina with the only thing near her were Matryoshka dolls. We later learn that the dolls were the only things that could calm Carmen down as a toddler when Interpol raided her father’s hideout.
• White Sheep: Despite her original codename of Black Sheep, she was this to V.I.L.E. her entire life, only realizing it herself when she tagged along on the rest of her class's graduation mission.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: A variant. All trainees on the Isle of V.I.L.E. are given codenames; until that happens, they go by their first names only. But when the instructors find her as a baby and raise her on the Isle, instead of giving her a real name, they just give her a codename early: Black Sheep. When she meets Player for the first time and introduces herself as "Black Sheep", he genuinely thinks she's referring to a codename.
• You Killed My Father: Subverted in the case of her and Chief. While she's rightfully angry that Chief killed her father, her response is merely to refuse to work with ACME.

Player

The Player / Mr. Bouchard

Voiced by: Finn Wolfhard (English), Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), Armando Corona (Latin American Spanish)

"Let's get this party started!"

A young man living in Niagara Falls, Ontario, who serves as Carmen's technical support in the field.

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• Ambiguously Brown: It’s hard to see, given that he’s constantly in a dark room surrounded by computer monitors, but some shots and art of him in normal lighting shows him with a brownish skin tone. Given he’s Canadian, he might be First Nations.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Downplayed. His age is unclear, but it's shown that Player is the youngest of Carmen's gang, but is just as effective as any of them.
• Brainy Brunette: Player has brown hair and has shown to be a genius with computers and hacking.
• Canon Immigrant: A similar character appeared in the previous incarnation, Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, aiding ACME agents Zack and Ivy and directly communicating with Carmen herself through the lens of a computer game.
• Child Prodigy: While his age is unclear, the flashbacks in the first two episodes show he was a computer and hacking whiz when a young Carmen was a teenager, thus hinting that Player has had these skills since he was a pre-teen.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Just like Carmen, to highlight how he’s also doing some morally grey things.
• Establishing Character Moment: Player's first scene in "Becoming Carmen Sandiego, Part 1" has him using his computer and hacking skills to assist Carmen in her heist.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He’s only known as Player, due to Carmen's first interactions with him calling herself "Black Sheep" and him deciding to play along. We don't learn anything about his first name but his surname name is Bouchard.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Downplayed with Player, but he has this reaction on hearing that Gray is Carmen's best friend, or school friend as Carmen amends. It factors into his convincing Carmen not to meet up with a seemingly amnesiac Gray, who's returned to his electrician job, though he's also right that it's weird that V.I.L.E. would host a heist at the same opera house where Gray works.
• Hollywood Hacking: This is downplayed, but he still works by typing fast, and getting results without seeing any of the methods that real hackers use.
• Homeschooled Kids: The Who in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? novelizations reveals that Player is homeschooled. Season 4 has him attending public school until a Zack and Ivy faked a bug infestation.
• Jumped at the Call: He was only doing a regular job when he accidentally hacked into Carmen's phone, but quickly takes to helping her out.
• Like Brother and Sister: As Carmen's first real friend and (non-secret) ally. The two have been extremely important in each other's lives since before Carmen began her work. Heavily emphasized in Season 4 when they finally meet in person for the first time, and then again in the series finale when Player is the only person Carmen keeps in contact with after she breaks up her gang, even having him in her ear for moral support when she goes to meet her birth mother.
• Meaningful Name: "Bouchard" means fort (in German) as he holds the fort as Mission Control or "Mouth" in French, as he's usually the one giving exposition and talks via communicator.
• Mission Control: His primary role for Carmen, assisting her travels around the world behind a personal computer station.
• Mr. Exposition: In terms of setting rather than plot; in almost every episode, he provides Carmen and the audience with a rundown of facts about the location du jour. It's still an Edutainment Show, after all.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: For most of the series, his true name is yet to be revealed to the audience. When introducing himself to his fellow students, he's cut off from saying his actual name by Carmen calling. His teacher calls him Mr. Bouchard.
• Pirate: His Halloween costume in the episode "The Day of the Dead Caper".
• Playful Hacker: Player specifically identifies himself as a white-hat hacker. Hell, the icon he first uses when inadvertently making contact with Carmen for the first time is a white fedora and he was even wearing a white baseball cap!
• Properly Paranoid: Zigzagged. He notes to Carmen in the Season 2 premier that Shadowsan's "gift" of the hardrive is either a blessing or a trail of breadcrumbs. Shadowsan does state that the hard-drive was the latter, but it was mostly to get the other V.I.L.E henchmen off of his back before revealing that he's on Carmen's side all along.
• Rapid-Fire Typing: He does his hacking almost exclusively this way.
• Shorter Means Smarter: The official height chart reveals Player 5'0" and he's a computer hacking Teen Genius.
• Teen Genius: Possibly. He appeared younger looking when he first met a young Carmen which means he's most likely a teen now. Nevertheless, Player is still a hacking prodigy.
• This Explains So Much: His reaction to when Carmen confesses that she's in a school for thieves.
• Vague Age: Given his looks, he’s most likely the youngest of Carmen's gang, but his official age is not known. In season 2 during a flashback to events just six months after Carmen's escape from the Isle of V.I.L.E. he mentions that he doesn't have a learner's permit yet. So he could be no older than 16; on the other hand, given his lifestyle, it's possible he's older and just hasn't gotten around to getting a permit yet.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: He has never been seen outside his room, and often does researches the new locales Carmen ends up in. Season 4 has him leave the house more to attend public school.

Zack

Zack

Voiced by: Michael Hawley (English), Shogo Badori (Japanese), Jhonny Torres (Latin American Spanish)

Ivy's brother who serves as Carmen's driver when needed.

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• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In Where on Earth, it's never shown that he or Ivy have any sort of personal issues, the only conflict being Carmen Sandiego. In this adaptation, they are the only family each other has and are unable to return to their home in Boston because they owe money to a loan shark.
• Adaptational Curves: In Where on Earth, Zack was quite thin. Here, he has a notable build.
• Adaptational Dumbass: He was the brains to Ivy's brawn in Where on Earth. Here, he's not very bright.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Goes from a blond to a redhead like his sister.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. In Where on Earth, he and Ivy were trying to stop Carmen's thefts. Here, they are part of Carmen's heroic thieving team and that they were only doing one heist to pay off a loan shark (and were certain that the target was a front for the Mob, which... wasn't too far off the mark), and were otherwise focusing on racing as a way to stay out of crime.
• Age Lift: In his introductory series, he was fourteen. Here, he's at least old enough to drive.
• Badass Driver: Proves to be a capable driver, in either a car or a speedboat, multiple times. Season 2 reveals he was at one point an amateur race driver, hence his wheelman skills (although the last race he was in he crashed his car thanks to rival driver and all-around jerk Trey Sterling insulting Zack and causing Zack to lose focus). He even manages to fly a helicopter decently at the end of "To Steal or Not to Steal" despite stating that this isn't part of his job description.
• Berserk Button: Never call Boston "Beantown" to Zack's face.
• Big Eater: Frequently talks about eating, unless it's fish which he hates.
• Big Little Brother: Dialogue implies that Zack is younger than Ivy but she's shorter than he is.
• Big Red Devil: His Halloween costume in the episode "The Haunted Bayou Caper".
• Brother–Sister Team: With Ivy, as they are siblings working with Carmen, and previously they were a racing team with Zack as the driver and Ivy as the mechanic.
• Butt-Monkey: He and Ivy tend to get into the most trouble on missions, usually in a way Played for Laughs.
• Character Catchphrase: "Boo-yah!"
• Demoted to Extra: Downplayed. He's still a central character but Carmen is the main protagonist.
• The Ditz: Downplayed. Zack isn't a total idiot, but he can be silly at times.
• Does Not Like Spam: The mere mention of fish makes him nauseous, let alone being around them.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first full scene in "The Sticky Rice Caper" has him acting as a bit of comic relief before demonstrating his Badass Driver skills as he drives himself and Carmen from a tail. Later on in the flight to Indonesia, we see him arguing over Ivy on how his sister didn't buy anything to eat, showing off his appetite.
• Expy: Bears a strong resemblance to Ron Stoppable, right down to the catchphrase "Booyah!".
• Fanboy: He's a fan of a movie series called "Road Vengeance", with Carmen even buying the car from his favorite movie in "The Lucky Cat Caper".
• Fiery Redhead: Downplayed. Zack has red hair, but is more goofy than fiery.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish to Ivy's responsible. Zack is generally more rash, ditzy, and goofy than his sister.
• Getaway Driver: Usually the one to drive Carmen and his sister in or out of dangerous situations. Justified in that he was skilled in driving to the point of being part of the pro-circuit had he not crash the car in his last race.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: When Carmen trains him to become the Duke and put him in a suit in "The Duke of Vermeer Caper". He looks quite handsome. This is shown again in "The Need For Speed Caper".
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Blue eyes to match his ditzy, but friendly nature.
• Masculine Lines, Feminine Curves: With Ivy. Zack's body and jawline are sharply drawn than his sister's.
• Oblivious to Hatred: He believes Shadowsan is his mentor, never catching on that the man transparently considers him a nuisance.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's usually fun, goofy and friendly. "The Need For Speed Caper" has him mostly scowling since he's in the presence of his rival Trey Sterling and how he brought up memories of the crash that prevented him and Ivy from reaching the pro-circuit.
• Parental Abandonment: He and Ivy are the only family they have.
• Reformed Criminal: Joins ACME with Ivy in the series finale. Apparently he does very well, with Ivy referring to him as the Chief's pet.
• Southies: Zack and Ivy grew up in Southie. They're both somewhat rough and tumble, less cultured and rely more on brute force than Carmen, but they're also genuinely good, friendly people with a strong moral code. Their backstory episode reveals that they did have to resort to borrowing money from a loan shark in order to build a race car and follow their dreams, and an ill-timed crash caused them to resort to theft from a supposedly mob-owned (actually V.I.L.E.-owned) donut shop.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To his sister, both having red hair, blue eyes, freckles, and similar facial structures.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Season 2 reveals that the reason he and Ivy joined up with Carmen and Player was because they were unable to return to Boston because a dangerous loan shark, whom they owed a huge amount of money to, was looking for them.
• Youthful Freckles: Like his sister, and is the most goofy of the team.

Ivy

Ivy

Voiced by: Abby Trott (English), Misaki Ikeda (Japanese), Cynthia Chong (Latin American Spanish)

Zack's sister who assists Carmen and Zack in Carmen's escapades.

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• Action Girl: Often acts as a decoy to Carmen, requiring her to do some pretty active scenes. She has to step up as Carmen herself in "The Stockholm Syndrome Caper" and makes it with no one the wiser.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In Where on Earth, it's never shown that she or Zack have any sort of personal issues, the only conflict being Carmen Sandiego. In this adaptation, they are the only family each other has and are unable to return to their home in Boston because they owe money to a loan shark.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed. Ivy may not be a skilled detective like she was in Where on Earth, but she's a Gadgeteer Genius.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Downplayed. In Where On Earth, Ivy was toned, athletic, well-endowed and tall with fair skin, whereas this version of the character is quite plain looking, a bit chubby, and much shorter, with freckles. That being said, Ivy still wouldn't be considered "ugly" in this adaptation.
• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. In Where on Earth, she and Zack were trying to stop Carmen's thefts. Here, they are part of Carmen's heroic thieving team and it's implied that she and her brother were thieves before meeting the title character. A later episode does clarify that they were only doing one heist to pay off a loan shark (and were certain that the target was a front for the Mob, which... wasn't too far off the mark), and were otherwise focusing on racing as a way to stay out of crime.
• Adaptational Wimp: Surprisingly, despite the above. She's clearly out of her league in quite a few action scenes despite being the brawn to Zack's brains in Where on Earth. Justified in that the Ivy in this series was mostly a mechanic in comparison to a combat expert.
• Big Beautiful Woman: This Ivy is very cubby, but also very beautiful and cute.
• Brother–Sister Team: With Zack, as they are siblings working with Carmen, and before meeting Carmen she was the mechanic to his driver as a two-person racing team.
• Butt-Monkey: She and Zack tend to get into the most trouble on missions, usually in a way Played for Laughs.
• Decomposite Character: In the 1994 cartoon, the Tigress was a moniker created by Ivy as part of a plan to lure Carmen into a trap. In this cartoon, the Tigress is another person.
• Demoted to Extra: Downplayed. She's still a central character but Carmen is the main protagonist.
• Establishing Character Moment: Her first full scene in "The Sticky Rice Caper" has her acting as a bit of comic relief before demonstrating her Action Girl qualities by acting as a decoy for Carmen and then making an impressive action-y leap to the getaway motorboat. Then we see her arguing with her brother Zack about whether or not she got something to eat.
• Fiery Redhead: Lives up to this, she takes more dangerous risks than her brother and sometimes has a thin temper.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible to Zack's foolish. She's more cautious, level-headed, and competent than her brother.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Ivy makes most of Carmen's gadgets.
• Girls Love Chocolate: Admits it's her weakness, to the point she'll take a second while she's both undercover and in a fight to eats some.
• I Call It "Vera":
  • Ivy call her Surveillance Drone "Red Drone".
  • The race car she worked on for Zack's racing career was named "Lydia".
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Ivy has blue heroes and is one of the main heroes.
• Masculine Lines, Feminine Curves: With Zack. Ivy has a curvier body with her jawline drawn more rounded than her brother's.
• Parental Abandonment: When asked by Carmen, if they could take a loan from a family member, Ivy says Zack is the only family member she has.
• Reformed Criminal: Joins ACME with Zack in the series finale.
• Southies: Zack and Ivy grew up in Southie. They're both somewhat rough and tumble, less cultured and rely more on brute force than Carmen, but they're also genuinely good, friendly people with a strong moral code. Their backstory episode reveals that they did have to resort to borrowing money from a loan shark in order to build a race car and follow their dreams, and an ill-timed crash caused them to resort to theft from a supposedly mob-owned (actually V.I.L.E.-owned) donut shop.
• Straight Man: Ivy tends to be this to Zack, being more sensible than he at times.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To Zack, as they both have red hair, blue eyes, freckles, and similar facial structures.
• Surveillance Drone: Has a drone that helps Carmen break into places or scouts out for danger. She calls her "Red Drone".
• Took a Level in Badass: Has to act like Carmen in "The Stockholm Syndrome Caper" and makes it out with the data chip from the heist with everyone else believing she was truly Carmen.
• Wrench Wench: Was Zack’s mechanic when they were still on the amateur race circuit. She built and tuned the car he drove until he crashed it. After that it appears she became Carmen's gadgeteer, designing her tech such as the grapple and the drone.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Season 2 reveals that the reason she and Zack joined up with Carmen and Player was because they were unable to return to Boston because a dangerous loan shark, whom they owed a huge amount of money to, was looking for them.
• Youthful Freckles: Like her brother, Ivy has freckles that go with her also being a Fiery Redhead.

The Fifth Member

Shadowsan / Suhara

Voiced by: Paul Nakauchi

"I was living on the island living a lie, while you, a child, achieved the unthinkable by forging your own path. You paved the way for me to follow in your footsteps. Without any question, it is I who am the student and you the master."

Formerly one of V.I.L.E.'s five instructors, he was the most vocally opposed to Carmen becoming a thief; however, this was because he didn't want her to throw her life away working for V.I.L.E. Starting in season 2, he becomes a member of Carmen's team.

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• Ascended Extra: Originally just part of the council of V.I.L.E, the season 1 finale and season 2 gives him a bigger role. In particular he's now allied with Carmen and more of his backstory is expanded on.
• The Atoner: A two-fer. He tried to make Carmen walk away from being a thief because he felt like she deserved better than living a life of crime. This also stems in his backstory in how he caused a huge drift in his relationship with his older brother by stealing his samurai sword from the museum said older brother worked for.
• Badass Teacher: The stealth teacher of V.I.L.E. and was shown to be awesome at it.
• Beneath the Mask: Is shown to have disdain for Carmen being a thief. In truth, he truly does care for her else and only acted that way because he doesn't want her to throw her life away for VILE.
• Black Sheep: The hoodlum younger brother of a respectable scholar, who stole an heirloom blade as part of his initiation into V.I.L.E. Even when he returns the blade after his Heel–Face Turn, his brother still doesn't welcome him back, though in Season 3 the brothers part on more amicable terms.
• Canon Character All Along: His real name is Suhara, the name of Carmen's ACME partner and mentor in the previous show.
• The Comically Serious: The role he settles into after defecting from V.I.L.E. and joining Carmen's crew, often sternly quipping about Zack and Ivy's always-on goofiness and being unfazed by their attempts to get him to lighten up.
• Cool Mask: "The Hot Rocks of Rio Caper (Part 1)" has him wear a crow mask to hide his identity. He wears a mask that would be straight at home for Venetian Carnival in "The Masks of Venace Caper"
• Dark Is Not Evil: Wears a black shirt and has the name of Shadow-san but he's a good guy at heart. Grumpy but good.
• Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Upon returning his sword to the museum he stole it from — the same museum that his brother was the curator for — he bows and states that he does not deserve forgiveness and only asks to at least cleanse himself of the sin he committed. When he looks up, he sees the shadow of his brother walking away.
  • Makes a better impression when they see each other again in Season 3 and explains he’s trying to right the wrongs of his past in the only way he knows how. Hideo states that Shadowsan can't go back until he completes his mission and the two bow as a farewell.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When he was tasked to steal his samurai sword as his initiation, he couldn't find it in him to attack his older brother and instead ran away.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Admits to Carmen that he could not turn his back on an abandoned baby when he found her in Argentina. It's implied that he's pretty dissatisfied with V.I.L.E. in general as he stated that intended to leave with Carmen during her escape from the island.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: The season 1 finale reveals that he didn't want Carmen to become a V.I.L.E. thief because he believed she was a better person than her adoptive family. That and he was honoring Carmen's biological father's wishes to escape that life of crime.
• Foil: To Coach Brunt. Both were parental figures to Carmen, but Shadow-san was sterner, opposed to her becoming a VILE thief, and seemed to hate her, while Brunt was a Doting Parent, shed a tear of joy when Carmen enrolled in their school, and never shied away from showing love to her adopted daughter. And when Carmen underwent her Heel–Face Turn, Brunt's response was to try and kill her, but it turned out that Shadow-san always cared for Carmen and didn't want her to become a VILE thief because he thought she was better than that.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Surprisingly enough he was the foolish to his older brother Hideo’s responsible.
• Good All Along: Downplayed. Good is something of a stretch, but suffice it to say, he's always wanted what's best for Carmen. By and large it was adopting Carmen that set him straight and made him rethink his life choices. Prior to that he was every bit of a ruthless V.I.L.E. operative as any, as his past alludes to.
• Heel–Face Turn: Shadowsan knocking out Brunt and helping an injured Carmen escape the police cements his openly turning against V.I.L.E. He was on Carmen's side before, but he made his treason as open as she made hers. Come season two, he's fighting alongside her and has joined the team, while promising to help her find her family.
• Inscrutable Oriental: He's from Japan, and for most of the first season, he looks strict and as if he has little emotion. We see another side of him in the first season finale and season 2.
• Improbable Chopsticks Skill: "The Daisho Caper" reveals that he once took down a dozen opponents with a pair of chopsticks. He uses a pair against a yakuza thug wielding his sword.
• Ironic Name: He wears the trappings of a samurai with the name of "Shadowsan"... but a samurai is much more honorable than a thief. Turns out to be a hint to his true character. Shadow-san is the most benevolent member of the VILE Council, and he intended to leave them back when Carmen made her initial escape.
• Japanese Delinquents: How he spent his youth, compared to his by-the-books, straight-laced older brother.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Initially he tries to block Carmen's path to becoming a thief. However, it was all to keep Carmen away from being employed by VILE. Once he realizes that she'll continue engaging in a thief war with V.I.L.E. no matter what, he defects and joins her.
• Just Following Orders: This is how he rationalizes his many vile deeds he did as an operative and later as faculty of V.I.L.E. as he doesn't actually see himself as an evil man.
• Katanas Are Just Better: His weapon of choice. It was part of a daisho, a matching set that he stole from the ancient castle and museum his older brother was curator of as part of his initiation to V.I.L.E. He returns it at the end of "The Daisho Caper".
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you're reading this profile on this section of the character page then you learned that he's defected from VILE at the end of Season 1.
• Love Redeems: Parental love at least. Shadowsan is an established criminal and a jerk, but it's revealed he was always looking out for Carmen since he rescued her as a baby. His first subtle act of treason against V.I.L.E. is him sabotaging the Cleaner's helicopter, and he would have joined Carmen on her escape boat if she hadn't driven away so quickly; he admits he was proud of her for escaping. Then he knocks out Coach Brunt to stop her from killing Carmen in the first season finale, and helps Carmen escape the locked room before the police come.
• Meaningful Name: As with all members of V.I.L.E. He's a master of ninjutsu and was the professor of Stealth 101 at V.I.L.E. Academy. More significantly, his name hints that he's hiding something... like the fact that he's the one who found Carmen as a baby, that he spent his life trying to guide her away from a life of crime, and that he's not really an evil person at all despite his former allegiances. The last twenty years of his life have all been a lie... a shadow show, if you will.
• Not So Above It All: At the end of "The Fashionista Caper" Carmen takes him shopping for some less conspicuous clothes and he asks if they can buy a pair of sunglasses he likes. His reasoning?

  Shadowsan: "Zack got to have gelato and pizza."

• Ninja: He educates the gang on the difference between the honorable samurai and the sneaky, pragmatic ninja. When Zack asks which one he is, he looks sad and ashamed. In season 3, Carmen calls him a ninja and Hideo even notes that Shadowsan is a samurai in ninja's garb.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In "The Deep Dive Caper", he's crying when he tells Carmen about her father.
• Papa Wolf: He's terrible about communicating it, but it's revealed Shadowsan found Carmen as a baby and couldn't abandon her. He was against Carmen becoming a thief because he believed she could do better with her life than please her adopted family. When Black Sheep escaped the island, he was the one who sabotaged the Janitors' helicopter and would have joined in her open defection if he had made it onto the boat on time. In the first season finale, he saves her from Coach Brunt when the latter nearly suffocates Carmen.
• Perpetual Frowner: Shadow-san almost never cracks a smile, usually having a neutral, unfazed expression or a scowl. When he is smiling, it's usually pretty sinister.
• Samurai: He's dressed in this aesthetic though he considers himself more of a ninja. After he joins Carmen’s crew, his outfit draws unnecessary attention when he's just walking about and eventually he gets some conventional civilian duds.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: His brother Hideo lived an honest life, became a curator to preserve historical artifacts and spent his life studying the samurai's code of honor. Shadow-san, meanwhile, became a criminal who stole the very artifacts his brother was meant to safeguard for profit and instead follows path of the underhanded but pragmatic ninja.
• Stealth Expert: He handles the stealth instruction at V.I.L.E. Academy. Ironically, his outfit draws more attention to himself than he would prefer, so he eventually adopts a more conventional look to stay Hidden in Plain Sight.
• The Stoic: He rarely emotes. When he does, like in "The Deep Dive Caper", then it's a sign that things are serious.
• That Man Is Dead: He tells Carmen that Suhara swallowed by darkness a long time ago and that he goes by the name of Shadowsan now.
• Token Good Teammate: To V.I.L.E.'s instructors, having a soft spot for Carmen and trying to keep her from being caught up in V.I.L.E.'s schemes by failing her.
• Villainous Rescue: He stuns Brunt before she can crush Carmen to death at the end of "The French Connection Caper".
• Walking Spoiler: Thanks to how important he is to Carmen's past and her escape from V.I.L.E., it's difficult to talk about his complete role in the series or how he's allied with her now.
• Wax On, Wax Off: He taught origami lessons so thieves could develop a light touch when pickpocketing.
• Yakuza: Shadowsan was one before joining V.I.L.E.