The Satellite Ark: A Tribute To Great Leader Way Back In The Showa Era?

There's one thing we can't deny that Kamen Rider Zero-One is indeed a reboot. Yet, the title also has a big throwback to the 1971 show called Kamen Rider (which was later renamed as Kamen Rider the First). The first Kamen Rider was later called Ichigo meaning one. Kamen Rider Zero-One can also be spelled as Kamen Rider 01 and we read 01 by the numbers like how Cyborg 009 (also a creation of Shotaro Ishinomori) is read as Cyborg Double-Nine.

This would be quite a bit of a bigger tribute to the classic Big Bad villain the Great Leader (who's but now the Great Buttmonkey for the Heisei crossover movies). I don't think newer school fans of Kamen Rider would be too familiar with how the Showa era works. For starters, the Showa era had one running gag where the Big Bad always escaped one way or another. Kamen Rider the First had Ichigo and Nigo finding out that they were beaten by a decoy. Kamen Rider V3 (starring the ever-iconic Hiroshi Miyauchi) later found a plastic skeleton model with a tape recorder. The Great Leader apparently manifested himself in Kamen Rider Stronger yet presented only two decoys. Kamen Rider Skyrider (which was supposed to be a reboot) presented a giant dragon claiming to be the Great Leader. The movie-only Kamen Rider ZX had him make a cameo. Too bad, Kamen Rider BLACK RX didn't give an opportunity to solidify it. Grand Lord Crisis later exploded saying he'd be back but BLACK RX's lack of popularity caused him to never return.

However, the Heisei era didn't truly forget about him but he only became a buttmonkey. I even call him the Great Buttmonkey because he appears only to be beaten. His first Heisei (non-canon) appearance was in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders. His second non-canon appearance was in Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider 3. Why he never appeared in Kamen Rider Decade is still beyond me. TBH, I felt he should've been in that failed Super Hero Taisen movie so I could further ignore his existence.

So, is Toei actually trying to acknowledge the roots of Kamen Rider way back to the Showa era with the Satellite Ark? Maybe, maybe not. The Showa era Great Leader was usually invisible or didn't speak until later. Also, Kamen Rider BLACK had the Creation King mentioned but never spoke until the finale arc. The Creation King only appeared to reveal itself in the finale. In BLACK RX, the Grand Lord Crisis didn't directly appear though he actually used Colonel Tasmader as an extension of himself. We don't hear a single verbal command given to Horobi. Right now, the Ark is using several robot hosts to become his Kamen Rider Ark form.

In my case, I also want to compare the Satellite Ark to two more villains. They would be the Venjix Virus from Power Rangers RPM and the Messiah Virus from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. It seems that the program itself is a deadly virus. In fact, the Ark infects its hosts or his hosts (due to having a masculine personality) and might have the potential to cause Armageddon if it or he wants to.