CLU

"You have a little item called the Keyblade. Hand it over, and I'll change Rinzler back into Tron."

—CLU

CLU is an antagonist who appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance that originated from the 2010 Disney film Tron: Legacy. Despite being the film's main antagonist, he is not a boss in the Kingdom Hearts series.

Development

Though The Grid was confirmed to appear as early as Jump Festa 2012, CLU himself was not shown until the February 2012 Special Trailer. After Claude Frollo, the Beagle Boys and Rinzler‎‎, he is the fourth new Disney villain revealed to appear in the game.

Story

Sora

CLU is the one responsible for Tron's transformation into Rinzler. After Rinzler encounters Sora, he shows CLU some images of the boy and his Keyblade with his disk, giving CLU an idea. Later, CLU offers to release Rinzler in exchange for Sora's Keyblade, which the boy refused. CLU then makes Sora battle Rinzler, which results in Rinzler's memories being restored, allowing Tron to reunite with Sora. Angry, CLU attempts to murder Sora with his disk, but ends up breaking the floor, causing Tron to fall down below. CLU then goes back to his ship to retrieve Rinzler to where he fell down.

Riku

CLU first encounters Riku on the Game Grid, where he makes Riku play "a game" with a Light Cycle, but Riku manages to escape.

Finally, CLU encounters Riku, along with Kevin Flynn, his son Sam, and an ISO named Quorra, at the portal to the real world. CLU sends a Dream Eater to kill them all, but Riku manages to defeat the Dream Eater. CLU meets his end when Flynn absorbs him back into his body, killing them both.

Appearance

CLU looks virtually identical to his creator Kevin Flynn in his youth as well as his predecessor who was derezzed in the original 1982 movie Tron. His outfit consists of a black skintight suit with yellow-orange circuitry.

Origin

"Out there is a new world! Out there is our victory! Out there... is our destiny."

—CLU 2

The first CLU in the original film (top) and the second CLU in Tron: Legacy (bottom).

Two versions of CLU (short for "Codified Likeness Utility") have appeared.

In the 1982 film Tron, the original CLU makes a brief appearance when Flynn codes and sends CLU 1 into ENCOM's server in order to retrieve evidence of Ed Dilinger's plagiarism of his work. However, CLU is caught by a Recognizer and is subsequently derezzed by the Master Control Program.

In the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy, the second CLU appears as the main antagonist. After Flynn's promotion to CEO of ENCOM, CLU 2 is created in order to oversee the Grid in his place with help from Tron. At one point, a new race of programs called ISOs emerge from the Sea of Simulation so Flynn sees these as the next step in human evolution whereas CLU 2 sees the ISOs as an imperfection due to their differing opinions. Having been programmed by Flynn to build the "perfect world", CLU 2 performs a coup d'etat. In the ensuing scuffle, CLU 2 fights against Tron while Flynn makes a run for it, but CLU 2 gains the upper hand and defeats Tron, but rather than kill him, he repurposes him to serve him as Rinzler. CLU 2 then oversees the "Purge", a genocide of the ISOs and brings the Grid under his control. Over the next twenty years, CLU 2 discovers that Flynn's identity disk is the Grid's master key and will lead him to the real world, which he hopes to take over and make a part of his "perfect world". To this end, he sends a page to Sam Flynn (Flynn's son) in order to lure him into the Grid, but Sam escapes with help from the last remaining ISO Quorra. Eventually, CLU 2 tracks them to Flynn's hideout and gains possession of Flynn's disk with help from double-agent Zuse. However, as CLU 2 prepares to lead his army into the real world, he is stopped by Kevin, Sam and Quorra, who aim to reach the I/O tower and escape while leaving CLU 2 trapped inside forever. During the chases and fights, Rinzler remembers his past as Tron and almost kills CLU 2, but CLU 2 survives and pursues the Flynns and Quorra to the I/O tower. A final confrontation breaks out, and Flynn sacrifices himself to reintegrate CLU 2 into his being while Sam and Quorra escape, destroying CLU 2 once and for all.

In the original film, CLU 1 is portrayed by Jeff Bridges. In the sequel, CLU 2 is physically portrayed by John Reardon with Jeff Bridges's resemblance through CGI.