Ninth Angel

In its raw state the Angel is a glowing blue ooze that spreads through an invaded entry plug as feathery spores. Once fused with Unit-03 it wears the Evangelion itself as a body, and the corruption shows in grotesque touches: an unidentifiable childlike face glimpsed deep inside the plug, growth creeping across Asuka's face, and a second pair of arms sprouting mid-battle.

Those extra limbs are flesh-toned with red upper arms, a color echo suggesting that Asuka remains a participant in the possessed machine on some level. Its counterpart in the original series is Bardiel.

The Angel presents itself through unsettling childishness. Its takeover of the entry plug arrives amid juvenile giggling, and a faint scream escapes when the plug is finally crushed. In combat it shows single-minded persistence rather than tactics, marching straight through JSSDF defensive lines untouched by tank fire and pressing its assault on Unit-01 through strangulation, restraint, and infection, working its way into the other Evangelion's neck through its grip.

During Unit-03's activation test at Matsushiro, the Angel converts the interior of the entry plug into its core the instant link-up begins. Wing-like growths pin Asuka and push her toward the core unit, and the facility is wiped out in an enormous blue detonation that leaves a crater like the South Pole scar. The possessed Evangelion then marches on NERV headquarters. Shinji, sortied in Unit-01, learns that his targeting computer marks the entry plug itself as the hostile core, and he cannot bring himself to strike at what may still be Asuka. Unit-03 throttles him, sprouts additional arms so it can restrain and choke Unit-01 at once, and begins invading its neck.

Gendo answers by activating the Dummy System. With Shinji locked down inside his own plug, Unit-01 reverses the fight within moments, crushing Unit-03's neck, tearing the fallen unit apart without mercy, and finally biting down on the retrieved entry plug as LCL sprays out and a rainbow rises over the darkening sky.

The Angel does not fully die. Its remnant persists inside Asuka, eventually held in check by a sealing pillar implanted in her left eye. In Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time, unable to reach Evangelion 13 because the A.T. Field belonging to New Unit-02α itself flinches away in instinctive fear, she pulls the seal loose, releases the unit's limiters, and injects stored Angel blood to become an Angel herself, gaining a Field strong enough to neutralize the enemy's. The gambit fails: Evangelion 13 awakens, reveals a dual entry plug arrangement, and consumes Asuka's plug, using her, now carrying the Ninth Angel, as the Angel pilot it needed in place of the dead 13th. The whole scenario had been a trap from the start.

In production terms, Unit-03 received altered coloring and a 3D model, yet most of the close combat against Unit-01 was drawn by hand. Ikuto Yamashita designed a new Dummy System for the film, one that looms over Shinji and blocks his sight while letting him hear everything, its unnaturally smooth CGI motion built to stir revulsion.