Evangelion Weapons

Every incarnation of Evangelion equips its units with a rotating inventory of oversized ordnance. Because the bulk of these arms are conventional military hardware enlarged to Eva scale, their performance against Angels tends to disappoint; many engagements end with the target barely scratched and considerably angrier. The reliable exceptions are close-quarters blades built around exotic principles rather than bullets.

The cornerstone of the melee lineup is the Progressive Knife, a compact blade housed in the left shoulder pylon whose edge oscillates at extreme frequency, letting it shear matter apart at the molecular scale and punch through an Angel's core. Unit-01 carries a Bowie-styled version, Unit-02 packs a pair built like utility knives that feed out replacement blades when one snaps, and the rebuilt Unit-00 receives its own after reconstruction. The television series supplements this with the Sonic Glaive, the polearm that bisects Israfel, the axe-like Smash Hawk, and a two-pole Lightscreen device that Units 01 and 02 use to slice the same Angel apart in their rematch. The Spear of Longinus itself, though not a manufactured weapon, gets thrown by Unit-00 to annihilate Arael, and the Mass Production Evangelions swing enormous swords that are actually disguised Longinus replicas, heavy enough to sever an Eva's limbs in one stroke.

Ranged hardware in the original series centers on the Pallet Rifle, a giant assault rifle patterned on the Steyr ACR that serves as standard issue; across six sorties it lands exactly one decisive kill, finishing Matarael. A Desert Eagle styled handgun, Unit-00's preferred sniper rifle, and assorted bazookas round out the conventional guns, all with similarly thin records. Far more consequential are the positron weapons requisitioned from JSSDF research labs: the shoulder-braced Positron Rifle with its eight-round capacity and external power feed, and the Positron Sniper Rifle that, drawing the electrical output of all Japan, deletes Ramiel during Operation Yashima.

The Rebuild films refresh the catalog. Unit-01 fields the PKN-01C folding Progressive Knife and the EM-226 440mm Gatling weapon, Unit-02 gains its own custom knives, the MM-144 electromagnetic crossbow, and Mari's electrical discharge lance nicknamed the Thunder Spear. Later films add a double-bladed naginata that splits into twin swords, Mark.09's towering scythe, an anti-material circular saw that divides into paired hatchets, Unit-08's sniper rifles loaded with A.T. Field piercing rounds, dual chain guns that overheat and eject during the Paris mission, a wire whip, and the Enchanted Shield of Virtue, redesigned from the TV version's converted spacecraft heat shield into a true shield with viewing slit and handles. The 460mm self-propelled positron cannon from the first film later reappears integrated into Evangelion Mark.4444C.

The ANIMA novels push into stranger territory: A.T. Field infused swords like the Bizen Osafune and the upgraded Magorox, the paired field-splitting blades Kesara and Basara, a railgun-based Pallet Rifle called Powered 8, a pistol built from the battleship Yamato's gun barrel firing one-ton shells, the 550-ton armor-piercing cannon Dora, and the relic bow Azumaterasu, which obliterates a falling piece of the Moon at the cost of turning Super Evangelion to salt. Most disturbing is the Devil's Backbone, a weapon grown from a mutilated Evangelion spine that spits micro black holes and ultimately devours the giant Armaros almost whole.

Units 00, 01, and 02 are the only Evangelions shown drawing Progressive Knives on screen, though games and model kits hand the same blade to Units 03 and 04. In the films, New Unit-02α and Unit-08γ share the circular saw and other Operation Yamato gear, while Super Evangelion, Unit-02 Type II, and EURO-II Heurtebise dominate the ANIMA arsenal, with Hikari firing the Devil's Backbone from Heurtebise.

Beyond the core continuities, designer Ikuto Yamashita's Magoroku Exterminate Sword and Counter Sword exist mainly in production art and model kits, the manga gives Kaworu a rotary Dual Saw engineered to outpace Angel regeneration, and the multi-mode A.W. Mastema gunblade appears in games firing N² missiles. Merchandise lines contribute their own exclusives, from Revoltech's scaled-up real firearms to METAL BUILD accessories, while crossover events with Shinkalion, Goddess of Victory: Nikke, Granblue Fantasy, and the Transformers collaboration keep inventing new armaments for their guest Evas.