As the man who attempted to rebuild Team Rocket from the ground up in the Johto region, Archer is one of the more villainous characters in Gold and Silver. Despite his efforts, the majority of other Team Rocket members, including the other Executives, all fall under his command and leave the evil team in a worse state than when he started his crusade.
Archer may not have the same power and influence as Giovanni once did, but he is a powerful trainer in his own right and was instrumental in not only Team Rocket’s revival, but its initial activities in Kanto during Red and Blue, even if he wasn’t canonically a part of those games.
10 He Wasn’t Always Named
In Gold and Silver, Archer was simply known as Rocket Executive alongside Ariana, Petrel, and Proton, who had the same title. This was largely due to none of the Team Rocket Grunts being uniquely named, but it also meant that their mission felt far less personal, since they were just powerful trainers in suits rather than people in their own right. This would change in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where the four executives would become named trainers, though the Grunts still remained unnamed foot soldiers.
9 He Appeared In FireRed & LeafGreen
In the Red and Blue remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, Archer appeared once again in an unnamed form in the Sevii Islands. Following Giovanni’s multiple defeats at the hands of Red, Archer challenges the player on Five Island, not convinced that Team Rocket has been disbanded despite not hearing from his boss in a while. Although he isn’t named and has the same model as a regular Grunt, it is clear that this is Archer based on his team of Golbat, Weezing, and Houndoom, the latter being his signature Pokémon.
8 He Got Weaker Over Time
Although both versions of Archer are challenged at different points of the game, it is strange to see his team in FireRed and LeafGreen be stronger than it was in Gold and Silver. While it is definitely done to make sure he is an equal challenge at two different points in each game, there is one change that makes little sense.
In his FireRed and LeafGreen team, Archer has a Weezing, but in his Gold and Silver team, he has a Koffing. It could be argued that this is simply a different Pokémon, but this battle also comes almost immediately after defeating Petrel, who has five Koffing and a Weezing himself, and all of his generation one teams have Archer using a Weezing.
7 His Manga Team Is Almost Identical
Character’s teams in the manga are oftentimes a little different from how they appear in the anime and video games. Archer’s on the other hand, is virtually identical, though with one slight difference. Aside from his signature Houndoom, who sits at his side not unlike Giovanni’s Persian, he also has a Crobat, which he hasn’t had in the games, though he has had a Golbat on all of them. He also doesn’t have a Weezing in the manga, but he did have several much stronger Pokémon at one point in the story.
6 He Once Controlled Several Legendaries
He may have been a failure in the end, but Archer went a long way in ensuring that Team Rocket would return to the world stronger than when Giovanni was in charge. At one point in the manga, Archer not only has his Houndoom and Crobat, but also managed to gain control over Arceus, which he used to create a Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina that were also under his control. Had Archer done this in the games, he might have had a better chance of coming out victorious in the end.
5 His Houndoom Nearly Killed Petrel
The Pokémon manga is known for being quite a bit darker than its anime and video game counterparts, particularly the Adventures series. While Petrel is known for being somewhat less competent than the other executives, he didn’t deserve the treatment he got from Archer and his Houndoom. Although Houndoom’s moves aren’t known, it is shown to have a very powerful tail, using it to strangle Petrel nearly to death without batting an eye.
4 His Design
Archer’s design is known for being fairly menacing compared to the other Rocket Executives, trying his best to look like Giovanni 2.0 in all of his appearances. While the other three Executives all had major redesigns in the Gold and Silver remakes, Archer wasn’t so lucky.
Instead of making an entirely new character model for Archer, Game Freak instead based his final design on the original model for the male Rocket Executive, with the only difference between games being his hair color.
3 His Japanese Name
Most characters in Pokémon have quite different names depending on which language they are being translated into, as their names often represent their position or type specialty. Archer’s Japanese name is Apollo, most likely named after the Apollo space program, as all of the Team Rocket Executives are named after rockets of some variety. He could also be named after the Greek god of the sun and light, Apollo, as there is a broad association with him wanting to take Team Rocket to new heights, but that is unlikely.
2 His English Namesake
Like his Japanese name, Archer’s English name is a reference to a form of rockets in the real world. In this case, he is named after the AA-11 Archer air to air missile used by the Soviet Union. There could also be a broader reference to his Japanese name, as Apollo was also the god of archery, though, considering the naming conventions of the other Executives, this could just be a coincidence.
1 He Was Once Called Carl
In the Gold and Silver chapters of Pokémon Adventures manga, Archer and the other Team Rocket Executives hadn’t been named properly yet, as they weren’t fleshed out as main villains yet. In Archer’s case, he was simply a trainer called Carl who had three Houndoom at this disposal, the signature Pokémon of Archer in the future. He was inducted into Team Rocket after being kidnapped by the Masked Man, who, while not confirmed as such, is most likely a version of Giovanni, as he is associated with the Kanto gym leaders in some way.
