The alias "Hood" originates in Thunderbirds comic strips and other tie-in media; in the series itself, the character is unnamed except in two episodes ("Martian Invasion" and "Edge of Impact") where he adopts the aliases "Agent Seven-Nine" and "Six-Seven-One".

"[2] Sylvia Anderson acknowledges that the Hood's appearances became less regular towards the end of the series (he does not feature in any episodes of the second season), explaining that, like Kyrano, the character "turned out to be less viable on the screen than on the page.

The character appears in six episodes of the original Thunderbirds: "Trapped in the Sky", "The Mighty Atom", "Martian Invasion", "Edge of Impact", "Desperate Intruder" and "Cry Wolf".

What is known for certain about the Hood is that he possesses a significant reputation among the less ethical groups of the world, as he has been shown to be in contact with spy agencies and militaries seeking information or for a target to be eliminated, such as in the episode "Edge of Impact", in which when he is hired by a general to sabotage the Red Arrow program as it was a threat to his work.

Although capable of coming up with sophisticated plans- many of which showed little to no regard for the innocent people, setting up several high-stakes rescue missions without any sign of concern for those who would be endangered in the process so long as he got what he wanted-, the Hood was commonly shown to have a short temper and be very poor at improvisation when his schemes did not work out the way he had planned.

Having thwarted his plan in "Martian Invasion", Virgil commented that he was convinced that "Stutt" (the Hood's alias at the time) was the same person who'd been after them since they first began the rescue business, with Scott agreeing with the assessment but nevertheless confident that they would one day capture him.

On one particularly memorable occasion he attempted to expose International Rescue's location by bombing Thunderbird 2's hangar, forcing Virgil to move the craft onto the runway where he subsequently took photographs of the vessel.

In the remake series Thunderbirds Are Go, the Hood is portrayed as having been secretly after International Rescue for some time, but his existence was apparently more of a rumour and theory rather than confirmed knowledge as far as the Tracy brothers are concerned.

He also possessed strange hypnotic powers of unknown origin, although these abilities were apparently limited to making people carry out simple commands, such as to follow him or put them to sleep.

In the 2004 film, the Hood's abilities were changed to telekinesis, allowing him to levitate himself and move objects, although his temporary control of Lady Penelope and Parker's bodies when they attempted to rescue the Tracys suggests that he retained at least some of his old hypnotic powers.

"[8] Ian Haywood describes the Hood as "both an absolute and an ethnic villain, whose jungle temple is a demonic reflection of the Tracy Island, and a signifier of the yellow peril of the Cold War".

[9] For Jonathan Bignell, the character's villainy transcends conventional geopolitical boundaries: his Eastern appearance and exotic powers "associated him with James Bond villains of the period, and pervasive fears of China as a 'third force' antagonistic to the West.

[11] Jon Abbott of TV Zone magazine calls the Hood a "rather weak villain" who exists "because the show simply needs a bad guy" and whose goal of photographing the Thunderbird machines would seem "hilarious" to newer audiences.

Abbott also believes that the character represents a negative ethnic stereotype, writing that the "use of a foreign culture to create a sinister atmosphere [...] dates the show badly" and that while Gerry Anderson often avoided casting Russians as the enemy in his 1960s productions, he seemingly "missed the point where it comes to the Orient.

"[12] Marcus Hearn believes the Hood's supernatural powers to be at odds with the series' technological focus: "In a format devoted to realistic or at least feasible presentations of scientific and engineering concepts, the episodes featuring this Oriental magician sometimes strike an incongruous note."

He states that these attributes make the Hood the "most problematic" regular cast member and views the character's secret relation to Kyrano as one of the series' main weaknesses.

Glenn Erickson of the review website DVD Talk writes that Kingsley plays the role with "complete actorly overkill" and likens the characterisation to that of a clichéd "evil baddie".

[14] Alex Hewison of The Digital Fix calls Kingsley's performance "flat and dull, as though the ignominy of having to wear a red kimono and ridiculous face paint was enough to send him into a semi-catatonic state of weary indifference.

"[15] In contrast, Dennis Prince of DVD Verdict describes Kingsley as "simply excellent, devouring the role of the wicked yet dryly witty criminal mastermind, providing a hiss-worthy baddie who never becomes too evil".

She applauds the decision to make him British and remove his hypnotic abilities, stating that the original character's Far Eastern tones made him a "racial stereotype" and his supernatural powers "weren't in keeping with the rest of the show.