WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 13 of Digimon Adventure 2020, "Garudamon of the Crimson Wings," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The Digimon reboot series has been steadily ramping up the difficulty level for the DigiDestined where enemies are concerned, and the latest episode, "Garudamon of the Crimson Wings," is no exception. After Lilimon's flowery victory over the cybernetic death machine that was Andromon last week, Matt, Sora and Joe's group stumble into a civil war between FunBeemon and Waspmon in the jungle. And, at the center of the woodland warfare, floats CannonBeemon, the franchise's black-and-yellow answer to Star Wars' preeminent planet killer, the Death Star.
Like Andromon, CannonBeemon is a cyber Digimon; an android of enormous size that hovers through the air with the same lethargic speed as its real-life namesake. This might be due to the equally huge weight it carries -- the Royal Base, an ariel hive in which its squadrons of Waspmon have been imprisoning captured FunBeemon like the Empire hunting the Rebellion. This soon includes the cowardly Joe and Good Boy Gomamon, who are caught in a Waspmon's net, flown up into the flying fortress and dumped into what looks like it could easily be another nod to George Lucas' space saga, the dreaded trash compactor.
If fans of the anime don't recognize CannonBeemon it's because this seems to be its first appearance on television. It's only major appearance outside of the video and card game series is the manga, Digimon Next, where it serves as one of Barbamon's Commandments. Barbamon is one of the Digital World's Seven Great Demon Lords, of whom Myotismon was thought to be an unofficial member of. (As if the Holy Digimon weren't proof enough, Digimon is positively dripping in Judeo-Christian symbolism.)
After retrieving Joe, Sora isn't content to simply let CannonBeemon continue harvesting FunBeemon unchecked. The stern-faced Matt, recognizing her intent, takes a backseat from his usual front-and-center position in battle to rescue the imprisoned FunBeemon, along with WereGarurumon, while Joe and Ikakkumon provide ground support against the squadron of Waspmon. Of course, CannonBeemon won't go down without a fight, and soon demonstrates the full capabilities of its titular cannon.
This is when the Ultimate-level Digimon most closely resembles the Empire's moon-shaped space station, taking its time to charge up its Nitro Stinger and unleashing the red beam with enough force to split a mountain in two. Witnessing this terrifying display, and thinking of the unyielding faith her friends have placed in her, Sora's Crest of Love activates, pushing Birdramon to digivolve into its Ultimate form for the first time, Garudamon. Garudamon's Shadow Wing attack engages CannonBeemon in a beam struggle, which the former eventually wins, dismantles the android at its weak spot, and ends the scrap in a big ol' explosion, as you'd expect. (Let's just hope there's not a second or third CannonBeemon waiting to replace it...)
As the DigiDestined edge closer and closer to the Holy Digimon, the threats they have to overcome will only continue to escalate. And it's only a matter of time before Devimon, the master puppeteer manipulating events from the shadows like a certain Emperor, steps out into the light.