Un-Men
- For other uses of this name, see Un-Men (disambiguation).
The Un-Men are a species that feature in DC Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Un-Men were artificial beings created to be loyal creations of Dr. Anton Arcane. They were part of his first experiments in achieving immortality and considered failures. Though crude, they were completely dedicated to him and he made use of them to carry out his orders. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
The young Arcane was shown stitching together the body parts of dead soldiers in a series of unauthorized necromantic experiments. As a trusted aide of Adolf Hitler, the middle-aged Arcane came to be headquartered at a slaughterhouse and had successfully created his first Un-Men. He called them prototypes that were cobbled together from whatever body parts he could acquire. Arcane came to boast that these creations were infinitely adaptable and he revealed that he plans to build an Un-Men army of obedient, perfect soldiers who would never complain and always follow orders. Before he could muster his Un-Men army, Allied bombs destroy the slaughterhouse, and, presumably, the Un-Men. (Swamp Thing v2 #83)
In February 1969, the United States government sent a team of scientists under the auspices of the United States Army to New Orleans to investigate Un-Men sightings. The project leader was a geneticist named Doctor David Manguy. They rounded up a group of Un-Men and sequestered them inside of an old barracks. Manguy's team performed various experiments on the Un-Men including, but not limited to, vivisection. While the motives of the other scientists remain unknown, Manguy believed that by studying these tortured creatures, he could divine a means to cure all physical deformities. To this end, the team began breeding Un-Men, giving rise to a second generation of abnormal mutations. With fresh genetic stock to work with, Manguy developed a serum that would isolate and ultimately destroy the trace elements that caused random physical deformities. Of the second generation of Un-Men, only thirteen survived the process, and of those thirteen, only one appeared to respond positively to the treatment - Damien Kane. Kane appeared as a normal, healthy baby boy. The United States Army monitored Kane for the next two decades. They never revealed his true origins to him, and even fabricated his past, telling him that his parents died in a plane crash over Central America. In 1994 however, that process that kept Kane's human appearance began to go into regression. He was brought to Doctor Manguy's office, and the guilt-ridden doctor finally told Damien the truth about his Un-Men heritage. (American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men v1 #1)
Continuing his experiments, Arcane came to learn through a mystic mirror about the recent accident involving Alec Holland that turned him into a Swamp Thing. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
The Un-Men collected Arcane’s shattered, dead body, and under Cranius’ supervision took him to Arcane’s old lab and rebuilt his body using synthetic parts and resurrected him. Without Arcane’s guiding hand the results were far from perfect, and Arcane was now a shambling undead monstrosity. Arcane resolved to find Swamp Thing and take his body, and came to America with his Un-Men. They found Swamp Thing in the graveyard of an old slave plantation, and attacked him. Arcane mercilessly beat him, and told him of his plans to enslave the human race. Swamp Thing was vanquished, but the talk of slavery awoke the spirit of Black Jubal and his fellow slaves that had died on the plantation. Jubal was killed by his cruel master protecting the woman he’d loved, and he vowed that all evil men on his land would suffer a horrible fate. As Swamp Thing went unconscious he saw them rip Arcane and the Un-Men limb from limb. Swamp Thing awoke and saw seven headstones bearing the name Arcane. (Swamp Thing v1 #10)
In February of 1969, the United States government sent a team of scientists under the auspices of the United States Army to New Orleans to investigate Un-Men sightings. The project leader was a geneticist named Doctor David Manguy. They rounded up a group of Un-Men and sequestered them inside of an old barracks. Manguy's team performed various experiments on the Un-Men including, but not limited to, vivisection. While the motives of the other scientists remain unknown, Manguy believed that by studying these tortured creatures, he could divine a means to cure all physical deformities. To this end, the team began breeding Un-Men, giving rise to a second generation of abnormal mutations. With fresh genetic stock to work with, Manguy developed a serum that would isolate and ultimately destroy the trace elements that caused random physical deformities. Of the second generation of Un-Men, only thirteen survived the process, and of those thirteen, only one appeared to respond positively to the treatment - Damien Kane. Kane appeared as a normal, healthy baby boy. The United States Army monitored Kane for the next two decades. They never revealed his true origins to him, and even fabricated his past, telling him that his parents died in a plane crash over Central America. In 1994 however, that process that kept Kane's human appearance began to go into regression. He was brought to Doctor Manguy's office, and the guilt-ridden doctor finally told Damien the truth about his Un-Men heritage. (American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men v1 #1)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different series of events. The Un-Men
Un-Men followed Arcane to Abigail Arcane's residence in the swamp where they tried to capture her. (Swamp Thing v5 #11)
Overview
In appearance, Un-Men came in a wide variety of misshapen man-monster forms that were composed of synthetic flesh. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
It was claimed that the Un-Men were once human long ago that had no connection to the Rot but worshipped it regardless with them being rewarded as a result. (Swamp Thing v5 #11)
They were the result of his first experimentations into achieving immortality and though crude they were completely dedicated to him. He considered them to be his 'pets' whilst they obediently served their master and followed his commands. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
Members
- Cranius : a purple skinned distorted head that was located on a hand which served as his primary means of movement. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
- Crassus :
- Ophidian : a purple-skinned reptilian Un-Men who could wrap himself around a person's body to capture them and also whose red hypnotic eyes could cause his quarry to fall into a deep sleep. (Swamp Thing v1 #2)
- Gregori Arcane :
- Damien Kane :
Notes
- The Un-Men were created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson where they made a cameo appearance in Swamp Thing v1 #1 (November, 1972) and made their full appearance in Swamp Thing v1 #2 (January, 1973).
In other media
Television
- In Swamp Thing: The Animated Series, the Un-Men made an appearance in the setting of the animated television series. They were shown as being mutant soldiers of Anton Arcane consisting of three original characters named Bayou Jack, Dr. Deemo and Skinman.
Films
- In The Return of Swamp Thing, the Un-Men appeared in the setting of the 1989 live-action film. A number of genetically engineered creatures with animal hybrid characteristics were used by Anton Arcane against Swamp Thing though none of them were referred to as Un-Men.
Appearances
- Swamp Thing v1: (1972)
- Swamp Thing v2:
- American Freak: A Tale of the Un-Men v1:
External Links
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