Anton Arcane
Dr. Anton Arcane is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Anton Arcane was Romanian male who was the son of Josip Arcane and his wife Anaïs Arcane with him having two siblings named Aniela and Gregori. During World War I, his mother Anaïs was forced to seek shelter to the Barony of the her distant cousin Hans von Hammer when Romania was invaded by Austrian forces. At a young age, Arcane showed signs of depravity and hostility, causing his younger siblings Aniela and Gregori to fear him. Particularly, Arcane had sexually abused Aniela secretly from their parents. Anton developed a deep interest in biological science and enrolled in Hamburg School of Medicine until he was expelled for unethical surgical experiments, sadism, drug addiction, necrophilia, moral turpitude, depravity, debasement, decadence and attempting to re-animate dead flesh. Following his expulsion, Arcane enlisted in the German military during World War I and became a field doctor at the Western Front, where he dementedly experimented on the mortally wounded. (Swamp Thing v2 #83)
Anton studied the creature and believed that the restorative properties of the Swamp Thing were the key to true immortality. Mixing science with sorcery, he embarked upon a bizarre black magic ritual to glean the secrets of the Swamp Thing's powers by torturing the creature with the aid of an occult artifact known as the Claw of Aelkhünd. Arcane's actions were discovered by Anaïs, who disavowed him as an evil man. Furious, Arcane tried to make his mother a blood-sacrifice, only to be shot down by Hans von Hammer. Despite his near-fatal injuries, Arcane survived his wounds. (Swamp Thing v2 #83)
Arcane later resumed his military career and eventually served alongside Adolf Hitler for three years. It was then that Arcane convinced Hitler of his destiny to rule the world - not out of any loyalty to the man, but rather from a desire to start a second land-war in Europe. Arcane had begun creating an army of deformed man-creatures he called Un-Men, but when the first World War ended, corpses were not as readily available. With Hitler in control, he knew the body count would be staggering. Several years later, Hitler turned his attention to the creation of the Nazi Party, in which Arcane served, but only to further his work. By the near-end of the war in Europe, Arcane had practically attained immortality and had holed up in an abattoir, creating his Un-Men, and amassing a cache of occult artifacts. When his facility was destroyed by Allied bombers, Arcane re-encountered the Swamp Thing, but was prepared for it, using the Claw of Aelkhünd. The object caused the Swamp Thing to disappear, and Arcane later vowed to hunt the elemental down and learn the secret of his immortality ― a vow that would take the next several decades to fulfill. (Swamp Thing v2 #82)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different series of events. Anton Arcane
He was a noted servant and follower of the force of decay known as the Rot. For centuries, he had walked as a man around the world and had sired fifty children for the Rot. Among those children born was Abigail Arcane who he claimed as being special. (Swamp Thing v5 #10) At some point, it was noted that he had died long ago but in that time worked to reclaim the mantle of being the Avatar of the Rot. To accomplish this, the Rot orchestrated a plan to provoke the Green by awakening their ancient guardian known as Sethe in the hope that their foes in the Parliament of Trees would become desperate to combat this force leading to them bringing about the resurrection of Alec Holland. This came to pass but the resurrection of a fallen Avatar was a breach of the rules allowing the Rot to counter by bringing about the return of their own champion Avatar, Anton Arcane in order to bring about the emergence of Rotworld. (Swamp Thing v5 #12)
At some point, he was transferred to Arkham Asylum when Astrid Arkham began her plan against Batman. This saw her freeing some of the in-mates who began to work for her with Anton Arcane being among them. She tasked him with creating Un-Men to protect the observatory whilst she intended to use a device that emitted incredible light to blind the people of the citizen. However, Arcane was defeated by Damian Wayne who used gas to render him unconscious. (Detective Comics v1 #1005)
Arcane then manifested within the Heart of the Rot to stop the intervention of John Constantine and Zatanna. (Justice League Dark v2 #21)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
He was later reborn as a Lord of the Rot where he was given greater powers that made him beyond human. (Swamp Thing v5 #10)
Notes
- Anton Arcane was created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson where he made a cameo appearance in Swamp Thing v1 #1 (November, 1972) before making his first full appearance in Swamp Thing v1 #2 (January, 1973).
Alternate Versions
- In DC Comics Bombshells v1 #1 (2015), an alternate version of Anton Arkayn appeared in the DC Bombshells reality designated as Earth 24 in the new Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In Swamp Thing, Anton Arcane appeared as the main antagonist in the 1990 live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Mark Lindsay Chapman. He was responsible for abducting dozens of individuals and performing grotesque experiments on them, using recombinant DNA to combine animal characteristics with human beings. These experiments gave rise to a sub-race of mutants such as Falco and Toad Boy. Anton Arcane attempted to steal a Bio-Restorative Formula from a contemporary named Doctor Alec Holland. This incident resulted in Holland being transformed into the elemental creature known as the Swamp Thing. The ever-charismatic Doctor Arcane developed an interest in a local Louisiana woman named Tressa Kipp. For the most part, Arcane's flirtations with Miss Kipp was part of a larger scheme to swindle her family out of the land that their home was built upon.
- In Swamp Thing, Anton Arcane appeared as an antagonist in the 1991 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Don Francks. Similar to his other portrayals, Dr Arcane was obsessed with gaining the knowledge of immortality for his aging, vile form and believes that he can gain it from Swamp Thing. He appears as a wrinkled bald headed man with reptilian looking eyes. He wears a blue jacket and carries a staff with a skull on it which is equipped with several pieces of technology such as weapon blasts. Arcane ends in numerous skirmishes with the plant creature as the two battle for dominance in the swamps. His base is his mansion within the region with his niece, Abigail Arcane residing in the house with him though the two rarely interact. Arcane makes extensive use of his scientific knowledge as well as that of his Transducer in order to create genetic monsters to fight for him against Swamp Thing. One such creation of his are the Un-Men and he himself has once entered the chamber to become one of them. His Un-Men appearance takes that of a Humanoid spider hybrid where he is much stronger and capable of shooting webbing to capture his enemies.
Films
- In Swamp Thing, Anton Arcane appeared in the setting of the 1982 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Louis Jourdan. Suddenly, a group of paramilitary agents attack her and raid Alec's laboratory. A man resembling Ritter steps forward, but pulls off his mask and reveals himself as Arcane. When Arcane shoots Linda for attempting to escape with the formula, Alec grabs the beaker, but trips, causing the spilled chemicals to set him on fire. He runs outside and dives into the swamp to extinguish the flames as a series of explosions burst from the water. Overnight, Arcane's henchmen destroy the premises and remove all evidence of the team's work.
- In The Return of Swamp Thing, Anton Arcane appeared in the setting of the 1989 live-action film where he was once again portrayed by actor Louis Jourdan. Dr. Anton Arcane was shown to had been been resurrected after his death.
Video games
- In Swamp Thing, Anton Arcane appeared as a boss level antagonist in the setting of the 1992 NES and Game Boy video game.
Appearances
- Swamp Thing v1: (1973)
- Detective Comics v1:
- Justice League Dark v2: (2020)
External Links
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