Anton Arcane

ANTON ARCANE

Real Name: None

Class: Demon

Occupation: Demon, sorcerer

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Abigail Cable Holland (niece), Anais Arcane (mother, deceased), Aniela Arcane (sister, presumed deceased), Gregori Arcane (Patchwork Man, brother, deceased), Hans von Hammer (Enemy Ace, first cousin once removed), Josip Arcane (father, deceased), Tefe Holland (grand-niece), unnamed sister-in-law (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Hell, formerly Balkans

First Appearance: (cameo) Swamp Thing I #1 (October-November, 1972), (full) Swamp Thing I #2 (December-January 1972-1973)

Powers: As a human Arcane was a talented sorcerer and surgeon who specialized in the reanimation of dead tissue. He possessed a degree of invulnerability and longevity, and he demonstrated a frightening control over insect life. As a demon Arcane can manipulate a tiny fraction of the energy generated by the suffering of the damned. He cannot truly be destroyed, and his mere presence generates feelings of murderous hatred. Arcane cannot leave Hell unless he is summoned to Earth, and has a suitable vessel to possess.

History: (Swamp Thing II #82, 83) - Anton Arcane was born in the late 19th century in an unnamed Balkan state. He was a monstrous child who abused his younger siblings Gregori and Aniela, and the family was happy to see him leave for the Hamburg School of Medicine. Anton became obsessed with immortality, and surrendered his soul to sadism and debauchery in pursuit of it. He was caught taking drugs and abusing his fellow students, but when he attempted to reanimate a corpse the school had enough and expelled him. He became a battlefield medic during WWI and secretly used dead soldiers as subjects for his necromantic experiments. During the final days of the war he was summoned to his cousin Hans von Hammer's home to examine a wounded pilot. The pilot was actually the plant elemental Swamp Thing, who was trapped in an uncontrolled trip through time. It was this encounter and studies of Swamp Thing's body that would later inspire Arcane to pursue the theory that an eternally regenerating vegetable body could best survive the ravages of time. During the war Arcane struck up a friendship with Adolf Hitler, and would later become a trusted aide of Hitler during WWII. Arcane finally succeeded in reanimating the dead while working in Germany, creating a small band of undead creatures named the Un-Men.

(Swamp Thing I #1, 2, 3 (fb)) - After WWII he gained possession of a castle in the Balkans and populated it with Un-Men. During this time he also discovered the newly dead body of his brother Gregor, and transformed him into the monstrous Patchwork Man. Gregor was horrified at what Anton had made him into, and started smashing Anton’s lab, so Arcane sedated him, and kept him locked in a dungeon for years. After years of waiting Arcane located Swamp Thing, and had his Un-Men bring him to his castle. Having been born only a few weeks before, Swamp Thing did not yet know Arcane, and was easily coerced by the sorcerer. Arcane promised him his human body back, and used his magic to assume Swamp Thing's form and shaped a human body for Swamp Thing. Arcane had finally gained a body suitable for eternal life. When Swamp Thing realized Arcane's evil intentions to use his form to kill all the Balkan villages he felt had not treated him right as a youth he reversed the spell by destroying the soul jar that maintained the enchantment, and the elderly Arcane fell from a tower window while fleeing the enraged elemental.

(Swamp Thing I #10) - 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 IV #8 (fb)) - Arcane met Dekker, a fallen angel looking to find a man who exemplified humanity so he could prove to the Heavenly host that the human element was a force of nature. Arcane was not his man, but impressed Dekker because he'd once left his human form behind and gained the power of Swamp Thing for a brief time.

(Saga of the Swamp Thing #29-31, Saga of the Swamp Thing Annual #2) - Even in death Arcane still plotted revenge. He was too powerful and malign even for Hell, and managed to return to Earth in the form of a fly. His niece's husband, Matt Cable, had developed potent mental powers, but his will was weakened by his alcoholism and lust. Arcane took possession of his body and used Matt's mental powers to create a Hell on Earth. He challenged Swamp Thing to a fight to the death, but was caught unaware by his foe's newly learned elemental powers. Swamp Thing weakened him enough for Matt to cast the demon out. Arcane returned to Hell where he served as a plaything for demons and an incubator of fly larvae.

(Swamp Thing II #76) - Anton’s decapitated head laughed the mutilation committed on him, and crowed to his demonic tormentor that he had found victory in Hell, because those that condemned him were living in their own personal hell. Arcane’s tormentor doubted this, because if that were the case Anton would have been elevated to tormentor himself. He showed Anton a vision of Earth, where Abby had moved past her longing for Matt Cable, who was in a coma and dying, and made a life together with Swamp Thing. The tormentor allowed Anton a peek of his niece siring Swamp Thing’s child in a loving union, and Anton screamed. Anton demanded that no Arcane could ever be happy, least of all Abby. The tormentor shut him up by locking his head in a torture device filled with scorpions and spiders.

Arcane earned his place as a low-caste tormentor demon by Beelzebub. Arcane continued to make life miserable for both Swamp Thing and his niece Abigail until he had an epiphany and pledged his allegiance to heaven.

(Swamp Thing IV #12 (fb), 9, 10) - Arcane lost favor in Heaven after being deemed a heresiarch and was damned to Hell once again, and the demon Josephine was assigned to torture him. Josephine fell in love with Arcane, and demanded he prove his love for her by taking greater and greater punishments and describing his pain in exquisite detail. Years ago Swamp Thing met a lonely little Creole girl, Sallie, and grew a swamp plant for her. As an adult she was all alone, and, desiring companionship, made a golem from the swamp and placed the tuber from Swamp Thing's plant inside it. She attempted to bring it to life, but her spell reached Hell, where Arcane felt the call to Earth. He convinced his mistress to free him from Hell, and promised to summon her once he found her a body. He came alive in the golem and held down Sallie, casting a Sumerian summoning spell to allow Josephine to inhabit her body. She pulled free and ripped out the tuber, but Arcane laughed at her attempt to banish her. She fled, so Arcane's spell had to be directed at the corpse of her mother. Word got out in Hell that Josephine had freed her charge, and she was tortured for it until Arcane's spell took effect and she possessed Sallie's mother's body. They embraced, and Josephine was touched she found the one damned soul who kept his word. She thought the realm of Earthly sensations novel, and they made love as her presence corrupted the swamp and it's fauna. She told Arcane that pain was precious and subtle on Earth, and she wanted to kill everything just to hear the dying screams of every living being. They were confronted by Swamp Thing, and Arcane bragged that his enemy had provided the seed for him to form a new body, although the call from Hell came from the mud Sallie used to make her golem. It came from earth Swamp Thing killed Arcane on, although Arcane admitted he couldn't remember which death that was. Arcane saw his arch enemy no longer remembered him, and revealed his plan to manipulate Swamp Thing and take over his body, acknowledging that he'd failed before, but felt confident because Swamp Thing was in no state to defend himself. Arcane and Josephine vanished, and the opening they'd made in hell disgorged the demonic bounty hunter Brother Walker and his companion Worm.

(Swamp Thing IV #11, 12) - Walker and Worm drained his memories concerning Arcane, but Worm deemed them useless melodramatic wallowing, and after Worm sniffed out Sallie they went to find the woman who'd inadvertently cracked open Hell. Arcane planned to put Josephine inside Tefe, but his body was falling apart so they hitched a ride, decapitated the driver, and Arcane took his body. Josephine said she planned on killing everyone in the world with Arcane once she had a proper body, and suggested they could finish their honeymoon by killing each other. Arcane's damage to the Green caused Tefe to hemorrhage, and she was in the hospital. Arcane broke into her ward, but was disappointed to see she no longer had powers even though she still had a connection to the Green. Swamp Thing followed the demons, bursting into the hospital, where Abby was in the waiting room with her new boyfriend Jake. She blamed Swamp Thing for bringing more madness intoi her life, and Swamp Thing felt hurt, saying he was only trying to help safe Tefe, and slunk away. Arcane kidnapped Tefe, leaving behind a message saying he was at the local cathedral, so Abby changed her mind and asked for Swamp Thing's help. Arcane was also being pursued by Walker, who'd brought Sallie with him, but Arcane's time in Heaven allowed him to manipulate the holy power of the church, allowing him to shrink Walker to the size of a bug. Abby and Swamp Thing arrived, and Arcane used his power to possess Swamp Thing's body, forcing his mind and soul into Josephine. He apologized for betraying her, but said that if he simply expulsed Swamp Thing's soul he would have simply grown another body from the Green. Arcane bartered with Walker, convincing him to take Josephine to Hell, and Swamp Thing with her, in exchange for unshrinking him. As Josephine / Swamp Thing was dragged to Hell Sallie sacrificed herself, being swallowed by Josephine, and allowing Swamp Thing to grow a new body from the tuber she still had on her. Swamp Thing formed his new body, and grew tendrils to thrust Arcane into the pit after Josephine. Swamp Thing said goodbye to Abby and Tefe, saying he could not stay with them, and brought Sallie's body to the swamp, where he allowed it to consume her whole. In Hell Josephine and Arcane were fused into one body and placed in a spike cage. Their punishment was being unable to escape each other, and their tormentors informed them they sensed the presence of an unborn child they had created.

Comments: Created by Bernie Wrightson & Len Wein

Anton Arcane received profiles in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #1, Who's Who In The DC Universe #15 and The DC Comics Encyclopedia.

Arcane was first given the name Anton in the Swamp Thing movie.-Dagda79

Arcane had cameos in Swamp Thing I #9, Swamp Thing II #43, 65, 75, Swamp Thing IV #23.