Swamp Thing

Gallery

Real Name

Alec Holland

Current Alias

Swamp Thing

Aliases

Alexander Holland

Relatives

Larry Holland (father, deceased); Alice Holland (mother, deceased); Edward Holland (brother); Linda Holland (first wife, deceased); Alexander Holland (possible ancestor, deceased)^[1]

Base Of Operations

Houma, Louisiana

Status

Alignment

Good

Identity

Public Identity

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Widowed

Occupation

Biochemist; Carpenter

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Blond

Origin

Universe

Earth-One, New Earth

Created by

Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson

First appearance

Swamp Thing #1
(November, 1972)

My life's work was a Bio-Restorative Formula-- a compound capable of growing vegetation in the driest regions on the planet. But then, one night, there was an explosion in my laboratory and I became... dead.

-- Alec Holland ^src

HistoryEdit

In a secret facility located in the Louisiana swamplands, scientist Alec Holland and his wife Linda invented a Bio-Restorative Formula that would solve any nations' food shortage problems. Ferrett and Bruno - thugs working for Nathan Ellery - barged into Alec's lab, knocked him out, and planted a bomb in the facility. Alec woke up just as the bomb exploded, and in flames, he ran into the swamp. His body had been drenched in the bio-restorative formula, and this affected the swamp's plant life, imbuing it with Alec's consciousness and memories. The newly conscious plant life formed a semblance of a human form and rose up from the bog as the Swamp Thing, the latest in a long line of Earth elementals created when The Green was in need of protection.

However, Alec Holland was dead. The Swamp Thing laboured for a time under the misconception that he had actually been Alec, transformed into a monster. Eventually, he discovered that he was merely plant matter that had absorbed Alec's consciousness through a series of particular circumstances.

Alec's spirit was not at rest, though, and he appeared to the Swamp Thing. He urged the creature to retrieve his skeleton from the bottom of the bayou and give it a proper burial. This allowed Alec's spirit to free itself from the earthly plane and ascend into Heaven.

Eventually, Alec would meet Abby Holland in Heaven, after Swamp Thing gave her the opportunity to traverse The Green and the Spirit World.

Brightest Day

Unlike the previous incarnation, a mass of humanoid plant life with all of Holland's absorbed memories, this new renewed Swamp Thing was generated directly from the body of Alec Holland himself. Holland rising from the ground as a seemingly semi-sentient corpse until fully given human flesh again as the once formerly brilliant biologist. Holland stating that his last conscious memory was of hurling himself into the swamp to extinguish the flames engulfing him, having no memory of ever being Swamp Thing previously. The Life Entity stating essentially that Holland was a missing "vital component" to the being itself. Leaving us to ponder if the being Dark Avatar assaulting the city may have actually been the former Swamp Thing. Notably also bearing a very close physical resemblance.

The Entity imbued upon Holland all of the powers of The Green that the former had wielded. Including now additional elemental abilities, i.e. governance over fire, being now shown capable of breathing fire naturally. Swamp Thing then immediately growing to enormous height to battle the Corrupted Being. Immediately upon defeating it, acting to restore the Green to natural order.

DCnU

The DC Universe heavily changed its continuity into the DCnU following the events of Flashpoint in 2011. This was part of an effort to make storylines more accessible to newer readers, beginning with the New 52. This new timeline combines elements from the DCU, Vertigo Universe and Wildstorm Universe while drastically changing the origins and histories of characters.

Main article: Swamp Thing: Raise Them Bones

Following the events of Flashpoint, Alec Holland woke in the Louisiana swamps with the last thing he remembered being his own death. However, he soon began to have memories of a life he never had the chance to live as the Swamp Thing. For a while, he attempted to ignore these thoughts and live a normal life as a carpenter, until the call of The Green grew too strong.^[1]

Eventually, an emissary of the Green came to him and explained that he was meant to become the ultimate Swamp Thing, but he was prevented from fully merging with The Green when his body died, and instead, the Swamp Thing was born, without a human core.^[2]

Not long afterwards, he was attacked by strange horrible rotting monsters, and saved by a mysterious woman, whom he recognized from the Swamp Thing's memories as Abigail Arcane. She explained that in the same way he had always felt the pull of the Green, she had always been called by a force called The Black; The Rot. The Swamp Thing had drowned out its call when she was with him, but since he disappeared, its call became louder than ever.

Like Abigail, her half brother William had a strong connection to The Rot, and he escaped from the hospital he had been kept in. He began amassing an army of creatures of the Rot in the Deadlands, under the supervision of the Rot elemental known as Sethe.^[3]

Eventually, William caught up with Alec and Abigail, and made clear his plan to make Abigail into the Black Queen. In the meantime, Alec and Abby had fallen in love, and with their kiss, Alec unwittingly opened the barriers between the Rot and the Green, and Abigail was taken from him.^[4] Moments later, Alec himself was overtaken by creatures of the Rot, and he was killed.^[5]

Moments before dying, the Parliament of Trees kept Alec's spirit in stasis within the Green in order to chastise him for having failed them. However, Alec's love for Abigail and imminent death gave him the courage to become the Swamp Thing. The Parliament used its last vestiges of power to transform him, and Alec at last became the elemental warrior king he was always intended to be.^[6]

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

• Elemental Control The Swamp Thing has complete mastery over all forms of plant life and can command vegetative matter to do his bidding. Through this power, he is in constant communication with the very essence of the Earth, and serves as the Plant Elemental for the entire planet.
  In the past Alec Holland has gained access to other elemental powers. At one point gaining control over earth, water, air, and fire in addition to that of plantlife. However, often almost immediatly gaining control over all of them, giving up all but his connection to the Green.
• Superhuman Strength: The Swamp Thing's strength level is directly tied to his connection to the Earth. Occupying his most commonly used body, the Swamp Thing is capable of lifting volumes of mass many times greater than his own body weight. With additional power supplied to him by The Green, his ultimate strength level is nearly incalculable.
• Immortality: Theoretically so long as there is some vestige of plant life on the planet Earth, Alec Holland will always have a vehicle through which to house his consciousness, thus rendering him effectively immortal.
• Resurrection: The Swamp Thing houses his conscious mind inside of a faux body made up of compacted flora and vegetative material. At will, he can abandon this host form and take up residence inside of another shell. Even if the body he is currently occupying is destroyed, Alec's mind lives on and will reconstitute itself in a newly grown swamp-form. The Swamp Thing operated for several years before he even became aware of this ability. Eventually, it was the occultist John Constantine who revealed Alec's Elemental nature to him, and instructed in the ways of reconstituting a new body. ^[7]
• Chlorokinesis: The ability to commune with plantlife and to varying degrees control its growth and form. Summon forth vines to entangle or snare, and so on. A master of this ability can manipulate the microscopic algae inside of a person's body and use it to attack them from the inside out.
• Self-Sustenance: The ability to nourish oneself, typically via an external energy source. In Swamp Thing's case, likely through a form of photosynthesis.

Abilities

• Chemist: Brilliant Chemist
• Biologist: Brilliant Biologist

Strength level

As the Swamp Thing, Alec Holland possesses superhuman strength (See Powers); As a human being, Alec Holland possessed the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engaged in moderate regular exercise

Weaknesses

• Vulnerability to Pollution: Pollution is highly dangerous to the plant life that makes up his body and the plant life he is connected to.
  

NotesEdit

• The character of the Swamp Thing was created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson.
• Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe XXII erroneously establishes that Swamp Thing's first appearance was in House of Secrets (Volume 1) #92. However, this version of the Swamp Thing was Alex Olsen, a scientist who was transformed into a muck-monster nearly one-hundred years prior to Alec Holland's ill-fated experiments. Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson re-envisioned their own creation for the modern era and introduced the Swamp Thing as Alec Holland in Swamp Thing (Volume 1) #1. Writer Alan Moore later revisited the Olsen character in Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #33, and established him in canon continuity as a previous, yet separate incarnation of the Swamp Thing.
  

Recommended ReadingEdit

• Swamp Thing (Volume 1)
• Swamp Thing (Volume 2)
• Swamp Thing (Volume 3)
• Swamp Thing (Volume 4)
• Swamp Thing (Volume 5)

Related

• 57 Appearances of Alec Holland (New Earth)
• 49 Images featuring Alec Holland (New Earth)
• 14 Quotations by or about Alec Holland (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Alec Holland (New Earth)

LinksEdit

• Swamp Thing article at Wikipedia
• Swamp Thing at Sequart
• Swamp Thing at Toonopedia
• Swamp Thing at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
• Swamp Thing database at Roots of the Swamp Thing
• Swamp Thing Annotations
• Swamp Thing movie entry at the Internet Movie Databse (IMDB)
• Return of the Swamp Thing movie entry at the Internet Movie Database
• Swamp Thing live-action television series at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)
• Swamp Thing animated series at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

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Footnotes

Vertigo Character This character exists under the Vertigo Imprint which is intended for Mature Readers. Their continuity takes place within the context of Vertigo titles although they may cross over into regular DC continuity. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Vertigo Characters."

Swamp Thing Character This character specifically relates to the Swamp Thing and is predominantly seen in the Swamp Thing family of titles. This character may be part of the Swamp Thing's supporting cast, a minor acquaintance, or one of his adversaries. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Swamp Thing Characters category.