While the new Swamp Thing may have defeated the villainous Pale Stranger, someone even worse is poised to make a comeback.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Swamp Thing #3, by Ram V, Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer and Aditya Bidikar, on sale now.
As the living avatar of the Green, the elemental force binding all plant life in the DC Universe, Swamp Thing has accrued more than a handful of mortal enemies that have plagued him and the Parliament of Trees for years. From the sinister Sunderland Corporation to the machinations of the mad scientist Anton Arcane, there is no shortage of villainy seeking to forcibly acquire the powerful abilities of the Green for themselves.
And as the new Swamp Thing Levi Kamei and his friend Jennifer venture deep into the Green in The Swamp Thing #2, a familiar foe resurfaces with his latest scheme involving the elemental forces: Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man.
After Swamp Thing’s recent victory over the evil Pale Wanderer in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, Levi undergoes an MRI scan under Jennifer’s supervision back in New York City. This routine procedure has the unexpected side effect of causing both Levi and Jennifer to be drawn into the Green and separated within the extra-dimensional realm. As Levi searches for his friend across the strange, elemental world, Jennifer is approached by Woodrue, who reveals he entered the Green to investigate the strange, unexplained shifts in its energies. Conferring with Jennifer, Woodrue is surprised to learn the Green has selected a new Swamp Thing and sets out to find him for himself.
Originally introduced as an antagonist for Ryan Palmer by Gil Kane and Gardner Fox in 1962’s The Atom #1, Woodrue initially referred to himself as the Plant Master before becoming an elemental-based supervillain for many of the DCU’s biggest heroes under the new moniker the Floronic Man. After being tasked by the Sunderland to discover more about the nature of the Green and its connection to Swamp Thing, Woodrue ate pieces of Swamp Thing to gain his own connection to the elemental force losing his mind and much of his humanity while becoming determined to eradicate all non-plant life on Earth. This frequently put him at odds with Swamp Thing over the years, battling the Green’s champion over the natural order in the DCU.
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Woodrue was last seen in one of the possible alternate timelines during Future State. After a cataclysmic war between the heroes and villains led to the plants overtaking the Earth, with a version of Swamp Thing now reigning over the overgrown planet, struggling to remember about his own connection to humanity. Woodrue was revealed to have similarly survived, hiding from Swamp Thing and his growing family of sentient plants after injecting himself with raw, plant-based DNA that resulted in an even more monstrous transformation. The Woodrue appearing in the Green during the Infinite Frontier era appears in his usual, bark-coated form rather than the merged human-plant hybrid in Future State, though no less nefarious.
Woodrue’s return signals that yet another DC title may be moving towards the dark destiny foretold by Future State, with the Floronic Man’s plans for the new Swamp Thing potentially serving as the catalyst for Earth being consumed by the Green. With Levi still acclimating to his new double-life and connection to the Green, he is vulnerable to exploited by the manipulative Woodrue as he navigates through this undiscovered country. And as a grave threat even for a far more experienced Swamp Thing, Levi’s first true challenge as the Green’s new champion comes facing down this sinister supervillain.
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