Anton Arcane

Introduced in Swamp Thing comics (first appearance: Swamp Thing #2, 1973), Anton Arcane is depicted as a scientist whose obsession with immortality leads him to create the Un-Men and perform monstrous biogenetic experiments on the dead. Across continuities he is alternately a human scientist-magician, a repeatedly resurrected or re‑embodied antagonist, an infernal-promoted demon, and—as reinterpreted in The New 52 continuity—the avatar of the Rot, the cosmic force of death and decay. His biography in the sources traces cycles of creating Un-Men, experimenting on the dead, suffering defeats by Swamp Thing and allies, dying or being consigned to Hell, and returning via resurrection, possession, or infernal promotion.

Arcane's appearances vary by incarnation in the comics: originally a human scientist and later a frail old man after losing an ill-gotten human form; monstrous iterations include a hulking corpse-like Un-Man, an insect-like cyborg piloting a dragonfly-like vehicle, and demonic forms after infernal promotion. He has been depicted possessing living bodies—masquerading as Matthew Cable, possessing Tefé Holland, and inhabiting the corpse of Avery Sunderland—and in The New 52 is shown able to physically manifest pieces of himself through rotten matter (for example, an eye appearing in a rotten apple).

Arcane combines scientific/biogenetic experimentation with sorcery: he created the Un-Men and resurrected his brother Gregori as the Patchwork Man. He is described as a skilled magician who uses magic alongside experiments. He repeatedly resurrects or re‑embodies—resurrected by his Un-Men, consigned to Hell and later promoted to a demon by infernal authorities, and capable of possessing other bodies (notably Matthew Cable, gaining Cable's psychic/reality-altering powers). Using possession plus his magic, he altered reality in at least one storyline by making the employees of Blackriver Recorporations the resurrected souls of deceased serial killers. In The New 52, as avatar or agent of the Rot he gains strength from rot and decay; when not acting as the Rot's avatar he is shown to be greatly weakened except when consuming rotten items. He also pursues political/strategic alliances with other realms and avatars to regain or leech power.