For us, the most exciting announcement from James Gunn about the future of DC was news we’re getting a Swamp Thing movie. The character has long been one of our DC faves and it’s about time he got his moment in the spotlight. One of the primary culprits behind our continued Swamp Thing obsession is his status as a thoroughly non-traditional superhero, having long been presented as a character with a completely different moral compass from the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
But is he a hero or a villain? Well, it may come down to a matter of perspective.
Who is Swamp Thing?
Swamp Thing made his debut in ‘House of Secrets #92’ in 1971, with creator Len Wein introducing us to Alec Holland, a scientist working on a ‘Bio-Restorative Formula’ in an attempt to solve the world’s food problems. Holland’s work had the potential to turn world food production on its head, but his lab was bombed. Set ablaze, Holland ran into the marsh, where his formula combined with the plant life of the swamp and turned him into Swamp Thing.
But this isn’t the whole story. The character was eventually taken over by British comics genius Alan Moore, who reworked his origins to explain that Alec Holland died in the explosion and, instead of being transformed into a plant, he’s a plant that somehow absorbed Holland’s consciousness as he died. Or, as Moore put it, he’s “a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland”.
He went on to become a plant elemental. Tapping into ‘The Green’ essentially made him the god of Earth’s plant life, and transformed him into a symbol of ecological and environmental activism. More recently, he even became a member of Justice League Dark alongside John Constantine and Zatanna.
A villain with good intentions?
Swamp Thing’s priority is the preservation and defense of the natural world, which has often put him at odds with other heroes. For example, he once turned Gotham City into a living jungle and squared off against Batman, though from his perspective he was ‘saving’ the city from urban chaos and turning it into a paradise-like garden of delights. In the past, Swamp Thing also fought Superman, with even the Man of Steel struggling against a deity with control over every plant on the planet.
As a taste of how far he might go, 2020’s ‘The Future State’ imagined a dark future for the DC universe in which Swamp Thing takes over control of much of the planet. It’s explained that he finally had enough of humans greedily pillaging Earth’s natural resources and decided to end things once and for all, resulting in a world with only a few human survivors and a new race of humanoid plant creatures grown from Swamp Thing’s “fallen leaves”.
The Justice League has long considered Swamp Thing an uneasy ally, with this future a warning that — if he decided to go all out — even the most powerful heroes wouldn’t be able to do much to stop him.
It’s also worth mentioning the ‘Blackest Night’ crossover, in which Swamp Thing was corrupted by the villainous Nekron and promptly went on a rampage with the aim of destroying all life on Earth. However, this isn’t strictly the actual Swamp Thing, so we don’t think it counts.
Fighting for what’s right
Having said all that, Swamp Thing has almost always done what’s right and acted against evildoers, as they’re the ones usually out to harm The Green. Along the way he helped Kal-El adjust to life on Earth in 2016’s ‘Superman Annual #1’ (taking time to revitalize the Kent Farm), defended the Earth against ‘Rotworld’ in Scott Snyder’s New 52 run, and battled any number of evildoers seeking to invade or harm the planet across his decades of comic book adventures.
Despite being a plant elemental, Swamp Thing also developed a soft spot for many humans. He’s friends with John Constantine, has a wife in Abby Holland (who soon got over the strangeness of her husband being a plant), and won’t hesitate to protect individual humans he sees in danger.
So is he good or evil? Well, Swamp Thing is above such simple notions, but we’d absolutely put him in the hero column.
What we want from a new DCU movie
We’re very much hoping the new DCU Swamp Thing taps into this odd morality. Presenting Swamp Thing as a traditional hero is missing the point: his priority should always be the preservation of ‘The Green’, which overrides all human laws. Sure, this often puts him on a collision course with heroes who’d rather he toe the line and do things by the book, but the essence of the character is that he’s beyond traditional morality.
Fingers crossed the DCU is looking back to the classic Alan Moore run for inspiration. If it all works out, the DCU Swamp Thing could be a truly bizarre superhero movie like nothing we’ve seen before.
