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Description

Swamp Thing + Man-Thing (I mean…)

Dr. Theodore “Ted” Holland was a young biochemist working in the Everglades on a project for Lexxon. He was the lead scientist tasked with recreating the formula that created the Green Sentinel. Due to the Green Flame having a weakness against wood, Lexxon’s mystical advisors suggested that the “Green” (a mystical realm ruled over by the Parliament of Trees a group of plant elementals) could provide mystic energy to activate the formula, creating a new type of Green meta. As the Everglades were considered a major portal to the Green, that’s where the scientists set up shop, hoping to tap into this mystical energy and activate Rex Stark’s formula.
Ted and his wife, Linda (née) Brandt worked on the project, but Linda was an agent of S.W.A.R.M. and eventually betrayed him. As Ted and his team got close to accessing the Green and studying its potential effects on the serum, S.W.A.R.M. agents burst into Ted’s lab and planted a bomb in the facility. Before they could get too far, Ted destroyed his notes, gathered up the last of his recreation of Rex Stark’s formula and tried to escape. Unfortunately, before he could get away, the bomb exploded. Ted, covered in flames managed to escape the complex into the swamp. Badly burned and dying, Ted consumed the formula, hoping it would save his life. The mystic forces of the Everglades, the Green, empowered the formula but not in any way that the team had intended. The magical forces immediately transformed him into a hulking plant matter creature with large solid red eyes.

S.W.A.R.M. continued to hunt the newly christened ManSwamp over the next several weeks. They eventually succeeded in capturing him, but in doing so, destroyed much of his head. They recruited scientist Dr. Samuel Woodrue, the Plant Master to study the creature, in an attempt to recover Stark’s formula. Woodrue concluded that the ManSwamp was not Ted Holland, but a plant creature with intelligence who believed he was Ted Holland (who must have died from injuries in the explosion). Much later, Woodrue would use his studies to transform himself into a plant entity named Hellebore that would terrorize many a hero.

Meanwhile, ManSwamp reconstituted and escaped, having learned his origins as a sentient botanical creature and not the scientist Ted Holland. He fled into the swamp and took root for many months, meditating and eventually travelling into the Green. In the Green, ManSwamp learned that the Everglades were home to a portal to multiple dimensions known as the Nexus of All Realities. ManSwamp patrolled the Everglades, assigning himself the task of the portal’s guardian. During this time, ManSwamp met Abby Kale, a sorceress and niece of Anton Arcane, the leader of the S.W.A.R.M. mission that caused his mortal death. Abby said that she was living in Skartaris, the Savaged Land and called herself the Queen of the Bog and Queen of the ManSwamps. She told Ted Holland that he was but the first of many such creatures.

In Skartaris, there are many ManSwamps and it’s not entirely clear what their origin is. Skartaris can be accessed by the Nexus of All Realities, so it’s possible they are the ManSwamps from other realities. In Skartaris, Abby Kane is the mortal enemy of Morgan Le Fey, and the ManSwamps help her in her war. Unlike "Ted Holland", the ManSwamps in the weird world of Skartaris seem to be more mindless hulks and cannot speak or even think much. The ManSwamp that Kale dubbed the “first of many” however is intelligent and can speak.

At one point, ManSwamp actually goes to Skartaris to the ManSwamp Bogs, lead there by the ghost of Ted Holland. The existance of the ghost confirmed that ManSwamp is a plant being and not a transformed human. ManSwamp followed the ghost to Skartaris to retrieve Ted Holland’s skeleton at the bottom of the bog. Ted's dead body was transported there through the nexus and his spirit desired closure. After giving the bones a burial, Ted Holland's ghost found closure and was able to ascend. ManSwamp stayed in Skartaris to help Abby Kale defeat Morgan Le Fey. Interestingly, with Ted Holland’s skeleton removed from the Bog, no new ManSwamps seemed to be generated or arrive in Skartaris.

There is an interesting tie to the Green Flame, which shouldn’t have been present in the experiment (having no access to the Lantern). ManSwamp is drawn to those feeling fear. It causes him pain and he becomes nearly mindless, like the Skartaris ManSwamps. When he touches those in the throes of fear, green flame erupts from his swampy body to engulf the victim of his touch. Whether this is tied to the flames that engulfed him during his transformation or the Green Flame that Rex Stark’s formula was meant to harness is unknown. Perhaps the Green Flame (originating in a sentient planet) and the Green (a plant ruled mystical realm) has some ties to one another evidenced only by the ManSwamp's burning touch and the Green Sentinel's weakness to wood.

Meta Backstory: just filling out the characters and locations in Skartaris the Savaged Land, and had to bring in ManSwamp cause of the Man-Thing’s strange multiple appearances in Weird World. Like always, filling out the backstory lead to more amalgams. Fun!



    Amalgams in this story:

    Lexxon (LexCorp + Roxxon) (possibly run by Lex Jaxon or his sister Lena, though I’m not totally sure about that amalgam yet)

    Linda Brandt (Linda Holland + Ellen Brandt)

    Rex Stark (of course you remember: Rex Tyler and Howard Stark)

    The Green (not really an amalgam so to speak, but is the Plant realm and the Nexus of All Realities)

    Dr. Samuel Woodrue/ Plant Master (Dr. Samuel Smithers/Plant Man + Dr. Jason Woodrue/ Plant Master)

    Hellebore (Samuel Smithers/BlackHeath + Jason Woodrue/Floronic Man)

    Abby Kale (Abigail Cable + Jennifer Kale)

    S.W.A.R.M. (H.I.V.E. + A.I.M.)

    Morgan Le Fey (Morgan Le Fey + Morgan Le Fey… they exist in both Marvel and DC)

Description

Swamp Thing + Man-Thing (I mean…)

Dr. Theodore “Ted” Holland was a young biochemist working in the Everglades on a project for Lexxon. He was the lead scientist tasked with recreating the formula that created the Green Sentinel. Due to the Green Flame having a weakness against wood, Lexxon’s mystical advisors suggested that the “Green” (a mystical realm ruled over by the Parliament of Trees a group of plant elementals) could provide mystic energy to activate the formula, creating a new type of Green meta. As the Everglades were considered a major portal to the Green, that’s where the scientists set up shop, hoping to tap into this mystical energy and activate Rex Stark’s formula.
Ted and his wife, Linda (née) Brandt worked on the project, but Linda was an agent of S.W.A.R.M. and eventually betrayed him. As Ted and his team got close to accessing the Green and studying its potential effects on the serum, S.W.A.R.M. agents burst into Ted’s lab and planted a bomb in the facility. Before they could get too far, Ted destroyed his notes, gathered up the last of his recreation of Rex Stark’s formula and tried to escape. Unfortunately, before he could get away, the bomb exploded. Ted, covered in flames managed to escape the complex into the swamp. Badly burned and dying, Ted consumed the formula, hoping it would save his life. The mystic forces of the Everglades, the Green, empowered the formula but not in any way that the team had intended. The magical forces immediately transformed him into a hulking plant matter creature with large solid red eyes.

S.W.A.R.M. continued to hunt the newly christened ManSwamp over the next several weeks. They eventually succeeded in capturing him, but in doing so, destroyed much of his head. They recruited scientist Dr. Samuel Woodrue, the Plant Master to study the creature, in an attempt to recover Stark’s formula. Woodrue concluded that the ManSwamp was not Ted Holland, but a plant creature with intelligence who believed he was Ted Holland (who must have died from injuries in the explosion). Much later, Woodrue would use his studies to transform himself into a plant entity named Hellebore that would terrorize many a hero.

Meanwhile, ManSwamp reconstituted and escaped, having learned his origins as a sentient botanical creature and not the scientist Ted Holland. He fled into the swamp and took root for many months, meditating and eventually travelling into the Green. In the Green, ManSwamp learned that the Everglades were home to a portal to multiple dimensions known as the Nexus of All Realities. ManSwamp patrolled the Everglades, assigning himself the task of the portal’s guardian. During this time, ManSwamp met Abby Kale, a sorceress and niece of Anton Arcane, the leader of the S.W.A.R.M. mission that caused his mortal death. Abby said that she was living in Skartaris, the Savaged Land and called herself the Queen of the Bog and Queen of the ManSwamps. She told Ted Holland that he was but the first of many such creatures.

In Skartaris, there are many ManSwamps and it’s not entirely clear what their origin is. Skartaris can be accessed by the Nexus of All Realities, so it’s possible they are the ManSwamps from other realities. In Skartaris, Abby Kane is the mortal enemy of Morgan Le Fey, and the ManSwamps help her in her war. Unlike "Ted Holland", the ManSwamps in the weird world of Skartaris seem to be more mindless hulks and cannot speak or even think much. The ManSwamp that Kale dubbed the “first of many” however is intelligent and can speak.

At one point, ManSwamp actually goes to Skartaris to the ManSwamp Bogs, lead there by the ghost of Ted Holland. The existance of the ghost confirmed that ManSwamp is a plant being and not a transformed human. ManSwamp followed the ghost to Skartaris to retrieve Ted Holland’s skeleton at the bottom of the bog. Ted's dead body was transported there through the nexus and his spirit desired closure. After giving the bones a burial, Ted Holland's ghost found closure and was able to ascend. ManSwamp stayed in Skartaris to help Abby Kale defeat Morgan Le Fey. Interestingly, with Ted Holland’s skeleton removed from the Bog, no new ManSwamps seemed to be generated or arrive in Skartaris.

There is an interesting tie to the Green Flame, which shouldn’t have been present in the experiment (having no access to the Lantern). ManSwamp is drawn to those feeling fear. It causes him pain and he becomes nearly mindless, like the Skartaris ManSwamps. When he touches those in the throes of fear, green flame erupts from his swampy body to engulf the victim of his touch. Whether this is tied to the flames that engulfed him during his transformation or the Green Flame that Rex Stark’s formula was meant to harness is unknown. Perhaps the Green Flame (originating in a sentient planet) and the Green (a plant ruled mystical realm) has some ties to one another evidenced only by the ManSwamp's burning touch and the Green Sentinel's weakness to wood.

Meta Backstory: just filling out the characters and locations in Skartaris the Savaged Land, and had to bring in ManSwamp cause of the Man-Thing’s strange multiple appearances in Weird World. Like always, filling out the backstory lead to more amalgams. Fun!



    Amalgams in this story:

    Lexxon (LexCorp + Roxxon) (possibly run by Lex Jaxon or his sister Lena, though I’m not totally sure about that amalgam yet)

    Linda Brandt (Linda Holland + Ellen Brandt)

    Rex Stark (of course you remember: Rex Tyler and Howard Stark)

    The Green (not really an amalgam so to speak, but is the Plant realm and the Nexus of All Realities)

    Dr. Samuel Woodrue/ Plant Master (Dr. Samuel Smithers/Plant Man + Dr. Jason Woodrue/ Plant Master)

    Hellebore (Samuel Smithers/BlackHeath + Jason Woodrue/Floronic Man)

    Abby Kale (Abigail Cable + Jennifer Kale)

    S.W.A.R.M. (H.I.V.E. + A.I.M.)

    Morgan Le Fey (Morgan Le Fey + Morgan Le Fey… they exist in both Marvel and DC)