Floronic Man
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The Floronic Man is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He was created as an enemy of the Atom, who remains his regular nemesis and still fights on a fairly regular basis, but his most famous appearance was in the Swamp Thing comic, particularly when it was written by Alan Moore.
Character History
A bio-chemical mishap turned Jason Woodrue into a plant-human creature, similar to the titular Swamp Thing, but with a more vengeful nature and an obsession with protecting the plant world from what he perceives as an assault by humanity. He nearly achieved this goal once by using his newly gained control over plants to make them produce excess oxygen, to the point that the slightest spark would cause devastating fires around the world. Woodrue was foiled when the Swamp Thing pointed out that this attempt was in fact devastating the plants since killing all the oxygen breathers would mean cutting off the production of carbon dioxide that plants need to live; the plant world rejected Woodrue as a result and he went insane. He was then apprehended by the Justice League.The Floronic Man is responsible for mutating Poison Ivy, was instrumental in discovering the true nature of the Swamp Thing, and has fought the JLA on several occasions. The 1988 Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean miniseries Black Orchid recast Dr. Jason Woodrue as a University professor who taught Botany to Philip Sylvian, Alec & Linda Holland, and Pamela Isley. The character Philip Sylvian, apparently unaware of Woodrue's transformation, referred to him as a "poor old guy" and stated: "Last I heard he was in Arkham Insane Asylum..."
He was recently a member of an incarnation of the Injustice Gang. The Floronic Man was briefly a hero, after the events of Millennium led to him becoming a member of the New Guardians. After the death of most of his teammates, he seems to have reverted to his original status as a villain.
The character has appeared in various other comics and storylines: in a recent issue of Batman he was killed after assassins shot him repeatedly with bullets, although this is in direct contrast to his most famous appearance (in The Saga of the Swamp Thing #21) in which he pointed out that "you can't kill a vegetable by shooting it through the head". He is one of the many villains who was mind-wiped by the JLA, but has since recovered those memories.
The Floronic Man returns in Infinite Crisis #7 and Swamp Thing #27-29.
Other media
- An unmutated Jason Woodrue appears in the 1997 film Batman and Robin as a corrupt scientist responsible for the origins of Bane and Poison Ivy. He is portrayed by John Glover.
- The Disney supervillain Dr. Reginald Bushroot from the cartoon Darkwing Duck appears to have been inspired by the Floronic Man; he shares many of Woodrue's powers, ambitions and methodologies and was similarly transformed into a sentient plant-being.
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