New SWAMP THING Series Character Breakdowns Confirm Matthew Cable and Tease The Villain
A few weeks ago, some character details were revealed involving the two lead characters in James Wan's Swamp Thing. Those characters included Abby Arcane and Alec Holland a.k.a. Swamp Thing. Today, thanks to That Hashtag Show, we have character breakdowns of two additional characters that include Matthew Cable and the main villain of the series.
We learned from the initial announcement that the story will follow "CDC researcher Abby Arcane, who returns to her childhood home of Houma, Louisiana, in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. She develops a surprising bond with scientist Alec Holland, only to have him tragically taken from her. But as powerful forces descend on Houma, intent on exploiting the swamp’s mysterious properties for their own purposes, Abby will discover that the swamp holds mystical secrets, and the potential love of her life may not be dead after all."
Swamp Thing first appeared in 1971 in DC's House of Secrets. The character, created by Len Wein, ended up getting his own series in 1972 and it seems like this upcoming series is going to be influenced by some of the early comics, including these two characters that were introduced in Swamp Thing #1. Here are the details that the site shares:
MATTHEW CABLE
He is the sheriff of the town and former high school sweetheart to Abby Arcane. A good guy with anger issues.
DC is looking for someone in their mid-30’s to fill this role and are using actor James Marsden as their prototype. In the comics, Cable was a government agent working a security detail on Alec Holland’s project. Of course Cable couldn’t protect Holland and his wife and, driven by his failure, sought vengeance on those who killed them. Cable married Abby Arcane, eventually went crazy and gained some reality-altering powers, died, was resurrected by the Sandman character Morpheus and even ran into Doom Patrol during his days. While we’re not sure what arc is in store for this iteration of his character, it’s safe to say we’ll see him hunting down some of those responsible for the “death” of Alec Holland, including the series main antagonist.
SERIES VILLAIN
DC is looking to cast someone late-40s to late-50s in the mold of Lawrence Fishburne or Jeff Goldblum (because let’s be honest, why wouldn’t you want one of those guys?) to play a “smart, slick and cunning” villain. To be fair, that description doesn’t give us a whole lot to go on, but it doesn’t seem too big of a stretch to wonder if that villain might not be Swamp Thing’s longtime nemesis, Anton Arcane.
A scientist and magician fixated on immortality, Arcane, the uncle of Abby, finds a way to “cure” Alec, stripping him of his powers and replacing him as the Swamp Thing with the intention of using the great powers to pursue his evil agenda. Louis Jordan played Arcane in the 1982 Swamp Thing film and the 1989 sequel, giving those of you who saw those two gems an idea of what kind of man Holland, Arcane and Cable will be going up against.
The report goes on to say that it is possible that the Sunderland Corporation’s role in the series that this villain is NOT Arcane, but instead General Avery Carlton Sunderland. "The President and CEO of Sunderland Corporation, the general worked to uncover the mystery of Alec Holland and the Swamp Thing and was eventually responsible for bringing Jason Woodrue, aka the Floronic Man, into the mix."
They go on to say that this being a horror series, "Arcane seems like a much more sustainable and appropriate villain than Sunderland." But, as of right now, they aren't 100% sure on who the villain is. We just have the casting details to go off of.
What are your thoughts on these two characters? Who would you like to see as the main villain in the Swamp Thing series?
Swamp Thing is set to begin filming this fall in North Carolina.