Blackwolf

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Blackwolf.
Blackwolf.

Blackwolf is a fictional character in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated science fiction/fantasy film, Wizards. He is voiced by Steve Graves.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Blackwolf and his twin brother, Avatar, are born in a post-apocalyptic future in which half of the Earth (and all of the human race) has been horribly mutated by nuclear war, while the other half is peacefully ruled by magical creatures such as fairies, elves and dwarves. They are wizards with great magical power inherited from their mother, Delia, Queen of the Fairies. While Avatar is born healthy and kind-hearted, however, Blackwolf is born a hideous mutant with a preternatural hatred of all humanity. As an adult, he shuns his family and their magical kingdom, Montegar, preferring to use his powers to torture animals and gather followers in Scorch, the scarred half of the world in which its mutants live in disease-ridden squalor.

Blackwolf (left) is banished by his brother, Avatar, in Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.
Blackwolf (left) is banished by his brother, Avatar, in Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.

When Delia dies, Blackwolf attempts to take over Montegar, only to be defeated by Avatar and banished to Scorch. Blackwolf flees, cursing his brother and vowing to "make this a planet where mutants rule."

Years later, Blackwolf becomes the dictator of Scorch. He tries to attack Montegar twice, but fails both times; in the midst of battle, his mutant warriors become bored or sidetracked and retreat. One day, Blackwolf's troops discover an old projector and some Nazi propaganda in the ruins of what had been Germany, and are mesmerized by one of Hitler's speeches. Played at key moments in battle, the propaganda instills in his army hatred of the enemy, turning them into efficient, single-minded killing machines.

He then sends a robot assassin, Necron-99, to kill Montegar's president, along with all believers in magic. This attracts Avatar's attention, and he sets out on a mission to Scorch to defeat his brother. Avatar, along with the elf warrior Weehawk and fairy-in-training Elinore, reprogram Necron-99 to reject the desire to kill, and to reveal Blackwolf's secret weapon: the film projector on which he shows the propaganda films.

On the eve of Blackwolf's final invasion of Montegar, Avatar destroys the projector, rendering the mutant armies too confused and disorganized to fight. Enraged, Blackwolf engages his brother in a final duel of magic. In the end, however, Avatar dispenses with his powers and kills his brother by simply shooting him with a pistol he had hidden in his sleeve.

Spoilers end here.