Floronic Man

The Floronic Man (Jason Woodrue), also known as the Plant Master, Floro, and the Seeder, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.^[1]

Publication history

He first appeared as an enemy of the Atom in Atom #1 and was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane. His Floronic Man appearance first appeared in Flash #245. His Seeder appearance first appeared in Swamp Thing #21.

Fictional character biography

Jason Woodrue first appears in The Atom #1 (June–July 1962). Woodrue is an exile from an interdimensional world (Floria)^[2] inhabited by dryads. Calling himself the Plant Master, Woodrue uses his advanced botanical knowledge to control plant growth in an attempt to take over the world. He is defeated by the superheroic Atom.^[1] Plant Master returns to face the Atom^[3] and the Justice League.^[4]

In Flash (vol. 1) #245 (November 1976), Woodrue uses an experimental formula to transform his body into a plant/human hybrid, with his skin resembling bark and his hair turning into leaves.^[2] Now calling himself the Floronic Man, he is defeated by Green Lantern.^[1][2] After a rematch with the Atom and Wonder Woman,^[5] the Floronic Man later becomes a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains.^[2][6]

In Alan Moore's relaunch of the Swamp Thing in Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 (February 1984), Woodrue is hired by General Averly Sunderland to discover how scientist Alec Holland had been turned into the Swamp Thing.^[2] Woodrue discovers that the creature, instead of being a mutated version of Holland, is rather an intelligent mass of plant life that had fed on Holland's dead body and absorbed his knowledge and memories. The Floronic Man tries to warn Sunderland that the Swamp Thing is not dead, but the General refuses to listen and announces his intent to terminate Woodrue's employment. Subsequently, the Floronic Man traps Sunderland in his office with a thawed and enraged Swamp Thing, who kills the General.^[2]

In Saga of the Swamp Thing #22 (March 1984), the Floronic Man uses the Swamp Thing's body—now regressing to a plant-like state out of his inability to accept the new revelation about his origins, Woodrue literally eating parts of him—to contact the Green, which is composed of the life force of all plants on Earth. The experience drives the Floronic Man insane; he refers to himself as "Wood-Rue", and sets out to destroy all nonplant life on Earth by forcing the plants to produce an excess amount of oxygen to force humanity into extinction, in the belief that he is 'saving' Earth from mankind. Woodrue is confronted by a revived Swamp Thing, who reveals to the Green that plants cannot survive without animals as he is depriving them of the carbon dioxide they require to breathe, forcing Woodrue to acknowledge that his actions are the actions of a man rather than a plant. The Green abandons the Floronic Man, who is then taken into custody by the Justice League after undergoing a complete mental breakdown.^[2][7]

The 1988 Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean miniseries Black Orchid recasts 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, refers to him as a "poor old guy" and states: "Last I heard he was in Arkham Insane Asylum..."

The Floronic Man was briefly a hero, after the events of Millennium led to him to become a member of the New Guardians. In this new role, Woodrue takes on the name Floro. After the death of most of his teammates, he reverts to his original status as a villain.

Poison Ivy discovers the Floronic Man has broken her out of Arkham Asylum. From Batman: Shadow of the Bat #57 (Dec. 1996). Art by Dave Taylor.

Floro returns in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #56 (November 1996). After breaking Poison Ivy out of Arkham with his two underlings Holly and Eva, Floro explains his past to Batman and Poison Ivy, telling the story of how he prevented a plot of Swamp Thing's only to get decapitated. After scientists manage to keep his head alive, the first thing he comes in contact with is marijuana. Regenerating a plant body, he begins his quest to flood the streets of Gotham City with his advanced and cheap pot. Floronic Man takes some of Poison Ivy's DNA in an attempt to create a "child". Poison Ivy, in exchange, gets a trunk full of dope money, and is free to walk away. Deciding she does not want Floronic Man running the world, she frees the Batman. After a short battle, Batman notices that Floronic Man is standing in a puddle, and uses an electrical cable to electrocute the villain, then decapitates him once again.

The character has since appeared in various other comics and storylines. He assists Starman, Alan Scott, Batman and others in trying to save a friendly, peaceful version of Solomon Grundy.^[8] In a recent issue of Batman, he is killed after assassins shoot 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 points 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.^[9]

During the Infinite Crisis, Floronic Man appears as a member of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains and takes part in the Battle of Metropolis.^[10]

In the post-Infinite Crisis DCU, he is responsible for Pamela Isley's transformation into Poison Ivy.^[11]

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Woodrue is re-introduced in Swamp Thing Annual (vol. 2) #1, making a deal with The Green by taking care of Alec Holland.^[12] Woodrue is later revealed to be The Seeder, now endowed with power by the Parliament of Trees. Swamp Thing had been hunting him for disrupting the balance of the Green. The Parliament of Trees decides that he and Swamp Thing must fight, once they have fully realized their powers, to decide who shall be the champion of the Green.^[13]

Powers and abilities

In his original form, Jason Woodrue had advanced knowledge of botany, which he used to accelerate plant growth. After becoming the Floronic Man, Woodrue gains the ability to merge with and mentally control plant life. After eating the 'organs' of the Swamp Thing, this power expanded to allow Woodrue to control all of the world's plants for a time, but he lost this power after Swamp Thing forced him to recognise that the loss of animals would also destroy the plants.

In other media

Television

• A character loosely based on Jason Woodrue's Plant Master appearance appears in an episode of the "Atom" segment of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure called "The Plant Master" voiced by Ted Knight. Straal is a scientist who has discovered a way to use wave patterns with plant growths. When a plane carrying members of Ivy University science faculty lands on his island as part of a plan to establish a research center, Plant Master uses his special plants to knock them out and have his henchmen capture them. When Atom arrives, he takes out Plant Master's henchmen before being captured by Plant Master and his pet cat. Plant Master then places Atom in a container where he is strangled by living grass that Plant Master activated. With some unknowing help from Plant Master's cat, Atom was able to defeat Plant Master where he and his henchmen are arrested by the Coast Guard.
• Dr. Woodrue is referenced several times in the Swamp Thing television series. In this incarnation, he is a scientist that is a rival of Dr. Arcane. He invented some sort of method to "grow" human life by artificial means.
• In The Flash episode "The Flash Of Two Worlds," Sand Demon captures Patty Spivot and brings her to a place called the "Woodrue Greenhouse", referencing Floronic Man.

Film

Jason Woodrue as seen in Batman & Robin.

• An unmutated Jason Woodrue appears in the 1997 film Batman & Robin, portrayed by John Glover. He is depicted as a mad scientist who uses plant toxins to grant superhuman abilities to Bane. When Woodrue's assistant, Pamela Isley, discovers the criminal nature of his experiments, he throws her into a shelf filled with various unspecified chemicals, which grants her superhuman abilities of her own. Taking on the identity of Poison Ivy, she then kills Woodrue with a poison kiss.
• Floronic Man was also reportedly featured in David S. Goyer's script for a Green Arrow film project entitled Super Max.^[14]
• Floronic Man will appear in Guillermo del Toro's Dark Universe.^[15]
• Floronic Man is set to appear in the upcoming film Batman and Harley Quinn, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.

Video games

• Dr. Jason Woodrue is mentioned by Poison Ivy in her first interview tapes in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
• Dr. Jason Woodrue is mentioned in Batman: Arkham Knight. In Poison Ivy's story, it is revealed that he is responsible for Poison Ivy's transformation. It is also mentioned that Poison Ivy killed him with a poison kiss as revenge for her new transformation (similar to what happened in Batman & Robin).

Miscellaneous

• The DCAU version of Dr. Jason Woodrue (as Floronic Man) is seen among the villains in the comic Justice League Adventures (based off the Justice League TV series).^[16]

References