WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1, by Steve Orlando, Francesco Mobili, Guru-eFX and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
DC and Marvel both have their own swamp-based superheroes in Swamp Thing and Man-Thing, respectively, with both characters starring in a new line of comic book titles. While the DC Universe has a new Swamp Thing rising from the Green, the Marvel Universe has three different groups of superheroes embark on their own team-ups with Man-Thing in set of one-shot specials. And with both heroes back in the limelight, which swampy superhero is the better of the two?
Here is a comparison between Swamp Thing and Man-Thing to see which of the two foliage-fueled superheroes ultimately reigns supreme.
Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson in 1971's House of Secrets #92, Swamp Thing was presumably a botanist named Alec Holland who was mortally wounded in a bomb blast at his home laboratory in the Louisiana bayou. After stumbling into the swamp before dying, a being with Alec's consciousness rose as Swamp Thing, champion of the Green, all plant-life on Earth. Years later, Alan Moore and Steve Bissette retconned this origin as a sentient plant who absorbed Alec's memories and personality but a completely lifeform all along.
Created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow in 1971's Savage Tales #1, biochemist Ted Sallis was working in the Florida Everglades in an effort to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum that transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America during World War II. While being pursued by A.I.M., a desperate Ted injected himself with the experimental serum and crashes into a magical part of the swamp -- known as the Nexus of All Realities -- where he rises as Man-Thing.
While more nuance would figure into Swamp Thing's origins years later during Moore's universally acclaimed run, just based on original origin story alone, Man-Thing wins. Ted Sallis' superhero origins tie into the wider Marvel Universe and more explicitly combine science and magic towards making the monster.
As an avatar of the Green and lacking a physical body at his core, Swamp Thing can travel through and manifest himself anywhere there is plant life on Earth. This also extends to extraterrestrial plant life on multiple occasions and allows Swamp Thing to grow to a kaiju-sized being while also possessing superhuman strength and endurance while similarly able to regenerate and endure having his body destroyed.
Man-Thing has superhuman strength, speed and endurance capable of allowing him to go toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe. Due to his plant-based body, Man-Thing can endure having most of his body destroyed before regenerating from scraps of his carcass. Most notably, Man-Thing's ability to telepathically sense the morality and intentions of those around him leads to to burn the wicked with a corrosive acid he can secrete from his body. Man-Thing can increase his powers by literally feeding on fear and can travel through portals due to the extra-dimensional nature of his origins.
While Man-Thing's abilities are impressive, Swamp Thing is a virtual god of all plant-life and virtually unbeatable so long as he can draw his powers from the Green unimpeded. Point goes to Swamp Thing on this one.
While Swamp Thing has often been an outsider in the DC Universe, more interested in protecting the Green and serving the Parliament of Trees, he has taken great strides in becoming more active in the superhero community recently. Swamp Thing has taken up a prominent role on Justice League Dark and played a key role in the crossover events Dark Nights: Death Metal and Endless Winter.
Man-Thing largely keeps to himself, often living in seclusion within the Florida Everglades where he made his transformation. Occasionally, Man-Thing has been discovered lurking in the sewers below New York City where he sometimes serves as a protector among the Legion of Monsters, going as far to help resurrect a dismembered Frank Castle as Frankencastle.
Swamp Thing is a prominent member of Justice League and has helped turn the tide of battles in crossover events. While there's something to be said of being a recluse, it's not even a contest: Swamp Thing wins on this score.
The new Swamp Thing series, written by Ram V and illustrated by Mike Perkins, introduces the world to Levi Kamei. An Indian man with a troubled past who arrives in the United States while trying to learn more about his transformed nature as the Swamp Thing just in time for a horrifying evil to rise in Arizona's Sonoran Desert.
Man-Thing's latest comic book story unfolds across a trilogy of one-shot specials, written by Steve Orlando and illustrated by a rotating roster of fan-favorite artists, following nefarious forces that hijack the Man-Thing's body and abilities in a global plot to burn the Marvel Universe to the ground using his powers. As the world plunges into plant-based chaos, the heroes each have their own encounters with Man-Thing to restore the hero.
Man-Thing's story immediately places him as a figure that needs to be rescued whereas the new Swamp Thing series introduces a new protagonist with his own mysterious connection to the Green. And with the new series slated to run for at least ten issues, Swamp Thing beats Man-Thing on page count alone.
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