Characters / Animal Man

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Bernhard "Buddy" Baker / Animal Man

A family man who obtained the power to emulate the abilities of any animal he is in the vicinity of, later any animal at all by tapping into the morphogenic web, and is a devoted animal rights activist.

• Action Dad: As of the Post-Crisis canon, he's a superhero who happens to be a father.
• Alliterative Name: His given name, nickname and surname all begin with the letter B.
• All-Loving Hero: Buddy almost always tries to negotiate with his enemies first and expresses deep compassion and empathy for anyone he sees suffering, no matter the species or alignment.
• Animal Lover: He really loves animals and is justifiably motivated to combat against all forms of animal cruelty he can.
• Depending on the Writer: As is noted in his conversation with that writer. The majority of Buddy's traits and beliefs were laid down by Grant Morrison (prior to that, it'd be difficult to name any traits of his outside of "heroic"), and even many of those were not kept to consistently.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In the alternate future miniseries The Last Days of Animal Man, he lashes out on the whale Green Lantern for expressing sympathy for his failing powers.
• Flipping the Bird: Surprisingly enough, his story in the Vertigo Jam one-shot ends with him giving the finger to a turkey he just had a conversation with, the context being that he was pissed off by the turkey's sentiment that Humans Are Bastards and that Buddy's vegetarianism didn't do enough to make up for that.
• Full-Frontal Assault: He fights naked in the 1993 Annual that tied in to The Children's Crusade (Vertigo).
• Happily Married: He loves and for the most part gets along well with his wife Ellen.
• Legacy Character: In the New 52 canon, it's established that, prior to the Red empowering him as their latest champion, there were many predecessors to Buddy who took the name of Animal Man.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The first arc of Jamie Delano's run has him die and come back as an amalgamated creature with the head of a tiger, ram horns and bat wings. He subsequently regains his human form by eating the severed fingers of his original corpse.
• Mr. Fanservice: Buddy is a muscular blonde without much of a nudity taboo who has appeared naked multiple times, either due to his powers destroying his costume or his animal instincts kicking in.
• Nice Guy: He's a sweet, down-to-earth guy who loves his family and usually tries to talk things out.
• Not Wearing Tights:
  • In the original Strange Adventures stories, Buddy initially fought enemies while wearing regular clothing and didn't start wearing a costume until his third appearance.
  • The 1988 series had him gradually shift away from wearing a costume and stick to wearing regular clothing after the end of Grant Morrison's run, especially after the title moved to DC's Vertigo imprint.
• One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: During the Vertigo era, he has a falling out with his wife Ellen and sleeps with Annie Cassidy, which gets Annie pregnant and has her later give birth to a baby girl by the end of the series. As the case was with many aspects of the comic's Vertigo period, this was ignored after Buddy and his family were reinstated to the main DCU.
• Outliving One's Offspring:
  • Grant Morrison's run has him outlive his children Cliff and Maxine when they and his wife Ellen were murdered. Morrison's Author Avatar later resurrected Buddy's family as a final favor at the end of their run.
  • Buddy's son Cliff dies again in the New 52 series by Jeff Lemire. This time, Cliff's death stuck and was one of the few aspects of the post-Flashpoint DC Universe to be retained after DC Rebirth in spite of the primary purpose of the Rebirth initiative being to restore the DCU to how it was prior to the Flashpoint event that led to the New 52 reboot.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: He hasn't been above killing whalers and land developers (or at least leaving them to die) in retribution for their crimes against the environment.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Notably downplayed. Buddy usually tries to use non-lethal force and to reason with his more sympathetic enemies. However, if they're evil enough, he won't hesitate to let them pull out just enough rope to hang themselves. A common story beat in Morrison's run was Buddy leaving particularly loathsome villains in the hands of their victims.
• Virtuous Vegetarianism: By Morrison's run, he quits eating meat and works harder at combating animal cruelty.

Ellen Baker

Buddy Baker's wife.

• Badass Unintentional: When Mirror Master breaks into their house to go after Buddy, Ellen's immediate response is to kick him in the balls and beat the shit out of him.
• Death Is Cheap: She is murdered during Grant Morrison's run, but is resurrected by Morrison as a final favor to Buddy at the end of their run.
• Groin Attack: A man named Mike tries to sleep with her during Jamie Delano's run. When he refuses to take no for an answer, she responds by hitting him in the crotch with her knee.
• Happily Married: Her relationship with her husband Buddy has been a loving one for the most part.
• Mistaken for Prostitute: She gets mistaken for a hooker by cops in the 58th issue.
• Nice Girl: While more snarky and practical than Buddy, she's a kind, friendly woman.
• Outliving One's Offspring: She outlives her son Cliff in the New 52 series. Unlike the circumstance of Buddy's wife and children being killed in Grant Morrison's run, this was never undone.
• Unfazed Everyman: Ellen doesn't bat an eye at superheroes, supervillains, aliens, and monsters entering her house. Her only reaction for the most part is resigned annoyance.

Cliff Baker

Buddy Baker's son and oldest child.

• Big Brother Bully: He likes to pick on his younger sister Maxine.
• Crusading Lawyer: The Last Days of Animal Man has him grow up to become an honest attorney who puts providing legal council for those who need it over his personal life.
• Death of a Child: He gets killed partway through Grant Morrison's run. While this was eventually undone at the end of Morrison's run, he was later killed off again in the New 52 series by Jeff Lemire, which stuck this time and remained in effect even after the Rebirth era in spite of the primary purpose of that initiative being to restore the canon of the DCU to the way it was before the New 52.
• Death Is Cheap: Was killed off in Grant Morrison's run only to be resurrected at the end. When he was killed off again in Jeff Lemire's series, he wasn't so lucky. In spite of other continuity-altering events that came afterwards, Cliff remained dead and is still deceased as of the 2023 Halloween anthology DC's Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun.
• Flipping the Bird: He extends both his middle fingers to the cops in the Annual issue that was part of The Children's Crusade (Vertigo) and also flips off the principal as they leave when Ellen pulls him and Maxine out of school in issue 64.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the New 52 series, he sacrifices himself to defend his father from William Arcane at the end of the Rotworld arc.
• Killed Off for Real: Unlike his previous death, Cliff’s Heroic Sacrifice in the New 52 has never been undone.

Maxine Baker

Buddy Baker's daughter and youngest child.

• Affectionate Nickname: Buddy often refers to her as "Little Wing".
• Daddy's Girl: She has a very affectionate relationship with her father.
• Death of a Child: She gets murdered partway through Grant Morrison's run, but is brought back to life at the end of it.
• Death Is Cheap: She is killed off partway through Morrison's run, only to be resurrected at the end of it.
• Excrement Statement: Ellen mentions to Buddy in issue 66 that when she climbed up a tree to protest against it being chopped down, she responded to a worker trying to get her down by peeing on him.
• Innocent Inaccurate: In issue 61, she mistakes discarded condoms on the beach for "wiggly balloons".
• Queer Establishing Moment: In the alternate future miniseries The Last Days of Animal Man, she is revealed to have a girlfriend by the last issue.
• Skinny Dipping: She goes swimming naked in the 76th issue, inviting Ray to join her.
• Sleeps in the Nude: She is shown sleeping naked in the 81st issue.

Michael "Mike" Maxwell / B'wana Beast

A park ranger granted a mystic helmet that allows him to communicate with and fuse animals.

• Anti-Hero: He's a superhero genuinely dedicated to saving lives. Mike's also something of an asshole who can be absolutely brutal to his enemies.
• Break the Badass: Mike is reintroduced after watching all his friends (both human and animal) die after Dr. Myers releases anthrax as a test. The experience shatters him, and he spends the first five issues of Grant Morrison's run as a feral berserker focused only on revenge. When he returns, he's mellowed out significantly.
• Expy: He was created as DC's counterpart to Tarzan.
• Good Is Not Nice: While some of it stems from being traumatized and having nearly died of anthrax shortly before, the Grant Morrison run depicts Mike as not particularly pleasant. In his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, he beats Buddy to a pulp even when he tries to negotiate with Mike and mutilates several animals. He also inflicts a positively horrifying fate on Dr. Myers. When he returns, he's mellowed out quite a bit and apologizes to Buddy, but is still a temperamental dick.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a superhero who does want to help people, but Mike is also arrogant, has a bad temper, and doesn't take well to the black Dominic pointing out his costume and name are pretty racist.
• Killed Off for Real: His death in Tom Veitch's run stuck for decades. B'wana Beast only returned after The New 52 reboot.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Dominic rightfully points out the whole B'wana Beast identity is really racist, something Mike doesn't take well. Mike is also outraged Dominic wants to use his powers to fight apartheid because the mantle is "above politics" and bails in a huff when he's ignored. He's still a superhero, and for whatever it's worth, Mike never contests that Dominic is a worthy successor.

The Yellow Aliens

The aliens who gave Buddy his powers.

• Benevolent Abomination: They're mysterious eldritch entities with reality warping powers, and who seem to even be aware that they are fictional characters. They're still on the side of good and risk their own lives to save Buddy and his family from being erased from existence.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: It's heavily implied they're aware that they are characters in a comic book. They're also some of the few to be aware of the Post-Crisis retcons, and they have to essentially rewrite Buddy's backstory via reality warping to make sure he and his family aren't erased from existence, since his previous backstory doesn't gel with the current run. As Elizabeth Sandifer noted:
  "The aliens explicitly describe themselves as “agents of the power that brings your world into being,” and idly dismissing a man who accidentally died because of their actions as “of no consequence. He had no background, no name. An incidental character.”"
• Good All Along: They're introduced as alien invaders with dreams of world domination. Buddy gains his powers from an accident with their technology. Later in the Morrison run, it's revealed they're some kind of eldritch beings who create superheroes. They orchestrated events to give Buddy a proper superhero origin.
• Good Is Not Soft: They risk their lives to save Buddy, but they're pretty cold and ruthless. They dismiss a Red Shirt who died as "an incidental character" and erase Hamed Ali from existence.

Djuba

B'wana Beast's sidekick, an intelligent, super-strong gorilla.

• Back for the Dead: Animal Man marked Djuba's first appearance in decades. He dies in the fourth issue as a result of being infected with Dr. Myers' anthrax nerve gas.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Originally B'wana Beast's enemy, Djuba became his sidekick after the superhero beat him in a fight.

Socks / Ignatius

The spirit of a housecat and a former totem of the Red.

The Writer

An Author Avatar of Grant Morrison, whom Buddy encountered and interacted with at the end of Morrison's run.

President Eagleton

President of the United States on Earth-Twenty-Seven.

• Arc Villain: He serves as the central antagonist of Peter Milligan's run.
• Child Hater: He secretly wants to kill all children, which he hides by publicly pretending to like them.
• No Full Name Given: His first name is never mentioned.
• Politicians Kiss Babies: The Angel triplets explain to Buddy that they know President Eagleton wants to kill children by reading his thoughts when he kissed a baby.
• President Evil: He turns out to be a dishonest and scummy dirtbag who secretly wants to murder all children.

Hamed Ali

B'wana Beast's Arch-Enemy, a wicked immortal who has lived for centuries.

• Arch-Enemy: For B'wana Beast.
• Arc Villain: He serves as the villain for a few issues of the Morrison run before dying.
• Asshole Victim: The Yellow Aliens wipe him out of existence, but it's hard to say he didn't thoroughly earn it.
• Back from the Dead: After the Yellow Aliens erased him from existence during Grant Morrison's run, he later resurfaced in the anthology Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular, where the story "The Lesson Plan" had him confronted by Paris Pantoja, Dr. Siani and Dick Grayson during his stint as Agent 37.
• Beard of Evil: He is a bearded villain.
• C-List Fodder: This is why the Yellow Aliens have absolutely no issue with simply erasing him, rather than performing the same kind of retooling they did with Buddy: he's so unimportant to the broader world and uninteresting as a character that nobody, in-universe or out, will miss him when he's gone.
• Ethnic Scrappy: In-universe, the Yellow Aliens seem to view him as such for his rather stereotypical look and character, describing him as "old-fashioned" and "best forgotten."
• Faux Affably Evil: He's eloquent and urbane, even polite, as he explains to Buddy and Vixen how he intends to kill them. He also murders a civilian just for annoying him.
• Inconsistent Spelling: His forename was spelled with an I for his two appearances in Showcase, while the spelling was changed to "Hamed" for Grant Morrison's Animal Man run.
• Killed Off for Real: When Hamed Ali breaches their ship and tries to kill Buddy and Vixen one last time, the Yellow Aliens dispassionately obliterate him. Hamed Ali is sanded down into a pencil sketch and disappears entirely. He's stayed dead ever since and did not come back to life until "The Lesson Plan", one of the stories in the anthology one-shot Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular.
• Ret-Gone: His threat in Grant Morrison's run came to an end when the Yellow Aliens deemed him an anomaly of the Post-Crisis universe that they had to rectify and summarily erased him from existence.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He started off as B'wana Beast's Arch-Enemy, but during his appearance in the comic, he solely menaces Buddy and never encounters his old foe. For his comeback in the Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular story "The Lesson Plan", he is instead confronted by Dick Grayson as Agent 37.
• Smug Snake: As an immortal who was around before most civilizations, Hamed Ali is very arrogant and dismissive of any threat. He repeatedly underestimates Animal Man and Vixen, and he meets his end when he tries to hijack the Yellow Aliens' craft. They dismiss him as "best forgotten", and obliterate him with the wave of their hand.
• Villainous Breakdown: He reacts to being wiped out of existence by the Yellow Aliens by pleading that the Yellow Aliens don't understand and stubbornly insisting that he can't be killed as he devolves into pencil sketches before disappearing altogether.

Dr. Myers

A scientist and weapons designer who created a lethal nerve gas made of anthrax. When Myers tests his creation on an African village, he incurs the wrath of B'wana Beast.

• Admiring the Abomination: Dr. Myers is disturbingly enamored with the fusion of monkeys B'wana Beast left behind in S.T.A.R. Labs.
  Myers: It was grotesque but also strangely beautiful. How can I explain?... For just a moment, I stood confronted by a fabulous new lifeform. It was like watching Adam rise up out of the dust on unsteady legs, newly minted by the Almighty.
• Asshole Victim: His Karmic Death is horrifying, but well-earned.
• Fate Worse than Death: B'wana Beast fuses him with the corpse of an escaped ape he was using to incubate a super-anthrax strain. The guards mistake Myers for the ape, and promptly strap him down to continue the anthrax experiments.
• Faux Affably Evil: He comes off as polite at first, if creepy. Buddy is also put off by his animal testing, but Myers claims he's trying to create a vaccine for AIDS. It's later revealed he's actually working on a deadly nerve gas for the U.S. government and tested it on an African village, which he's totally unrepentant about.
• Karmic Death: B'wana Beast seals him inside Djuba's corpse, and leaves Myers to be used as a test subject for the chemical weapons he created.

The Hunters Three

Some of the Parliament of Limb's most dangerous enforcers, sent to hunt down Maxine.—

• Fallen Hero: Originally totems for the Red, they were tempted by the Rot's offer of great power and became its sadistic enforcers.
• Faux Affably Evil: They're eerily polite even as they murder and torture with gleeful abandon.
• Sadist: They clearly love hurting people, and draw out their torment of the Bakers more than is necessary.