Characters / Candyman

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Daniel Robitaille / Candyman

Played By: Tony Todd

Daniel Robitaille was the son of an escaped slave, who got Daniel a good education. Daniel became a painter, and fell in love with the white daughter of one of his clients. When the client found out, he led a lynch mob that sawed off his hand with a rusty blade, smeared him with honey, and let bees sting him to death. This violent death caused him to become a vengeful spirit known as Candyman who kills anyone who says his name into a mirror five times.

• Abstract Apotheosis: Daniel Robitaille is no more. He's now Candyman, a physical manifestation of fear and hate.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Due to his expanded background being influenced by the movie's Setting Update, Candyman is depicted as a Tragic Monster born from the cruelty shown to him in his past life, in contrast to the original story where his exact origins are a mystery.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the movie, Candyman is portrayed by Tony Todd as a well-groomed normal-looking man that wears a nice brown fur coat and has a low, purring voice. This is a stark contrast to how he is portrayed in the original short story, where he wears a patchwork outfit of many colors and rouged lips resembling a corpse, with sickly yellow skin, wiry hair, red-rimmed eyes, and a high-pitched voice.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In contrast to his literary counterpart status as The Spook, he has a tragic backstory as an African-American painter who fell in love with the daughter of one of his rich clients and was maimed and killed through bees by a mob led by the client. He now wreaks havoc as a Vengeful Ghost who can be summoned by repeating his name 5 times in the mirror.
• Adaptational Nationality: In addition to becoming black, he also changed from being British to American.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: In the story, Candyman could materialize in front of people at any time in the neighborhood he terrorized. The movie on the other hand gives him the ability to appear anywhere when someone chants his name five times in a mirror.
• Adaptational Sympathy: In the original story, he was The Spook who was heavily implied to be an urban legend that came to life and caused mayhem among his community. The film keeps him as a terrifying legend made real, but he was made that way due to the horrific racial violence that led to his death.
• The Adjectival Man: The Candyman, based on the honey used to kill him.
• Allegorical Character: Candyman, as a living urban legend, represents a naked rage at prejudice towards African-Americans in North America. This is particularly emphasized in the 2021 Candyman's movie marketing, such as the shadow puppet teaser.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • The franchise plays ambiguous with much of the character, given his status as a folklore figure. How much of him is actually Daniel Robitaille's ghost and how much of him is just a metaphysical manifestation of fear using Robitaille's name? The first movie doesn't even clarify if Robitaille actually existed (though subsequent entries make clear that he did).
  • It's somewhat unclear whether Candyman himself assaulted that poor boy in the restroom or one of the gang members using his M.O did the deed, as Detective Valento speculates. Given that there was no mention of him saying Candyman's name (nor was there any sign of mirrors in the bathroom in the first place), it's likely the latter, as Candyman doesn't target random people and kill them in broad daylight, but we'll never know for sure.
• Animal Motifs: Candyman is directly linked with a swarm of bees, the animals that killed him in life.
• Antagonist Title: Candyman is both the titular character and the Big Bad of every film in the franchise.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: William Burke's gameplan in the 2021 film seems to be to reshape the Candyman legend from a indiscriminate Tragic Villain into an outright dark avenger for the black community. The film plays it coy if the new, Anthony-born Candyman will actually follow that premise but it is to be noted he is seen slaughtering racist cops while leaving the person who technically summoned him (Brianna) unharmed, unlike his old modus operandi. Interestingly he also quotes the original Candyman's "Shed innocent blood" spiel but with marked differences that might indicate this different perspective..
  "They will say I shed innocent blood. You are far from innocent, but they will say you were. That's all that matters."
• As Long as There Is Evil: The running implication is that as long as some form of belief in the Candyman exists, so will he. The 2021 movie also puts forwards that so long as violent racism persists, there will always be a Candyman, new or old.
• Badass Boast:
  • "They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for, if not for shedding? With my hook for a hand, I'll split you from your groin to your gullet."
  • "I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom. Without these things, I am nothing, so now, I must shed innocent blood."
• Badass Longcoat: A very long and very stylish coat that conceals his (bee-covered) body.
• The Bad Guy Wins: As of 2021, Candyman is utterly triumphant. Though Robitaille was defeated three times, the renewed faith in his urban legend and the terrible damage done over the course of the movie have revitalized the legend that was in danger of fading. By the end, a restored Robtaille allows Brianna to live with two words: "Tell. Everyone."
• Bee Afraid: His bee motif (and the swarm he seems to keep under his longcoat) only make him more terrifying.
• Beneath the Mask: In his quieter moments, he allows himself to show a bit of the humanity he once had. In the first movie, rather than torment baby Anthony, he's gentle and almost fatherly with him. In the second movie, he openly sheds tears when he shows Annie the life that was stolen from him. The third movie also has him stare wistfully at the portrait he - or rather Daniel Robitaille - painted of his lover in life.
• Big Bad: The central antagonistic force in virtually all movies of the franchise as of yet.
• Body Horror: It would appear that under his longcoat he's essentially a corpse held together by a swarm of bees. Not to mention his grisly stump with a hook.
• Catchphrase: The one he says the most is "Be my victim", but the mantra associated with him is "Sweets to the sweet".
• Cold Ham: It's very rare for Candyman to raise his voice, but when he speaks, he uses a lot of flowery, eloquent, grandiose language, which suits his character; he's powered by others' belief in him, so he naturally tries to make quite an impression.
• Composite Character: Besides the character from the short story, Candyman is a combination of several grisly Urban Legends. His Hook Hand is based on "The Hook", the way he manifests from mirrors from "Bloody Mary", and the bathroom attack in the flashback is from a particularly extreme story of natural fear.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Lynched, maimed (and having a hook stuck into the bloody stump), then thrown to a swarm of bees until he passed away (the sequel also indicates the lynch mob set him on fire as he died to prolong the suffering). It's implied throughout the franchise the over-the-top brutality of his death is part of why he came back.
• Demiurge Archetype: While he never says this directly, Candyman styles himself as a godly figure who died and came back to be worshipped by others. He's seemingly immortal, needs his congregation to exist, and all the religious iconography surrounding him in the first film gives him a godly air. That said, Candyman is neither a god nor as invincible as he thinks.
• The Dreaded: The residents of Cabrini-Green hesitate to even say his name (for good reason). As an urban legend, Candyman's power comes from his story being told and people both knowing of him and knowing to fear him. Helen seemingly discrediting his myth is what sets off Candyman's pursuit of her, with Candyman himself even saying that he needs to shed innocent blood to restore the "faith" (read: fear) of his "congregation".
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Candyman may no longer be Daniel Robitaille, but he does still have his memories, namely those of his beloved lover Caroline, a white woman whom he risked everything to be with. He also sincerely loved his unborn child and also shows care for his descendant Annie in his own twisted way. It's also made clear throughout the movies that part of his motivation is to reclaim the family that was stolen from him in life.
• Evil Is Bigger: Stands at a very imposing 6'5, towering over almost every other character.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Speaks in a very intimidating bass, courtesy of Tony Todd, made all the more intimidating because his voice always seems to come out from all directions rather than the one he's speaking from.
• Faux Affably Evil: Candyman can be quite polite and charming while he murders you and anyone in his path.
• Fluffy the Terrible: It's hard to believe the name "Candyman" belongs to a obscenely powerful murderous entity (which is probably one of the reasons people keep summoning him).
• Genius Bruiser: While he's not exactly a rampaging powerhouse like other Slashers tend to be, Candyman is strong enough to carve out a full grown man's back with his hook, as well as possessed of great stealth and cunning. In life, he was also a brilliant artist, something that requires no shortage of skill and intelligence.
• A God Am I: Not in so many words, but Candyman ascribes a lot of religious language to himself and his legend, referring to those who believe in him as his "congregation" and speaking of a need to restore their faith in him. The later films focus a bit more on his powers such as super strength, but he clearly has come to believe part of his own hype by 1992.
• Gods Need Prayer Badly: Candyman is not a deity, but it's clear that his existence is entirely powered on the belief others have on him, and if belief in him wanes he literally stops existing. He points out the religious motifs frequently (such as calling those who believe in him his "congregation").
• Hidden Depths: In spite of his murderous reputation, Candyman acts quite tender toward Helen and baby Anthony. He does want them as a "family" after all, and it serves to remind us that there's still a tiny bit of kind Daniel Robitaille left.
• Hook Hand: His right hand was amputated in life and a hook placed in its stump, and he carries that into the afterlife.
• Hooks and Crooks: Wields a hook (stuck in his hand's bloody stump) as his signature weapon.
• Humanoid Abomination: Outwardly human in appearance, but his cloak hides a corpse-like body and a swarm of bees, and his existence itself is ethereal and hard to fathom.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Candyman kills and terrorizes the residents of Cabrini Green, but if his plan for Helen and the baby is any indication, he still pines after the family he was denied in life and wants to use them to recreate it.
• Kick the Dog: A near-literal case; in kidnapping Anne-Marie's baby, Candyman also decapitated her dog.
• The Kindnapper: Despite kidnapping baby Anthony, Candyman takes care of the child, feeds him honey, and cradles him in his arms, clearly seeing Anthony as a substitute for the child he never got to raise with the woman he loved.
• Leitmotif: The theme of the character (and franchise as a whole) is a haunting, ethereal piano and choir piece titled "It Was Always You, Helen". It sounds eerie but also profoundly tragic, representing the character's duality itself.
• Manipulative Bastard: Throughout the first film, he systematically dismantles Helen's life, framing her for murder and kidnapping while trying to entice her to join him in death, sweetening the deal by promising to spare the kidnapped baby if she accepts, with the goal of strengthening his own legend and including Helen as part of it. In reality, Candyman fully intends for the baby to die with them, with the revelation of this lie being what convinces Helen to rebel against Candyman's design.
• Named by the Adaptation: Unlike his book counterpart, his real name is revealed in the sequels.
• Noiseless Walker: His footsteps never emit any kind of sound, fitting his ethereal nature.
• Obliviously Evil: His dialogue in the first film implies he doesn’t see his killings as evil, because like him, his victims will become immortal through legend. He also genuinely believes killing Helen and baby Anthony will make them all into an eternal family, and give him another chance at the life unfairly stripped away from him - still oblivious that neither of them want to die and become murderous, demagogic local spirits like himself.
• Offing the Offspring: Has killed at least two generations of his own descendants. If he can still be considered Robitaille in any form...
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Candyman is essentially a ghost Tulpa of sorts, a being powered entirely by the belief of others in him. The franchise in fact always leaves it ambiguous if he's actually a ghost of Robitaille (the man who triggered the legend), some kind of spiritual construct of fear using Robitaille's identity or some mix of both.
• Power Echoes: His voice echoes as he speaks, reverberating in a manner that underscores his eerie, inhuman power.
• Race Lift: In the original story, Candyman was a white British man.
• Red Right Hand: He appears a normal man at a distance, but his nature is highlighted by the maimed stump of his right hand with a hook stuck on it.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: In Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, he shows his backstory to Annie and how he was killed for falling in love with Caroline. Annie is sympathetic to him but remembers all the people he killed, people who had nothing to do with his death and smashes the mirror that contains his soul.
• Scary Black Man: One of the most iconic examples, being a large, intimidating man with a deep voice who strikes fear into the hearts of his victims.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Obviously not Candyman himself, but his legend and appearance are appropriated by Cabrini Green's local gangs to spread terror and street cred. When Helen exposes one of these hoaxes, Candyman isn't pleased because he partially relies on them to keep belief in him strong.
• The Sociopath: Besides the occasional desire of having a family of his own (and his occasional wistful reminisce or tear shed over all he has lost), Candyman is a narcissistic being with his godlike complex and is mainly interested in perpetuating his legend while viewing anyone else below him as either his congregation or victims. He is an articulate, well-educated man who has a poetic way of words that ooze superficial charm. He also demonstrates his manipulative side by setting Helen up as the fall girl for his murders or promising to let a baby Anthony go under the agreement that she surrender to him.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Despite his intimidating appearance, Candyman speaks in a soft, almost hypnotic voice that contrasts the extreme brutality of his actions.
• Speak of the Devil: Candyman can only be summoned if you speak his name five times in front of a mirror. In a more general sense, it seems like talking about him in general empowers him (but doesn't directly summon him).
• Stalker with a Crush: Not so subtly shown to be infatuated with Helen, the woman he's stalking throughout the first film.
• Tragic Villain: There's always a sense of tragedy about the Candyman, with a horrible end to his life and a cursed existence as an urban legend. Even his targeting of Helen in the first movie seems to have clearly been a twisted attempt to have what he was denied due to the racism that killed him: a wife and a child. It's hard not to feel sorry for him. At his core, Candyman is a broken family man forced to wander the Earth as a spirit of vengeance, representing everything that racial violence can lead to.
• Vengeful Ghost: Supposedly he's Daniel Robitaille's ghost wreaking bloody vengeance on all who summon him from beyond the grave.
• Villain Ball: Downplayed; if Candyman had kept his word to let Anthony go if Helen surrendered to him, she likely wouldn't have fought back and died apart from him, separating Helen's legend from Candyman's. That said, Candyman's plan included Anthony dying with himself and Helen, something Helen wouldn't have agreed to in the first place, necessitating the lie.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Helen breaks away from him at the climax of the first film, Candyman starts screaming for her to return to him and thrashes wildly at the burning material around him.
• Villainous Crush: Becomes fixated with protagonist Helen in the first film and wants her to join him in the afterlife.
• Was Once a Man: Daniel Robitaille was once an innocent man, an artist who fell in love with a white woman, a "crime" which led to him being lynched, tortured, and senselessly murdered. In death, he's become the powerful, murderous specter known as the Candyman.
• The Worm That Walks: Appears to be nearly entirely made of bees aside from his hook, intact hand, head, skeleton and coat.
• Would Hurt a Child: The freshman's story and his endangerment of baby Anthony shows that he is not above slaughtering children. In Anthony's case it's not necessarily to be cruel, though; he wants the baby to join him and Helen in legend out of his twisted desire for a family.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In life, he was merely a man who fell in love with a white woman which was a big no-no for the time period he lived in. This lead to a racism-fueled lynching where his hand is cut off and he gets covered in bees as his body is left to die a slow, gruesome and painful death.

Helen Lyle

Played By: Virginia Madsen

A naive graduate student researching the Candyman legend.

• Adaptational Nationality: She was changed from British to American when the setting was transported to Chicago.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: After her death, Helen becomes an urban legend, much like Candyman. When Trevor inadvertently summons her, she brutally guts him with a hook.
• Bald of Evil: As a murderous specter, Helen appears with her hair burned off, as it had been when she died.
• Broken Pedestal: To Anne-Marie McCoy and Detective Frank Valento, upon being suspected for the murders.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: Immediately Wrongly Accused upon being found in Anne-Marie's apartment and later for Bernie's death.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Helen, when you wake up in a pool of someone else's blood with a dog head in the hallway and a woman screaming in the other room, you might not want to pick up the bloody cleaver on the floor and hold it in a menacing fashion. Though this one is downplayed, in that for all she knew a threat was nearby and wanted to protect herself instinctively.
  • Summoning Candyman in a psychiatrist's office was meant to prove that a) Candyman is real, and b) he committed the crimes Helen has been accused of. As soon as he appears, Candyman murders the psychiatrist, making it look as though Helen has committed yet another crime.
• Dissonant Serenity: As she guts Trevor at the end of the movie, Helen has a vaguely rapturous expression that seems disconnected from the violence.
• Distaff Counterpart: Becomes this to Candyman at the end of the first film.
• Ethereal White Dress: When Trevor unintentionally summons her ghost, she is wearing a long white dress
• Fall Guy: For Candyman's murders.
• Heroic Sacrifice: She succumbs to her injuries when she saved Anthony from burning in the huge bonfire. However, it could be argued in a meta sense that it was a fruitless endeavor due to Anthony becoming the new Candyman in the 2021 sequel.
• Heroine with Bad Publicity: Upon being suspected for the murders committed by Candyman. It continues in the 2021 sequel, with Helen being posthumously blamed for Candyman's crimes, partly to explain away the carnage and partly to try and keep Candyman's legend from growing.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Ends up as Candyman's Distaff Counterpart, she's basically the new Candyman as far as the first film is concerned in contrast with the sequels where Tony Todd reprises his role.
• Trauma Conga Line: As soon as she says Candyman's name in her mirror, Helen's life starts going to hell. She's assaulted by a gangster, framed for kidnapping and murder by Candyman, is committed to a mental hospital, spends a month locked in the hospital, whilst strapped to a bed, escapes only to find that her philandering husband has already moved his mistress into their home, and suffers fatal burns while rescuing a baby from Candyman. Even in death, Helen doesn't get a break; her spirit endures as a murderous ghost, she is posthumously blamed for Candyman's crimes, and the child she died to save ends up a victim of Candyman when he grows up.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being mentioned in the 2021 film, Helen herself never actually appears, and given the Hive's MO, it seems unlikely she'd be a member. While it's never explained exactly where her ghost is, most likely she still exists as her own urban legend, summoned by her own name as opposed to 'Candyman'.

Professor Trevor Lyle

Played By: Xander Berkeley

Helen's cheating husband.

• Adaptational Nationality: In the original story he was British, while in the film he's American.
• Asshole Victim: Not only was he cheating on Helen with a student, but it is implied that he was going to let her rot in the asylum while he would set off for a new life with his lover. He is shown grieving for Helen after she dies, but by then it is too late for him.
• Gutted Like a Fish: When he inadvertently summons her ghost, Trevor is brutally gutted by Helen.
• Hate Sink: Trevor, Helen's husband, proves himself to be a gigantic asshole when it's revealed that he's been having an affair with his student, Stacy, behind his wife's back (and the affair is implied to have been going on before the events of the movie). And even worse, he allowed her to move in with him when Helen was locked up in the asylum, which heavily implied he was willing to let her rot in there as he began a new life with his mistress. Even though he begins to show some regret over his unfaithfulness, his death at the hands of his wife's vengeful ghost is very much earned.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: After Helen dies, Trevor is privately crying over how he cheated on her. Then he chants her name in front of the mirror...
• Karmic Death: For his infidelity, Trevor is murdered by his vengeful wife's spirit as she claims him as her first victim.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Trevor is revealed to be having an affair with his student, Stacy, behind Helen's back.

Bernadette "Bernie" Walsh

Played By: Kasi Lemmons

Helen's friend, who assists her in her research.

• Adaptational Nationality: Along with her Race Lift, she also became American like the rest of the cast.
• Gutted Like a Fish: Candyman murders her by splitting her stomach open with his hook hand.
• Race Lift: She was white in the original story.
• Token Black Friend: Even though there are tons of other black characters in the film, her character is mainly to be someone that Helen can depend on besides Trevor.

Anne-Marie McCoy

Played By: Vanessa A. Williams

A resident of Cabrini Green.

• Adaptational Heroism: In the original story, Anne-Marie is complacent in allowing Candyman to kill her own child, covering up the truth surrounding his death, and later helps Helen be lured into the bonfire to be burned (along with her son's body) so that the legend of Candyman can be maintained. In the movie, she has nothing to do with Candyman's scheme to be kept in legend and is a thoroughly good mother who is protective of her son and only participated in the bonfire because she believed it would take out the Candyman.
• Heel Realization: It takes Helen rescuing her baby before her very eyes as the former burns to death upon handing Anthony back in her arms to make her realized Helen was innocent all along of the murders and Anthony's kidnapping and she had Wrongly Accused her, prompting her to lead her neighbors to attend Helen's funeral to thank her for rescuing Anthony and as an apology for her initial false accusation that ultimately led to her death. Sadly, as far the 2021 installment is concerned, her taking back her false accusation wasn't enough to really clear Helen's name as the public still remembered her as the killer rather than Candyman even after nearly thirty years.
• Mama Bear: Attacks Helen in a frenzy to demand the whereabouts of her baby Anthony upon thinking her to be the culprit and a Broken Pedestal.
• Older and Wiser: In the 2021 sequel, she appears more level-headed then in the first film.
• Older Than She Looks: Vanessa Estelle-Williams really aged gracefully after nearly thirty years since first playing this role.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Narrowly averted in the original film, but played depressingly straight in the 2021 sequel.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In the 2021 sequel.

Jake

Played By: De Juan Guy

A young boy who lives in Cabrini Green.

Detective Frank Valento

Played By: Gilbert Lewis

A detective.

• Friend on the Force: For Helen, until he views her as a Broken Pedestal upon suspecting her for the murders.
• Hero Antagonist: Towards Helen upon suspecting her for the murders.
• Inspector Javert: When suspecting Helen Lyle for the murders.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Starts out as a Friend on the Force, but after Helen is found at the site of Anne-Marie's baby's kidnapping, he instantly views her as a Broken Pedestal and is completely hostile to her during interrogation at the police station.

Professor Philip Purcell

Played By: Michael Culkin

A professor and expert in the Candyman legend.

• Everyone Has Standards: Jackass that he is, he still shows up to Helen's funeral at the end, and is one of four people to do so before the residents of Cabrini-Green arrive.
• Insufferable Genius: Purcell is a condescending know-it-all, who is very dismissive of Helen and her credentials. He also prides himself on being an expert on the Candyman legend.

Stacey

Played By: Creator/Carolyn Lowery

An undergraduate student who is Trevor's student and mistress.

• Canon Foreigner: She doesn't have a book counterpart, but it was mentioned in the story that Trevor had flings when he and Helen had fights.
• The Mistress: She is Trevor's and even lets her move in with him after Helen was locked up in the mental ward (with the strong implications he was just going to let her rot there while he started a new life with her).
• Screaming Woman: At the very end upon finding Trevor's corpse in the bathroom.
• Teacher/Student Romance: She has one with Trevor who is her college professor.

Gang Leader

Played By: Terrence Riggins

The drug-dealing leader of the Overlords gang in Cabrini-Green who uses the legend of Candyman to terrorize the residents.

• The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Downplayed, in that we don't actually get to see him peddling, but he presumably uses Candyman's sobriquet as a euphemism for his drug dealing activities, and he's also a violent serial killer.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Pretends to be Candyman and tries to copy his MO. Unbeknownst to him, Candyman is very much real, and he's been feeding his existence.
• Scary Black Man: Even putting aside the mythical reputation the locals gave him, he's still very much a dangerous man who has killed, maimed, and terrorized the people of Cabrini-Green for years and left them in fear of him.
• Serial Killer: The articles that Helen finds show that he's claimed 21 victims.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He has less than five minutes of screentime, only showing up to attack Helen and then for her to identify him when he's arrested. Still, it's his murders that allowed the real Candyman to exist, and with his imprisonment and Helen seemingly debunking the legend, brings Candyman out into the open to ensure that his existence continues.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "I hear you're looking for Candyman, bitch."
• Unwitting Pawn: To Candyman. Modeling himself after him and striking terror in the residents of Cabrini-Green is what helped breathe life into the legend.
• Would Hurt a Child: Cut off a little boy's genitals and left him to bleed to death.

Annie Tarrant

Played By: Kelly Rowan (Candyman: Farewell To The Flesh); Elizabeth Haye (Candyman: Day Of The Dead)

An art teacher from New Orleans who is the great-great-granddaughter of Candyman.

Octavia Tarrant

Played By: Veronica Cartwright

Annie and Ethan's mother who is currently struggling with her cancer diagnosis and the legend of Candyman.

• Drowning My Sorrows: She's hitting the bottle constantly after learning about her diagnosis and her husband's death.

Caroline McKeever

Played By: Donna D'Errico

Annie's daughter (and Candyman's great-great-great-granddaughter) who becomes an art gallery owner.

Anthony McCoy

Played By: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

The baby Helen saved in the original film who became an artist. He returns to Cabrini Green, Chicago, after becoming enraptured in the urban legend of the Candyman.

• And Then John Was a Zombie: After his unjust death, Anthony becomes part of the Hive.
• An Arm and a Leg: To mold Anthony into a new Candyman, Burke saws off his right hand and shoves a hook into the stump.
• Body Horror: A bee sting (implied to be courtesy of Candyman) causes the right side of Anthony's body to become progressively necrotic. What's more, Burke amputates his right hand and shoves a homemade hook into the stump to complete Anthony's progression into a new Candyman.
• Cheated Death, Died Anyway: After being saved from Candyman by Helen as a baby, Anthony's life was cut tragically short thirty years later when he is gunned down by the police.
• Expy: Of Danny Torrance.
• Legacy Character: Invoked by Burke, who manipulates Anthony into becoming another iteration of the Candyman legend in the vein of Daniel Robitaille and Sherman Fields; once Anthony is under his influence, Burke dresses him in a long coat, puts some lollipops in the coat's pocket, and replaces Anthony's right hand with a hook. Once Anthony is killed by the police shortly after, the process is complete; the next time the Candyman is conjured, he has Anthony's face.
• Sanity Slippage: The more he dug into the legend of the Candyman, Anthony progressively lost his senses.

William Burke

Played By: Colman Domingo

An owner of a laundromat who is looking to resurrect the Candyman urban legend for his own gain.

• Big Bad Ensemble: Of the 2021 direct sequel of the original film alongside Candyman himself.
• The Chessmaster: He anticipated that Anthony would return to Cabrini Green and relays the story of the Candyman to him to set him further down the path of becoming the new Candyman.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as there was a Dr. Burke, a Caucasian psychiatrist who evaluates Helen at the mental hospital for the criminally insane before becoming another of Candyman's victims, in the first film. No relation between the two.
• Posthumous Villain Victory: He succeeds at bringing the Candyman back posthumously.
• Walking Spoiler: While he appeared to be a minor character in the film, he ultimately plays a larger role due to what he is hoping to accomplish.

The Hive

Played By: Tony Todd, Michael Hargrove, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Starting back with the death of Daniel Robitaille, the Hive is a group of vengeful spirits that were born from agonizing deaths. As the progenitor, Daniel is understood to be the "Queen Bee" of the collective consciousness.

• Ambiguous Situation:
  • A bee sting caused Anthony's body to become increasingly damaged and necrotic; it's unclear if this was a normal bee sting that Anthony had a severe reaction to or if the Hive sent a bee to sting him, possibly sensing his upcoming fate or even orchestrating it to grow Candyman's legend.
  • It's not clear if Helen Lyle is part of the Hive; she suffered an unjust death and was summoned through a similar method as Candyman, but she doesn't fit the general profile of the other spirits (black men and boys whose deaths came about through racial injustice; Helen, a white woman, died in a Heroic Sacrifice after being victimized by Candyman), and she was summoned by chanting her own name, not that of Candyman.
• Badass Longcoat: All members wear one aside from Helen who inherited the Candyman's hook.
• Death of a Child: One member of the hive looks to be a young Black boy accused of a crime and sentenced to the electric chair, most likely based off of George Stinney.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Brianna summons Candyman to kill the racist cops who killed Anthony, which the Hive does with brutal efficiency. As they murdered a helpless, unarmed (in more than one sense) man and threatened his traumatized girlfriend to try and keep her quiet about it, the audience's sympathy for the cops is nonexistent.
• Pragmatic Villainy: After slaughtering the police officers who murdered Anthony, the Hive spares Brianna, who actually summoned Candyman, leaving her with a command to "tell everyone" so the legend of Candyman can continue to grow.
• Red Right Hand: As part of the legend, they all wield a hook as their main weapon.
• The Smurfette Principle: Helen, assuming she qualifies, is the only hive member to be female and non-African American.
• Tragic Villain: Everyone who becomes part of the Hive, from Daniel Robitaille to Sherman Fields to Anthony McCoy, is a victim of racial prejudice and an unjust death. In death, they all become merciless killers, slaughtering their tormentors or anyone who makes the unwise decision to summon them. Three of the hive members were based off real African-American victims of racial injustice, such as James Byrd. Jr, George Stinney and Anthony Crawford.
• Vengeful Ghost: Their main initiatives in life were due to them being on the receiving end of grisly demises and now spend their afterlife killing and striking fear.

Sherman Fields

Played By: Michael Hargrove

A one-handed African American man who was murdered by the police after being wrongly accused of distributing candy with razor blades to children. He had since become the most recurrent iteration of the Candyman prior to Anthony.

• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Serves as this to the Daniel Robitalle iteration of Candyman. Daniel preferred to use poetic and flowery language while Sherman is completely silent. Daniel was a chessmaster who manipulated Helen into falling into his clutches while Sherman is more of a brute who kills indiscriminately without any plan, and finally, Sherman can only appear in mirrors while Daniel could manifest anywhere he wanted.
• Creepy Good: When alive, he was a quiet, unsettling man with a creepy smile and hummed ominously but he was genuinely harmless and just liked to handing out candy to children. Unfortunately, his creepiness is cranked up to eleven and the "Good" is taken away after he is violently killed and becomes one of the Hive.
• Friend to All Children: When he was alive, he would give candy to the neighborhood kids. Sadly due to becoming a part of the Hive, this soured.
• The Heavy: He's not the main antagonist of the movie, but he is the title character and furthers most of the plot, not to mention his responsibility for every kill in the first two acts of the movie.
• Manchild: Sherman is implied to have been developmentally disabled; he's non-verbal and happily offers candy to children, seeming not to understand how this could be taken the wrong way.
• Mirror Scare: Every scene he's in is a mirror scare, since he can only interact with the world and his victims through a reflection in a mirror.
• Police Brutality: The cause of his death; a swarm of police officers beat him to death when they believed him to be responsible for putting razor blades into children's candy.
• Razor Apples: The police beat him to death because they believed he was the man responsible for giving out candy with razor blades in it. He wasn't, as more of it was found after he was dead.
• Silent Antagonist: He's completely silent, save for a handful of grunts and groans.
• Tragic Villain: He was just an ordinary if odd, man who was killed for a crime he did not commit and now exists as a member of the collective consciousness that is the Candyman.
• Would Hurt a Child: Averted in life. While Sherman was suspected of placing razor blades in candy, he was in actuality a well-meaning guy. Sadly very subverted in death, as he becomes one of the Hive and kills at least six kids as Candyman.