A
villain published by
DC Comics. The
Floronic Man first
appeared in
The Atom #1 in 1961.
The being named Woodrue was a rarity in his home dimension, a
career criminal. Originally from the dimension inhabited by
sprites, dryads, and other creatures of nature, Woodrue was
captured and sentenced to be sent to Earth with no means of return.
Believing that this banishment would kill Woodrue, the authorities
in his home dimension sent him here, but Woodrue survived.
Woodrue was able to pass for human and adopted the identity of
Jason Woodrue. He then used his knowledge of plants to create
a means of controlling the native flora, using the plants to aid in
his criminal activities. Eventually, Woodrue, who now called himself
the Floronic Man decided to take over the United States by
means of his plant control. He was opposed by Ray Palmer in his
guise as the Silver Age hero, the Atom. The Atom defeated Woodrue
and the villain was imprisoned.
After his release, Woodrue kept a low profile, working on a formula
to convert animal life into plant life. After years of research,
Woodrue succeeded in his plan and took the formula himself, becoming
a real Floronic Man. After this change, Woodrue began to use
a substance that when sprayed on, appeared as human skin. This allowed
him to look human to the casual observer. This change increased Woodrue's affinity for
plants and he again used his control of them to attack others, this
time opposed by the Green Lantern. Again, Woodrue was defeated and
imprisoned.
Woodrue did not serve his entire sentence, but instead was released
through the efforts of the Sunderland Corporation. The head of
the corporation had often clashed with the tragic hero known as
the Swamp Thing and had the Swamp Thing's body in a freezer in one
of their buildings, the hero having been shot in the head by one
of Sunderland's operatives. Woodrue was hired to analyze the
body and come to an understanding of what had happened to create
the Swamp Thing.
Woodrue did just that, finding that the Swamp Thing was actually a
plant that had used the body of scientist Alec Holland as a template
for its life. When the Swamp Thing awoke, the knowledge of what he had
become drove him
to despair and he became catatonic after killing Sunderland. Woodrue
took advantage of this situation to use fruit sprouted from the body of the Swamp Thing to
connect himself with the world wide network of plants called the
Green. This act drove Woodrue insane, and he began to use the plants
worldwide in an attempt to destroy all animal life. He was opposed
by the Swamp Thing and defeated, losing his connection to the Green.
He was taken into custody by the Justice League and imprisoned at
Arkham Asylum.
The Floronic Man was next seen as part of the Millennium event. The
Guardians of the Universe, the creatures who are responsible for the
Green Lantern Corps, came to Earth to assist humans in the
next step in their evolution. Taking people from across the world
representative of all parts of humanity, the Guardians helped them
to achieve their next evolutionary step. Among those chosen was
Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man. He became part of the group and
worked with these humans, the New Guardians, for a time. Eventually,
it was discovered that they were not in fact the next evolutionary
step, but instead were created to help nurture those new creatures. Soon
after this discovery, Woodrue decided to return to his home dimension.