Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is a fictional supervillain from the DC Universe and a foe of the original Doom Patrol.[1]

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, from Doom Patrol #89
Art by Bob Brown
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDoom Patrol Vol. 1, #89 (August 1964)
Created byArnold Drake (writer)
Bruno Premiani (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoDr. Sven Larsen
AbilitiesCan change his body into the form of any animal, vegetable, or mineral.

The character made his first live adaptation on the first season of the Doom Patrol television series on DC Universe played by Alec Mapa.

Publication history

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man first appeared in Doom Patrol (1st series) #89 (August 1964) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.[2]

Fictional character biography

Dr. Sven Larsen is a Swedish scientist and a former student of Dr. Niles Caulder, but they had a falling out after Larsen accused Caulder of stealing his idea for the anti-decay ray. Larsen gains his superpowers after falling into a vat of amino acids. He uses his powers to get revenge on Caulder and his Doom Patrol.[3] The Doom Patrol defeat Larsen and are able to remove his powers. He later regains them and fights the Doom Patrol again.[4]

Larsen returns to face the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol in Doom Patrol vol. 2 #15 (December 1988) and #16 (Winter 1988), in partnership with General Immortus. He is defeated after Celsius encases him in ice.

In a 2009 interview with Keith Giffen about his Doom Patrol comic, Giffen reveals that Larsen should be a villain in it.[5]

In the twelfth issue of the series, Larsen is now a member of the Front Men, a team of super-powered guards working for Mister Somebody Enterprises. His team is working to discredit the Doom Patrol, having been coached in various ways on how to make the heroes look bad for the cameras. Unknown to the Front Men, 'Mister Somebody' has rigged their uniforms to deliver fatal blows in ways that make it seem as if the Doom Patrol killed them intentionally.[6]

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is re-introduced as part of an experimental security measure that Niles Caulder unleashes on intruders when his underground complex is breached.[7]

In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is listed as a member of India's superhero team The Doomed in light of "The Superman Theory" that started a metahuman arms race.[8]

Powers and abilities

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man can change any part of his body into the form of any animal, vegetable or mineral, including combining several at once. In most of his appearances, his arms, legs and the left side of his face take on various forms, leaving his torso and the right side of his face normal.

In other media

Television
  • Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "The Last Patrol!" voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. He is among the Doom Patrol villains (alongside Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Mutant Master, and Arsenal) assembled by General Zahl to target the Doom Patrol. He attacks the carnival that Negative Man works at with the carnival barker asking about him and wondering who his agent is. Batman and the other Doom Patrol members arrive, and Negative Man helps them fend off Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. He later appears on General Zahl's ship with the other villains and ends up defeated by Batman.
  • Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man makes an appearance in the third episode of Doom Patrol played by Alec Mapa. This version is a tourist in Paraguay named Steven Larson who travels to Fuchtopia in hopes to be given superpowers – "magnetic feet", specifically – via a machine built by Sturmbannführer Von Fuchs. His transformation into Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man is shown at the end of the episode when he accidentally stays in the machine too long. This particular version has a human head and a separate dinosaur head, rather than the combined head of the comic version. A running joke throughout the season involved various news updates on Larson's activities, including a disastrous convenience store robbery, subsequent arrest, and a failed assassination attempt on his life by an admirer of von Fuchs. In season 2, there's an advertisement for Steven Larson's/Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man's autobiography, My Side, cited as a "America's new, bestselling autobiography".

Media tie-in comics
  • Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man had a cameo appearance in issue #28 of Teen Titans Go!. The Doom Patrol discuss a battle they (along with a younger Beast Boy) had with Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. He makes a full appearance on page 10, which itself is based on the cover of the Doom Patrol comic.
  • Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man made a cameo appearance in issue #7 in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold tie-in comic and the cartoon series.

References
  1. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. pp. 5–6. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  2. Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  3. Morris, Jon (2017). The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals from Comic Book History. Quirk Books. p. 138. ISBN 978-1594749322.
  4. Doom Patrol vol. 1 #95 (May 1965)
  5. "Giffen New Chief Of 'Doom Patrol'". ComicBookResources.com. 7 February 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  6. Doom Patrol #12 (2010)
  7. Ravagers #11
  8. Doomsday Clock #5 (May 2018). DC Comics.
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