Anthony Lupus

The Werewolf (Anthony Lupus) is a DC Comics character.

Publication history

Anthony Lupus first appeared in Batman #255 and was created by Len Wein and Dennis O'Neil.

Fictional character biography

Anthony Lupus is a former Olympic Decathlon champion who suffers from severe headaches until he meets Dr. Achilles Milo, who uses a drug to treat them. However, the treatment also turns him into a werewolf. Milo discovers that Lupus suffers from lycanthropy, which is the source of Anthony's headaches. With a serum derived from the Alaskan Timber Wolf, Milo sends Anthony's condition into overdrive transforming him into a full werewolf with the full moon as Milo claimed that he can cure advanced lycanthropy. To get the cure, Anthony will have to kill Batman. When Milo does trap Batman and leave him chained in an abandoned lot, he sends the transformed Anthony to attack Batman only for Anthony to attack Milo first. Batman fights Lupus until a bolt of lightning strikes Anthony. While Batman presumes that he's dead, Lupus was last seen in Alaska hunting wolves in search of a cure.^[1]

Batman later goes to Alaska to capture Lupus in order to give Anthony's sister Angela a much-needed bone marrow transplant. However, catching him is not easy since Anthony Lupus sees Alaska as a place where his werewolf form is at home. With a silver net, Batman manages to bring Anthony back and promises that he will find a cure for his condition like Achilles Milo had.^[2]

There are some theories that Lupus was involved in "The Lupus Affair," which was an untold encounter featuring John Constantine.

A photo of Anthony Lupus was featured in "Trinity" #7.^[3]

Anthony Lupus' werewolf form later appeared in Batman's hallucination.^[4]

Powers and Abilities

In his werewolf form, Anthony Lupus possessed razor-sharp claws and fangs, enhanced senses, hyper reflexes, and superhuman strength and stamina.

In other media

Television

• In the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Moon of the Wolf," Anthony Romulus is closely based on Anthony Lupus where he is voiced by Harry Hamlin while the werewolf vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker. Romulus was an Olympic athlete in Gotham City, where his athletic abilities were well-known. Anthony Romulus entered a decathlon, where he immersed himself in intense physical training. However, Romulus' devotion to exercise did not give him the confidence in his athletic skills that he would win the games, and sought something that would guarantee him a gold medal. Romulus begged the infamous underworld doctor Dr. Achilles Milo, to make steroids for him that could not be detected or traced. Milo gave Romulus what he wanted, but the main ingredient of the drug was a type of wolf estrogen (taken from two Alaskan Timber Wolves). The steroids allowed him to win the gold medal. However, he would eventually become a werewolf. Milo used the promise of a cure to blackmail Anthony into doing his dirty work. Romulus eventually ran afoul of Batman when Milo sent him to kill zoo security guard John Hamner (who had allowed Milo to steal the Alaskan timber wolves from the zoo). Some time later, Anthony will have a large charity donation doubled if Batman will show up in costume to the Romulus mansion. This turned out to be a trap set by Anthony and Dr. Milo when Batman ends up rendered unconscious by mild nerve gas. As Batman is chained up in the construction site, Dr. Milo makes his next plan to dispose of Batman. When Anthony feels the change happening and begged for Dr. Milo to give him the cure, Dr. Milo quotes "Ask me if I care." Anthony changed into his werewolf form and attacked Dr. Milo who realized too late that he had unleashed a monster he could not control. The cure is destroyed during the scuffle and he begins to fight Batman who has managed to get free himself. The fight took them to the top of the construction site as the police arrive. Batman threw a crane hook at Anthony and lightning strikes both the hook and Romulus followed by the werewolf falling into the river. After Dr. Milo is loaded into the ambulance, Detective Harvey Bullock tells Commissioner James Gordon that he and the other police officers were unable to find the werewolf upon searching miles of shoreline. Harvey also remarks that by the next full moon, they will know if the werewolf survived or not. The following scene shows Anthony Romulus' estate being sold to pay off the creditors as the real estate lady remarks that Anthony Romulus has skipped town for unknown reasons. The final scene shows a wolf howling at the moon. What had happened to Anthony Romulus remains a mystery to the public.

Miscellaneous

• Issue #21 of The Batman Adventures (a comic book based on the animated series) brought back Anthony Romulus' werewolf form and Tygrus alongside Man-Bat when they are used by the recently escaped Doctor Emile Dorian to capture Catwoman. Anthony Romulus wanted Emile to return him to normal after their mission. During the fight with Batman, Man-Bat, Tygrus, Dorian, and Romulus are all apparently killed in an explosion that ensues. The story was entitled "House of Dorian" (an allusion to the Universal horror films "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula."
• Although Anthony Lupus didn't appear in All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold, there were similar werewolves previously created by Professor Milo that appear in issue #12 as one of the monsters summoned by Klarion the Witch Boy to attack the House of Mystery.

See also

• List of Batman Family adversaries

References

External links

• Batman: Collected Issues of the Dark Knight
• Anthony Lupus at DC Comics Wiki
• Anthony Lupus at Comic Vine