| Green Man | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Real Name | Roger Barnes |
| Aliases | Green Man |
| Gender | Male |
| Class | Joker-ace |
| Wild Card Traits | Regeneration, enhanced strength, enhanced stamina, enhanced durability, giantism, bald |
| Social Information | |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Terrorist leader, speech writer (formerly), government agent (formerly) |
| Base of Operations | London |
| Affiliations | Twisted Fists |
| Relatives | Wendy (ex-wife), Roy (son), Christine (daughter) |
| Allies | Black Dog, Winston Churchill, Wayfarer |
| Origin | |
| First Appearance | Knaves Over Queens |
| Final Appearance | Three Kings |
| Creator | Peter Newman |
Green Man is a fictional character in the Wild Cards series of books.
History[]
Roger Barnes led an ordinary life, working as a speech writer for Margaret Thatcher when his card turned in 1984 and twisted his once human flesh into a living wood-like substance resembling the wood of a tree. He was immediately sequestered by the Order of the Silver Helix and extensively tested to determine the limits of his mutation. While he may not have had much to offer the Silver Helix itself, he did exhibit useful qualities that brought him into the influence of Winston Churchill, who proposed that he go into deep cover to infiltrate the Twisted Fists terrorist group in an effort to expose the Fists' notorious leader, Black Dog, and potentially bring down the Fists themselves. With few good options on the table he agreed to the plan and soon found himself working his way up the ranks, leaving behind a wife and two children.
As Green Man, Barnes acquitted himself as a capable and loyal crusader for jokers' rights. Rising through the ranks of London's Twisted Fists cell, he was pulled into Black Dog's confidence where he had access to the highest levels of information and even leadership over the London cell itself. Unfortunately, after nearly a decade of deep cover work and having turned over information to the wily politician, Winston Churchill was assassinated and with no-one else knowing anything of the deep cover infiltration mission, Barnes was was left trapped with no way back to his former life. Still reeling from this turn of events he was then further blindsided when Black Dog named his as his successor shortly thereafter. He didn't have long to wait before taking up that mantle when Black Dog too was assassinated mere days later. The Green Man was now the leader of the terrorists he had sought to dismantle for years.
By 2020 the Green Man had curtailed the more militant elements of the Twisted Fists into a marginally more benign entity. Enough so that the Silver Helix had taken to grudgingly leaving him in play as his presence as leader of the Fists was better than the alternative. Through his joker community connections he came into contact with Constance and her friend Bobbin and through his line of work he crossed paths with the Silver Helix and the Silver Helix's former assassin Noel Matthews. Neither he nor his adversaries initially had any inkling that they had all been played, victims of a powerful Irish wild carder known as Badb who had fomented conflict throughout London to find a hero to sacrifice and empower herself with. Ultimately the Green Man became that hero, throwing himself on a grenade in a selfless effort to protect Bobbin.
Wild Card Traits[]
The Green Man has flesh with the consistency and durability of wood. It strengthens him and makes him incredibly resistant to harm, diminishing his sense of pain so that injuries feel distant and mostly insignificant. His blood has been replaced with tree sap and he no longer exhibits any detectable heartbeat, although how these traits affect him remains unclear. As a nat, Barnes was not a robust person, but after his card turned he began to slowly grow and was a head taller than most at the time of his death. His most noticeable advantage after becoming like a living tree is his regenerative properties. Not only does his body recover from things like bullet wounds, but even his whole right arm has regrown after being amputated at the shoulder.
As physically powerful as he is the Green found that his body came with a few drawbacks. His dulled sense of pain came with an equally dulled sense of touch that interferes with his fine motor skills. Food and drink that he once enjoyed became foul substances that he cannot bear to consume. His regeneration is anything but flawless given that every bullet hole fills in with new growth of sprouting, itching greenery that forces him to prune the growth, and when his right arm regenerated the newer arm proved to be a larger, rougher appendage with even less sensation than the left. Fire is also a weakness to the Green Man, and has been both painful and damaging when harmed by it.
Appearance[]
The Green Man is a man of living wood. His dark exterior has a deep grain and green foliage sprouts in place of old injuries. Patches of moss grow on him forcing him to regularly trim it away. His right arm, after having completely regenerated, is larger and rougher than the left. He wears a green-painted mask at any time he is with company.
Personality[]
Roger Barnes was a proper and responsible individual before he became a joker. His wild card did nothing to change that and his influence over the Twisted Fists served to reform the terrorists into a less bloodthirsty group. He is fiercely protective of the joker community and extends that protectiveness to nats who also protect jokers.
Selected Reading[]
- Wild Cards Volume XXVII: Knaves Over Queens
- Wild Cards Volume XXVIII: Three Kings