Who is Swamp Thing?

Swamp Thing is Alec Holland, a biochemist who gets doused in his own bio-restorative formula when his Louisiana bayou lab is firebombed, and rises from the swamp as a powerful plant elemental. He has superhuman strength, remarkable regeneration, and can control plant life. An earlier prototype character, Alex Olsen, actually debuted first in House of Secrets #92 (1971) before Alec Holland's version became the definitive take. Alan Moore's legendary run in the 1980s deepened the character enormously, redefining him as the embodiment of "The Green" — the living force connecting all plant life on Earth.