The Main Characters of The Astounding Wolf-Man
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Hampton Family
Gary Hampton / Wolf-Man
Gary Hampton / Wolf-Man
Gary Hampton is a family man and extremely successful business owner. That is until the fateful night when he was mauled at a campsite one night. He comes to discover that he has contracted lycanthropy. With the help of a knowledgeable vampire named Zechariah Gary resolves to use his new powers to help people. Gary is clever, charismatic, and very caring.
- It's All My Fault: Gary has major issues with guilt. Even before he was a werewolf his own success as a businessman made him feel responsible for those struggling to get by. As a werewolf, he feels responsible for anything he does whilst in a moon rage and when Rebecca is murdered by Zechariah, Gary feels he is partially responsible since he introduced her eventual murderer into their lives. Even with all the terrible and unfair things that happen to him, Gary can't help but feel he somehow deserves the punishment.
- Clear My Name: What a good deal of the story revolves around.
- Clothing Damage: A given with all of the impromptu 'wolfing out.'
- Crusading Widower: Seeks to kill Zechariah to avenge his wife.
- Cursed with Awesome: Zechariah lampshades it in #2. Gary has a powerful and agile wolf form and a healing factor when he changes forms. Even the downside of going into a blood rage once a month is quickly dealt with.
- Eventually Gary considers the true "curse" of his lycanthropy to be how it makes his wife and daughter afraid of him and forces him to keep increasingly dark secrets.
- Dark Is Not Evil: A werewolf but a hero.
- Fake Defector: When he learns that Zecheriah is being hunted by Jacobson and his werewolf pack, Gary acts like he is on the werewolve’s side but actually just pretends to kill Zecheriah so Jacobson's pack will leave them alone.
- He later pretends to be helping a group of supervillains escape from prison so that he can be The Mole for Cecil Stedman.
- Forgiveness: Gary's core virtue. His wife cheats on him? He goes on a camping trip with her to rekindle their relationship. His daughter blames him for her mother's death and tries to kill him? She just needs to get it out of her system and then have a Cooldown Hug. Jacobson's pack murder his closest friend? They can all live on the Hampton Estate because it's for the greater good that all werewolves remain united.
- Obviously, even Gary has his limits. He considers Zechariah's betrayal truly unforgivable and trains with the Elder to get revenge and clear his name.
- Fully-Embraced Fiend: He’s got plenty of these people in his life’s.
- Good Parents: To his children.
- Happily Married: To Rebecca Hampton.
- Healing Factor: Leading to many a Good Thing You Can Heal moment.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Being framed for killing your wife does wonders for ruining your reputation.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Some enemies try to sway him to The Dark Side, but Gary is too good and pure. In fact, his inability to be corrupted by power is precisely why the Elder turned him into a werewolf and groomed him to be his successor.
- Last of His Kind: After the Elder dies he is probably the last elder brood.
- The Mole: Serves as one during The Face's prison escape, secretly reporting the group's movements to Cecil Stedman.
- Nice Guy: Dunford's story explains it all. Related to Gary's Tragic Flaw below.
- Papa Wolf: Fiercely protective of his family, especially Chloe.
- Self-Made Man: Gary essentially built his business from the ground up, and is a hard worker even to the detriment of his family life.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Except for when he's in moon rage when they turn red.
- Super-Senses: As Wolf-man. His sense of smell is particularly strong.
- Survivor Guilt: All that pain he went through has thoroughly destroyed him.
- Tears of Remorse: Lots of tears from the pain he went through.
- Tragic Hero: Gary's flaw, which he irons out over the course of the series, is that he is too driven to help people. What ruined him from the get-go was that he was so ecstatic about being able to help people as a super hero that he neglected his family and failed to realize how untrustworthy Zechariah was despite the constant warnings of his loved ones. His desire to do good was ultimately his downfall. That said his flaw has helped him out a couple of times and earned him the loyalty of both Invincible and Cecil Stedman.
- Wealthy Philanthropist: Gary was this before the Board of Directors kicked him out of his own company. He became a billionaire by his mid-twenties and used his wealth to form charities, fund projects, and build hospitals, schools, and shelters.
Rebecca Hampton
Rebecca Hampton
Gary's wife.
- Emasculated Cuckold: Cheated on Gary with his business rival, Nathaniel, in the past. However, Gary forgives her and the whole reason they were on the camping trip in Montana was to rekindle their relationship. After Gary turns into Wolf-Man and their relationship becomes strained again she does go on another dinner date with Nathaniel but nothing comes of it after Gary makes it clear he's committed to fixing their marriage and Rebecca gets murdered shortly after.
- Happily Married: Despite some bumps in the past she is in this to Gary, although his transformation into Wolf-Man puts a lot of strain on their relationship.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death at Zechariah's is what kicks off the main plot. Gary is blamed for the murder and fights to clear his name and avenge her.
- Secret-Keeper: She quickly learns about her husband's lycanthropy and while she is unhappy about it, she keeps his secret.
Chloe Hampton / Vampire Girl
Chloe Hampton / Vampire Girl
Gary and Rebecca's teenage daughter.
- Action Girl: Turns into one over the course of the series.
- Antagonistic Offspring: She is convinced Gary lost control of his werewolf form and killed her mother, as such she finds Zechariah to train her to kill her dad.
- Brought Down to Normal: Without access to vampire blood, her powers slowly begin to fade over the course of several months. Although her training remains the increased speed, agility and stamina wane over time. Cecil Stedman provides her with a supply of blood harvested from Zechariah during his brief incarceration to prolong her activities as a superhero, but it's only a temporary solution.
- Heroic BSoD: Breaks down crying in the middle of combat when she sees Dunford's corpse.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Is trained to use them by Zechariah.
- Kid Sidekick: Uses the vampiric powers she gained from drinking Zechariah's blood to help her father in the field. He's reluctant to put her in harm's way but more worried about what trouble she'd get up to if he didn't let her join him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has a moment like this when she runs her father through with a katana. Finally coming to her senses and realising her vendetta against him has been misguided.
- Spoiled Sweet: Despite her parent's wealth she's a pretty normal kid, although going through puberty along with having to deal with the fact her dad lost his job, turned into a werewolf and seemingly killed her mother understandably leave her with some serious issues.
- Took a Level in Badass: Being trained in combat and swordsmanship by Zechariah and enhancing her strength and reflexes by drinking vampire blood allow Chloe to fight werewolves and supervillains on equal footing.
- Trauma Conga Line: Her father is seemingly mauled by a bear and spends a month in a coma, then he wakes up only to lose his job, she is evicted from her home and winds up living in a secret lair under a strip mall, her father turns into a monster that terrifies her, her friends abandon her because of her family's disgrace, her father seemingly murders her mother, and she ends up spending months training with her mother's actual killer.
- Unwitting Pawn: Zechariah manipulates her grief over her mother's death into turning her against her father.
Allies
Dunford
Dunford
The Hampton's Estate Manager.
- Defeat Means Friendship: He originally ran a rival company which was bought out by Hampton Industries. Gary treated Dunford well and gave him purpose following his wife's death by hiring him as his estate manager.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Gray cradles Dunford's body when he is murdered during a werewolf attack on the Hampton Estate.
- Secret-Keeper: He learns Gary is a werewolf very early on and keeps his employer's secret to himself.
- Undying Loyalty: Remains loyal to Gary after he becomes a werewolf and is probably the only person who believes him when he says he didn't kill his wife.
Other Supernatural Creatures
Zechariah
Zechariah
Zechariah is a very old and knowledgeable vampire who finds Gary and mentors him in his new life as a werewolf. He is secretive, occasionally shifty, and Gary's friends and family distrust him immediately. After a string of lies and half-truths from Zechariah push he and Gary apart Zech accidentally kills Gary's wife leading to a bloody animosity between the two.
- Accidental Murder: Killing Gary's wife was never part of his plan. After drinking blood from Sergeant Superior, Zechariah temporarily gained his super strength. When Rebecca struck him, Zechariah struck her back in a rage, misjudging his strength, and snapped her neck. This turned Gary into his Arch-Enemy, ruining his hopes of having a powerful elder brood werewolf as an ally.
- Ambition Is Evil: After becoming a vampire and seeing the sad state of the vampire community he resolves to become a hero and make vampires into a powerful force to be reckoned with. Fast forward and now Zech is a ruthless and power hungry manipulative bastard.
- Arch-Enemy: To Gary.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: One of the many ways he's stayed alive this long is by convincing people not to kill him when he's beaten by leveraging his superior knowledge of the supernatural or any other bargaining chips he happens to be holding at the time. It doesn't work as often as he'd like since a lot of people want him dead and have very good reason not to trust him.
- Consummate Liar: Just about everything he tells Gary in the beginning is a lie or a Half-Truth.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: An interesting example because his son is mortal.
- Evil Costume Switch: See Hell-Bent for Leather below.
- Evil Former Friend: He and Gary were never the closest of friends but they shared a quite amicable and beneficial relationship to begin with. Zechariah mentored Gary in the supernatural and helped train him to be a superhero. However, Zechariah didn't reveal he was using Gary's status as a powerful elder brood werewolf to dissuade the many people trying to kill him from making a move, essentially using him as an unknowing bodyguard. Eventually Zechariah's lie and secrets cause Gary to lose faith in him and push him away. Things might've ended there if Zechariah hadn't tried to convince Rebecca to get Gary to let him back in. When she refused and struck him, he retaliated with unintentionally deadly force, turning Gary into yet another person trying to kill him and trapping the pair in a Cycle of Revenge.
- Faking the Dead: When Jacobson and his pack show up seeking revenge, Gary rips Zechariah's head off. This is enough to convince Jacobson that his daughter's death has been avenged. However, it was all a ploy by Gary and Zechariah to get the werewolves to leave them alone with Zechariah reforming shortly afterwards.
- Functional Addict: In comparison to most vampires who are Addled Addicts desperate for the next fix of blood, Zechariah is very well put together. However, he still needs to feed and even he has moments of weakness, such as feeding on Rebecca after he accidently killed her.
- Half-Truth: Chock full of 'em.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: His primary outfit.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: He repeatedly got away with his crimes until he was finally killed by the Elder.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Loves to use them.
- Kingpin in His Gym: With Chloe and their swords
- Never My Fault: He teaches Gary that he isn't responsible for anyone who dies whilst he's in a moon rage, telling him that any deaths that happen while Gary is a werewolf should be blamed on the curse, not Gary. This is clearly a lie Zechariah has taught himself to believe too, since he claims his murder of Jacobson's daughter and Rebecca's death weren't really his fault and was just because his own curse was in control. How much that's true is an Ambiguous Situation but given Zechariah is a Consummate Liar it seems likely he had far more control over his actions than he's pretends.
- Nominal Hero: When he first became a vampire he quenched his thirst for blood by hunting down and killing thieves, rapists and murderers. The city viewed him as a guardian angel, but Zechariah never considered himself a hero. He just figured that since he has to kill to survive he might as well go after those who deserved it.
- Offing the Offspring: He offered to turn his son into a vampire in the past but he refused. He later visits his son as an old man dying in the hospital and delivers a Mercy Kill on him.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Subverted somewhat. He claims vampire fiction is surprisingly accurate in outlining their weaknesses and he even has some of the more lesser used powers like being able to turn into a bat and mist. However, he doesn't need to be invited in to enter a domain, which makes him very dangerous since he can appear pretty much anywhere. Also, stakes through the heart won't kill him. However, staking a vampire can anchor them to the earth, leaving them trapped and unable to flee when the sun rises at dawn.
- Really 700 Years Old: Lampshaded. Zech asks Gary how old he thinks he is and Gary guesses "I don't know...what, a thousand?". Zech then bemoans how the mystique of vampires has vanished due to representations in the media.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Red and frightening.
- Start of Darkness: He was always manipulative and sketchy, but he only descends into actual legitimate villainy after accidentally killing Rebecca and trapping him and Gary into a Cycle of Revenge.
- Visionary Villain: He was thrilled to become a vampire until he learnt that they're all disorganised junkies focused solely on their next meal of blood. He managed to transform himself into a Functional Addict and began working on plans to build a secret vampire nation, a powerful cabal of the undead manipulating the course of human history from the shadows.
- Possibly subverted. Despite being alive for many years, Zechariah doesn't seem any closer to completing his goal than when he started. He makes some effort to gather superpowered vampiric minions by turning the Actioneers but otherwise he mainly focuses on avoiding being killed by the many people that want him dead or trying to kill them first. Over time it seems very much like Zechariah's grand plan was a lie he told himself he'd be able to achieve to justify his continued existence.
- Would Hurt a Child: He once killed and sucked the blood of a werewolf child which caused her father, Jacobson, and his pack to hunt him and Gary.
The Elder Brood
The Elder Brood
An ancient and extremely powerful werewolf. Being an 'elder' he (like Gary) has a specific strain of lycanthropy that makes him much stronger than lesser werewolves. He is the one who made Gary into a werewolf and when Gary comes to him for advice on how to kill a vampire The Elder trains him.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He became the head of the werewolves only after he killed the rest of the elder ruling class.
- Death Seeker: The whole reason he turned Gary into a werewolf was because he would be worthy enough to kill and replace him.
- Evil Counterpart: Sort of to Gary.
- Large and in Charge: He's twice as big as a normal werewolf, and twice as beastly.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's incredibly strong yet incredibly fast.
- My Greatest Failure: How he views his murder of the Council of Elders and leadership of the werewolves in the past.
- Treacherous Advisor: Again To Gary.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Immediately after being made into a werewolf he slaughtered the rest of the elders and took charge of the werewolf community.
Jacobson
Jacobson
Leader of a pack of werewolves, hunting Zechariah for the murder of his child.
- Blind Obedience: As a lesser werewolf, he and his pack are essentially willing slaves to the commands of the Elder.
- Just Following Orders: Despite being indebuted to Wolf-Man, Jacobson is blindly obedient to the Elder and when he is commanded to lead his pack to attack the Hampton Estate to kill Wolf-Man and all his allies, he does so without question.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Jacobson's daughter was just a child when she was drained by Zechariah.
- Revenge: Hunts Zechariah for murdering his daughter.
The Actioneers
In General
A crime-fighting team operating in New York who run into Wolf-Man during his early days as a crime fighter.
- Addled Addict: Like the majority of the vampire community. After being turned into vampires their Horror Hunger pushes these once virtuous heroes to become little more than Zechariah's minions, dependant on him to secure them blood.
- Leave Him to Me!: Despite knowing that Wolf-Man murdered Sergeant Superior, they keep the information to themselves so they'll get to be the ones that take him down to get revenge.
- Reforged into a Minion: All of them - with the exception of Mecha-Maid since she isn't human - are killed and transformed into vampire minions by Zechariah.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: The Actioneers develop a personal vendetta against Wolf-Man, which is understandable since they know he murdered Sergeant Superior.
Kinetic
Kinetic
A superhero who can harness kinetic energy.
- The Leader: Is the leading force of the Actioneers and is sometimes referred to as "Boss Lady" by the others.
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Moral Event Horizon: Nearly crosses hers when she tries to kill Wolf-Man. It's notable since the rest of the Actioneers are quite disturbed by her actions and it seems quite out-of-character for her.
Code Blue
Cade / Code Blue
An agent from an alternate dimension that exists on different vibrational frequencies.
- The Chosen One: He's unaware of it but back in his home dimension, a coalition of Blues and Reds working to end the war, sent him to the source world to incubate his powers. Their visions have told them that one day Cade's powers will be the key to saving both their worlds.
- The Lancer: His more laid-back personality has him serve this role to the more serious Kinetic on the team.
- Sole Survivor: Subverted. He was tricked by a clever ploy into believing his people - the Blues - were completely wiped out by their bitter enemies, the Reds, back in his home dimension.
Minotaur
Minotaur
A superhero with super strength.
- The Big Guy: His role in the Actioneers.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Whilst we only see the aftermath of the fight, it seems Zechariah and Sergeant Superior used Minotaur's own axe to kill him in their fight before turning him into a vampire.
Mecha-Maid
Pamela / Mecha-Maid
A robot superhero.
- Artificial Family Member: She created a partitioned sub-drive within her system based on her own programming. This manifests as a seperate AI called Elise who is Mecha-Maid's daughter in every sense except the biological. Unfortunately, Elise's AI is sentient enough to live in fear of the times she has to be deactivated whilst her mother is doing superheroics, causing Mecha-Maid immense guilt.
- Family of Choice: Being a robot, she has no biological family but considers the Actioneers the closest thing to one. Which makes their conversion into vampires all the more difficult for her.
- My Beloved Smother: Her body houses the programming of her virtual daughter and whilst she loves her she has the ability to deactivate her whenever she feels like it and control how she interacts with the outside world. When she learns that Elise is unhappy with the arrangement and wants to be a seperate entity, Mecha-Maid becomes very defensive and acts like a mother refusing to let go of her growing child.
- The Smart Guy: Her role in the Actioneers. She's advanced enough to reprogram a supervillain's battle armor during combat so he'll be trapped inside and walk himself to the police station.
- Sole Survivor: When the vampiric Sergeant Superior lures the rest of the Actioneers into Zechariah's trap, Mecha-Maid is the only one to avoid getting turned into a vampire since she isn't human.
Sergeant Superior
Sergeant Superior
A superhero with the power of flight.
- The Heart: Given his friendliness and willingness to accept Wolf-Man he seems to have served this purpose for the Actioneers. After his death they become a lot more ruthless, willing to withhold information from the authorities to go after Wolf-Man alone and Kinetic is nearly pushed to murder.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Killed when Gary is in a moon-rage to show how dangerous his transformation can be on the first night of a full moon. Although it's somewhat subverted by Zechariah saving him by turning him into a vampire.
Law Enforcement
Hunter
Hunter, formerly Agent Invincible
A superpowered government agent sent to hunt down Wolf-Man.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Gets ripped in half frequently. It's inconvenient for him but so long as his upper half can find his bottom half, he'll be fine.
- Inspector Javert: Is hunting Wolf-Man whom he believes to be a murderer.
- One-Steve Limit: In-universe, he used to be nicknamed "Agent Invincible", until a certain superhero started using the name instead. Now he goes by Hunter.
- Pulling Themselves Together: He can suffer any wound and pull the pieces back together afterwards, making him a pretty relentless hunter.
