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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anarky_vol_2_no_1_5463.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin His name is his goal!]]"]]
3
4->''"I'm against anything that's against people! Cruelty -- brutality -- exploitation... These are the enemies of the people -- The enemies of Anarky!"''
5-->-- Anarky dialogue by '''Alan Grant''', ''The Shadow of the Bat'' #17, October 1993.
6
7Anarky is a fictional character appearing in books published by Creator/DCComics. Co-created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, he first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #608 (November 1989), as an adversary of Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}. Introduced as Lonnie Machin, a child prodigy with knowledge of radical philosophy and driven to overthrow governments to improve social conditions, stories revolving around Anarky often focus on political and philosophical themes.
8
9Originally, the character was portrayed with socialist, left-leaning views, but after Grant's own viewpoint shifted to reflect the influence of Frank R. Wallace's Neo-Tech philosophy, an offshoot of Creator/AynRand's UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}}, the character Anarky essentially shifted towards free market libertarianism. Which is funny if you consider that Rand did not like anarchism, and found the idea of combining anarchism with capitalism to be appalling. The feeling is mutual for anarchists (a communist philosophy), who despise libertarians and Rand.
10
11Anarky is sometimes seen as an {{Expy}} of V from ''Comicbook/VForVendetta'', and that comic was seen on Anarky's bookshelf as a homage. Anarky is sometimes portrayed as a hero in his own right, just with an approach that drastically differs from Batman's, while some portrayals, such as the animated series ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'', depict him as a villain. None the less, some critics had favorable responses to the original series' political/philosophical approach, with Roderick Long, an anarchist/libertarian political commentator and Senior Scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, calling the comics "an impressive voice for liberty in today's comics". Conversely, Long criticized comics which depicted Anarky as a villain, stating that the original depiction of the character was much more interesting and casting Anarky as a villain made him less interesting.
12
13An Anarky was introduced to ComicBook/{{New 52}} in the ''ComicBook/GreenLantern Corps'' ''ComicBook/BatmanZeroYear'' crossover issue. The New 52 Lonnie Machen made his debut in the ''Detective Comics'' story arc "Anarky". [[spoiler: Although he's not the Anarky in that story.]]
14
15[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
16* ''Anarky'' (Vol.1, 1997) - Comprising the entire "Metamorphosis" story arc, this 1997 limited series was retroactively labeled the "first volume" following its continuation in 1999.
17* ''Anarky'' (Vol.2, 1999) - Anarky relocates to UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC to wage war against the United States government, in a financially and critically unsuccessful ongoing series published in 1999.
18* ''Batman: Anarky'' - A trade paperback collecting four stories featuring Anarky in various "Batman" related comics between 1989 and 1997.
19
20[[AC:[[StoryArc Story Arcs]]]]
21* "Anarky in Gotham City": Anarky's debut appearance in ''Detective Comics'', in which Anarky begins a campaign of revolt in Gotham City.
22* "Anarky": Batman and Anarky battle a terrorist Lonnie Machin has mistakenly funded, revealing Anarky's origin story in a two-part ''Shadow of the Bat'' story arc.
23* "Metamorphosis": Anarky attempts to "deprogram" humanity of all social constraints in a four-part limited series, revamping Anarky with new abilities and philosophy.
24* "The Sins of the Father": Anarky seeks the truth of his parentage and learns [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] may be his father in this controversial final issue of the ongoing ''Anarky'' series.
25* "Search For a Hero": Robin faces a mysterious figure who promotes gang warfare in Batman's absence. The final story arc of ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'' reintroduces Lonnie Machin as "Moneyspider" after several years of obscurity.
26* "Anarky": First appearance of the Comicbook/{{New 52}} Anarky in ''Detective Comics'' vol 2.
27* "Utopia": Lonnie Machin's first appearance as Anarky in the ComicBook/DCRebirth era.
28
29[[AC:{{Live Action Television}}]]
30* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Anarky appears in Season 4 as major recurring villain, more interested in spreading [[AdaptationalVillainy chaos than philosophy]]. He tries to join HIVE but his sloppy chaos only earns him contempt from Damien Darhk, who turns him over to police (he escapes). He spends the rest of the season trying to get revenge on Darhk, while battling Green Arrow and Speedy as well. Since Darhk is a ControlFreak this sets up a battle of OrderVersusChaos between the two. He wears his trademark mask to hide the burns he got from Speedy in their first fight. He is played by Creator/AlexanderCalvert.
31
32[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]
33* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'': Anarky appears as a sidequest villain in this adaptation of the early days of Batman, set in Gotham City on Christmas eve. Anarky and his [[GangOfHats fellow revolutionaries]] place [[BombThrowingAnarchists bombs at corporate and government institutions]], which Batman must deactivate. Simultaneously, Anarky attempts to appeal to Batman for an alliance, as he's a fan of the caped crusader. The use of Anarky for the game is a PragmaticAdaptation of 3, remaining very close to the original incarnation of Anarky, but altering the character slightly. He is voiced by Creator/MatthewMercer.
34
35[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
36* ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'': Anarky appears as one of the main villains of the series, voiced by Creator/WallaceLangham. This version of Anarky diverges from his primary characterization as [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]] anarchist [[AntiVillain anti-villain]] to a [[AdaptationalVillainy shameless]] CardCarryingVillain. A level 1 on the [[SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification scale of adaptation modification]].
37----
38!!''Anarky'' provides examples of the following tropes:
39
40* AdaptationalVillainy: He's gotten this treatment every time he's adapted for other media, probably because having an anarchist hero isn't something that translates well into mainstream culture.
41** ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' dropped his complex philosophy in favor of being a self proclaimed sociopath and aimless terrorist that acts as a stand-in for the Joker.
42** His ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' incarnation was more faithful to the comics, but was still depicted as a violent terrorist. In the comics, most of Anarky's actions were targeted at specific individuals, and although some of his actions put his targets in critical condition, he wasn't a killer and he would avoid collateral damage. In ''Origins'', Anarky plans to blow up buildings connected to what he believes are the root problems of society, and he's unconcerned with who might get hurt in the process. He's also portrayed as somewhat less rational than his comic book counterpart. You probably wouldn't hear the comic Anarky ranting against soft drinks, for example.
43** And again in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', where Lonnie is an AxCrazy sadist who prompts an EvenEvilHasStandards reaction from Season 4's BigBad.
44* AgeLift: In the comics, Lonnie Machin was a 12 year old kid when he became Anarky--which was shortly before a 14-year old Tim Drake assumed the Robin mantle[[note]]a month real time between Anarky's debut in ''Detective Comics'' #608 in November 1989 and Tim donning the Robin costume in ''Batman'' #442 in December of the same year[[/note]]. ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' shows Machin as a teenager during Bruce's second year as Batman, thus making him older than Drake.
45* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted. In ''Metamorphosis'', he is horrified to the point of giving up his big master plan when he is presented with reasonable evidence that anarchy ''will'' lead to chaos and will ultimately resurrect the very governments he is trying to oppose.
46* AntiVillain: Anarky has slid along the [[Analysis/AntiVillain scale of anti-villainy]] over time, starting out initially as a Type III in early incarnations, while a Type IV beginning with ''Anarky'' series. His Type IV status continued in some minor appearances during his period of obscurity and the ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' "Money Spider" era.
47* BadHabits: Anarky's costume was originally designed by Norm Breyfogle, with some minor input from Alan Grant. Grant requested that Anarky appear as a cross between the black spy of ''Spy vs Spy'' fame, and V of ''V for Vendetta''. While you might imagine that these two archetypes would naturally blend to create a [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel fashionably anachronistic]], yet [[BadassLongcoat impressive coat]], or perhaps an [[BadassLongrobe imposing and striking long robe]] augmented with a [[BlackCloak middle-age cloak]] motif, you'd be wrong.
48* BombThrowingAnarchists: A subversion, Anarky goes against the anti-intellectual, ineffectual, or violent stereotypes associated with anti-anarchist propaganda. Sure, he's regularly put against Batman, but he's able to explain his motivations clearly and is often painted as more of an AntiHero who just happens to think violent means are okay against certain targets. He even had his own book for a few issues. As of late, however, in the last few issues of ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}}'', there seems to be a new guy behind the mask who hews closer to this trope, and the actual Anarky is stuck in a technopathic coma seeking revenge. The original author is apparently not pleased with this development.
49** The second Anarky in ''Red Robin'' ([[spoiler: actually Ulysses Armstrong, the EnfantTerrible formerly known as the General]]) does fit the stereotype, much to Lonnie's horror and disgust.
50** Possibly as a TakeThat to more villainous versions of the character, in "Utopia" Lonnie calls this trope "a comic book villain's idea of anarchy".
51* BreakoutCharacter:
52** Only used sparingly by a single author for the first few years of his existence, Anarky was suddenly launched into the big leagues when he was given his own limited series in 1997, and followed it up with a trade paperback and ongoing series in 1999.
53** When Fabian Nicieza was given a mandate to write the concluding storyline for the Robin series, months before it was to be cancelled, he decided to revisit old Robin foes from the comic book's early years. Deciding to give cameos for lesser known Robin foes who Nicieza believed could become breakout characters in their own right, and Anarky in particular. Due to this appearance, Anarky was brought back into publication for the first time in years, and went on to become a recurring character in other stories for Tim Drake written by Nicieza.
54** Anarky's popularity increased in 2013, as he was selected to be one of the main villains of ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'' and got his own sidequest in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins''.
55* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: Anarky gets this at the end of his "Metamorphosis" storyline, where he is confronted with a hallucinatory vision of his successful plan leading to the formal institution of "parasite tests", with failures being ghettoized and left to rot, a state of affairs that promotes MightMakesRight brutality and ruthlessness amongst the imprisoned until the strongest, meanest, most savage individuals are left and these promptly roll out of the ghetto, unleashing such barbarism against the "enlightened" that they end up reverting back to the "old ways" of authority in return for guaranteed safety against them]].
56* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Wears the letter "A", though as part of the "Anarchy-is-order" Circle-A.
57* CanineCompanion: For the ''Anarky'' limited series, Grant decided to give Lonnie a dog, "Yap". Where he came from goes unexplained in-universe, but the dog is useful for when Lonnie needs someone to talk to, and after all, [[HeroesLoveDogs Lonnie has become the hero of the story]]. Of course, Alan did write that Yap was a stray that attached itself to Lonnie after they met on the streets, but you'd have to [[AllThereInTheManual read his intro to the trade paperback]] that collects the ''Anarky'' series to find this single sentence throw-away explanation.
58* CaptainGeographic: Capital Eagle, a USA-flag themed character, and official government mercenary, Alan Grant intended to use in the 1999 ''Anarky'' series.
59* CartoonBomb: Anarky's primary weapon may be his scepter, but his secondary weapons include wick-fused bombs of the stereotypically anarchist sort. His assortment of [[TrickBomb trick bombs]] typically includes [[KnockoutGas gas bombs]] and [[SmokeOut smoke bombs]].
60* ChestInsignia: The circle-a symbol of anarchy, naturally.
61* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Originally written as the single son of a middle class couple, Lonnie's biggest problem in his early stories, in Grant's own words, was his need to hide his activities as Anarky from his parents by sneaking out of his home. Wanting to give the character a greater degree of freedom, Grant wrote a scene that faked Anarky's death, allowing him to callously let his parents believe he was dead. This is presented as an example of Anarky's self-righteousness at first, but becomes a point of shame at the start of the ongoing series. Mandated by editors to remove Anarky from Gotham City at the start of the comic, Grant used the ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' storyline to make them disappear. The search for the missing parents gets derailed when Anarky's investigation suggests he was adopted. As this plot was cut short by the cancellation of the series, the fate of his missing parents remains unknown. While Anarky fell into obscurity for quite a while afterward, Lonnie's never had to worry about his parents since.
62* CorruptPolitician:
63** You would think an anarchist would have more of these to fight. Anarky, however, was created as a Batman antagonist rather than a fully independent character. Thus, he was never proactive in taking down corrupt politicians until he got his own series. Then he catches one trying to sell bio-weapons intelligence to Ra's Al-Ghul.
64** After defeating this guy, he gets a [[VisionaryVillain visionary bureaucrat]] to become his presumptive ArchEnemy, the mysterious Mr. Staines. However, as the series was cancelled soon after Staines is introduced, the character goes unexplored here. Staines was later used by Grant and Breyfogle in another story, ''Batman: Dreamland'', where we learn h's an idealist who believes in creating a brave new world though mass mind control.
65** Other politicians are portrayed as not necessarily corrupt, but in disagreement with him. Nonetheless, they are portrayed with an edge of malevolence betraying their own moral corruption.
66* CostumesChangeYourSize: Anarky is really a thirteen year old boy who wears a costume with a built in head extender to appear as a much taller man in his earliest stories, beginning in 1989. This was originally done to conceal his identity from the reader, with Batman pulling off his mask in "Anarky in Gotham City" to reveal Lonnie peering out from beneath a framework designed to make him look over a head taller. This costume element was eventually dropped by 1997, with the fictional explanation being that the character had grown to fill out the costume. This was in fact clever cover for the reality that the extender was difficult to draw in action scenes. Further, it had only been intended to fool the reader as a red herring in the character's first appearance, but other artists had continued using the extender needlessly, or dropped it on their own, creating confusion as to the costume's official design. Giving a direct explanation to never need the extender again created a uniformity for all artists to follow thereafter.
67* UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks: Anarky was created in 1989, three years after the publication of ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and only ten months after the conclusion of the ''Comicbook/ADeathInTheFamily'' story arc. With a partial inspiration in another Dark Age predecessor, ''V for Vendetta'', Anarky was an early product of the comic book Dark Ages. However, while he was originally intended to conform to the compromised, anti-hero sensibilities of the era, the early decision to not have him kill, and to make him an idealistic, rather than nihilistic figure, was enough to set him on a very different path. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20181215225319/http://www.rzero.com/books/Anarky.html As one reviewer put it]]: "In the age of the anti-hero, it only makes sense to have the occasional anti-villain as well. But unlike sociopathic vigilante anti-heroes like the Punisher, an anti-villain like Anarky provides some interesting food for thought. Sure, he breaks the law, but what he really wants is to save the world ... and maybe he's right."
68* DeadManWriting: In the 1995 ''Shadow of the Bat'' story "Anarky", Lonnie's parents find a letter written by their son in the event of his death. They proceed to read the letter, which acts as narration over the course of the story as Lonnie must stop a terrorist from killing thousands in an explosion. At the climax of the story, Anarky sacrifices himself to save others as his parents conclude the letter. This becomes the last time his parents are seen, as by his next appearance revealing his survival in the ''Anarky'' limited series, he is operating underground and does not reveal that he is alive.
69* DemocracyIsBad: Anarky's made several statements denouncing democracy on the basis that it is compromised and corrupt. A ''Secret Origins'' introduction for Anarky carried "Democracy is the tyranny of the minority!" as its tagline. This is a twist on the classic "tyranny of the majority" phrase. For Anarky, mob rule isn't the problem behind democracy-- oligarchy is.
70* TheDogWasTheMastermind: The debut storyline strongly implies that Mike Machin, Lonnie's father, may be Anarky. The big reveal at the end shows Batman's detective abilities, when he sees through this mistake and catches Lonnie.
71* DoomedHometown: The 1999 ''Anarky'' series begins with this. After Alan Grant was ordered to remove Anarky from Gotham City, Grant was forced by circumstance to find a plausible justification for removing the character from his hometown. His solution was to take advantage of the then-current status-quo: "Batman: No Man's Land." As Gotham City is ravaged by an earthquake, Anarky finds his home destroyed, his parents missing, and is forced out by Batman's verbal threats.
72* ElaborateUndergroundBase: In the 1999 ''Anarky'' series, a new base of operations was needed for Anarky, given that editors insisted Alan Grant remove Lonnie from Gotham City during the events of "No Man's Land". Having established that Anarky had built a teleportation device in the '97 series, Grant explained that Lonnie had secretly excavated a base under the [[LandmarkingTheHiddenBase Washington Monument]].
73* TheEndIsNigh: Lonnie funnels money to several political groups he supports, and mistakenly funds a delusional cult leader who wants to stage a terrorist attack to fulfill his own prophecy of calamity. The cultist decides to waste a chunk of the money on hiring homeless people to be his paid advertisers, complete with "The End is Nigh!" sandwich boards.
74* EnfantTerrible: Averted before the character saw publication. Originally created by Alan Grant to be violent and extremist, the first script for Anarky was quickly toned down when Grant was convinced by Dennis O'Neal that this was a bad idea. Arguments against it included that the portrayal of a child as an unrepentant murderer (Anarky was introduced as only 12-years-old) was morally reprehensible, and that if Grant wanted audience sympathy, non-violence was the way to go. For his part, Grant has said he is now glad he took the advice.
75* ExpressiveMask: While initially created to use an unmoving stage mask that would hide his identity, a golden toned, but flexible mask was used for the 1999 ''Anarky'' series. This would allow for a level of humanization not possible with a creepy, unmoving mask. However, in appearances following the cancellation of the series, Anarky has returned to his inexpressive, metallic mask.
76* {{Expy}}: As noted above, "The Terrorist", V is usually seen as the inspiration for Anarky, but Grant, like V's creator Alan Moore, drew his philosophical approach from his own beliefs. The 12-year-old Lonnie could also hardly be based on a mysterious adult terrorist. In truth, Grant based Lonnie on Chopper, a child [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority graffiti artist/rebel]] from ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'', given Chopper's popular debut just a few years earlier. Anarky even used spray painted circle-a (anarchy) symbols as his calling card, in a nod to Chopper's hobby.
77* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Given that the DC Universe exists as a plausible mirror representation of the real world, so long as an anarchist revolution doesn't take place in reality, Anarky can't overthrow the governments of the DC universe.
78* HackedByAPirate: In his online persona as 'Money Spider', Lonnie leaves a graphic of a spider on the screens of those he has hacked (and whose bank accounts he has usually just emptied).
79* HomemadeInventions: To explain the earliest tools used by Anarky in his first appearance, Alan Grant simply explained that Lonnie had devised his stun baton and trick bombs at his [[EducationThroughPyrotechnics school lab]]. In later appearances, as he continued to escape from his juvenile detention center, there is [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys no explanation for any of his tools]]. In the ''Anarky'' 1997 limited series, it was explained that Anarky had set up a dummy online company for radical literature during the late-'90s "dot-com" bubble. Becoming a dot-com millionaire overnight, he now had the financial resources to support his activity. With his prodigy genius, he simply went about building his new series of anarcho-gadgets in buildings owned under false names.
80* InsultBackfire: The eponymous character confronts PhysicalGod [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] and begins to lecture Darkseid on why everything he does is wrong. Just when he's about to use the E-word, Darkseid cuts him off and proudly finishes the "insult" for him.
81-->'''Darkseid''': Evil? [[CardCarryingVillain Yes. I am.]]
82* FlatEarthAtheist: Following Grant's transition to Neo-Tech, he wanted to use Anarky as a vehicle for rationalism, and atheism as an extension of this. Encountering supernatural demons, Anarky cooly noted that holy water he used against them worked even though he didn't believe in it. He then used a [[WeirdScience crystal battery]] to capture some of their energy, commenting "[[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic science is magic explained]]."
83* GangOfHats: The anarkist gang doubling as a social movement in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' wear hoodies, red armbands and theater masks. Some of them also have the Circle-A symbol on their uniforms.
84* GeniusCripple: In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' he becomes Tim's VoiceWithAnInternetConnection while recovering from being poisoned and temporarily paralyzed.
85* HackedByAPirate: In his online persona as 'Money Spider', he leaves a graphic of a spider on the screens of those he has hacked (and whose bank accounts he has usually just emptied).
86* HatesMySecretIdentity: In ''Batman: Anarchy for All'', Lonnie Machin is a Batman fanboy but loathes Bruce Wayne, whom the teen believes is no different from his chronically absent and emotionally abusive father, a Wayne Enterprises board member. [[spoiler:When Hugo Strange relates his knowledge of Batman's secret identity, Anarky has his second largest breakdown of the book, [[IRejectYouReality unable to accept the very idea]] that his idol and "Gotham's fattest leech" could be one and the same.]]
87* InformedLoner: The ''Anarky'' series. For most of his adventures, Grant did play Lonnie as a straight forward loner. As an antagonist, it wasn't necessary to give him a cast to have dialogue with: dialogue is for protagonists and their plucky sidekicks. Any necessary dialogue for Anarky could be had with his parents telling him to stop plotting to save the world, and get back to cleaning his room and doing his homework. However, for the ''Anarky'' series, Lonnie needed someone to bounce his ideas off of. So he was given an artificially intelligent computer that was very chatty.
88* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: When Grant decided to continue using Anarky, he started to try filling out the back story he failed to give the character initially. One decision he hit on was to portray Lonnie Machin as a bookish loner who lost contact with children his own age because he preferred the company of a good book on philosophy. Said one character on his memory of Lonnie:
89-->'''Walter Kempinski (a bookstore owner who knew Lonnie as a child.)''': Oh, yes, I remember young Lonnie, all right! Sad boy, I always thought. Old before his time. Didn't make friends easily. Spent too much time in places like this [bookstore]. Reading, always reading. Far too serious.
90* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Notably averted. Where originally the character was scripted to be willing to murder in pursuance of his anarchic philosophy, as written he upholds the same moral standards as Franchise/{{Batman}}, which makes for some nice NotSoDifferentRemark interactions.
91* KidHero: The ''Anarky'' series shifts Lonnie into the role of a misunderstood HeroAntagonist. The ''Anarky'' limited series notes he's 15-years-old, while the ongoing series sets his age at 16.
92* LandmarkingTheHiddenBase: After leaving Gotham, Anarky sets up a new base of operations inside the Washington Monument.
93* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler: Though very much against his will. What's worse, the person who kidnapped him and took his persona, Ulysses Armstrong ([[Characters/Robin1993 The General]]), is about as far from Machin's philosophy as possible and is just a violent psychopath looking to use his image to fight Robin. Lonnie is noticeably displeased]].
94** In the New 52/Rebirth continuity, Lonnie is himself the second Anarky, having taken the mantle from Samuel Young, a corrupt city councilman who masterminded the Anarky riots in order to cover up his attempted murder of the Mad Hatter as revenge for the Hatter killing his sister.
95** The ''Robins'' miniseries features the Sons of Anarky, a cult of BombThrowingAnarchists who Lonnie has nothing to do with and points out has misunderstood his philosophy completely. [[spoiler: And who are actually being mind-controlled by the actual BigBad of the miniseries who, like the General, couldn't care less about Anarky's philosophy or any other kind of anarchy, and is just using a symbol associated with "Robin villain".]]
96* LetsYouAndHimFight: a strategy employed by Anarky twice during the ''Knightfall'' story line. Recognizing his limitations, Anarky chooses not to engage with a gang too dangerous to fight and instead sends out a signal flare for Batman. When Batman sees it and approaches, Anarky throws a gas bomb at the gang to get them firing their guns at their approaching attacker, who they mistake to be Batman. Thinking a good trick will work twice, Anarky then pulls it off again to pit Batman against Scarecrow, and waits for the dust to settle so he can take them both down.
97* LookWhatICanDoNow: As a child vigilante, Anarky was no physical threat to anybody, so his early activity involved no fighting. He just used dangerous weapons like gas attacks and stun batons to attack others. However, for the 1997 ''Anarky'' limited series, Grant decided that as a teenager, it was finally time to give him some fighting skills. Anarky's described as exercising and training for hours each day, and trains hard enough to create a hybrid fighting style based on several techniques. Grant may have gone a little overboard though. This training takes place between Batman's last encounter with him, so in the showdown with Batman, Anarky surprises him with by holding his own in hand-to-hand combat. Of course, Batman still has more physical power and experience, and prevails on those strengths.
98* LukeYouAreMyFather: Averted, and so the Joker isn't Anarky's father, thanks to [[ExecutiveMeddling input from Dennis O'Neal]].
99* MissionControl: Acts as this for Tim Drake after Tim lost the Robin mantle and became ComicBook/RedRobin.
100* MuggingTheMonster: In ''The Shadow of the Bat'' No. 16 (September 1993), Lonnie escapes from a juvenile detention center and flees into the shadows of an alley. Followed by a pair of knife-welding punks who demand his cash, he emerges from the shadows as Anarky and responds with his tazer-scepter.
101* NoFaceUnderTheMask: Anarky's first encounter with Batman. Batman pulls off the mask, revealing the head-extender beneath. A brief clue that the person under the mask is a child.
102* OffstageVillainy: Used in Anarky's depiction for "The Last Batman Story." Before Grant firmly decided that Anarky should not kill, he dabbled with the idea in an alter-world future, where Anarky was much more violent and murderous, in a style consistent with Grant's original intentions for the character. This was only described in dialogue, meaning any killing Anarky did was purely a ''past-tense'' affair. Otherwise, he was rather non-violent in the actual story.
103* TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn: Throughout Grant's early work on Anarky, the character took a messianic tone to justify his behavior. When Grant underwent a shift in thought, he wrote the ''Anarky'' limited series to present a new message: ends don't justify the means, and "revolutionary ''leaders''" are not revolutionary. The story ends with Anarky learning that he can't force change, but that he can help people choose it. However, this trope applies to Anarky, rather than the people he seeks to convince: he himself couldn't have learned this lesson without the events of the story.
104* PowderKegCrowd: When Anarky encounters a gathered group of homeless men outside of a construction yard that was once their tent city, but is now in the process of being turned into a bank, the men are passing around bottles of booze to drive off the cold. None have any idea what to do next or where to go. The only thing they still have left is each other. However, it only takes one RousingSpeech from Anarky and his lead in hotwiring a forklift, which he crashes into the scaffolding, to turn the crowd in mourning into a full-scale rioting mob.
105* ReedRichardsIsUseless: An attempted subversion, Alan Grant has been known to make the criticism of superhero geniuses who use their intelligence to fight crime rather than cure cancer. In the Anarky limited and ongoing series, Grant presented Anarky as using his intelligence with greater focus on the long-term consequences of his goals. Rather than fight crime, he wants to save the world. However, Anarky is still shown using incredible high-technology at times for mundane purposes, such as building a device capable of generating wormholes though time and space, only to use it as a simple mode of transportation, and then sometimes not even consistently, as he still has a motorcycle.
106** Subverted in the Anarky limited series, when Anarky's mad-scientist doomsday machine liberates the minds of humanity, creating a world where Mr. Freeze's technology is used to advance space exploration and Poison Ivy's botanical knowledge is used to help find a cure for cancer. When Batman confronts Anarky, Lonnie's dressed in casual clothes and tells Batman to cut out the costumed superheroics, dismissing them as redundant. Since StatusQuoIsGod, this brave new world was revealed to be a [[AllJustADream hallucination]].
107* ReflectiveEyes: A unique effect sometimes used for Anarky's metallic mask, allowing the audience to see the emotion of someone Anarky is looking at reflected on Anarky's own face.
108* ShoutOut: In an effort to provide some kind of citation for his ideas, Grant decided to include numerous literary references in his stories with Anarky. However, these weren't put in captions or dialogue. Rather they appeared as the books themselves sitting on bookshelves in Lonnie's room or in his hands as he read them. Books in Lonnie's room included anarchist literature, or just carried the names of anarchists. ''V for Vendetta'' and the British anarchist magazine ''Black Flag'' both appeared in one story.
109** Several [[LiteraryAllusionTitle titles referenced books]]. Some are of obvious radical bent, such as "Economics of the Madhouse", but other titles such as ''War and Peace'' are not specifically anarchist related (although the author, Leo Tolstoy, is seen today as a contributor to Christian anarchist philosophy.)
110** [[TitledAfterTheSong Song titles]] were occasionally referenced as well, such as "[[Music/TheBeatles Revolution]] [[Music/TheWhiteAlbum No.9]]" and "[[Music/SexPistols Anarchy in the UK]]", which was cleverly changed to "Anarky in Gotham City" and "Anarky in the USA", by Grant and James Peatti, respectively.
111* SocialCircleFiller: In Lonnie's debut story, he briefly appears at school, talking to two schoolmates and politely rejecting an offer to hang out. As Lonnie will be arrested in the juvenile correction system by the end of the story, we won't see them again soon. This is compounded however, when Grant soon decided not to give Lonnie any friends, and to retroactively give Lonnie a FriendlessBackground to underscore the character's dedication to his cause by sacrificing his social life.
112* StaticStunGun: Anarky's primary weapon is a scepter[=/=]staff, which aside from being a melee weapon, is also a disguised taser. In the Anarky series, it was given other functions, such as having a built in grappling hook. As stated above, Anarky's originally lethal portrayal meant the weapon would kill those who were zapped by it. However, when Anarky was made a non-lethal character, the scepter instead just knocked out its victims. Portrayals varied depending on who was writing the story, but the aftermath of the victim could, at the low end of the spectrum, simply be knocked out and wake up later. Others may need to be hospitalized. One of the most graphically portrayed victims was in the ''Green Arrow'' story "Anarky in the USA". When Anarky turns his attack on full strength, the victim is left smoldering and is severely bleeding from the mouth. The story also tried to upgrade Anarky's scepter into a ranged weapon. By throwing it, the scepter became an electrical grenade. It could then be magnetically retrieved remotely by an [[SelectiveMagnetism electrical charge in Anarky's glove]].
113* StreetUrchin: Roach, a recurring character created for the 1999 "Anarky" ongoing series was a streetwise girl who lived among the other homeless of Washington DC. Given the short duration of the series, she wasn't used as often as Grant or Breyfogle wanted. She was to be included in two issues that went unpublished.
114* TechnicalPacifist: Primarily in the 1997 limited series and followed up in the 1999 ongoing. Initially presented as a more violent character in early years, Anarky was toned down for the series when Grant decided that a non-aggression principal was the most logical path an anti-authoritarian could walk. While not the final word on anarchist philosophy and the ethics of violence and revolution, this meant that Anarky used his fighting skills to fight off attacks, while instead using sabotage to undo an enemy's plans.
115* ThickerThanWater: When Mike discovers that his son's an anarchist vigilante and is confronted by Batman, he doesn't hesitate to hide his boy and claim to be Anarky himself in a futile bid to take the fall for Lonnie.
116** Averted in the storyline "Anarky", in which we see both parents are frustrated with trying to raise their son and wish he would be normal.
117** Averted when Lonnie confronts the Joker to find out if they are related. Mr. J immediately denies everything, then holds Anarky hostage in the middle of a breakout from Arkham Asylum. When push comes to shove, Joker doesn't hold back from shooting Lonnie in the chest. Luckily, [[BulletproofVest superhero bulletproof vests]] are able to take a point-blank blast from a shotgun with no real harm done.
118* TrashcanBonfire: Nearly every time Anarky encounters the homeless people of Gotham City to recruit them to his cause, they have one of these burning.
119* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Anarky attempts to reveal the truth of the world to the citizens of Gotham City through a ray powered by crystals containing partial life forces of good and evil beings. This leads to [[spoiler: parasitic "Enemies of the People" being separated from the producers of the city via a test that determines whether you are a contributor of worth or practice deceit and force, contribute nothing and take from those that have earned what they possess. Since the Ventriloquist's dummy, Scarface, is a manifestation of dissociative identity disorder, he's not affected by the rays and eventually stages a coup. It's eventually revealed that all of this was a dream, and]] Anarky realizing that Batman was right when he suggested that this may be PlayingGod (which would be against Anarky's philosophy) and a bad idea.
120* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: During the 1999 Anarky ongoing series, Anarky gains a sidekick in the form of an artificial intelligence named "MAX" (Multi-Augmented X-program) that acts as this.
121** During Fabian's work with the character, Anarky was paralyzed and his mind was given an internet connection, thus reducing him to this for Tim Drake.
122* WarIsHell: Anti-militarism was an occasional theme in Anarky's stories. The point is driven home in ''Anarky'' No. 7, when Anarky witnesses a pointless war between zombies resurrected from Arlington National Cemetery. The zombies rise up against the current US government, seeing its behavior as a betrayal of the principals they died for. Seeing the zombies reenact the battles that got them killed in the first place, Anarky refuses to participate and abandons the battlefield.
123* WellIntentionedExtremist: In any normal comic, someone trying to destroy every government on the planet would be the bad guy. Anarky, however, is doing it to free the people, and holds himself to a high moral and idealistic standard while he's doing it.
124* WriterOnBoard: Anarky exists to be a vehicle for his creator Alan Grant's political views. This is why Anarky's ideology abruptly shifted from libertarian socialist to Neo-Tech between appearances (matching Grant's own conversion) and why few other writers use him.
125** Kevin Dooley used Anarky as a mouthpiece for his views on gun control.
126** James Peatty, who used Anarky as a foil for his critique of Green Arrow, a character most people consider radical. Presenting Anarky side-by-side with the jade archer showed just how moderate the aging, so-called "radical" has become.
127** Grant's 1997 Anarky miniseries is essentially a four-issue-long AuthorFilibuster, delivered via Anarky's InnerMonologue, long philosophical debates with Batman, [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], and ComicBook/{{Etrigan}}, and occasional pauses in the action to allow Anarky to [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]] to [[CharacterFilibuster lecture the reader directly]] on his alternative view of human history and development.

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