Elder #1: "We will use Appleseed. The bioroids will then create a new species. And then man will be eradicated from the planet."
Deunan Knute: "So you used us. You used me! I was simply the bait to get Briareos to do what you wanted. It was all to force Gaia into making this decision. You manipulated Gaia!"
Deunan Knute: "So you used us. You used me! I was simply the bait to get Briareos to do what you wanted. It was all to force Gaia into making this decision. You manipulated Gaia!"
— Appleseed (2004)
Throughout several different timelines and continuities, couple Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires have dealt with all sorts of terrorists and criminals in order to preserve the utopian city of Olympus. These are the smartest, most well-intentioned opponents they've come across.
Works ordered by release date.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
- Book 3: The Scales of Prometheus: Artemis Alpeia is a feral bioroid who, despite her savage brutality, displays quick thinking skills and acrobatic agility. Escaping from Olympus and hiding in New York, where she ate humans and dogs to survive, Artemis escapes ESWAT once they capture her, and makes a daring getaway, even shooting Briareos in the eye to stall him. Found afterwards residing in a jungle on the outskirts of Olympus, Artemis installed traps everywhere to protect herself from ESWAT members out to get her, killing one of them herself with a poison arrow. Although apprehended by ESWAT, Artemis is allowed to live in Olympus thanks to her all-important coding, happily residing with Hitomi and even giving birth to triplets of her own.
- 1988 OVA: Charon Mautholos is a cop haunted by the death of his wife Fleia. After witnessing Fleia commit suicide thanks to feeling confined within Olympus’s utopian grip, Charon is taken in by a group of bioroid interrogators and hooked up to a mind reading machine against his will. Feeling violated and enraged towards Olympus as a result, Charon partners with terrorist A.J. Sebastian to destroy the city in a genuine effort to ensure humanity's freedom. Using his position and good reputation within the force to allow Sebastian to get away with his crimes, when the plan requires Charon to kidnap the bioroid Hitomi in order to shut down the Gaia supercomputer, Charon does so effortlessly, even killing the cops trailing him in one fell swoop. Charon ultimately dies ensuring Hitomi properly makes it to the last computer terminal, using his final breath to trick her into deactivating Gaia and ensuring Olympus's destruction.
- Anime movie duology:
- 2004 film: The Council of Elders are a faction of seven old men running Olympus who take orders from the supercomputer Gaia. In truth, the Elders have deactivated Gaia to accomplish their plans of spreading human sterilization so that humanity can die out for the greater good, and despite their life support being tied to Gaia, they're willing to die for the sake of their plan. Needing the Appleseed in order for bioroids to become the world’s dominant race, the Elders murder Dr. Gilliam Knute for hiding it from them, while manipulating her daughter Deunan into locating it. Seeking to spread the D-Tank sterilization virus, the Elders allow the city's racist army to commence their bioroid genocide campaign in order to anger Gaia enough to justify unleashing the virus. Once Prime Minister Athena shuts their plan down, the Elders activate the city’s mobile defense mechas to unleash the virus themselves.
- Ex Machina (2007): Dr. Richard F. Kestner is a scientist who wants to wipe out free will and unify every mind under his control in order to create the perfect utopia. Previously a member of the Poseidon Halcon Laboratories who discovered the key to mind control, after his partner Professor Xander was killed by Poseidon to cease the project, an enraged Kestner would revive Xander as the main AI for the Halcon mainframe. Using nanomachines to take control of several Poseidon cyborgs into launching terrorist attacks as a way to destroy the company’s business, Kestner would instigate an attack at a peace summit in order to get every world leader to reroute their satellites over Olympus. Planting a virus in the satellites' backup system that will allow him to control it to his liking, Kestner implants nanomachines in an injured Briareos, using him to cause the main satellite’s system to crash and swap with the backup system. Ultimately using the backup satellites to control everybody wearing a Connexus into starting a massive riot to cull out non-conformers, after Kestner explains his plan to Briareos, he commits suicide so that the incoming ESWAT will arrest Briareos again.
- XIII:
- Dhianeira "Deia" Cides, daughter of Poseidon's prime minister, is Hitomi's friend and a helpful bioroid researcher. In truth an anti-bioroid terrorist, Deia seeks the downfall of Olympus and Poseidon for killing her husband Alcides and her unborn child. Looking to sabotage the Ark Project by killing all ten chosen bioroid subjects for sharing the same DNA as Alcides, Deia succeeds in killing them all through either clever manipulation, tactical destruction, or by putting on a trustworthy demeanor. Deia later kidnaps Deunan and wires her heartrate to a bomb set to destroy Olympus, all as a way to see if her teammates value her as a person or an asset to be tossed away. Eventually realizing that she herself is being used by the Poseidon government after they crowned her Goodwill Ambassador, Deia is able to kill those manipulating her and eventually commit suicide to escape Poseidon's command, but not before seeing the error of her anti-bioroid ways.
- "The Cretan Bull": Erinyes is a mysterious apparition who seeks revenge on those who destroyed her once peaceful village. Having been the first one used for a bio-weapon experiment by a cabal of corrupt politicians, Erinyes’s spirit would infect them with their own virus, which turns them into blood thirsty zombies. Allowing everyone else in the facility to become infected, including her new friend Deunan, once Erinyes's revenge has been completed, she decides to commit suicide after finding herself stooping to her enemies' level, but not before parting Deunan with words of wisdom. Though the politicians are cured, Erinyes's actions spark interest in her daughter, Eumenides, to expose the politicians of their corruption.
- Alpha (2014): Two Horns is an jovial, cybernetic crime boss who's always ready with a wisecrack even in the face of danger. Having gotten Deunan and Briareos into enough debt to work for him, while even attempting to have them killed during their final job, Two Horns survives an assassination attempt by his old partner Talos, seeking afterwards to get back at Deunan and Briareos for bailing on him. Partnering with Deunan and Briareos because he grew tired of Talos humiliating him, Two Horns saves the two's lives when they're cornered by Talos’s army, even providing Deunan with an exo-suit. Getting Deunan inside Talos's activated war machine and thus assisting in its destruction, Two Horns thanks Deunan and Briareos by giving them an improved exo-suit, while letting them off scott free in the process.
