Wolf is a villain in the animated series Gargoyles. He was a particularly vicious and arrogant member of martial artist turned super-villain team known as The Pack. He was prone to holding grudges against others, harbored an obsessive desire to defeat and murder Goliath, and consistently tried becoming leader of his team instead of Coyote, whom he greatly disliked.
He was voiced by veteran voice actor Clancy Brown who also voiced several other villains, including The Kurgan in Highlander, Lex Luthor (DC Animated Universe) in Superman: The Animated Series, James McCullen in G.I. Joe: Renegades, Dr. Neo Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot videogame franchise, and Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.
Personality
Wolf was characterized by his excessive pride, arrogance, lust for combat and volatile behavior, both towards his enemies as well as his allies, especially towards the robot Coyote over leadership of The Pack. He joined alongside other fighters to form The Pack as a means to gain fame and fortune, things that he was easily satisfied with. He at least took his fictional "heroic" persona seriously, such as when he covered for The Pack during their first fight against the Manhattan Clan, pretending to an onlooking family that the gargoyles were monsters sent by their sworn enemies "the Evil Ninjas", even picking up the family's two children and carrying them to their parents. However, Wolf became dissatisfied and downright bored over the lack of any real challenge and as such became immediately obsessed with defeating the gargoyles on account of their superior physical strength.
History
Wolf is a descendent of Hakon, the viking lord from around 994 A.D., who's army attacked Castle Wyvern in Scotland, home of Goliath and his clan, whom the massacred while in their stone forms. Wolf was a mercenary before being recruited into The Pack by Fox, unknowingly so under orders by David Xanatos.
Thrill of the Hunt
Wolf, alongside the rest of his teammates first appeared as the stars of the eponymous The Pack television series, where they showed off their athletic skills by fighting ninjas and evading "deadly traps". He joined the team for the promise of fame, fortune and action, and although he was satisfied with the attention he received, as well as the half-million dollar salary, Wolf became bored do to the lack of any real physical challenge, namely to hunt down a dangerous enemy. The team's leader, Fox informs the rest of The Pack of the existence of flying monsters living in New York City, having been sent an anonymous envelope with pictures of said creatures. Later that evening, after hosting a live demonstration of their skills in Madison Square Garden, The Pack is visited by the diminutive gargoyle Lexington, who was a fan of theirs and sought to make allies of them for his clan. Both Wolf and Fox were able to win the gargoyles trust, asking him to bring more of his clan over to meet them.
Having brought the Manhattan Clan's leader along with him, Lexington and Goliath are both ambushed by The Pack. The two gargoyles manage to evade every trap set for them and escape onto the city's rooftops. Jackal electrocutes the them, causing the two gargoyles to land into an alley-way where they are noticed by a family. Using his acting skills, Wolf convinces the family to stay away from the gargoyles, calling them monsters sent by evil ninjas. Goliath outmaneuvers Wolf and knocks Hyena and Jackal away using a fire hydrant. The two gargoyles escape up a building using a fire-escape, but are pursued by the Pack. Up o the roof Goliath and Lexington hide among the various grotesque statues, slowly picking the Pack's members: Hyena and Dingo. Wolf tried convincing Jackal to fight but the latter panicked and ran-off, subsequently getting ambushed by Goliath. Finally, Goliath grabs Fox and Wolf, but breaks though a wall and crashes into a photo-studio bellow. Fox holds a woman hostage but is tackled by Lexington. Ultimately, Wolf tries taking on Goliath, but the gargoyle proves yet again more then a match, ending their fight by tossing Wolf into a pair of trash cans, leaving him unconscious. Soon after The Pack is arrested for reckless endangerment.
Leader of the Pack
The Pack are held in Rikers Island Prison, Wolf having been placed in the same room with Jackal and passing the time by doing one armed push-ups. The Pack manage an escape after Xanatos' body-double, the robot Coyote, breaks into prison and leads them outside. At first skeptical, Wolf becomes impressed with Coyote after the robot pulls the metal gates of the courtyard and throws them into the guards. Coyote summons his escape vehicle and escapes with the Pack, minus Fox who chose to stay behind. While on board the craft Wolf gets into a scuffle with Coyote over leadership of The Pack. Coyote defeats Wolf with relative ease and incapacitates him using knockout-gas. Coyote posses as David Xanatos and convinces The Pack to join him on a revenge plan against the Manhattan Clan, equipping them in the process. Wolf ultimately agrees to follow Coyote as leader.
Three of the Manhattan Clan's members: Lexington, Brooklyn and Bronx arrive at the studio where The Pack TV show used to be shot and it is their that The Pack set up an ambush, facing the gargoyles head on. At first Lexington is able to beat Wolf single-handed, but is knocked-out thanks to Coyote's vertigo inducing gun. The three gargoyles are then held hostage as bait in order to attract the rest. The Pack have a final confrontation with the Manhattan Clan on board an oil-tanker during which Wolf is knocked to the ground twice by Broadway, has Dingo thrown into him by Hudson and is then himself grappled and tossed aside by the elderly gargoyle. Soon as the oil-tanker began bursting into flames The Pack, minus a destroyed Coyote, make their escape using their newly acquired aircraft with Wolf piloting it. The Manhattan Clan also managed to escape and Coyote's dismembered head blasts off into the air.
Upgrade
The Pack eventually return roughly two months later, now as full-fledged bank robbers, still operating in New York, and with Wolf having become the de facto leader. Their attempts to rob a bank is thwarted yet again by the intervention of the Manhattan Clan, with Wolf fighting the gargoyle Brooklyn one-on-one only to be tossed aside by Goliath. The Pack only manages to escape thanks to Dingo having incapacitated Goliath with the use of a electric grenade. While flying above the city the Pack are liking their wounds, Wolf's anger further escalades as he believes the Pack should have staid and fought. Just then, The Pack are visited by Coyote, now just hovering head, who offers the Pack another chance at defeating the gargoyles. Both Jackal and Wolf reject the offer, with Wolf preparing to throw him out into the ocean, but is stopped by Dingo. Coyote goes on and offers them the chance to augment their skills through the use of either genetic engineering, cybernetic prosthesis, cybernetic battle armor or even robotics. The Pack accept his offer, but Wolf is curious as to why Xanatos didn't come to make the offer himself. Coyote replies by saying "Mr. Xanatos is a very busy man!"
One month later The Pack have augmented themselves: Jackal and Hyena have had cybernetic limbs grafted onto themselves, Dingo wears a suit of cyber-armor, Coyote now inhabits a larger mechanical body and Wolf has had his body gene-spliced with wolf DNA, making him an artificial werewolf. They lure the Manhattan clan out with a false police citing and ambush Goliath, Hudson, Bronx and Eliza Maza on top of a building in construction, with Wolf having beaten Hudson. Despite protests from both Wolf and Jackal, Coyote is once again made team leader after having beaten Goliath, per the agreement that the leader would be the person who brought down the biggest gargoyle. His claim to leadership is further acknowledged by votes from the infatuated Hyena and the disgusted Dingo.
The Pack holds the beaten gargoyles and Eliza hostage in a train house, waiting to release Bronx 4:30 A.M. so the beast could lead them to the Manhattan Clan's hideout where they planned to have the remainder of the clan smashed to rubble just after sunrise. Wolf expresses his further animosity towards Goliath, whom he desired to murder personally. The plan is however thwarted by the arrival of Broadway, Lexington and Brooklyn, who personally orchestrates the Pack's defeat as well as their clansmen's release. Wolf and Jackal pursue Brooklyn, initially intending to fight him together and then go after Goliath, but Jackal pursues Brooklyn alone while Wolf is assaulted by the recently released Hudson. Wolf's anger gets the better of him, he ends up electrocuting himself after picking up Hudson's discarded sword off of an electrified train track. He, along with Dingo, Hyena and Jackal are tied up in chains and left to be found by the authorities.
Grief
Wolf and the rest of The Pack(excluding Dingo who had left the team) travel to Egypt in order to assist the Emir, one of Xanatos' connections, in summoning and capturing the god of death Anubis in order to obtain the power of immortality. The summoning ritual was taking place beneath the Great Sphinx and proved fruitful as the jackal god appeared before The Pack, and unable to release himself from the Emir's trap. Just then Goliath, along with Eliza, Bronx and Angela showed up, having been brought to Egypt from the magical island of Avalon. One more Wolf showed his delight in getting his opportunity to fight Goliath, engaging him alongside the Coyote 3.0 model. The Pack manage to defeat the gargoyles and kept them in chains, with Wolf commenting that they should kill them already, but is contradicted by Coyote, still acting as commander. The Emir finds the gargoyles a distraction and orders The Pack to dispose of them, to which they proceed to look the gargoyles into a burial chamber. A last fight ensues with Wolf and Coyote battling Goliath, though the fight is cut short after it is discovered that Jackal became a human-vessel for Anubis, having pushed the Emir aside just as the latter was preparing to contain the god inside his own body. Testing his powers of age manipulation, Jackal destroys Coyote by rusting him. He then transforms Wolf and Hyena into infants, with Wolf having become an actual white wolf cub. A quick battle ensues between an elderly Goliath and Angela against Jackal giving the Emir time to transfer Anubis into himself. The newly empowered Emir uses the god's powers to restore The Pack, the gargoyles and Elisa back to their appropriate ages, then proceeds to destroy the chamber so no other person may ever take advantage of Anubis. Outside Goliath expresses his lack of concern over The Pack's survival, but they survived and escaped all the same.
Vendettas
Wolf, now operating outside of The Pack, travels to Wyvern Hill of the western coast of Scotland, where the castle of the same name once stood. In the cavers beneath the hill Wolf came across the ghost of his distant ancestor, the viking Hakon, who had been imprisoned in a stone by Goliath along with the ghost of the castles's garrison, an old friend of the Wyvern gargoyles. Hakon's ghost summoned Wolf on account of their shared bloodline and mutual hatred towards Goliath, so the two strike an alliance in order to have Goliath killed. Wolf frees the ghost by placing it inside an iron ax, subsequently giving Hakon the ability to manifest supernatural powers. The two of them make their escape by hijacking a police car, whose driver initially stopped to offer Wolf a ride out of the rain.
Two weeks later, Wolf in scouring the New York alleyway dumpsters in search of food while Hakon, in the form of a red wisp, scouts the skies in search of Goliath. Hakon sees Goliath and Hudson approaching the city docks, so the he and Wolf give chase atop the building roofs. Wolf pounces on top of Goliath and a fight between him Goliath and Hudson takes place. With the help of his ax Wolf overpowers the two gargoyles in combat, but in a fit of hubris leaves the ax down and attacks bare-handed. Hudson and Goliath take advantage of Wolf's decision and charge at him, first gliding in the air to build up momentum, then land two punches each, thus slamming Wolf into the nearby crane. Hakon is left disappointed in his descendant, so he takes matters into his own hands by possessing Wolf and using his supernatural powers to overcome their enemies. Inside Wolf's body, Hakon is able to decimate the crane, then splits the dock in half with his ax, causing Goliath and Hudson to fall into the bay. The two manage to swim to shore, but Hakon gives chase, flying after them. The battle continues inside a warehouse, wherein Hakon uses his powers to turn Wolf's body intangible, preventing the gargoyles from landing any blows. He then turns Wolf's body invisible and causes Hudson to imagine Goliath as being Wolf. Under the wraith's magical influence, Hudson lashes out at Goliath, but the illusion is lifted after Goliath snaps the old gargoyle out of it. The two gargoyles become suspicious of Wolf's sudden magical powers. Inside a steel smelter, Wolf demands that Hakon leave his body, but the ghost points out that only together can they have their revenge. The ghost ultimately submits to releasing Wolf from under his thrall after the latter threatens to have the ax melted down, which would release Hakon's soul from the mortal world and send him to the afterlife.
A last confrontation between Hakon and Wolf versus Goliath and Hudson takes place at a scrap-yard. At first the two of them attack Goliath in unison and almost have him killed until Hudson challenges the ghost to a separate fight. Hakon is ultimately defeated after Hudson successfully has the ax squashed inside a nearby car compactor, thus sending the viking war-chief's ghost into the abyss. In parallel, Goliath defeats Wolf by tossing him into a nearby stack of cars. The cars fall over the werewolf, thus knocking him unconscious. Goliath pulls Wolf from underneath the wreckage and expresses relief that the fight has finally ended, feelings shared with Hudson.
Powers and Abilities
Even before his transformation into a werewolf, Wolf displayed great physical strength on account of his bodybuilding. He mostly relied on brute strength when fighting, usually by tackling and punching his enemies. He relied very little on his fellow Pack members, opting to take on his opponents single-handed. Coupled with his uncontrolled anger, Wolf would regularly get defeated by either one of Goliath or Hudson, the clan's physically strongest members.
As a genetically-engineered werewolf, Wolf displayed greater strength, reflexes, endurance, stamina and coordination. He now could overwhelm Hudson in single combat, lift alabaster columns with ease and could jump from high distances without sustaining injury. His wolf genetic material also gave him claws and fangs, though he rarely used them.
While under the influence of Hakon's ghost, Wolf displayed several magical abilities. He could levitate while holding Hakon's ax, could tear down an iron crane while directly beneath it and without sustaining injury, he could become intangible for breath moments in order to avoid getting hit, he could turn invisible and even induce hallucinations, as was the case when Hudson believed Goliath to be Wolf, even hearing Wolf's voice instead of Goliath's.
Trivia
- Wolf is the second of three Gargoyles characters, all of whom were villains, to be played by Clancy Brown: the first being Hakon the viking leader, the third Tomas Brod, a gang leader.
 Villains
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Labyrinth Clan Xanatos Enterprises Children of Oberon Scotland The Hunters Other | ||