Gender: Male
First Appearance: "Awakening" Part II
Other Appearances: "Awakening" Parts III-V, "The Thrill of the Hunt", "Enter Macbeth", "The Edge", "Her Brother's Keeper", "Reawakening", "Leader of the Pack", "Metamorphosis", "Legion", "Eye of the Beholder", "Vows", "City of Stone" Parts I-IV, "Outfoxed", "Double Jeopardy", "Upgrade", "The Cage", "The Price", "Kingdom", "Cloud Fathers", "Future Tense", "The Gathering" Parts I & II, "Possession", "Hunter's Moon" Part I, "Hunter's Moon" Part III, "The Journey," "Ransom," "Broadway Goes To Hollywood," "A Bronx Tail," "For It May Come True," "To Serve Mankind," "Angels In The Night"
David Xanatos was born in Bar Harbor, Maine in 1955. His father, Petros
Xanatos, was a poor fisherman, who enjoyed the simple things in life.
However, David's dreams were far grander. Before 1975 David's mother died.
Her death affected both David and Petros, and their relationship. In 1975,
he received a rare 10th-century coin in the mail which was sent by an anonymous
stranger. David sold the coin to a collector for $20,000. David invested
the $20,000 carefully, in construction,
defense, genetics, robotics, media, and many other divisions, both
legal and illegal. From these investments, he built Xanatos
Enterprises.
Sometime between 1975 and 1994, Xanatos encountered Halcyon Renard, CEO of Cyberbiotics, the main competitor of Xanatos's growing corporation. Xanatos became acquainted with Renard's daughter Janine, and lured two of Renard's employees- Owen Burnett and Anton Sevarius- into his service. Apparently, he also acquired the services of Renard's ex-wife Anastasia. Shortly after this, Owen revealed himself to be the fay trickster Puck, and offered Xanatos him a "delightful choice". One wish from the Puck, or a lifetime of service from Owen. Xanatos chose Owen, which impressed Puck.
Owen next introduced Xanatos to the gargoyle, Demona,
and she told him of the existence of Castle Wyvern,
and six stone gargoyles frozen on its battlements. Xanatos made plans to
purchase the castle and transport to his Manhattan corporate headquarters,
the Eyrie Building. While this was going on, Xanatos
and his lover Janine, now named Fox, brought together a group of mercenaries
that would be under Fox's command. These mercenaries were Wolf,
Jackal,
Hyena,
and Dingo. Under
a small company he secretly owned called Pack
Media Studios, Xanatos created a television show entitled "The
Pack" which became extremely popular with all over the world. However,
the show was actually a cover for the secret training of the group of mercenaries
and enforcers. None of these mercenaries were aware of Xanatos's involvement.
Xanatos also soon purchased the spell book known as the Grimorum
Arcanorum, and became a lower-echelon member of the Illuminati
Society.
In 1994, Xanatos purchased Castle Wyvern. He and Owen traveled to Scotland
to personally oversee the purchase of the castle. He hired locals to disassemble
the castle and load it on to a number of ships headed to Manhattan. Over
the next few weeks he had the castle reassembled a top the Eyrie Building,
and the gargoyles once again placed upon the battlements. At sunrise he
stood at the battlements of the castle as a brief rainstorm started. "Don't
disappoint me," he said, for if Demona had been wrong or was lying about
the gargoyles, Xanatos would have been quite upset. Sure enough the gargoyles
awoke,
Xanatos was startled at first, but then let out a triumphant "Yes!"
Xanatos invited the gargoyles into the Great Hall of the castle and
told them that a thousand years had gone by since the spell was cast, and
that he learned about them through the Grimorum, which had recently come
into his possession. When the gargoyle who would be named Hudson
asked how he broke the spell, Xanatos informed them that the spell was
designed to end when the castle rose above the clouds. When Goliath
asked him why he had done all this, Xanatos replied: "I was fascinated
by the Magus's story, I wanted to see if it was true. And now that I know
it is, I want to be your friend. There is much we can do for each other,
Goliath." As he said this, Xanatos put a radio transmitter on Goliath's
shoulder. Before they could continue, a helicopter carrying several armed
commandos invaded the castle, under Xanatos's orders they
were to stage a theft to trick the gargoyles into later doing Xanatos's
bidding.
Xanatos and the gargoyles battled the commandos. As this was the gargoyles' first brush with modern weapons, they did not fare well, but thankfully the commandos were under strict orders not to kill the gargoyles. Rubble fell from the castle during the battle which attracted the police. When the commandos departed, Xanatos attempted to make an alliance with the gargoyles. Goliath said they would stay, as they had no where else to go after all. He also said that they were grateful, but he finished by saying that they would never trust humans again. Xanatos said that this relationship was something that they would all have to work on.
When Detective Elisa Maza entered the lobby of the Eyrie Building, and questioned Owen on the problem in the castle that resulted in falling rubble, Owen said that a newly installed generator had exploded. Elisa didn't buy it, saying that she heard automatic weapons firing, and that she would come back with a warrant and more cops if Owen did not let her take a look around.
Xanatos greeted Elisa as she stepped out of the elevator. When she asked him what happened, Xanatos said that Owen was confused and the generator story was for the press. The truth was that his men repelled an invasion by a rival corporation trying to steal some new technology. Xanatos continued to answer her questions until Owen appeared again and told him that there was a problem in the kitchen with their "guests".
Owen showed Elisa out of the castle, but she did not trust Xanatos. She stepped out of the elevator and began snooping around the castle. She soon met Goliath, who saved her life after she panicked and fell off the building. Elisa offered to teach Goliath about the modern world, and meet him tomorrow night. Xanatos probably watched the exchange from his office monitors, and planned to send his commandos after them.
Owen called Goliath to Xanatos's office. Xanatos told Goliath that the
commandos, under the employ of rival corporation Cyberbiotics, had stolen
three computer disks from him. He also told him that they were holding
the disks in three different locations- a research center on a small island
in the bay, a heavily fortified base deep beneath the city, and a huge
Air
Fortress flying over the city. When asked for
Goliath's help in retrieving them, Goliath refused, saying that it was
different from
defending the castle and that it would endanger the lives of his clan.
Xanatos asked Goliath to think about his request. After Goliath left, a
hidden passage opened on the wall and Demona entered the office. Xanatos
told her not to worry, that everything was going according to plan.
The next night when Elisa was giving a tour of Manhattan to Goliath, Xanatos sent his commandos after the pair. Using the radio transmitter Xanatos placed on Goliath, the commandos successfully tracked the gargoyle to Central Park. After they shot Goliath with a tranquilizer dart, Elisa helped the lavender gargoyle escape. They discovered the transmitter on his shoulder, and Elisa decided to trace back the manufacturer's logo to it's source. When the sun rose and Goliath turned to stone, and Elisa confronted and singlehandedly defeated the commandos. This convinced Goliath that the detective was a true friend. Goliath returned to the castle after promising to meet with her again later.
When Goliath returned to the castle, Xanatos told Owen to summon Goliath
to the Great Hall. When Goliath entered, Xanatos brought out Demona. The
two gargoyles embraced, and Demona said that they owed their reunion to
David Xanatos. Demona told Goliath that she left the castle to find him,
got lost, and begged the Magus to turn her to stone after discovering what
happened to Goliath. Xanatos said that he saw Demona a year ago and acquired
her for her private collection, then
after Goliath and the others woke up, he thought bringing Demona to
the castle would have the same effect her. Demona took advantage of Goliath's
joy to convince him to help Xanatos reclaim he disks from Cyberbiotics,
which he agreed to. Xanatos gave them the instructions they needed, and
the gargoyles departed to Cyberbiotics.
The gargoyles easily reclaimed the disks, and Demona destroyed Cyberbiotics'
Air Fortress in the process. They turned the disks over to Xanatos, and
he used the stolen data to activate his robotic gargoyles, the Steel
Clan. Goliath left to meet Elisa, after having an argument with Demona
about her becoming hard. Elisa told Goliath that she traced the emblem
on the Radio Transmitter to a robotics firm owned by Xanatos Enterprises.
Goliath was shocked to discover that Xanatos was responsible for the attack
in the park, and even more shocked to discover that Xanatos staged the
theft at the castle to trick him into stealing the disks, which were Cyberbiotics'
property. Goliath was furious to discover he had been used, and agreed
to help
Elisa go after Xanatos.
Xanatos was soon beginning to feel that the gargoyles had outlived their usefulness, and that he couldn't count on their loyalty. Demona suggested that they test the Steel Clan on the gargoyles. Xanatos agreed, believing them to be an improvement over the real gargoyles. They were steel instead of stone, they didn't sleep during the day, they could fly instead of glide, and they were 100% obedient. They sicced the Steel Clan on the gargoyles, and almost defeated them, but Goliath and the others were able to outsmart and destroy them. And with Elisa's help Demona was defeated. When Goliath threatened to drop Xanatos off the building, Xanatos, confident as ever, said "Go ahead. Without me you'd still be gathering moss." Elisa and Hudson convinced Goliath to spare Xanatos's life, and she arrested him.
Xanatos was convicted of receiving stolen property given a six month prison sentence, but even from behind bars he managed to carry out his schemes. His first was to send an envelope of photographs of the gargoyles to the Pack. The Pack, craving a challenge instead of pretending to fight "Evil Ninjas," decided to hunt the gargoyles the first chance they got. He then had Owen adjust the cable TV in the castle so that the only program the gargoyles could see was the Pack's. Sure enough, the Trio became fans of the syndicated action series, and even went to a public appearance at Madison Square Garden. When the show was over, Brooklyn and Broadway returned to the castle, and Lexington approached the Pack to make friends. Fox tricked him into luring Goliath into a trap the next night, and, in the course of the battle, Fox and Wolf took a woman hostage, and were defeated and arrested. Xanatos's plan to test the Pack, and see what Goliath was capable of had succeeded.
Xanatos next had a Steel Clan robot attack Goliath for the sole purpose of extracting blood samples from the gargoyle. Owen covered it up by saying there was an overload in the robot's power matrix, and it broke free before they could take it offline. He attended to Goliath's wound, taking blood samples from the cut with a Q-tip. Goliath and Elisa both forgot about the attack. Owen turned the blood sample over to Dr. Sevarius at Gen-U-Tech so that the scientist could clone the gargoyle. This was the beginning of the Thailog Project.
When mob boss Tony Dracon hijacked a Xanatos Enterprises arms shipment containing Xanatos's new particle beam weapons, Xanatos told Owen to buy the guns back from Dracon. However, before he could do so, Goliath destroyed the guns to prevent any of them from falling into the wrong hands.
When Xanatos's prison sentence was nearly at an end, Owen asked Xanatos what he was going to do about the gargoyles, and even suggested destroying them while they slept. Xanatos considered such an act to be a waste, but it was then that MacBeth appeared and offered to "fumigate" the castle, for a price. MacBeth had his own agenda, however- he wanted to capture the last gargoyles to lure Demona to him, not knowing she was an enemy of the clan. He captured Brooklyn, Lexington, and Bronx, and fought Goliath to a standstill. Elisa used this attack to finally convince Goliath that it was not safe to stay at the castle. Goliath left Owen with a message to deliver to "his master." They would be back. The clan left the castle, taking the Grimorum with them, and moved into the clocktower above Elisa's precinct. Xanatos returned home the very next day.
Xanatos didn't waste any time in beginning his next scheme. He donated the jewel known as the Eye of Odin to the Museum of Modern Art, and the media dubbed it "a grand gesture from a man known for grand gestures". Xanatos donned his new crimson Steel Clan battle exo-frame, broke into the museum later that evening, and stole the Eye of Odin. Many people believed the gargoyles to be behind the theft. When Goliath confronted Xanatos about this, Xanatos explained that soon the city would be hunting the gargoyles and offered them the choice of moving into a research center of his. Goliath left angrily, and Xanatos, in his armor with two Steel Clan robots, went after him and the Trio. They attacked them, and tried to get Goliath to lead them to their hiding place. Goliath lured him and the Steel Clan to the Statue of Liberty, and battled Xanatos to a draw. Xanatos, knowing he lost the higher ground, retreated. Elisa managed to convince the press that the gargoyles were robots, and an investigation was underway to find out who created them. Xanatos, though, figured that he did not lose at all- he had the Eye of Odin back in his private collection and the city owed him a favor for donating it, he successfully tested his prototype battle exo-frame, and most importantly, he convinced himself that he still had the edge.
A little bit later, Xanatos noticed that Elisa had begun to keep a close
eye on him. He told Fox to have Jackal and Hyena attempt to steal the Coyote
Diamond from the Diamond Exchange. He and Owen went to the Diamond
Exchange to do a little shopping, followed by Elisa and Derek
Maza in a helicopter. Before Jackal and Hyena could steal the diamond,
Xanatos purchased it, the twins then decided to steal it from him directly.
They quickly assaulted him and took the Diamond. Xanatos told Owen to call
the police. He then chased the twins to the roof and tackled Jackal who
was about to shoot the police helicopter with a bazooka. Jackal and Hyena
then turned on the billionaire, but he was saved by Elisa. Jackal and Hyena
grabbed their hang gliders and escaped. Xanatos, impressed with Derek's
piloting skills, offered him a job as his pilot and personal bodyguard,
telling him the job would be less risky than police work and that he could
pay much better as well.
He gave Derek his card and told him to think about the offer before
he departed. Elisa told Derek to ignore the offer, but would not give a
reason. Xanatos next contacted Fox in prison and told her to have Jackal
and Hyena attempt to kill him for interfering in their theft. Derek accepted
Xanatos's offer, and on a flight with Xanatos in his helicopter, they were
attacked by Jackal and Hyena in another helicopter. The Trio attacked the
helicopter, just as Xanatos had anticipated, Elisa was sure to ask the
clan to keep an eye on her brother. Xanatos and Derek escaped while the
gargoyles defeated Jackal and Hyena, but the twins escaped. Elisa later
gave Fox a visit in prison, where Fox told Elisa that Xanatos had created
the Pack, and set
up his own assasination attempt, that Xanatos did not have to hide
his plans from her, because there was not a thing she could do to him.
Unbeknownst to Fox, Elisa recorded the conversation. She met with Goliath
to go to Xanadu, Xanatos's upstate retreat. As
Xanatos was complimenting Derek about his flying last night, Jackal and
Hyena entered the grounds and again targeted Xanatos, but they were stopped
by the intervention of Elisa and the gargoyles, and arrested. Xanatos thanked
Elisa and the clan. Elisa tried to use the gargoyles as proof that Xanatos
was not trustworthy, but Xanatos anticipated that as well
and showed Derek a videotape of the gargoyles in advance, saying that
he tried to help them but they rejected him, and he also admitted that
he made a few mistakes in dealing with them and her. Elisa gave Derek the
tape recorded conversation with Fox, but he did not listen to it.
Xanatos next allied with Demona. Using both science and sorcery, they brought Goliath's deceased rookery brother, Coldstone, back to life as a cybernetic gargoyle in another attempt to capture the clan. That plan, however, failed, as Coldstone was seemingly destroyed and he had to stop Demona from killing the Trio by taking her away from the battle scene.
Xanatos constructed a robot duplicate of himself named Coyote and sent it to Riker's Island with Dingo to break the Pack out of jail. Fox stayed behind to serve her time and repay her debt to society. The whole thing was a scheme of Xanatos's to get Fox paroled from prison. The Pack believed Coyote to be Xanatos and, after some initial hostility, gleefully agreed to work with him to get back at the gargoyles. The Pack was defeated and Coyote was exposed to be a robot. Coyote's head rocketed back to Xanatos after the battle and the Pack escaped. Fox was released the following day on an early parole for staying behind to serve her time. She was warmly greeted by Xanatos, and Fox moved in with him.
Xanatos next arranged for one of the victims mutated by Dr. Sevarius
to escape from Gen-U-Tech and be spotted by
the gargoyles. This mutate, Maggie Reed, was terrified of her rescuers,
Brooklyn and Broadway, and they were tracked down by mercenaries working
directly for Sevarius. They recaptured Maggie and tried to capture the
gargoyles, but Broadway and Brooklyn got away. When Xanatos arrived at
his castle Owen greeted him with an expense report from Gen-U-Tech that
involved armed mercenaries being on the payroll. Xanatos decided to pay
Sevarius a visit, and Derek volunteered to accompany him, just as Xanatos
anticipated. When they arrived Sevarius showed Xanatos and Derek a slide
show about his mutate project, wherein he would gene-splice the genetic
traits of a jungle cat, a bat, and an electric eel. Since growing one of
these from scratch would take too long, he used human test subjects, injected
with a mutagenic formula. With that, he showed
off three mutates. Feigning ignorance and anger over this turn of events,
Xanatos said they would do what they could to reverse the mutation. Sevarius
shouted out that he would not let him destroy his work and fired a dart
at Xanatos. Derek dived in front of the dart and restrained the geneticist,
that was when he learned that it was not a tranquilizer dart- rather, it
was loaded with the mutagenic formula he used on the three mutates.
Xanatos then forced Sevarius to make for Derek the antidote for the mutagen, and the scientist began to work on the "cure." Unfortunately for Derek, Xanatos was in cahoots with Sevarius. When the gargoyles arrived at Gen-U-Tech to rescue Maggie, they were cornered by Xanatos's guards. As they escaped, Goliath kicked Sevarius into the eel tank and seemingly killed him. Unknown to all of them, except for Xanatos, Sevarius did not die. Derek swore vengeance on Goliath for destroying his one chance to be cured. The mutates left with Xanatos for the Eyrie Building. When the gargoyles arrived to confront Xanatos and force him to cure the mutates, they were attacked by the very people they were trying to save. Elisa was forced to stop Derek, now called Talon, from killing Goliath. When she discovered that Talon was her brother, Derek ran off with the other mutates, and Elisa angrily threatened to bring Xanatos down.
Xanatos next met with Sevarius, and told the scientist that Derek was convinced that only he could cure him. And that dilution would keep him right where he wanted him.
Xanatos next arranged for the police to use a new product of his called
RECAP. At the same time, he arranged for Coldstone's body to revive itself,
and a program he installed to take control of the cyborg, using him to
attack a government research laboratory. Coldstone hacked into the central
computer, and copied various government defense specs. However, he also
downloaded a top-secret computer virus that was programmed to wipe out
any unfamiliar programming it infected. The
virus temporarily brought out Coldstone's other personalities, and
when Matt Bluestone sent RECAP to stop Coldstone, RECAP downloaded the
virus through the taser line. Xanatos confiscated RECAP from the police.
Xanatos commented about how the virus was the deadliest weapon he knew
of, feeling that it was much more useful than the defense specs ever could
have been.
On October 1, 1995, Xanatos proposed to Fox, saying that they were genetically
compatible, highly intelligent, and had the same goals. They even loved
each other, as much as two people such as themselves were capable of that
emotion. He gave Fox the Eye of Odin as an engagement present. The Eye,
however, transformed her into a feral "werefox" creature every night. Xanatos
became aware of the transformations in late October, and came up with three
plans to stop her transformations. He first approached her openly, saying
that he wanted to have the Eye engraved, Fox right after transformed into
the Werefox.
Xanatos and Owen attempted to tranquilize Fox, but failed. Owen did
succeed in attaching a tracking device to her. Owen next told Xanatos that
Fox's accelerated metabolism was going to kill her unless the Eye was removed
from her person. Xanatos moved on to Plan B. He made a phone call to Elisa,
in the guise of an anonymous tip, telling Elisa that Fox would be found
at a New York Slaughter House. Xanatos donned his exo-frame and tracked
down Fox, where he attempted to tranquilize her.
Fox lunged at him, badly damaging his armor. Goliath and Elisa showed
up and managed to subdue Fox. When Xanatos attempted to remove the Eye
from her, he received a magic-induced electric shock. Fox got up and escaped
from the three. Xanatos quickly flew back to the Eyrie Building, not realizing
that Goliath and Elisa were following him. Xanatos told Owen that Plan
C was in place, that he would let the gargoyles do all the work in retrieving
the Eye from Fox. Goliath and Elisa
eavesdropped on the entire exchange between Xanatos and his assistant,
and they refused to help the billionaire save Fox. Xanatos next tried appealing
to Goliath's grief over losing Demona, placing a tracking device on the
big gargoyle as he did so. Elisa told Goliath not even to consider helping
Xanatos, and Goliath said he would not help Xanatos.
Xanatos tracked Goliath and Elisa to a Halloween block party, and approached
them after he heard Goliath reconsider helping Xanatos. When Elisa demanded
to know how he found them, Xanatos grabbed the tracking device on Goliath's
shoulder, saying, "Old habits die hard." They tracked Fox to a roof top
and together, Goliath and Xanatos removed the
Eye from Fox. Xanatos gave the Eye to Goliath. When Xanatos pointed
out that now Goliath knew his weakness, Goliath retorted by saying "Only
you would regard love as a weakness." Xanatos took Fox home.
Xanatos later invited Goliath to his wedding as his best man, saying that Demona would be there as the maid of honor. Xanatos's father Petros showed up at the castle that morning. Petros was unhappy with the way Xanatos let money become the number one priority in his life, pointing out that David's entire fortune came from that 10th-century coin he received in the mail, that he didn't earn any of it.
Xanatos wore the emblem of the Illuminati Society on his lapel for the
wedding, knowing it would be useful later. He and Fox were quickly
married, and Xanatos's plan came to fruition. Goliath brought his half
of the magical talisman, the Phoenix Gate, to
the wedding when he learned Demona would be there. He and Demona split
the talisman in half as a token of their love in 975 AD, and Demona tricked
him into giving her the other half of the Gate. Demona used the Gate to
transport herself, Goliath, Xanatos, Fox, and Petros back to 975. Goliath
went after Demona to try to get the Gate back, while the Xanatos family
saved the life of Princess Elena and the Norman Ambassador to Castle
Wyvern from a group of bandits sent by the Archmage to steal the Phoenix
Gate from Elena. The Norman Ambassador revealed himself as a member of
the Illuminati when he saw Xanatos's pin on his lapel, and invited them
to accompany them to Castle Wyvern to meet Prince Malcolm. The prince rewarded
Xanatos for saving his bride by giving him a few coins, and more suitable
clothing to attend his wedding with. Xanatos gave the Norman Ambassador
two envelopes to deliver to the Illuminati. One contained one of the coins
Prince Malcolm gave him earlier, that was to be delivered to a young David
Xanatos in Bar Harbor, Maine in a thousand years. The second contained
a letter to be delivered twenty years later, containing precise instructions
on how the coin was obtained. He received instructions from himself "last
week". After Goliath defeated Demona he appeared with the Phoenix Gate
to take the time travelers back to the present. After both Goliath and
Demona exchanged bitter words after returning and left the castle, Petros
gave David a penny as a wedding present, comparing it with the medieval
coin he sent himself, because it was all David seemed to care about.
During the "City of Stone" incident, Xanatos gave Demona access to equipment
in Pack Media Studios to override every channel in Manhattan. The gargoyle
promised him that she would share the immortality that she was stealing
from the viewers through the spell she was casting. It wasn't until later
that Xanatos discovered that Demona had lied to him. She cast a spell turning
everyone who viewed her on television to stone by night, "until the skies
burned." Most of Manhattan's population was
turned to stone, including Elisa, Owen, and Fox. Xanatos and Goliath
called a brief truce, and Xanatos found a way to break the spell. They
flew above the city carrying packs which released a gas. The packs would
later explode, igniting the gas and making the sky appear ablaze. This
plan was almost foiled by the intervention of Demona, who changed the timing
of the packs' explosion to kill Xanatos and the gargoyles, and MacBeth,
who tried to kill Demona. But the city was saved when the
Weird Sisters appeared and forced Demona to release the access code
to Xanatos's computer, which controlled the packs- "ALONE". Xanatos fixed
the countdown, and the city was saved.
The next scheme Xanatos was involved in was actually conceived by Fox. He assisted her in trying to steal Cyberbiotics from her father, Halcyon Renard. He also discovered that night that Fox was pregnant with his child.
Xanatos later learned that even a puppet-master can be manipulated.
Project Thailog was finally completed. Thailog
was not fond of the idea of being a pawn of Xanatos, and succeeded at beating
Xanatos at his own game. He sent an e-mail to Sevarius under the incognito
that he was Xanatos and had himself kidnapped. Under Thailog's orders,
Sevarius called Xanatos with a ransom of $20 million for his safe return.
Xanatos went to the Black Rock Point oil rig and confronted Sevarius. The
good Doctor was surprised that Xanatos was angry at him, and Xanatos figured
out what Thailog had done, but it was too late. Thailog knocked out Xanatos
and chained him in the oil rig with Sevarius, Goliath and Elisa. The latter
two Thailog had also manipulated into showing up at the oil rig. Thailog
left his prisoners to die and escaped with the $20 million. The prisoners
escaped and Thailog was seemingly killed when the oil rig exploded. But
Xanatos did not underestimate his creation's abilities, and concluded that
Thailog was smart enough to fake his own death. He also admitted that he
made a mistake in creating
him.
Xanatos next gave the Pack upgrades so that they could battle the gargoyles on more even terms. In the team was a rebuilt Coyote robot, a genetically enhanced Wolf, cybernetically upgraded Jackal and Hyena, and an armor-wearing Dingo. He and Fox sent them after the gargoyles while playing a game of chess. They also manipulated their defeat for reasons of their own. Fox beat him at the chess game, but he felt that he in fact won by finding a true equal in her.
Eventually the mutates returned to Xanatos, which resulted in Elisa
trying in vain to convince them that Xanatos was an enemy and Goliath was
not responsible for their mutations. Goliath decided to help in his own
way by kidnapping Sevarius and forcing him to cure the mutates. When Talon
found out that Sevarius was alive, he confronted Xanatos for lying to him
about his death. Xanatos told Talon that Goliath and Sevarius were partners
for a long time and that he was now trying to force him to create a cure
to "stop Goliath's evil". Owen found out that Goliath had taken Sevarius
and informed Xanatos and Talon. Talon
and the mutates ran off to gain vengeance on the two who had ruined
their lives. Xanatos donned his armor and followed them to Cyberbiotics'
old underground research facility. There, Xanatos saved Sevarius's life
from Talon. Talon was enraged that he had been manipulated for so long,
and Xanatos shrugged it off by telling him "he's the scientist. You're
just the experiment".
Xanatos later acquired the Cauldron of Life,
a magical cauldron that was supposed to make who ever bathed in it live
as long as the mountain stones. He sent a robotic duplicate of MacBeth
after the gargoyles. During the battle the robot threw some ordinary powder
on Hudson, which was going to be part of Xanatos's ploy. Xanatos kidnapped
Hudson during the day and replaced him with a stone duplicate. The gargoyles
believed that MacBeth had cast a spell on Hudson to keep him asleep, and
went on a wild goose chase to find a cure. Xanatos revealed to Hudson his
plan that night. He kidnapped him because a main
ingredient in the Cauldron's brew was the stone skin of a gargoyle.
And he needed a guinea pig for the Cauldron. Xanatos and Hudson talked
that night, and Hudson discovered Xanatos's one fear. He feared growing
old. The concept terrified him. Xanatos immediately denied it, and for
the first time nearly lost his temper. The next night when Xanatos was
about to dunk Hudson into the Cauldron, Hudson escaped using his stone
skin as a weapon on the Steel Clan Robot. He left Xanatos with a word of
advice, that true immortality was about what you do with your life, not
living forever. Owen volunteered to test the Cauldron and dipped his left
fist into it. It was forever turned to stone, and Xanatos commented about
how literal-minded the legend was. He was not put off by this, there was
always another night and a new plan.
When Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx went to Avalon and then on the World Tour, the clan and Talon immediatly suspected Xanatos of kidnapping them. When they confronted him he willfully let them search his building and computer files, and offered to help search for them. They declined but Xanatos continued to search anyway.
Through out the next few months Xanatos was involved in many plans. He sent Sevarius to Scotland to capture the Loch Ness Monsters, the Pack to Egypt to capture Anubis and ensure his immortality, and Fox and his mother-in-law Anastasia to Australia to use the Matrix to eventually reshape the entire planet to suit them. These were foiled by Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx during a few of their trips.
Though it was not seen, Greg Weisman has stated that Xanatos attempted to take advantage of Goliath's absence and capture the clan.
The Avalon quartet did encounter Xanatos personally when he went to
Arizona to accompanied by Coyote 4.0 (built in part from the remains of
the Cauldron of Life) to capture the Kachina Coyote.
Xanatos had Peter and Beth
Maza arrested when they illegally trespassed with the permission of
Kachina Coyote (masquerading as a security guard). When Goliath and
Angela came to investigate the site, they were captured by Xanatos
and Coyote 4.0. He chained them to the soil carving of Coyote the Trickster.
Though he had no desire to kill them, the death-trap had to be real and
he had to be prepared to follow through if he wanted to capture his true
quarry, Coyote. The Mazas broke in and rescued Goliath and Angela, exactly
as Xanatos planned. Coyote 4.0 pursued them where they encountered Kachina
Coyote, and captured him.
Goliath and the others pursued Coyote back to Xanatos's construction site. Xanatos ordered the trickster to grant him immortality, but was cut short by his enemies' arrival and the beginning of a battle. For a while, it seemed that victory was in Xanatos's hands until the untimely arrival of Peter Maza, masquerading as Kachina Coyote. Coyote 4.0 became confused and released the Kachina Coyote, before Xanatos could protest. Coyote 4.0 was destroyed and Xanatos was defeated.
In the "Future Tense" dream-world, Xanatos had died fighting Hudson
during his breakaway from the United States. An evil cybernetic Lexington
created the Xanatos Program, so he could rule
Manhattan from behind the scenes. Lexington was killed after the Xanatos
Program destroyed Demona, Brooklyn, and Angela, and succeeded in conquering
the world. This was
all an illusion created by Puck to trick Goliath into handing him the
Phoenix Gate so he could bribe Oberon into letting
him stay in the mortal realm.
When the son of David and Fox Xanatos, Alexander, was born, he immediately drew the attention of Fox's mother, Anastasia Renard, who was really Queen Titania of Avalon in disguise. Owen told Xanatos not to leave Fox or Alex alone with Anastasia, but did not say why. Oberon later came to the Eyrie Building in search of Titania, and forced her to drop her charade. Titania wanted Alex to learn to control his powers, and told Oberon that bringing him to Avalon to realize his full potential. Xanatos refused to let the rulers of Avalon take his son, and attacked Oberon. The king of Avalon shrugged him off as if he were nothing, but gave David and Fox an hour to say good bye to their son.
Xanatos confronted Owen, who knew all along that Anastasia was reallyTitania. Owen did fear that such an abduction may happen and had anti-fay defenses built in and around the Eyrie Building, including a force-field. Xanatos was surprised when Owen got up and left, saying that he could not risk becoming involved in this battle.
Xanatos raised the force-field around his building before Oberon arrived.
Oberon put the entire city to sleep and grew to the size of the Eyrie Building
and attempted to destroy the force-field. Xanatos released a squad of ironclad
Steel Clan robots to attack Oberon, and was also helped by the untimely
arrival of the gargoyles, and Renard with his Fortress
II. Oberon was weakened by the assault but not defeated. He shrunk
down to his regular size went beneath the building and the force
field. He destroyed the generators and proceeded to the castle.
Xanatos donned his iron armor and stood with his father waiting for Oberon. While waiting, he and his father bonded, as Petros was proud of his son for standing up against impossible odds. Oberon appeared and demanded that they turn over Alex to him. Xanatos refused and was backed up by Goliath, Angela, and Brooklyn. Though they put up a good fight, in the end they were beaten by Oberon. Owen returned and revealed that he was Puck to help his human employer, and begged Oberon to postpone the Gathering for a few more centuries. Oberon refused, and teleported to the nursery where he made short work of Fox, before she finally tapped into her latent magical powers to drive him off. Goliath took advantage of that by persuading Oberon that Alex could learn to harness his powers here, and Puck could train him. Oberon banished Puck and stripped him of all his powers, save when he was training or protecting Alex. Xanatos met Goliath on the parapets before he left saying he owed him a debt that he promised he would try to repay. Goliath accepted the truce.
Xanatos decided to thank Goliath by helping Coldstone. He constructed
two robots called Coldsteel and Coldfire to transport the souls of Iago
and Desdemona into. He tracked Coldstone to
the Himalayas and succeeded in capturing him. Xanatos brought him back
to New York and made several attempts to transport the souls of Iago and
Desdemona into the robots,
but each met with failure. He decided to put the project on hold for
the evening and go on a night on the town with Fox. By the time he got
back the Coldstone dilemma was resolved by Puck and Alex. It is uncertain
whether he found out the details as to how this came about.
Xanatos was next questioned by Matt Bluestone as to why someone would want to steal the chemical disinfectant D/I-7, which his company developed and was stolen by Demona. That same night he was interviewed by a reporter named Jon Carter, who was really the Hunter, Jon Canmore. After watching Canmore on the surveillance cameras, he noticed that Canmore picked up a piece of stone gargoyle skin.
When the Hunters revealed the existence of Goliath's clan to the world,
Xanatos figured out how he could finally pay back Goliath. On the night
of the Hunter's Moon, the gargoyles were fighting the Hunters in the ruined
St.
Damien's Cathedral, and it was surrounded by the police's new Gargoyle
Task Force, and frightened citizens. After saving the world from Demona's
plan for human extinction, the gargoyles were completely surrounded by
police helicopters. Xanatos arrived in his helicopter and saved the gargoyles,
taking them to the Eyrie Building. When Elisa arrived, Xanatos assured
them that there were no catches to
them staying in the castle. No catches, no tricks, no strings. The
feud was over.
After the Hunter's Moon, rumors were sprouting that Xanatos was harboring the gargoyles in the Eyrie Building, reporters failed to reach him for comment, and when he was reached he'd think of something. He always did. Later that night, Owen informed Xanatos of a phone call from the head of the Illuminati, Mr. Duval. Xanatos said he'd return the call later. Owen informed that it would be unwise to keep the Illuminati waiting. Xanatos ignored him.
In the Goliath Chronicles, Xanatos seemed to primarily become a sort of wealthy benefactor sort to the Manhattan clan. His son was kidnapped by the ambitious mayoral candidate, Pat Doyle, in a scheme to make himself look like a hero and guarantee his election. Xanatos blew the lid off his scheme, however, after the clan saved his son. When the Xanatoses' social life was impeded by their rumored connections to the gargoyles, Fox concocted a plan to help improve gargoyle PR, using Broadway. Xanatos assisted in this plan. When Bronx went missing, Xanatos helped find him- when the Illuminati captured the Trio and Goliath, he rescued them, possibly leading to difficulties in his Illuminati status in the process.
In a dream-world created by Titania for Goliath, we saw the world that could have been if Goliath had been a 20th-century human instead of a10th-century gargoyle. Here, Xanatos had never reformed, and was still one of the clan's major foes.
When the clan was seemingly destroyed in a Quarryman trap, Xanatos revealed that he had bribed the creators of the trap to build additions that saved the gargoyles. He offered them the chance to leave Manhattan, start new lives elsewhere, away from the Quarrymen. The gargoyles appreciated the gesture, but had to refuse.
In Greg Weisman's Master Plan, it would have been seen that though Xanatos had changed a lot, in a lot of ways he was still the same. The Illuminati would have grown more impatient with him for refusing to hand over the gargoyles. When the New Olympians revealed themselves to the public, Xanatos would have tried to open up business relations with them, always ensuring he would get the better end of the deal. Also, Xanatos Enterprises would have eventually merged with Lexington's company to become the Lexington-Xanatos Corporation. David Xanatos would have been dead by 2198, with his son most likely running the Lexington-Xanatos Corporation.
Though Xanatos has no special powers, he is a remarkable specimen as
far as humans go. Over six feet tall and built like a football player or
wrestler. He's trained in several martial arts, and proficient in all of
them. He's extremely rich, powerful, and intelligent, thus he can come
up with an almost infinite number of Machiavellian schemes. Occasionally
he'll don a red exo-frame, which will grant him augmented strength, agility,
speed, and flight, which enables him to take on Goliath in one-on-one combat.
If he has a weakness, its his love for his wife Fox, and his son Alexander,
which could be exploited by
various enemies.