Alexander Dorian is a businessman and Vine Planting. He is the C.E.O. of Orb Industries in Manhattan. When he learns the Vine attempt to destroy Earth, he betrays his people and allies with the human superhero X-O Manowar.
History[]
Alexander Dorian is a Vine Planting who rose to become the CEO of Orb Industries in Manhattan. For centuries, the Vine had embedded Vine Plantings as undercover agents in the human cultures on the Earth. Dorian's ancestors were sown with the Picts in northern Scotland. They were raised by humans who had no idea of their extraterrestrial origins.
Aric and the Shanhara[]
After the Visigoth warrior Aric of Dacia stole the Shanhara in 2012, Dorian accompanied a strike team of mercenaries dispatched by Patrick Clement, a Vine Planting embedded within the British Secret Intelligence Service to recover the sentient armor.
While communing in the Gathering Plane, Dorian learned that the Vine Council intended to destroy Earth as collective punishment for Aric donning the Shanhara. The Council planned to relocate Earth's plantings to the Vine homeworld of Loam. Dorian was awoken by the leading mercenary, who assumed he was napping. Shortly after landing, the mercenaries were ambushed and annihilated by Aric. Dorian himself was taken prisoner and interrogated by Aric two days later.
Dorian told Aric that the mercenaries had been sent to capture him but that he had come to talk about Shanhara. Alexander also informed Aric that he was a Vine Planting. An enraged Aric was about to torture Alexander when he was attacked by Ninjak, a ruthless assassin contracted by MI-6 to hunt down Aric and recover the armor. Ninjak managed to incapacitate Aric with two shuriken laced with tranquilizers. After freeing Dorian and retrieving the Shanhara, the two departed on Ninjak's stealth jet.
Switching sides[]
While Ninjak flew the jet to London, Alexander sat in the cargo compartment with the unconscious Aric, who was restrained on an examining table. Dorian then entered the Gathering Plane where he was greeted by the Vine and other plantings. Though Alexander was treated as a hero, he became disillusioned with the Vine Council's plan to annihilate all of humanity. The Vine regarded the idea that the Shanhara had chosen the human Aric over their warriors as sacrilegious and were determined to destroy humanity in order to maintain the secret of the Shanhara. Seeking to save humanity, Alexander resolved to free Aric.
After removing the oxygen mask from Aric, Alexander retrieved the Shanhara from a sealed case. However, he was discovered by Ninjak. Fortunately, Aric quickly revived and donned the Shanhara. Aric fought Ninjak and the resulting skirmish damaged the stealth jet, causing it to crash. Ninjak escaped on a parachute. While Aric was initially reluctant to help Alexander, Dorian managed to convince Aric to help him by pointing out that the Vine were planning to invade Earth, putting the lives of billions of humans at stake.
Recruiting Ninjak[]
After crashlanding in the Guyanan capital of Georgetown, Alexander and Aric hid in a house. Since Aric had saved his life, the Visigoth warrior demanded that he prove his worth. Aric was initially unconcerned about the fate of humanity since the people that he loved had perished centuries ago. However, Alexander pointed out that the Earth was his home and was in danger from the Vine due to his actions. As the conversation continued, Alexander told Aric that they needed to reach out to Ninjak in order to save humanity from the impending Vine invasion.
When Aric asked why he should trust the turncoat Vine planting, Alexander presented a cherimoya fruit from the Andes region and expressed his disenchantment with the Vines' worship of fruits and lack of appreciation for the finesse of life. Alexander also managed to gain Aric's trust by informing about the Vine plantings and offering to help locate them. Since Aric's actions had brought the wrath of the Vine on humanity, Alexander appealed to the warrior to work together to save humanity.
The two were then attacked by Ninjak. Following a brief sortie, Ninjak managed to take Alexander prisoner with his katana. Dorian managed to defuse the situation by pointing to the threat to humanity posed by the Vine fleet. He also warned Ninjak that Patrick Clement would kill him once he had outlived his usefulness. When Ninjak expressed skepticism, Alexander countered that Aric's armor generated a lightning sword; proof of its extraterrestial origins. Under the direction of Ninjak and Aric, Alexander tricked the Vine and human plantings into believing that Aric had taken him and the Shanhara to Caracas in Venezuela. After Ninjak "corroborated" Alexander's account with Patrick Clement, the three men formed a truce to eliminate the MI-6 plantings, who had been tasked with softening Earth for the Vine invasion.
The Pruning[]
While Aric traveled to London with the Shanhara, Alexander met with Sadiq, the Chief Advisor to the President of Guyana and a fellow Vine planting. Dorian claimed that there was a spy among the Vine plantings and that Aric was heading to London with the Shanhara. Claiming that he was worried that Aric was already aware of Patrick and MI-6, Alexander convinced Sadiq to depart together for London on the latter's personal jet on the pretext that he was visiting the Guyanan Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Once aboard, Alexander then claimed that the spy was inside Patrick's inner circle.
At that moment, Ninjak stabbed Sadiq from behind with a dagger. After Ninjak finished off Sadiq, the two then departed for London. In London, Ninjak and Aric joined forces to attack the MI-6 headquarters in London and kill Patrick and his fellow planting operatives. Following the elimination of the London plantings, Alexander traveled with Aric to Manhattan. Since the Vine Council had called a gathering to discuss their next move, Dorian entered the Gathering Plane.
However, the Vine had discovered that he was a traitor and marked him for death. Alexander was banished from the Gathering. After Dorian emerged from his trance, he learned that Aric had stopped a Vine planting from stabbing him to death. Alexander then told Aric that the gathering was a set up and that all he knew was that an invasion fleet was coming.
Personality[]
Alexander Dorian disagree with the Vine Council's plan to exterminate humanity after the Shanhara chose Aric of Dacia. His determination to save humanity led him to ally with X-O Manowar to root out the Vine plantings on Earth and resist the Vine invasion fleet. Alexander despised the Vines for their antipathy towards extravagance and enjoying the pleasures of life. When justifying his defection from the Vines to X-O Manowar, Alexander expressed his distaste for the Vine practise of leaving exotic fruits to rot on the ground.
Powers and Abilities[]
As a Vine Planting, Alexander Dorian was able to access the Gathering Plane, shared mindscape that the Vine and their plantings used to communicate telepathically over vast distances.
Equipment[]
This character has no special equipment listed.
Notes[]
- Alexander Dorian is the Valiant Entertainment counterpart of Ken Clarkson in the original X-O Manowar series published by Valiant Comics.
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
You spent time among my kind, so you understand when I say they have no concept of extravagance. No knowledge of flavor. They're no different from the mindless plants they worship. They don't live. They just survive. Like you, I have no intention of returning to them. Not without a fight. Let me help you. Together, we can both go on enjoying this world.
References[]
This section is for footnotes and citations.