The New 52
In The New 52 continuity reboot, Anton Arcane is the avatar of the Rot, a cosmic force associated with death and decay. After being defeated by Swamp Thing, Arcane is put in a Hell specifically made for him by the Parliament of Decay when nothing ever rots and all is forever pure. Arcane's daughter Abigail, as the new avatar of the Rot, comes to him demanding information about her mother. Arcane reveals that when she was a baby she already had power over the Rot and she accidentally killed her by 'filling' her with the Rot. To make him talk Abigail lets him feel rot, but she now says he will never escape his Hell and will never touch rot again. Arcane says that when he touched it when she gave it to him, he became stronger than he had been in ages and he will escape and take revenge on both her and Alec Holland. As she teleports away, Arcane rips out one of his eyes and throws it in the portal. On Earth, a boy is about to eat an apple when it turns rotten. He throws it away and Arcane's eye appears in it.[3]
When Swamp Thing goes into the Rot to warn Abigail about the new realm of machines, she initially assumes that he is there because of Arcane, who has escaped.[4] It is eventually shown that he has returned to Earth, but since he is not the avatar of the Rot, he can only gain strength from consuming rotten items and is greatly weakened. He joins forces with the new realm of Metal, which promises him the power that he lost, and his power does grow greatly in this time. He later poisons the Green from within, when Swamp Thing is weakened in an attempt to destroy it, but this fails when all the avatars of the Green are awakened and use their power to cleanse the Green to its original state. Abigail challenges Arcane in the final war against Metal, and while she has the upper hand, Arcane eventually escapes.
In Futures End, it is revealed that five years in the future, a series of events conspired to ensure that all avatars swore to stay off of Earth and within their own realms to prevent chaos. Arcane only agreed to this if he was allowed to bind himself to Abigail. In doing so, he allowed himself to leech off her power, as the true avatar of the Rot, and ensuring that Swamp Thing could not fight him, without risking harm or death to the one he loved. However, Swamp Thing has made the decision to destroy the Rot, using the power of life through a White Lantern ring. Arcane attempts to dissuade him, by citing the necessity of death and rot, but Swamp Thing counters it by saying that fungi/the Grey and bacteria/the Divided have already decided to take over the role of rot, while Metal will keep them in check. Arcane then tries to give up Abigail, but Swamp Thing believes that there is enough life in her to let her survive and in the worst case, death is better than the Hell that she lives in. Arcane briefly tries to fight back, but Abigail makes her move to distract him, long enough for Swamp Thing to activate the White Lantern ring and kill on Arcane.
Arcane managed to return to power in the Rot and trapped Abigail in her own dream of past memories. Swearing vengeance, he makes a deal with Floronic Man to create a strain of Cordyceps capable of infecting people and wreaking havoc upon the world so the Rot reigns supreme. Animal Man convinces the Parliament of Bacteria to counteract the Cordyceps, thwarting his plan and freeing Abigail. Nevertheless, Arcane manages to escape the team's grasp.[5][6]
