The Wizard (Character)

The Wizard is the primary villain in the HCU. He had relatively little influence over the city prior to Omnes Moriatur, but he was dangerous enough to be noticed by the Stanford Syndicate. His magical abilities are never clearly defined, but they experience noticeable rises and falls throughout the course of the HCU.

Species: Human, Human-horse hybrid (End of The Equestrian, Start of Omnes Moriatur)

Status: Dead (killed by The Pigeon, partially resurrected, killed again by Cowboy Nate)

Appearances:

City of Rust: The Wizard is a competitor for the Holy Grail. After a skirmish with Afkcorgi, he has no choice but to flee without the Grail. While details are scarce, it is likely that this was prior to his ascension to power.

Hybridtown: The Wizard never appears in or is mentioned in Hybridtown. However, it is likely that the hybrids are connected to him in some way or another.

The Equestrian: The Wizard, after receiving subpar coffee from his intern (The Equestrian), flies into a fit of rage and turns the hapless intern into a human-horse hybrid. Eventually, the Equestrian, along with Passerby Boy, confront the Wizard, narrowly defeating him. During the fight, the Wizard is turned into a human-horse hybrid.

Headhunter: At some point prior to the film, the Wizard had hired the Headhunter and John Parker to kill his enemies. The Wizard is never seen during the film, but it is revealed at the end that he had hired the Headhunter and John Parker to kill the Equestrian.

Omnes Moriatur:

About two years after the events of The Equestrian, the Wizard, still a horse-human hybrid after his battle with the Equestrian and Passerby Boy, barges into the home of an unnamed character (credited as The Inhabitant). The Wizard kills the Inhabitant easily and ransacks his fridge, stealing a carton of Hybrid-B-Gone juice. After drinking the juice, the Wizard turns back into a human and runs off.

After about a year or two, the Wizard confronts Alan Stanford, demanding control over the Stanford syndicate's territory. After an exchange of taunts, the Wizard kills Alan by draining his life force from his body through magic.

A short time later, the Wizard finds himself ambushed by the Equestrian and John Parker. The two get into a grueling fistfight before the Wizard eventually throws the two to the ground, killing John Parker and turning the Equestrian back into a human. The Wizard then offers the Equestrian a place in his endgame, only to watch him be killed by the Pigeon. The Pigeon and the Wizard then spar each other, with the Pigeon easily winning.

The Last Cowboy Nate: At an unknown point after his initial death, The Wizard is partially resurrected through unknown means. However, it is implied that he is not fully reborn, and his motive in the film appears to be draining Cowboy Nate of his life force in order to achieve full rebirth. The Wizard is first seen at the start of the film, where he easily fends off an attack by Subject 70 and Bronco Bill, killing both assailants in the process. Near the end of the film, he confronts Cowboy Nate, almost defeating him in the process. However, Cowboy Nate ultimately prevails over The Wizard, killing The Wizard and likely eliminating any possibility of resurrection.

Trivia:

* In the original script for The Last Cowboy Nate, the way that The Wizard resurrected himself is explained through monologue in the final scene. However, this monologue ultimately didn't make it into the film, with the actors opting to instead improvise shorter lines of dialogue. Weirdly enough, the resurrection mechanics ended up being very similar to the way that Palpatine came back from the dead in the Star Wars franchise. The monologue has been posted below:

''About two years ago, I had almost finished siphoning the magical energy from a dimension in the second quadrant. This point had taken me several years to reach. However, just days before I could absorb the entire dimension's energy, I was defeated in combat by one of its inhabitants. Most mortals would have died from that stab wound, and I did die in the flesh that day. However, a sliver of my former self lived on in this realm. From this sliver, I was able to slowly regain my former power. I preyed on the countless travellers [sic] who came here in search of relics. Those who I did not drain the lifeforce from became valuable pawns.''

Link to Palpatine wiki for comparison: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Sidious