David Xanatos
Gargoyles character
First appearance	Gargoyles 1x02 "Awakening Part 2"
Created by	Greg Weisman
Voiced by	Jonathan Frakes
In-universe information
Occupation	CEO of Xanatos Enterprises
Family	Fox (wife) Alexander (son) Petros Xanatos (father) Halcyon Renard (father-in-law) Anastasia Renard/Titania (mother-in-law) Oberon (stepfather-in-law)
Nationality	American
Abilities	Genius-level, inventive, and cunning intellect Master strategist and tactician Advanced scientific, technological, and engineering comprehension Access to vast wealth and technological resources Strong leadership skills Advanced proficiency in martial arts and weaponry Has mechanical suit that gives him superhuman strength

David Xanatos is a fictional character and one of the primary villains of the Disney animated television series Gargoyles. In the series, he is the founder, owner and CEO of Xanatos Enterprises and a member of the Illuminati. He was voiced by and inspired by Jonathan Frakes, specifically his character of William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[1]

Xanatos' behavior is often ruthless and amoral, although his personality is slightly softened later in the series by his affection for his wife Fox and their infant son Alexander.^[2] His plans are often intricate and Machiavellian—however, he is notably not vindictive as he sees revenge as foolish and even tends to try to see the positive side of his defeats. In fact, Xanatos is notorious for his intricate plans that often have multiple interplaying goals to endeavor that some beneficial result is achieved in one way or another. Despite the frequent intervention of Goliath and his clan of gargoyles, Xanatos is generally able to turn any outcome into a benefit for himself, even in defeat. He is obsessed with obtaining immortality for himself and his family. His loyal right-hand man is Owen Burnett, a stoic man with extraordinary hidden talents whom Xanatos gained the service of through equally remarkable circumstances.

Xanatos is a formidable fighter in his own right. In addition to advanced karate and judo skills, he also has a specialized red armored suit modeled on his Steel Clan robots that he wears frequently, with both Xanatos' armored suit and Steel Clan robots appearing to be partly modeled on Goliath's general appearance and size. He also has a highly advanced anthropomorphic AI device modeled after himself, designed to do his bidding. This robot became the leader of the criminal group The Pack under the name of Coyote, and on one occasion, he actually used it to try to capture the actual Coyote spirit.

Fictional biography

David Xanatos started life as the son of Petros Xanatos, a Greek immigrant who worked as a fisherman in Bar Harbor, Maine. Young Xanatos received an anonymous letter containing a set of valuable 10th-century coins. He sold the coins for $20,000 and invested the money in a series of successful ventures, thus pulling himself out of poverty in the process. He would later embark on a business career, the first steps toward building his own company, Xanatos Enterprises. Despite his father's belief that Xanatos did not deserve the gift that had launched his career, Xanatos continued to claim that he would one day prove himself a self-made man.

During this time, Xanatos took on Owen Burnett under his wing, a former employee of business rival Halcyon Renard, as his assistant. Eventually, Burnett revealed that he is actually Puck, a Child of Oberon, and offered Xanatos a tempting choice: a single wish to gain immortality or a lifetime of service as the mortal Owen Burnett. Against Puck's expectations, Xanatos, confident that he could achieve immortality through other methods, chose Owen's service, and the decision deeply impressed Puck to keep his end of the bargain, with the inference that, should Xanatos achieve his goal, he will be guaranteed Puck/Owen's services for eternity.

Xanatos learned of Castle Wyvern from Demona, the only gargoyle from the Wyvern Clan who had neither been destroyed nor put into stone sleep. He purchased the ruins, transported them to Manhattan, and had it rebuilt atop his New York skyscraper, the Eyrie Building. With the castle "above the clouds," Xanatos successfully released the Manhattan Clan from their frozen sleep.^[3]

Xanatos initially posed as the Gargoyles' friend, convincing them to "acquire" technology from his rival Cyberbiotics for him and ultimately attempting to destroy the gargoyles with replacements he has built, the Steel Clan, when the gargoyles proved too hard to control. The Steel Clan was defeated, however, and Xanatos was convicted for receiving stolen property. Xanatos continued to plot against the Gargoyles from prison, testing them and attempting to remove them from the castle. Upon his release, he became one of their greatest enemies, having a particularly fierce rivalry with their leader, Goliath.

Xanatos also committed himself to create his own clan of gargoyles that would be loyal to him. To that end, he tried several attempts throughout the series to do that such as resurrecting Goliath's brother Coldstone and other dead gargoyles from the Wyvern Clan; enlisting the services of a "freelance geneticist" named Dr. Anton Sevarius to craft unwitting human subjects towards genetically creating gargoyle-like mutates from humans, one of whom was Elisa Maza's younger brother, Derek; creating a clone of Goliath named Thailog, and perfecting the Steel Clan. During this time, he also discovered the existence of the Illuminati and attained membership, though the lowest-ranked.

Xanatos' goals shifted to acquiring immortality for himself through the use of sorcery and magic, even involving himself with children of Oberon, including Oberon himself—the formidable Lord of the mystical island of Avalon.

Xanatos would meet an equal in Fox and marry her. It was on this occasion that, by inviting Goliath to the wedding and luring him into seeking reconciliation with Demona, Xanatos was able to reconstruct the Phoenix Gate. The wedding party was brought back in time to the 10th century, where Xanatos arranged for the ancient coins to be delivered to himself a thousand years in the future, via Illuminati, as well as a message describing what to do with them. In this way, Xanatos fulfilled his own history through a predestination paradox, at the same time proving himself to his father as a "self-made man".

When Demona finally betrayed Xanatos to advance her own goals of destroying the human race, he was forced to call a truce with Goliath to stop her.^[4][5] Goliath was later instrumental in saving Xanatos's newborn son Alexander, something which Xanatos owed him a great debt, and pledged to pay back to him. He soon created new robotic bodies for Coldstone's other personalities to inhabit, which he named Coldfire and Coldsteel. Since these gargoyles were also created by magic, though, it was impossible for mind transfer to occur. While he and Fox were out to dinner, Puck and Alexander performed the transfer for him. When the existence of the gargoyles was revealed to the public, Xanatos puts an end to the feud between them and voluntarily allows the gargoyles to come back to live in their ancestral castle.

Appearance in media

References

Further reading

• Samantha Nelson. "How Gargoyles Redefined Cartoon Villainy". IGN. Retrieved September 24, 2021.