Griffin, or the Invisible Man, is a fictional character and the protagonist of a 1987 science fiction novel. He became a part of pop culture through the film adaptations.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts abou the famous monster!
- Griffin, also known as the Invisible Man, is a fictional character
- He first appeared as the titular protagonist of H. G. Wells’ 1897 science fiction novel The Invisible Man
- In the original work, Griffin is a scientist whose research in optics and experiments into changing the human body’s refractive index to that of air results in him becoming invisible
- After becoming invisible, he wraps his head in bandages and dons a pair of goggles or glasses in order to enable others to see him
- Unable to reverse the invisibility process, he descends into insanity and becomes a criminal
- The character and variations thereof has been featured in various media, including films, television series and merchandise
- The most famous non-literary incarnation of Griffin is portrayed by Claude Rains in the 1933 film The Invisible Man, distributed by Universal Pictures
- The film spawned a number of sequels that feature different invisible characters
- Griffin and the 1933 film have become iconic in popular culture
- Particularly in regards to horror fiction
- An adaptation of the original novella and remake of the original film, again titled The Invisible Man, was released on February 28, 2020
- In the 1933 film The Invisible Man, Griffin’s first name is Jack
- The novel never reveals his first name
- He was played by Claude Rains
- Jack Griffin works for Dr. Cranley, assisting him in food preservation experiments alongside his friend Dr. Arthur Kemp
- Johnny Depp was to portray the Invisible Man as part of Universal’s Dark Universe
- A shared cinematic universe based on the classic Universal Monsters
- But it is yet uncertain if the character will be Dr. Griffin or a very different character
- On November 8, 2017, producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan moved on to other projects, leaving the future of the Dark Universe in doubt
- In January 2019, Universal announced that the plan moving forward was to focus on filmmaker-driven films
- And less of an interconnection in the Dark Universe
- The Invisible Man re-entered development, written and directed by Leigh Whannell and produced by Jason Blum
- Johnny Depp still had option to still in the lead role
- Though all parties ultimately passed
- Elisabeth Moss will co-star as Cecilia Kass, while Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Michael Dorman were respectively cast as Adrian and Tom Griffin
- The Invisible Man was released on February 28, 2020, receiving positive reviews
- In Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic book series, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Hawley Griffin is depicted as a member of the Victorian-era team of agents for which the series is named
- Griffin is given the first name “Hawley” in the title
- It is a reference to Hawley Crippen
- It is explained that the Invisible Man killed at the end of the book was actually a half-wit albino that Griffin made invisible as a guinea pig
- Allowing him to escape to Rosa Coote’s boarding school
- There he rapes at least three women while posing as the Holy Spirit until he is captured by the rest of the League
- He is portrayed as a power-hungry psychopath and murderer, as in the novel
- At one point killing a random policeman solely for his uniform and nearly abandoning the rest of the team on Professor Moriarty’s cavorite-powered airship
- In the second volume, he assaults Mina Murray and betrays his teammates to the Martians
- Stealing military plans for them so he could rule the Earth with them, and telling them to disable Nemo’s submarine by doing something to the water in the Thames, which is why the Red Weed is used
- Moore commented that it seemed fitting for Griffin to join the Martians as both hailed from novels by H. G. Wells
- He is eventually raped and killed by Mister Hyde, who was able to see him all along as his vision operates in the infrared spectrum, a fact that he had hidden from Griffin
- In Jeff Lemire’s The Nobody, the Invisible Man is named John Griffen
- The character goes through a similar episode as the Invisible Man’s “Griffin” does
- Both men hide out in an inn in a small town, only to be driven out because of fear and curiosity
- The Invisible Man appears in Mad Monster Party? voiced by Allen Swift, impersonating Sydney Greenstreet
- This depiction of the Invisible Man is shown to wear a fez, dark glasses and a purple dressing gown
- He is among the monsters invited by Baron Boris von Frankenstein to attend his meeting at his castle on the Isle of Evil in the Caribbean Sea
- A pie thrown into his face reveals that he has an enormous nose and is extremely ugly
- The Invisible Man appears in Mad Mad Mad Monsters
- It is a “prequel of sorts” to Mad Monster Party?
- He is voiced again by Allen Swift
- He, his invisible wife Nagatha, and their invisible boy Ghoul and his invisible dog Goblin are invited by Baron Henry von Frankenstein to attend the wedding of Frankenstein’s Monster and the Monster’s Bride at the Transylvania-Astoria Hotel on the midnight of Friday the 13th
- On The Invisible Man television series on Syfy, the character was thief/con man Darien Fawkes
- He is played by Vincent Ventresca
- He is scientist brother worked on the development of a gland that made the subject invisibility by secreting a chemical known as ‘quicksilver’ throughout the body, the quicksilver bending light to render the subject invisible
- Darien’s nemesis was Arnaud DeFehrn, played by Joel Bissonnette, although he went by the Swiss-French name Arnaud De Thiel as a cover while working on the gland to sabotage it
- DeFehrn’s actions giving the gland a ‘defect’ where a low level of quicksilver seeping into the subject’s brain will eventually drive the gland’s owner insane without regular access to a specific drug to counter these effects
- DeFehrn developed his own version of the gland, but became permanently invisible when it was imperfectly implanted
- In attempting to retrieve the gland, he later uses the pseudonym Hawley Griffin
- This is a reference to the League of Extraordinary Gentleman and the original Invisible Man
- Pretending to be a CIA agent from the South
- The series concluded with DeFehrn’s gland removed and Darien cured of the risk of quicksilver madness
- In the 2003 film adaptation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series, the Invisible Man who joins the League is not Griffin, but Rodney Skinner
- He is played by Tony Curran
- He is a cheerful thief who stole the invisibility formula from the original Invisible Man
- The fact that his skin is invisible is also related to his name of “Skinner”
- Skin samples of him are taken by Dorian Gray for Professor Moriarty, allowing him to duplicate the invisibility process
- Contrary to the graphic novels, Skinner remains loyal to the League, infiltrating Moriarty’s base and working out how best to destroy it
- During the raid on Moriarty’s lair, Moriarty’s own invisible man is shot by Allan Quatermain while threatening Tom Sawyer
- At the film’s conclusion, the plans are lost through a hole in the ice when Moriarty is shot, and Skinner decides to remain with the League, now composed of Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Henry Jekyll, and Tom Sawyer
- In Claudio Fäh’s 2006 Destination Films film Hollow Man 2, Michael Griffin
- He is played by Christian Slater
- He is a soldier upon whom the formula developed by Sebastian Caine five years earlier is applied by the Reisner Institute, as a part of a covertly Department of Defense-funded operation to create the perfect assassin for black ops missions, codenamed “Silent Knight”
- The film is a stand-alone sequel to the 2000 Columbia Pictures sci-fi horror thriller film Hollow Man
- It is directed by Paul Verhoeven
- In Genndy Tartakovsky’s 2012 Sony Pictures Animation film Hotel Transylvania, Griffin the Invisible Man
- He is voiced by David Spade
- He is one of the supporting character monsters who checks into Hotel Transylvania
- He is among Count Dracula’s (Adam Sandler) circle of friends
- This version is completely invisible, and his glasses are the only thing that can be seen in the movie
- Gags centering on him, rely on his invisibility
- During a pool party scene, Wayne the werewolf (Steve Buscemi) pulls Griffin’s swim trunks down causing him embarrassment even though he is invisible
- In another scene in the sauna when Dracula makes a disparaging remark about people with red curly hair, Griffin takes offense to this, saying that he has red curly hair
- Other jokes include Wayne and Wanda’s werewolf pups attacking him whenever he holds bacon, and doing really badly at charades
- David Spade reprised his role as Griffin, the Invisible Man, in the 2015 sequel Hotel Transylvania 2
- He unsuccessfully tries to make his friends think he has an invisible girlfriend (and finds one in the end)
- Spade reprised the role again in the 2018 film Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
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