Not much is know about Sunderland other than that he is the CEO of Sunderland Corporations and that he will stop at nothing in order to get the secrets of immortality from Swamp Thing‘s body.
Saga of the Swamp Thing
Near the beginning of the story arc, agents of the Sunderland Corporation tracked down the Swamp Thing to a small forest. Surrounding the forest with bright search lights and pushed their agents in from the south, forcing Swamp Thing into a trap. After a brief gun fight, Swamp Thing fell. His body was quickly but in a freezing chamber and shipped to Sunderland’s personal estate.
After pulling some strings, General Sunderland was able to get Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, into his custody. He demanded that Woodrue find out why the serum that transformed Alec Holland in the first place worked on him, when all previous testing showed that it only accelerates plant growth and is ineffective on human tissue. After weeks of dissections and examinations, Woodrue came to the conclusion that Alec Holland died instantly in the explosion that took his laboratory. It was the local flora that, mixed with the serum, consumed Holland’s body and, with that, his memories. This explained the redundant organs he was finding inside of Swamp Thing, he believed that he was still human so the plants did their best to replicate Hollands initial organs.
It was at this point in time that Sunderland fired Woodrue, not seeing any further use for him. Sunderland unfortunately cut Woodrue odd before he could explain that since Swamp Thing is not human, mere gun shot would would not kill him. Woodrue accessed Sunderland’s mansion computer and raised the temperature of the holding unit for Swamp Thing while activating security protocols to lock Sunderland inside once he was a safe distance away. For he knew that Alec Holland was a generally peaceful man, but if he ever discovered that he was not really Alec Holland, their is no telling what he might be capable of. It was on this rainy night that Sunderland, who had always felt safe and protected within his fully automated mansion, met his demise at the hands of Swamp Thing, who had lost all feeling of humanity.