Dorian Gray

"I am what *you* made me! I lived the life that you preached... but never dared practice. I am everything, that you were too afraid to be."

- Dorian to Lord Henry Wotton in the original novel and its 2009 adaptation. "I hoped I'd get to nail you one last time. Didn't think it'd be literally."

- Dorian's most controversial quote from the LXG movie adaptation.

Dorian Gray is the titular protagonist villain of the novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde as well as its 2009 film adaptation. He is one the most iconic and pioneering villains from classic literature and is identified as one of the first attempts at creating a protagonist villain. As such he has been adapted in various forms of media several times and has had several characters based around him.

Novel/Film
He is a young heir who had his ego inflated by making friends with the corrupt and manipulative Lord Henry Wotton and the good hearted Basil Hallward of whom painted his portrait for him. After having this portrait painted Dorian's ego was vastly inflated and he became very narcissistic which prompted Dorian to wish to become immortal and make his painting age instead of himself.

Soon after this Dorian meets Sybil Vane a working class actress who would become his fiancée. After being told of her so called Prince Charming Sybil's brother James is rather weary of Dorian despite not knowing who he is.

Dorian and Sybil's relationship however doesn't last as Henry and Basil criticize Dorian believing him to only be in love with her for her looks. Dorian responds to their criticisms by dumping Sybil an act which winded up breaking her heart.

It is here that Dorian discovers the curse upon his painting, with him realizing that whenever he commits an evil action his portrait becomes more repulsive and disgusting.

Upon this discovery Dorian calls upon Basil the man who painted his portrait who is horrified to discover the curse and attempts to convince Dorian to get rid of the painting. Dorian however blames the curse on Basil and brutally murders him. Dorian then appears to lose control over himself and commits a great deal of crimes across the country.

After this Dorian goes into denial and tries to get over his guilt for these crimes when he winds up running into James Vane who informs Dorian of his attempts to find him and Sybil's suicide devastated by the news Dorian attempts to apologise but is only met with hostility from James who is later taken away after he attacked Dorian.

James begins stalking Dorian and winds up getting himself killed due to a misunderstanding with a hunter.

Dorian attempts to move on by locking his painting away and even finds a new love interest called Hetty Merton one of whose heart he will not break however the void left from Sybil's suicide is too much for him to handle prompting Dorian to have suicidal thoughts, his desire to remove all traces of his illegal activities also contributed to this.

Due to all of the above Dorian decided to kill himself by stabbing his portrait, during this he let out a loud cry of pain that the whole street could hear. Upon hearing this several of his house servants rushed to the scene only to find an old, ugly and decrepit man on the floor of whom they recognised as their master due to his clothing. Dorian's painting was also restored to its original beauty as the curse was now removed from it.

Comics
In the famous graphic novel series Dorian has a very minor role with him being nowhere to be seen by the time the first comic takes place, however his portrait is seen hanging in the secret annex of the league's headquarters which would mean that he is still alive but not an active member of the league.

Film
In the loose film adaptation Dorian has a much more significant role with him appearing as the secondary antagonist as opposed to Hawley Griffin and is significantly different in comparison to original book counterpart.

He appears as a very smug and egotistical man who can be unhurt and doesn't age, due to a cursed portrait of himself that ages each year instead of him. However, to gaze upon the portrait would strip him of his immortal powers. Originally a member of the League as recruited by M (who is actually the terrorist known as Fantom) and the former lover of team member Mina Harker, Dorian is later revealed to be a double agent working for the Phantom in order to instigate the Fantom's plans for a world war.

To that end, Dorian secretly stole many of the League's powers, such as taking pictures of the inner workings of Captain Nemo's submarine The Nautilus, stealing a vial of the Hyde formula from Dr. Jekyll, cutting a skin from the invisible thief Rodney Skinner, and obtaining vampire blood from Mina by causing a drinking accident. It also turns out that Dorian involved of the Phantom's intention of using Allan Quatermain to capture Hyde in order to obtain the Hyde formula. With the elements in his hand, Dorian escapes in an escape pod to the Phantom's fortress in the Asiatic Arctic, unaware that Rodney has stowed away in the pod and secretly giving directions to the League.

When the League locate the Phantom fortress in the Asiatic Arctic, Mina confronts Dorian and (after fighting him) finally defeats him by forcing him to look at his magical portrait. Dorian screams in terror as the portrait reverts back to its original form and Dorian begins rapidly aging, before disintegrating into dust

Penny Dreadful
Dorian appears as one of the main characters in the TV Series Penny Dreadful he shares some similarities to his various other counterparts in this series however this appears to be the least developed version of the character as he fails to stand out from other versions of himself.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Dorian Gray will make an appearance in season two of the Netflix Original Series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina in an unknown role. He will be presented however as a reclusive and mysterious nightclub owner who will either be aware of the existence of witches due to their shared gift or immortality or be a witch himself. His portrait is also set to appear in the series.

Personality
Dorian Gray is an extreme example of a narcissist, he appears to be legitimately in love with himself and his ego is only inflated as the novel progresses. Dorian then suffers from both gerontophobia and gerascophobia which prompts him to make the deal to maintain his young age and good looks.

However Dorian does have a good side which he eventually develops again towards the end of the novel. Dorian is also rather sensitive when it comes to women as he felt responsible and deeply remorseful and regretful for Sybil's death which would eventually lead to his great depression, in order to fill the void left by Sybil Dorian finds a new fiancée of whom he is very loving and protective over.

By the end of the book Dorian is overcome with guilt and depression.

Portrayals
In the 2009 adaptation of the original novel he was portrayed by Ben Barnes in the film who would later portray Jigsaw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen he was portrayed by Stuart Townsend who also portrayed Lestat in the 2002 adaptation of Queen of the Damned.

In Penny Dreadful he was portrayed by Reeve Carney who also portrayed Riff Raff in the TV remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

In the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina he will be portrayed by Jedidiah Goodacre who also portrayed Chad Charming in the Descendants franchise.

Gallery
 Dorian Gray1.jpg|Dorian in the 2009 movie. Dorian Gray2.jpg|Dorian admiring his portrait. Dorian Gray 2.jpg|Dorian considering whether to join the League in their quest to defeat the Fantom. Dorian Gray 3.jpg|Dorian speaking to Mina Harker about the powers of his cursed portrait Dorian Gray 4.jpg|Dorian exposing himself as an accomplice to the Fantom Dorian Gray 5.jpg|Dorian on an old film reel Dorian Gray 6.jpg|Dorian battling with Mina inside the Fantom's fortress Dorian Gray 7.jpg|Dorian screams after being shown his cursed portrait Dorian's death.jpg|Dorian crumbles into dust as the portrait strips him of his immortality Doriangraylxg.jpg

Trivia

 * Dorian's evolution from good to evil has been part of the dynasty of supervillains. He is also one of the pioneers of supervillains alongside Professor Moriarty, Mr. Hyde.
 * Dorian Grey takes the place of Hawley Griffin from the original comics in The League of Extraordinary Gentleman as the one who betrays the League, although, while Hawley betrayed the team out of pure cowardice, Dorian was planning to do so from the start. Griffin himself doesn't even appear in the film as Fox was unable to secure the rights to the character so instead he is mentioned briefly not even by name and replaced by the character Rodney Skinner who acted as a red herring to throw suspicion from the characters and audience off of Dorian.