  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | This is where it all began, the story of Candyman. Local character, he'd walk around handing out candy to the neighborhood kids. One day, a couple of kids get razor blades in their candy. The police come around. That's when I saw the true face of fear. They beat him, tortured him, killed him, right there on the spot. A couple weeks later, more razor blades and more candy. He'd been innocent. | „ |
| ~ William telling the story of Candyman to Anthony. |
William Burke is the main antagonist of the 2021 supernatural horror slasher film Candyman. He is a Cabrini Green resident who knows about the notorious legendary killer called Candyman.
He was portrayed by Colman Domingo, who also played Victor Strand in Fear the Walking Dead and Unicron in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Biography[]
Candyman (2021)[]
Early life[]
Years ago, William had a chance encounter with Sherman Fields, a hook-handed man who would hand candy out to the neighborhood children. However, this all changed when a young white girl was given a piece of candy with a razor blade inside of it. William's screams alerted the police, and he watched them brutalize Sherman to death. His older sister was later slaughtered by Sherman’s spirit, transformed into an iteration of Candyman, when she summoned him with a friend. This inspired William to use the Candyman as a symbol of vengeance instead of black people's pain and generational trauma.
Modern days[]
Becoming a launderette, William takes notice of Anthony and tells him the story of the Candyman through Sherman Fields, explaining how the specter is "the whole damn hive" as the Candyman was a metaphor for generational Black suffering. After Anthony gets stung by a bee during his trip to Cabrini-Green, he is slowly transformed into the Candyman.
When Anthony's girlfriend Brianna Cartwright grew concerned for him, she gets kidnapped by William and taken to an abandoned church. It is revealed that William is the one who broke the 30-year pact of silence established by the Cabrini-Green residents so Candyman wouldn't resurface again. He then notifies the police via a fraudulent 911 call for the "Say My Name" killer, aiming for them to shoot Anthony to death and Candyman would be reborn as a new iteration. He also captures Anthony and cuts his right hand off and replaces it with a hook. Unfortunately for him, Brianna gets the upper hand and stabs him to death. However, the police are compelled to shoot Anthony anyway. As she was being placed in a police SUV, she is threatened by the cops into saying that they were provoked to shoot Anthony.
Instead, she summons Anthony, and he arrives and slaughters the corrupt cops and fully becomes the Candyman. And thus, William's plan succeeds posthumously.
Personality[]
| “ | When something leaves a stain, even if you wash it out, it's still there. You could feel it. Uh-uh, a thinning deep in the fabric. This neighborhood got caught in the loop. The shit got stained in the exact same spot!!! OVER AND OVER until it finally rotted from the inside out! They tore down our homes so they could move back in. We need Candyman! And this time, he'll be killing their fathers, their babies, their ...sisters. | „ |
| ~ Burke insanely justifies his actions in making Anthony the next incarnation of Candyman to unleash on the world. |
Burke initially comes off as an affable, easygoing, welcoming, and insightful working-class man in living in the remnants of Cabrini-Green when he meets Anthony who was snooping around. He displays considerable charisma and cadence when speaking to Anthony about the local urban legend stories involving Sherman Fields and Daniel Robitaille.
However, as the film progresses, this is shown to be a facade to hide his true nature.
With Anthony in the background as his hostage, Burke rants his plan to Brianna.
Deep down, Burke is a vengeful and clinically unhinged man who is determined to summon the Candyman in order to put an end to racism in the country. The basis for his madness can be seen as almost justifiable. As, after the death of Sherman Fields at the hands of racist cops along with the gentrification of his childhood home, he soon became radicalized in his later years after witnessing the ongoing brutal cycle of racial injustice on the Black community. It may be implied that Burke even experienced such atrocities himself firsthand by the way he ranted his plan aloud to Brianna. He's also quite manipulative, as he told Anthony about the Candyman legend intending to make him the new Candyman, and even orchestrated the events of the film to make that happen.
But in the end, despite getting killed by Brianna, Burke gets the last laugh as Anthony became the new Candyman of Cabrini-Green the former wanted: a vigilante spectre of horrific justice for the Black neighborhood and beyond by slaughtering the cops that gunned him down without a second thought before finally killing the corrupt detective who tried to coerce Brianna. Not only that, but Burke's actions also called upon the first Candyman to materialize before Brianna, instructing her of his return.
Quotes[]
| “ | Helen Lyle was out here looking for Candyman. You ask me, I'd say she found him. | „ |
| ~ William speaking of Helen Lyle's investigation of Candyman. |
| “ | Candyman ain't a He. Candyman's the whole damn hive. If you're out here looking for Candyman, you ask me, stay away! | „ |
| ~ William to Anthony. |
| “ | The first one, where it all began, was in the 1890s. The story of Daniel Robataille. He made a good living touring the country painting portraits of wealthy families. Mostly white, and they loved him. But, you know how it goes. They love what we make...but not us. One day, he's commissioned to paint the daughter of a Chicago factory owner who made his fortune in the stockyards. Well, Robitaille committed the ultimate sin of his time. They fell in love, they had an affair, she got pregnant. The girl tells her father and we'll...you know. He hires some men to hunt Robitaille down, told them to get creative. They chase him through here in the middle of the day. He collapses from exhaustion right near where the old tower in Chestnut used to be. They beat him, tortured him, they cut off his arm and jam a meat hook through the stump. They smear honeycomb from a nearby hives on his chest and let the bees sting him. A crowd gathers to watch the show. The big finale: they set him on fire and he finally dies. But a story like that, a pain like that lasts forever. That's Candyman. | „ |
| ~ William telling Anthony of the story of the original Candyman, Daniel Robitaille. |
| “ | Candyman is how we deal with the fact that these things happened! That they're still happening! | „ |
| ~ William using the Candyman as a metaphor for anti-racism. |
Trivia[]
- Burke coincidentally shares the same name of one of two Scottish serial killers who slaughtered people to sell as medical cadavers.