Negan (Comic Series)

"But I do things I don't want to do... All the fucking time."

- Negan to Eugene.

Negan is a character first introduced in Issue 100 of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and is the leader of The Saviors and the current primary antagonist for the Comic Series. Negan is something of the polar opposite to Rick. While Rick has killed to survive, Negan kills to assert his group's stance as the dominant power in the post-apocalypse, which he refers to as "The New World Order". He uses his authority and resources to subjugate other communities, such as The Hilltop Colony, The Kingdom, and now the Alexandria Safe-Zone, into paying tribute to The Saviors, in exchange for protection against zombies.

Location Unknown
Nothing is known about Negan's life before or as the outbreak began, except that he enjoyed billiards very much.

Something To Fear
At some point after the outbreak, Negan established "The Saviors" and fiercely ruled over his men. Negan, along with his team (which includes at least 50 or more other men), had made a deal with the Hilltop Colony; they would use the weaponry that the other group was lacking to kill all zombies wandering near their premises. In return, they would obtain half of Hilltop's supplies; such as livestock and crops. To get his point across, if a potential problem would arise, Negan and his men would resort to cruel and manic measures. If they sense they are being tracked or if they feel they aren't getting a sufficient enough amount of supplies, they beat or kill the people from Hilltop. The group also sends "messages" to the community, which are usually very deadly, such as Gregory being stabbed by Ethan.

Later, Negan, along with fifty other Saviors, snuck up on Rick's group and subdued Rick by surprise. They lined up all of the survivors from the van (Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Sophia, Michonne, and Heath), telling them that he wanted revenge for the Saviors that were killed. Without an agreement from Rick, Negan made a deal; everything that belonged to the Alexandria Safe-Zone, now belonged to the Saviors. He introduced his weapon of choice; Lucille, a baseball bat covered in barbed wire. After a long talk about the new world order and whom he should beat to death using Lucille. He finally chose his victim at random: Glenn. Maggie panicked, as Glenn attempted talking Negan out of it. Negan ignored him and smashed Glenn's skull in by slamming Lucille down hard on Glenn's head. Negan laughed and when Glenn attempted to get to his feet, the former remarked that "he's taking it like a champ" before swinging Lucille at Glenn, dislocating his jaw and beating Glenn to death. Negan told the mourning and crying group that the Saviors would be back in one week to collect half of everything that the Alexandria Safe-Zone owned, or there would be more killings. Rick vowed that he would avenge Glenn and kill Negan. Negan laughed at this, beat Rick with his bare hands and turned around, leaving the survivors with Glenn's corpse.

March To War
Several days later, Negan arrives at the Alexandria Safe-Zone a few days ahead of schedule; he's informed that the community is "practically" out of supplies and that Rick went out looking for more. Negan decides that he will stay in Alexandria until Rick returns from the supply run. He makes an offhand comment about Olivia's weight, who overhears it and starts to cry. He tries to apologize but she merely slaps him. Despite several Saviors offering to kill her, Negan dismisses them. Negan is later approached by Spencer Monroe and asks for a little background on the Safe-Zone. After awhile, Negan gets impatient with Spencer and wants to know why he came to him. Spencer then tells Negan that Rick is not a suitable leader for the community and asks that once Negan kills him, Spencer be given control over the Safe-Zone. Negan feels insulted that Spencer would wait until Rick is gone to tell him this. He responds by telling Spencer that Rick may hate him, but he has guts unlike Spencer who acted like a coward. Negan then slashes Spencer's stomach killing him almost instantly, remarking that he had guts after all. He then orders one of his men to clean the mess up "before a kid sees it."

Negan asks Denise, who witnessed the attack, where Spencer lived so he could go and shoot some pool. Rick later returns and confronts Negan, who casually blows him off. Rick demands to know what happened or he won't leave Alexandria alive. After picking up Lucille and praying to give him strength, Negan drops the excessive profanity he normally uses and tells Rick that he feels like he's "bent over backwards to show how reasonable I can be" in regards how he brought Carl back to the Safe-Zone safely and hints about how Spencer wanted to have him kill Rick.

After seeing the supplies gathered by Rick, Negan initially demands all of it, but then decides to take nothing as payment for killing Spencer. Rick insists that they take their share and Negan has no objections. As they are driving back to the foundry, Negan notices Rick and a few others were following them. An instant later, the driver is shot and killed. Confused and angry, Negan takes Lucille and sees Rick pointing a gun at his head. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard and Rick's gun is destroyed as well as the other's who came out with him. Negan remarks on how stupid Rick and the others are by using bullets on the walkers instead of saving them for 'the much more dangerous thinkers'  (aka the living.) Negan reveals that before every pickup, he has a back-up team armed with guns surround the Safe-Zone and guard the area while himself and the others go in and salvage for supplies. With a crazed smile on his face, Negan leans in to Rick and says that him and the Safe-Zone residents are 'fucking fucked.' Negan smiles and says that in a stand-off situation, snipers tend to give away their position after several shots. He clarifies that Rick's 'sniper bitch is as good as dead', causing Rick to try and strike him. As Negan holds him off, Carl shoots off a portion of Lucille, causing the Saviors to open fire at the Safe-Zone walls. Negan orders them to stop and is shocked and angry about the damage to Lucille. Rick tackles him from behind, but Negan subdues him once more. He calls Carl a one-eyed asshole and shouts for Carl to be thrown over the wall, saying "I want him to pay for what he's done!" Rick tries to object, but Negan beats him and issues an ultimatum: "Give me the boy or I'll bash in all four skulls of the people out here!" Negan admits that he liked Carl at first and that he never had a kid of his own; if he did, he wanted them to be like Carl. Rick says that if Carl dies, their agreement is over but Negan states that it already IS over. He orders his men to line up Rick, Heath, Nicholas and Holly, then begins to decide which one to kill first. He notices a figure falling from the bell tower and smugly repeats that he knew Rick's sniper was good as dead, not realizing that it's not Andrea but Connor.

Negan taunts Rick about Andrea's supposed demise and Nicholas interrupts him, pleading for his life. Negan berates Nicholas for doing this and accuses him of being a coward, he asks Rick, Heath or Holly to ask him to kill Nicholas and that if they do so, he will spare them. However Heath tells him no and he begins to pick which one of them he will kill, however he is interrupted when Paul Monroe grabs a Savior by the foot and uses him as a shield from the Saviors bullets. Negan tells his men to stand down and when he does this Paul leaps out of a trench and kicks the nearest Savior in the face. Paul orders Rick and the others into a trench and proceeds to fight his way towards Negan. When Paul reaches Negan he manages to disarm him and hold him hostage. Paul stalls the Saviors until Ezekiel and his men arrive, Negan breaks free from Paul and runs to a truck, where he retreats back to The Sanctuary with his men.

Negan is later seen back at The Sanctuary where he gives the Saviors a speech about them being the dominant force in the world and that they need to remind people of that and then states that they are going to war.

All One War - Part One
Several days later, Rick's army arrives to the Saviors base and demands that Negan come out. Initially, Negan is amused by this and begins to taunt him. Rick reveals that they know there are women, children and others inside who aren't part of this fight, he offers a chance to surrender and let them live; for the rest, he reaffirms his old saying: "You kill and you die." Negan plays along with it and asks what'll happen if he refuses. After hearing that "whatever happens, happens" Negan thinks for a split second and blatantly refuses Rick's offer. He muses that if he thinks the army he's assembled "can actually accomplish something... that's fucking rich." He briefly entertains the idea of letting Rick's plan go through only to reveal a wildcard; after the ambush at Alexandria, Negan ordered Gregory kidnapped and brought to him. Afraid of what Negan might do, Gregory quickly pledged his allegiance (and that of the Hilltop) to Negan and the Saviors.

After Gregory informed his loyalty towards Negan, he told Negan that the majority of Rick's army comprised of people from the Hilltop colony. Negan is pleased with this but when Rick's army arrived, he is furious that only eight people accept the ultimatum and leave. Negan berates Gregory for this misinformation and kicks him off the balcony. He refuses Rick's offer once more and his snipers begin to fire at the militia. Negan asks Lucille if she "believes this shit" and retreats from the bullets and falling glass. He calls Dwight, ordering him to bring the men from the outposts back to help drive off Rick's army. Dwight agrees but due to the commotion, Negan doesn't notice the former's hesitation to immediately act. As more men rush outside, Negan orders them to start shooting the army before all their snipers are killed. He suddenly notices that all their snipers are taking cover and is initially confused as to why Rick's militia are shooting not the snipers, but the windows. He then notices the large herd of zombies that are rapidly approaching the Sanctuary walls. He looks outside the fence and tells Dwight that "I hope you're wearing your shitting pants." Suddenly, Holly drives through the fence, destroying a portion of it and letting the herd inside. Negan frantically orders his men back inside the foundry, but notices that Holly is still alive from the crash. He sees a zombie about to kill her and dispatches it. As she looks up, Negan smiles and says that she wasn't "going to get off THAT fucking easy".

As the zombies converge inside the courtyard area, the Saviors retreat back inside the foundry to develop a new strategy. Negan delivers an analogy to a group of Saviors about how you can destroy a man "by fucking his vagina", meaning that the best way to destroy a man's heart by destroying the woman he loves; Negan clearly believes this to be Holly since Rick "was going to drive a car at us... you wouldn't let him sacrifice himself to tear our gate down." She corrects him by saying he's got the wrong woman; Rick loves Andrea and she herself was in love with Abraham, the man Dwight killed. Negan refuses to listen, insisting that she is the one who killed Connor "and a terrible liar." He then orders her taken away and goes off to clear his head. Later, Negan is seen outside with more Saviors trying to clear the courtyard of all the zombies, swearing that if any of them die he will "fuck them up." Eventually, too many walkers pour in the fence and Negan's group retreat back inside once more. Negan realizes that if the herd keeps them stuck inside for more than one day, they will all be dead and he orders squads outside every two hours to clean up the infestation by any means necessary. He goes to interrogate Holly some more, but catches David in the middle of trying to rape her. Negan demands that he get away from her and grabs him by the collar. He angrily reminds David one of the Savior's main rules: "We don't rape", thus proving Negan does hate sexual violence. As punishment for him breaking this rule, Negan proceeds to stab David in the neck and apologizes to Holly, telling her that "they [The Saviors] aren't monsters".

After killing David, it is presumed that Negan got word of one of his outposts being overrun by Rick's army and sent more to fortify the remaining ones. This in turn led to Ezekiel's army being eradicated in a failed attack. Negan also found a way to eliminate all of the zombies that had flooded into The Sanctuary's courtyard, for he is later seen heading towards Alexandria. When he arrives at the Safe-Zone, he throws a grenade over the wall and it detonates, demolishing one of the houses and getting Rick's attention. He threatens that 'there's more where that came from' and insists that he's here to parlay. To support his claim, he has a blindfolded Holly brought out of his truck and offers to release her back to Rick. Rick agrees to talk only when Holly is safely back inside, to which Negan agrees. This is later shown to be a ploy as it's revealed that Negan had Holly killed and she later reanimated. As the Alexandrians are distracted by this revelation, Negan orders his men to surround Alexandria and throws another grenade over the wall, yelling "Bombs away, motherfuckers!"

Negan is happy seeing all the destruction and chaos and admits to Lucille that "my dick's so hard right now... I should wrap it in barbed wire and call it 'Lucille II'." He asks Lucille if seeing him use the grenades makes her jealous of not being inside to take part in all the mayhem and wishes that he was inside as well watching them all burn. Davis, overhearing the conversation, awkwardly agrees that he's got a boner too and says [they're] hungry for death as well. Negan, confused by this, asks what the hell he's talking about. Suddenly, Davis is shot through the eye and gunfire erupts from behind several buildings. Surprised by this, Negan orders his men behind one of the trucks. He asks for one more grenade to use as cover and tells his men "the last boat is leaving... you'd better fucking be on it." He manages to escape and they are able to make a fast exit. When a Savior makes an offhand comment about retreating, Negan retorts that this wasn't a retreat. Pointing towards the smoke coming from Alexandria, he comments that this means they've "just fucking won."

All Out War - Part Two
After successfully bombarding Alexandria, Negan is seen leading his men back to Sanctuary when he sees a herd of walkers attacking several people from Alexandria. He orders them to kill the walkers and wonders aloud why they are out here beyond the wall. Nevertheless, he orders Eugene and the others to be taken back with them. Later, Negan somehow finds out that Eugene was making ammunition for Rick's army and goes to see him. Flanked by Dwight and Carson, Negan demands for Eugene to begin producing ammo for the Saviors. When the latter refuses, Negan hands Carson Lucille, then proceeds to grab his own groin (referring to it as his 'crystal balls') and tells Eugene what will happen if he refuses to cooperate; smiling, he says that he could iron Eugene's face (while glancing at Dwight) or castrate him. Negan insists that he doesn't want to do this, but threatens Eugene by saying that he does things he doesn't like all the time. Eugene still refuses to betray Rick and Negan leaves Eugene "with his thoughts and his dick... while he still has it."

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims Negan has killed:
 * Andy (Caused or Direct)
 * David (Caused or Direct)
 * Crystal (Assumed)
 * Glenn
 * Spencer Monroe
 * David
 * Holly (Caused or Direct)
 * Charles (Caused or Direct)
 * Betsy (Caused or Direct)
 * Orson Family (Caused or Direct)
 * Denise Cloyd (Indirectly Caused)
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people.

Carl Grimes
"Number one, don't shatter my image of you. You're a fucking badass. You're not scared of shit. Don't be scared of me. It's a disappointment. Number two, do you really expect me to ruin the surprise? Fuck you, kid."

- Negan to Carl.

Negan is hated by Carl, and this is demonstrated when Carl risks his life to get revenge, by sneaking into Negan's truck in order to kill him. It appears though, that Negan likes and admires Carl because of how hardened he is. It is shown that he may even have some higher opinion of the child, such as respect, as he is shown to be sincerely concerned and apologetic after making fun of his exposed gunshot injury. Carl returns Negan's admiration for him by accompanying him throughout the Savior's base without even trying to run or take action, also questioning the leader of his wives actually being his. Negan may very well be catering Carl to become a protege of some sort, as he is shown to be more impressed by the boy rather than angered by his violence against his men. However after Carl shot Lucille (Negan's baseball bat covered in barbed wire), Negan demanded Carl's head or he'd kill everyone else in the safe zone.

Dwight
"I'll tell you his secrets, his weaknesses...I'll bring you that asshole's head on a silver platter...And then it won't matter if you trust me...Because that motherfucker will be dead. And this nightmare will, at long last, be over."

- Dwight to Rick and Jesus about helping them and Ezekiel kill Negan.

Dwight and Negan seem to have a tense relationship, as both seem to dislike the other to a point. However, Dwight's fear of Negan keeps him in line, as it is implied that Negan himself caused the deformity on his face. This is seen when Negan comments on Dwight's return and how he can always try next time to attack the Alexandria Safe-Zone, which resulted in heavy casualties and Dwight's capture. Dwight shows a look of disgust towards Negan after this. Dwight also seems to be intimidated by Negan, as he decides not to tell him about Paul's escape, in fear of Negan's wrath. Dwight's frustration grew when Negan, after playing ping pong, provoked Dwight by saying him that he would "ping pong his dick" with Sherry, causing Dwight's bearing to finally break.

Rick Grimes
"In case you haven't caught on...I just slid my dick down your throat...And you thanked me for it."

- Negan to Rick.

Rick has shown nothing but anger and rage at Negan. Although he acts like a laid-back bully, rather than a psychotic murderer around Rick, Glenn's gruesome death was proof to Rick of the violence and brutality that Negan and his Saviors are capable of. This leads Rick to realize that striking back immediately will most likely result in the destruction of the Safe-Zone, leading him to choose a passive course of action until he can stand a chance to avenge Glenn's death. His first step was to allow their prisoner, Dwight, to be set free so that Paul could follow him to their base. After returning Carl unhurt (after implying to Rick that he had done something to the boy), Negan tried to assure Rick that it was a gesture of good faith and shows that he could be reasonable as long as Rick was compliant. Although Rick was grateful, he made it clear that things hadn't changed between the two of them, to which Negan didn't seemed surprised. In Issue 111, it is shown that Negan harbors some respect for Rick and his willingness to carry out the Saviors' will and keep the Alexandria Safe -Zone safe despite clearly hating Negan. This respect is shattered when Rick tried (and failed) to kill Negan during a supply pick-up and declares war on him and all the members of Alexandria.

Ezekiel
Ezekiel deeply hates Negan and wants him dead, as he stated that Jesus knew how much hate he had for the Saviors. It is also mentioned that he never accepted Negan's supply truce.

Amber
Amber is one of Negan's wives, though she does not love Negan, she has to pretend, for her and her boyfriend's protection. When Amber slept with her boyfriend, Mark, behind Negan's back, Negan punished Mark and burnt his face, similar to Dwight and his relationship with Sherry, another wife of Negan.

Gregory
Gregory is shown to be terrified of Negan and his group, to the point where he avoids as much confrontation as possible between the Saviors and the Hilltop.

Paul Monroe
Paul has a significant role in planning to overthrow The Saviors reign of tyranny and kill Negan. He has a strong dislike of Negan, yet has only seen him in person a few times.

Spencer Monroe
"You wanted to take over...Why not just kill Rick and take the fuck over? You know why? Because you got no guts."

- Negan to Spencer before killing him.

Negan is greeted by Spencer when he visits the Safe-Zone several times. During the most recent visit, Negan takes a bit of a liking to him after hearing how the Safe-Zone was formed and all the commodities the Safe-Zone offers. Spencer tells Negan that Rick is a bad leader and proposes that Negan put him in charge once Rick is killed. Negan is disgusted by Spencer for waiting until Rick was gone to tell him this. Negan taunts Spencer, saying that Rick is willing to put the good of others before his own feelings, and then brutally kills him.

Mark
"See? All done. Now was that so bad? Huh? Passed out?! Pussy."

- Negan to Mark.

Negan and Mark have a bad relationship, it is assumed that Mark and Amber were in a relationship before she became one of Negan's "wives" so after she did and Negan demanded that she could not continue her relationship with him, he began to carry on the relationship with Amber in secret. Once found out Negan punished Mark awfully by scarring half of his face with a hot iron. It is likely that, similarly to Dwight, Mark now despises him for the disfigurement of his face.

Appearances
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Trivia

 * Negan's character was not supposed to appear in issue 100, following Glenn's death. Originally, Glenn was going to be put in a situation where Rick is forced to kill him in order to save his son. Kirkman was not satisfied with this route and thus Negan was born.
 * Negan's appearance and character are also based off an unknown actor who Kirkman refuses to reveal just in case that actor wants to portray him and cannot.
 * Robert Kirkman's first idea for the name was "Negus", emphasizing how negative it sounded.
 * Negan's main weapon of choice is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed-wire, which he calls, "Lucille".
 * Negan's attachment towards Lucille is shown to be deranged. Apart from claiming that it's saved him more times than he can remember, he also says that it's "the only bitch I've ever loved" and disturbingly admits that he occasionally has sexual thoughts towards Lucille, and even acting on these thoughts.
 * Negan is notable for using excessive profanity when he speaks, even to his own men.
 * At first, it was implied Negan was some kind of cult leader, as The Saviors believed that Negan spoke through all of them. Though the term cult may not apply to the Saviors, they are most definitely the followers of Negan to an almost religious level.
 * This is heavily supported in Issue 105, as it is revealed that he runs the Saviors as a cult would entail, complete with the followers bowing at his entrance and chanting to his words.
 * In Issue 105, a very rare glimpse of Negan's sympathy is shown after he makes light of the disturbing gunshot injury to Carl's eye, making the young boy cry. He apologizes for this with what appears to be sincere concern and admits how easy it is to forget that he is just a child.
 * This implies that Negan may not simply be a psychopath, but possibly someone suffering from what is known as bipolar disorder. Sufferers are known to bounce back and forth between emotions when provoked by certain reactions. Most cases, however, take little to no provoking at all.
 * Coupled with the continuing (and conflicting) remarks that Carl needs punishment, but also deserves respect, could merely imply that, being Negan is a "darker" Rick (both of them are the leaders of a large group of survivors, but while Rick acts in self-defence only).
 * It is obvious that Negan shows signs of having what is known as a God complex, living a life of total and uninhibited dominion over any form of life he sees, people who will follow his every command.
 * Whether or not they choose to follow him willingly never seemed to be an issue, that is, until Rick Grimes began to lead a revolt against him.
 * In Issue 108, it is shown that Negan is a ping-pong player, beating several of his men soundly at the game. Whether this is due to his skill, or the opponent's fear of being punished if they beat Negan, is unknown.
 * Negan reveals in Issue 112 that he is not a "fan" of sexual violence. This is also shown in Issue 117 when he kills David for attempting to rape Holly.
 * Negan has mentioned he never had children.
 * Negan is the second major recurring antagonist in the Comic Series, the first being The Governor.
 * Negan and Dwight are the only named Saviors to have appeared on more than one issue cover.