Who Is The Corinthian in The Sandman? Meet Boyd Holbrook’s Character

Netflix’s The Sandman is going to be released soon, and this has only increased the excitement level of fans regarding the series and the characters that are going to play a part in season 1 of what could be a multi-season original for the streaming giant. In that regard, one of the most interesting characters is someone called the Corinthian, who played a huge role in the early part of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comic book. So, who is The Corinthian in The Sandman?

The Corinthian is literally a walking and living nightmare that Morpheus created when he conducted an experiment. He was one of the nightmares created by Morpheus so that people could confront their fears, but he indulges himself in killing innocent people when he rebelled against his master.

Out of all of the different characters that Neil Gaiman created, the Corinthian is one of the most iconic due to the fact that his appearance and personality stand out. Of course, he also has an interesting history that can be tied to Dream/Morpheus’s own job of controlling the dreams of people whenever they’re sleeping. Now, let’s look at what we know about the Corinthian.

Who Is The Corinthian In The Sandman?

As The Sandman’s release on Netflix draws near, it is only natural for people to become more interested in the upcoming series and who the characters in the story are. And this is where some of the most interesting characters of The Sandman enter the discussion as we get to talk about the Corinthian, who stands as one of the greatest and most creative characters ever created by Neil Gaiman in his comic book series.

The Corinthian was basically created by Gaiman in The Doll’s House storyline during the early part of The Sandman, as there is a reason to believe that he will be playing an important role in the upcoming series, which will follow the early portion of the comic books. But before we talk about the Corinthian, it is better to first talk about Dream, who is also called Morpheus or the Sandman.

In The Sandman comic books, Dream or Morpheus is one of the Endless, which is a family of ancient entities that have existed for as long as time has existed. The Endless govern some of the basic functions of the universe, and Dream was put in charge of maintaining the Dreamlands, which is the realm where every human being goes whenever they are sleeping. 

Dream, in a way, is responsible for keeping humans busy for a third of their entire lives as they tend to wander off to the Dreamlands whenever they are sleeping. And the Dreamlands are also the home of the Nightmares, which were created by Dream so that humans will be forced to confront their fears whenever they are in the Dreamlands.

In a way, the Dreamlands represent a lot of the different things that make humanity precious as it allows people to continue hoping while they are dreaming. And the Nightmares play an important role because, although they are literal nightmares, they allow people to become stronger and more hopeful when they conquer their fears.

This is where the Corinthian comes in, as he was Dream’s masterpiece after he created him in an experiment that eventually went wrong. Dream created each Nightmare with their own personality, and the Corinthian seemed to be the best out of all of them because he represents everything that is wrong with humanity. He is vicious, bloodthirsty, selfish, and downright evil. He looks just like any other ordinary human being but has teeth instead of eyeballs, and he simply wants to devour the entire universe with his eyes. 

It is the very fact that the Corinthian represents the worst parts of humanity that made him too eager to rebel against his master as he wanted to truly experience killing and devouring people in real life instead of just in their dreams.

What Happened To The Corinthian In The Comics?

In the comics, it is important for the Endless to make sure that they do not kill humans. As for Dream’s case, he cannot kill humans because there have to be boundaries between the Dreamlands and the Waking World, and that means that his servants are not supposed to kill humans as well. 

But as mentioned, the Corinthian was a selfish and arrogant creature that wanted more. He rebelled against Dream, and he started exploring different ways to reach Earth so that he could claim different victims instead of simply scaring them while they were asleep and off to the Dreamlands.

However, when Dream found out that the Corinthian was crossing the boundaries of his limits, he sought to undo his creation. But Dream got imprisoned before he could find stop the Corinthian, and this is what allowed the Nightmare to escape the Dreamlands and blend in with human society.

Dream was trapped inside a glass dome for decades, and that was when the Corinthian went on to terrorize humanity to become the most infamous serial killer in the history of the United States. He wears a pair of shades to hide his eyes, as he kept himself hidden for almost a hundred years while blending with other humans and acting like he is seemingly just like any other ordinary person. And the scariest part is that he is capable of possessing the bodies of other people so that he could elude the authorities and make it seem like the person he possessed was the one responsible for committing all of the killings he committed.

The Corinthian’s reign of terror persisted throughout the entire time that Dream was imprisoned, and that was what led people to follow in the footsteps of the Corinthian by doing the same things that he did after being “inspired” by the bodies that he left in his wake. He basically tapped into the dark instincts of humanity with the things that he did while he was terrorizing humanity. So, in a way, the Corinthian was indeed the reflection of all of the worst traits of humanity because he was able to prove that humans can be just as dark and as twisted as he is.

However, Dream was able to unmake the Corinthian shortly after his imprisonment sentence was over. Nevertheless, Dream was left to accept the fact that one of his creations left an irreparable effect on humanity as the Corinthian inflicted so much pain on people not only through his direct actions but also through the actions of those who followed him.

Years later, Dream created a new Corinthian that regarded himself as the same entity as the first because he had all of his memories. However, this new Corinthian was more loyal to his master than the first version, which was a failed experiment that damaged humanity so much.

Who Plays The Corinthian In The Sandman?

In The Sandman series, the Corinthian is played by Boyd Holbrook, who has been acting since the latter part of the 2000s. While he hasn’t had a lot of breakthrough roles, he did appear in productions like The Host, The Predator, Logan, and In The Shadow of the Moon.

It is possible that his role as the Corinthian will be his biggest role at this point in his career. We are also excited about how Boyd Holbrook will give life to one of the most twisted yet interesting characters in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman comic book series.