Anthony McCoy is the main protagonist of Candyman (2021), who also has a small role in it's prequel, Candyman (1992). He is played by twins Latesha and Lanesha Martin in the 1992 film, and by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the 2021 film.
Biography[]
Candyman (1992)[]
Anthony, who was only an infant in the 1992 film, was the son of Anne-Marie McCoy, and the two had lived together in a run-down apartment building in Cabrini-Green. Here, they met Helen Lyle, a Chicago grad student who had came to Cabrini-Green as part of a thesis on the Candyman legend she had been working on, since most of the murders attributed to Candyman had been taking place within the area.
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Anthony as a baby in the 1992 film.
After her meeting with Anne-Marie, Helen is attacked by a gang leader who carries a hook and has assumed Candyman's moniker in order to enhance his "street cred". Helen survives the assault and has the gang leader arrested. She is thanked by the police, who believe the gang leader to be responsible for the killings attributed to Candyman.
However, sometime later, Helen is confronted by the real Candyman, who explains that since Helen has discredited his legend, he must "shed innocent blood" to perpetuate belief in himself and continue his existence.
Candyman proceeds to murder Anne-Marie's dog, kidnap Anthony, and also kills Helen's friend Bernadette, framing Helen to look guilty for each of the crimes. Helen is transferred to a psychiatric hospital, but manages to escape after a month's stay. She heads back to Cabrini-Green, looking for Anthony, who has been cared for by Candyman, him having been waiting for Helen's return.
Candyman promises to release Anthony if Helen agrees to sacrifice herself, so that the Candyman legend can live on. To do so, Candyman reneges and attempts to immolate himself, Helen and Anthony in a bonfire which is lit by the residents, so that they can die and become legends like him. Helen, however manages to save Anthony, and safely returns him to his mother. Sadly, Helen dies from her wounds soon after. Anne-Marie and the other Cabrini-Green residents later pay respects to Helen at her funeral.
Following the events of the 1992 film, Anne-Marie moves away from Cabrini-Green, attempting to distance herself and Anthony from the Candyman legend.
Candyman (2021)[]
27 years later, in 2019, Anthony is now an artist, living in Chicago with his girlfriend, Brianna Cartwright, an art gallery director. One night, Anthony is told the story of Helen Lyle by Brianna's brother Troy. However, in this version of the story, Helen is instead made out to be a villain, being said to have truly been guilty of the crimes she had been accused of committing. This version of the story also states that Helen threw herself into the bonfire after the locals managed to rescue the baby she had "stolen".
Anthony, having recently been struggling with his creative flow, is inspired by the Helen Lyle story, and begins undergoing research as inspiration for his work. During his travels, he meets William Burke, who owns a laundromat located within Cabrini-Green's almost entirely abandoned rowhouses. When asked about Candyman, William tells Anthony about how, for him, Candyman was a man named Sherman Fields. Sherman was local of Cabrini-Green in 1977 who was falsely accused of placing a razor blade in a white girl's candy, and was thus beaten to death by the local police, an act which was witnessed by a young Burke. Burke also mentions that if somebody says "Candyman" five times to a mirror, Sherman's spirit will appear and kill the summoner.
Inspired by the Sherman Fields story, Anthony creates an elaborate art piece called "Say My Name", depicting the various tragedies surrounding the Candyman legend. The piece is displayed at an art exhibition being hosted by Brianna, but the Chicago locals, as well as art critic Finley Stephens, are left unimpressed by the piece, and Anthony storms home in a drunken rage.
That night, after the art exhibition ends, art dealer Clive Privler and his girlfriend are murdered by Candyman after the latter summons him in a mirror that was part of McCoy's elaborate art piece. The two murders are shown on the news the next morning, which mentions that the bodies were found in front of Anthony's artwork. Anthony is overjoyed at how his work has garnered attention, and despite him beginning to experience encounters with the ghost of Sherman, Anthony grows more and more obsessed with the Candyman legend, much to Brianna's concern, since it reminds her of her own father, an obsessive artist who committed suicide when she was a child.
Later, after Anthony learns that Finley was murdered after summoning the Candyman, Anthony confronts William, who tells him that there are actually several different Candymen, all of them being black people who were killed in acts of racism throughout history. The first victim was Daniel Robitaille, an artist who was killed back in the 1890s by a lynch mob after he fell in love with his client's daughter and got her pregnant. Since then, the legend has been renewed for generations with the souls of other murdered black men, becoming part of the Candyman "hive", and who are also the subjects of Anthony's paintings.
During this time, Anthony has had an infection from a bee sting he obtained before meeting Burke, which has now begun to spread all over him body. He goes to the hospital to have it checked out, where he learns from a doctor he was born in Cabrini-Green, which comes as a surprise to him, seeing as he believed he had been born elsewhere. He visits his mother looking for answers, and Anne-Marie tells Anthony the truth about the Helen Lyle story, revealing to him that he was the baby that was kidnapped, and that Helen was truly innocent the whole time. Helen Lyle had only been portrayed as guilty by the Cabrini-Green locals so that Candyman wouldn't be summoned again.
Anthony goes back to Burke's laundromat yet again, which is when he is suddenly kidnapped by William, who also kidnaps Brianna. William takes them both to a church, where he also places Anthony into a catatonic state (possibly with mmm drugs?). Wanting to reclaim the Candyman legend as an instrument of vengeance rather than a symbol of Black suffering, William saws off Anthony's hand and replaces it with a hook, and also gives Anthony a trench coat to wear, completing his transformation.
Brianna, who has been bound to one of the church pews during this time, manages to escape her bindings and flee, being pursued by William. Brianna gets cornered in one of the abandoned rowhouse units, which is when she manages to fight back and stab William to death with a pen.
Death[]
Anthony arrives in the room, now in a more conscious state. He slowly approaches Brianna before collapsing in her arms. All of a sudden, the police arrive, and, seeing Anthony in this passive position, shoot him to death.
Post-Death[]
After the police kill Anthony, they take Brianna into the back of a police car. The leader, Detective Lipez, tell her that their version of the story will claim that Anthony had charged at them with a weapon in hand, and attempt to threaten Brianna into going along with it. Brianna, however, summons Candyman in the car's rear-view mirror. Anthony is resurrected, and proceeds to murder each of the cops.