Upon the recasting of the role with Bailey in 2004, Alistair becomes one of the soap's primary villains, expanding his focus from daughter Sheridan and her lover, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, to all of Harmony's citizens.

Alistair is frequently regarded as being pure evil; he expresses racist,[1] sexist,[2][3] and homophobic beliefs, and all of his known relationships are based on a megalomaniacal need to control his family members and sexual partners.

Alistair strove to ready Julian to take over the Crane empire some day in the future and felt that he needed a "socially acceptable" wife.

Alistair's villainous plots usually only pertain to the protection of Crane empire in these years and he spends a great deal of energy trying to keep Julian and grandson Ethan under his control.

Much to Alistair's chagrin, Sheridan returns to Harmony alive and well in 2002—but, in the intervening time, she has become engaged to Luis's long-missing older brother, Antonio.

Sheridan is an emotional wreck after the presumed death of her baby, and Alistair convinces the weak-minded Antonio to place his wife in a psychiatric ward in 2004.

There, Alistair arranges for Sheridan to be administered electric shock therapy until she forgets her love for Luis; when she finally does remember, Antonio kidnaps her and forces her onto the Crane jet in hopes of leaving Harmony, and Alistair has the plane blown up, unaware that Antonio experiences a change of heart and lets Sheridan leave.

While watching Luis and Sheridan, Alistair realizes that Katherine is living in Puerto Arena with Martin Fitzgerald under the aliases of Ellen and Bob Wheeler.

Alistair's softer side is only seen around his beloved granddaughter, Julian's eldest daughter Fancy, whom he considers to be his favorite family member and the only "true Crane" of the bunch.

When he witnesses Fancy having sex with Noah on the beach, Alistair becomes enraged and has Sam's youngest son arrested on false drug and weapon charges.

In their prenup, Alistair includes provisions that allow him to adopt Theresa and Julian's nine-year-old son, Little Ethan, and make him his heir, disinheriting the rest of his family.

Alistair takes great pleasure in sexually abusing his young wife and flaunts his efforts to turn their son into a "true Crane" in her face.

After learning of her brother Luis's death, Theresa's thoughts toward her husband become murderous, and she attempts several times to kill Alistair, most notably with a batch of poisoned guacamole that Ethan ingests instead.

Alistair seems to have finally been put out of commission at his New Year's Eve party, appropriately themed "A Murder Is Announced", when Liz Sanbourne, in retaliation for her rape and subsequent pregnancy at his hands, stabs him in the neck.

[6] At some point during this time, Alistair emerges from his coma and pays the director of the nursing home to keep his recovery quiet; he then has another comatose man fitted with a latex mask of his face in order to convince his enemies that he is still unconscious so that he can carry out his omega plot.

Eager to atone for committing incest with Chad, Whitney follows Alistair to Rome and helps him to come into possession of a chalice belonging to the Pope that will allow whoever unlocks its secrets to become omnipotent.

Alistair then commandeers a train and flees the city with Beth and Marty; Luis, Fancy, and Noah are in pursuit in an Interpol helicopter when a drone plane fires missiles at a bridge, destroying it.

When Luis and Fancy reunite, Alistair returns Marty to his mother and orders Sheridan to use the boy to create friction between her ex-fiancé and niece.

Meanwhile, Esme Vanderheusen, whose recent lovers, with the exception of Julian, have all been murdered by an unseen culprit, decides to use her "curse" to rid Harmony of Alistair.

In May 2008, Eve Russell is driven to the breaking point regarding Alistair's treatment of her son, Vincent, and decides to kill the Crane patriarch.

"[10] He is often portrayed as a larger-than-life force with surveillance cameras all over town, as well as in strategic locations around the world; an immense staff of henchmen ready to do his bidding; and control of a global, billion-dollar company.

For many years, he uses the threat of disinheritance to force Julian and Ethan to do his bidding and attempts to murder his own daughter, Sheridan, when she disobeys him and accepts Luis's proposal.

[15] Believing her to be the only "true Crane" of all of his relatives and admiring her spirit[14] and ability to stand up to him,[16] Alistair served as a father figure to the young girl, who was largely ignored by her parents, and indulged and encouraged her nonchalant, fun-seeking attitude, telling her that she was born to "enjoy [herself and] have fun".

Upon his October 2005 wedding to Theresa, Alistair disinherits all of his relatives—then including Julian, Sheridan, Beth, Chad, Fancy, Pretty, Fox, Endora, Marty, and Miles—aside from Julian and Theresa's son Little Ethan, whom he adopts, and makes Little Ethan his sole heir; his other descendants are only to receive money from their trust funds and from working at Crane Industries.