Alistair Smythe

Alistair Smythe is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Alistair Smythe was a male human who was born the son of noted scientist and inventor Spencer Smythe. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19) As a child, he and his father used to build rockets together. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #652)

His father was responsible for creating the Spider-Slayers that were robots tasked with hunting the masked vigilante Spider-Man. However, he was ultimately killed in a battle against the Wall-Crawler with his son inheriting his father's legacy with him swearing revenge against Spider-Man. At first, he gained employment under the Kingpin of Crime hoping to use his resources to build a machine to destroy the hero where he was working out of a lab in his Manhattan skyscraper. Despite that, he became frustrated with his employer over his seeming lax efforts in eliminating Spider-Man and left to operate independently following a disagreement with him. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19) Later on, Spider-Man lost a hat he had purchased for his Aunt May while fighting the Vulturions. The Kingpin then had Smythe repair the hat before returning it to Spider-Man in gratitude for stopping the Vulturions whose activities disturbed his fragile wife, Vanessa Fisk. Knowing the hat was a gift from Spider-Man to his aunt, Smythe inserted a tracking device into the hat band as a way of locating him. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #2)

Smythe was disgusted at how the Kingpin not only returned the hat to Spider-Man, but let him go, and began spreading rumors that the Kingpin was going soft on Spider-Man. Confronted by the Kingpin over the rumors he'd been spreading, Smythe was fired. Gladly accepting his dismissal, Smythe used his financial resources to build a Mark 7 Spider-Slayer. Tracking the hat's signal, Smythe homed in on Spider-Man's Aunt May, who was then having lunch with Mary Jane and Anna Watson. Aunt May prompted Anna to try on her hat just as Smythe arrived, and, believing Anna to be Spider-Man's aunt, kidnapped her and Mary Jane. While en route to his lab, Smythe overheard Mary Jane address Anna as her aunt and began mistakenly thinking that Mary Jane was actually Spider-Man. Suspecting that Mary Jane had to wear an exoskeleton with built-in gadgets to secretly be Spider-Man, Smythe threatened to tortuously murder Anna unless Mary Jane admitted she was Spider-Man. Told by Mary Jane that she was Spider-Man (along with the story that the suit was given to her by aliens), Smythe had her "lead" him to her exoskeleton, stopping along the way to purchase a camera to preserve the moment of his victory. Ultimately lured to the Daily Bugle, the real Spider-Man finally caught up to Smythe, saving Mary Jane and luring Smythe away. Believing his Mark 7 Spider-Slayer to be invulnerable against electricity, Smythe flew through power-lines, the resulting shock causing the Mark 7 to crash. Despite the crash, Smythe remained relatively insulated inside the Slayer. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19)

However, enough electrical current got through the Mark 7 to paralyze Smythe and scramble his nervous system. Finding himself unable to eat or drink, Smythe now relied on an intravenous injection system connected to his high-tech wheelchair to survive trimming his weight down in the process. Despite these hardships, Smythe felt that his mind was 'as clear and brilliant as ever', and he oversaw the construction of another Spider-Slayer, the Mark 8. Smythe's goals also shifted toward proving himself superior to his father by killing Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #291) With the Mark 8 completed, Smythe piloted it to Mary Jane Watson's apartment planning to force her to lead him to Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #292) Having planned for failure in his initial outing, Smythe activated scanners designed to home in on the chemicals in the ethyl chloride, and tracked Spider-Man to his Manhattan apartment. Abandoning the autovan after attracting the attention of a police officer while avoiding a bag lady on the street, Smythe arrived at Peter Parker's apartment moments after his departure in a cab, traveling to the John F. Kennedy airport. Regaining the autovan from the police impound, Smythe arrived at JFK, but learned that while he'd arrived too late too intercept Parker, he was traveling to Pittsburgh. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #291) Having the Mark 8 dismantled and packed in crates, Smythe had it loaded onto a flight to Pittsburgh under the guise that it was medical equipment. On his arrival and the delivery of the crates to a Pittsburgh warehouse he'd rented, Smythe had the Mark 8 assembled and successfully tracked down Peter Parker at Duquesne University. While Smythe was distracted recognizing Mary Jane, Parker was able to don his suit and lure Smythe away from the University. Leading him to the Liberty Bridge, Spider-Man proved no match for the Mark 8 and was held underwater by it's tentacles and was only saved when Mary Jane drove a car into the base of the Mark 8. Following Spider-Man as he webslinged away, Smythe caught up to him, dosing him with more of the disorienting ethyl chloride. Catching up to them, Mary Jane hit the Mark 8 with a baseball bat, prompting Smythe to drop Spider-Man and take Mary Jane instead. Livid at the prospect that Smythe would harm Mary Jane, Spider-Man shook off his daze and pummeled the Mark 8, tearing Smythe from its interior. Terrified by what Spider-Man would do to him, Smythe agreed to Spider-Man's warning that if he harmed Mary Jane or another innocent person, he would find him and pretend he was the robot. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #292)

When Alistair was admitted to Ravencroft, Mister E appeared in Alistair's room in the form of Spencer Smythe, saying that Louis Tuttle had been his previous host until Tuttle burned out. Mister E promised to teach Alistaire how to make a serum that would allow him to walk again, and Alistaire agreed, though he knew Knull was looking for a new host. Smythe reached out to the Daily Bugle, bragging that he had new technology to help other people walk. He asked to interview Jonah Jameson in person, but Ned Leeds is the one who responded. Before Leeds arrived, Smythe gassed Ravencroft, knocking out aides like Monica, then he injected himself with Knull's substance and was transformed into Mister E, a shadowy being who could wield Darkforce energies. Mister E confronted Spider-Man, but when Mister E tried to run, Black Knight stabbed him with the Ebony Blade. (Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black v1 #1) Smythe woke up, free of Knull's influence, on a space ship, disoriented. The telepathic Cosmo the Spacedog told Smythe that the others he'd infected wanted to kill him, but Cosmo was stopping them. Cosmo then said he was taking Smythe home. (Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black v1 #4)

Smythe returned to New York and was committed to an asylum, where he remained for several years. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #371) Smythe felt that his time in the asylum had hardened his soul. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #372) Eventually Smythe escaped, taking several other inmates with him, including Max Young, former assistant to Mendel Stromm. Smythe kept the other inmates imprisoned, holding them captive while they built new Spider-Slayers. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #371) Smythe had himself encased in a bio-organic carapace to repair and enhance his damaged body. He began to think of himself as the Ultimate Spider-Slayer. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #373)

In an effort to stop him, Spider-Man activated a device that overloaded the enhanced senses both he and the Spider-Slayer Swarm possessed thus rendering them unconscious. Smythe was thwarted but he was not incapacitated as he did not relay on the insect-sense and he ambushed the heroes in an effort to kill J. Jonah Jameson with Marla Madison-Jameson pushing him to safety leading to her being mortally wounded. Spider-Man then knocked out Alistair Smythe who was taken into custody whilst Jonah mourned the death of his wife. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #654)

During the Spider-Island epidemic, Mayor Jameson had Smythe brought to the mainland to be used as a specialist as a means of containing the infestation. Smythe refused and by this point Jameson had entered into the next stage of mutation where he became a spider-monster. Jonah was then goaded by the telepathic commands of the Spider Queen into biting Smythe so as to eliminate him and prevent any aid for containment measures for the disease. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #670)

Overview

Personality and attributes

After turning himself into a cyborg, he came to refer to himself as the Ultimate Spider-Slayer. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #373)

He had said that machines, computers and circuits excited him almost as much as beautiful women. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19)

When he was a boy, he and his father built rockets together with this being a fond memory of Alistair. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #652) The death of his father at the hands of Spider-Man led to Alistair swearing revenge against Spider-Man. He claimed that there was no aspect of Spider-Man that he did not know with the one exception being his secret identity. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19)

Upon becoming the Ultimate Spider-Slayer, it was noted by Spider-Man that Smythe was no longer the eccentric that he used to be but was a more serious opponent. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #373)

Powers and abilities

Smythe later had scientists help design him a bio-organic carapace that encased his entire body. This saw it being surgically connected to his spine where it re-ignited the sparks of his damaged neurons thus restoring his ability to walk. The carapace also provided him increased superhuman strength along with a range of built-in tools that he could use to fight Spider-Man. This included a web-shooter on his upper arm that matched those of Spider-Man and which he could use to trap his target in webbing. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #373)

His technology tended to operate on power cells that ran on a particular microwave frequency. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #654)

He was shown to be capable of enhancing others through his cybernetic upgrades. In one case, he was able to impart a 'Scorpion-Sense' on Mac Gargan that worked on similar principles as Spider-Man's Spider-Sense. Such upgrades were capable of even keeping a person alive. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #651)

The Slayer-Swarm possessed the Insect-Sense gene engineered into them from Farley Stillwell's research gifting them enhanced senses. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #654)

Among the people that worked for him was Fly-Girl whose real name was Paula Crane. She was a human woman whose family business was destroyed by a Daily Bugle expose headed by J. Jonah Jameson. As a result, she came to hate Jameson and wanted revenge. Smythe enhanced her with cybernetic upgrades giving her wings and superhuman traits as she participated as a member of his Slayer Swarm. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #652

Whilst working for the Kingpin, he came to use his funds and equipment to help produce his technology. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19)

Notes

• Alistair Smythe was created by Louise Simonson and Mary Wilshire where he made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #19 (November, 1985).

In other media

Television

• In Spider-Man, Alistair Smythe appeared as an antagonist in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Maxwell Caulfield. He was shown as being in a wheel chair after an accident at his father Spencer Smythe's laboratory who felt guilty over his son's condition. To help his son, he accepted an assignment from Norman Osborn to produce the Spider-Slayer that was a line of machines designed to find and defeat Spider-Man. If successful, Osborn agreed to purchase a hover chair for Alistair to make his life easier.
• In Spider-Man, Alistair Smythe appeared as a character in the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Jason Spisak. He was shown as the son of Spencer Smythe and in the same class as Peter Parker with the pair being around the same age.

Appearance

• Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1: (1985)
• Amazing Spider-Man v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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