Spencer Smythe
Spencer Smythe is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Spencer Smythe
At some point, Smythe accepted a position as the city of New York's scientific advisor. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #105) He came to learn the existence of the mysterious hero known as Spider-Man. In response, he developed a a robot capable of tracking down the spider-themed vigilante with the machine being powered by plutonium. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #192) Smythe later approached J. Jonah Jameson after seeing the many Daily Bugles articles that spoke against Spider-Man and offered the services of his robot that he wanted to rent for a mission to capture the masked vigilante. Bolstered by Daily Bugle photographer Peter Parker, who expressed his curiosity to see if the robot would live up to Smythe's claims, Jameson agreed to a demonstration wherein Smythe gave Parker a spider in a glass sphere with the intention of having the robot seek it out. Impressed by Smythe's robot, Jameson agreed to pay Smythe whatever he wanted for his robot. After a review of the robot, Smythe activated it and quickly found Spider-Man's signal with Jameson observing its progress through a viewscreen. Standing alongside Jameson while the robot closed in on Spider-Man and successfully trapped him in its coils, Smythe suggested they follow the signal to its location and prevent Spider-Man from escaping. Arriving at the robot's rooftop location, Smythe and Jameson discovered Spider-Man had escaped by deactivating the robot's spider-seeking impulses and left a costume stuffed with webbing behind to fool Smythe and Jameson. Resigned to his failure, Smythe seemed to take it in his stride, opting instead to go back to the drawing board. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #25)
Despite Smythe's first reaction to the failure of his robot, his frustration over the defeat and humiliation built over time. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #58) Working out of his home, Smythe repaired the damaged Spider-Slayer and moved on to other projects with the aid of his assistant, Mark Raxton. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #28) Greeting a visiting Peter Parker, Smythe showed him around his lab, offering to show Parker the restored Spider-Slayer. Surprised that the Spider-Slayer would again attack Parker and beginning to suspect that Parker might actually be Spider-Man, Smythe's suspicions were rebuffed when Parker revealed a jar of spiders he'd brought with him for Smythe's research. Attending to another visitor while Parker photographed the Spider-Man costume left behind with the Slayer, Smythe learned the visitor was Raxton, who told Smythe he was leaving and taking his share of their project, a liquid metal alloy. Smythe tried to stop Raxton from leaving with the alloy, pushing him into a console that activated the Mark 1 Slayer (which promptly went after Parker once more). In the scuffle, Raxton fell, shattering the alloy's container, causing it to spill on him. Knocked unconscious during the skirmish, Smythe awoke and was attended to by Parker, who filled him in on the details of Raxton's departure. Learning of Raxton's exposure to the alloy and his subsequent departure, Smythe mourned the loss of his project. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #28)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
Notes
- Spencer Smythe was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko where he made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #25 (June, 1965)
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Spencer Smythe appeared an an antagonist where he made his first appearance in the episode "The Spider Slayer" where he was voiced by actor Edward Mulhare. He was shown as a brilliant inventor whose son Alistair Smythe was crippled after a laboratory accident confined him to a wheelchair. Spencer agreed to work for Norman Osborn to produce a machine to hunt Spider-Man. This was under orders from Osborns own hidden master namely the Kingpin leading to Smythe creating the Spider-Slayer.
- In Spider-Man, Spencer Smythe appeared in the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Benjamin Diskin. He was a former colleague of Max Modell until the pair had a falling out with Spencer serving as a teacher at Midtown High. His son Alistair Smythe was a student at the school and a rival to Peter Parker.
Films
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spencer Smythe did not appear in the live-action film but was referenced in the viral marketing campaign. He was mentioned in a Daily Bugle article stating that he was the head of the engineering division at Oscorp who worked on a number of significant advancements in robotics. A further article mentioned that he was fired from his position as department head and was replaced by his son Alistair Smythe.
Video games
- In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Spencer Smythe appeared in the PlayStation 2 and PSP version of the game where he called Spider-Man at specific points in the story. He was shown to be allied with A.I.M. who he hired to capture J. Jonah Jameson in order to clone him and use him to control the publishing business. This was part of Spencer's goal to discredit both Jameson and Spider-Man. Smythe had the Jackal pose as a double agent onboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier in order to obtain Spider-Man's symbiotic sit. He later dispatched the Jackal t steal the Sonic Emitter at the top of Fisk Tower in order to unleash a mind-controlled Black Cat on Spider-Man.
- In Marvel Heroes, Spencer Smythe appeared in the video game where he was a scientist hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to create robotic enforcers that he named Spider-Slayers. He was at the Raft studying Venom until a jailbreak caused all the supervillains to escape. In New York, he had the Spider-Slayers deployed to aid S.H.I.E.L.D. but an error caused them to turn on the peacekeeping forces. He was later captured by Venom but intended to reprogram the Spider-Slayers though the players character saved him. However, he resented being saved as he believed that if he saved himself he would have proved the Spider-Slayers worth and feared that Nick Fury would shut down the program. Thus, he stated he would get revenge against the player for their actions.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1965)
External Links
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