Mister Negative
Mister Negative is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Martin Li
He came to forced into a life of illegal activities by a crime boss by the name of Silver Fang and forced Martin into the Snakeheads slavers gang. It was that man's actions that got Li involved in a world of human trafficking where hundreds were sold in this manner. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #7) The man became a smuggler and human trafficker who was noted for being cruel. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #59) The Snakehead was once a ship named the Golden Mountain that was smuggling people to America where the vessels communiques through the short-wave radio were not answered by their fellow smugglers in Flushing. During the journey, the ship fell into a summer storm where the Snakehead began to panic and act out. Taking a gun, he forced the captain to steer the ship into shallow waters causing it to be run aground and picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard. Facing possible deportation, the man panicked again due to his extensive crimes both in China and America. He then went through the people that died from pneumonia on the ship and found one that was Martin Li who was a zipper factory owner from Fuzhou City. Stealing his identity papers, the Snakehead stole the man's name for himself and swam to the New York Harbor before the authorities could apprehend him. He then made his way to the hideout of his fellow smugglers only to find it being raided by Don Silvio Manfreddi of the Maggia that were expanding their operations and claiming the territory of other gangs in the Queens area. Apprehended by the gang, he was taken along with others that were shipped to the abandoned immigration facilities on Ellis Island. Whilst there, he became one of several disposable test subjects that took part in Simon Marshall experiments. The chemist was looking to create a synthetic drug that would replace imported heroin. This resulted in him gaining powers over corruption resulting in the creation of another persona that was Mister Negative whilst his other self was Martin Li. Around this time, two runaways that were part of the experiments named Tyrone and Tandy both staged an escape that allowed Mister Negative to similarly flee from the Maggia. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3) In an effort to escape this life, he decided to take the name Martin Li for himself and attempted to hide from his past. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #59)
Brand New Day
As part of his goals, he intended to cement his rule over the criminal underworld in Midtown and decided to target the crime families of the Maggia. This saw him form a secret alliance with Bruno Karnelli who sought to take control of the families. However, in truth, he was simply used as a tool to ensure the Maggia's elimination. After acquiring the Tablet of Death and Entropy, he had the Lemurian alchemical formula analysed to create a poison called 'the Devil's Breath' that was an engineered poison that could target select genetic bloodlines. He then betrayed Karnelli where he kidnapped him in order to harvest his blood to be treated with the poison created from the tablet to be used for the elimination of the Maggia who had come to Midtown for a family gathering. Spider-Man interrupted the process of draining Bruno's blood and destroyed the Tablet but he was too late as the Devil's Breath was created whereupon it was deployed at the Vandemere Hotel where the Maggia were meeting one another. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #547) The gas killed all the relatives of the Karnelli and Manfredi bloodlines though those that had no genetic links were spared from its effects. At the same time, Mister Negative decided to eliminate the spouses and children of the Maggia members who had gone to be entertained at the circus. This was because Mister Negative did not want any opposition of his control of the criminal underworld with him having his Inner Demons prepare the Devil's Breath to finish his objective. However, this time, Spider-Man intervened and saved the Maggia women and children who were rushed out before the gas could kill them. This led to Mister Negative deciding to focus his attention on Spider-Man with him capturing one of the Maggia children and threatening to kill them unless the Wall-Crawler provided him a sample of his blood. The hero agreed with Mister Negative threatening Spider-Man that if he intervened again in his plans in the future then his next supply of Devil's Breath would kill not only him but his entire family. He then threw the child into the nearby waters whilst he made his escape. Whilst his plot against the Maggia was a moderate success, Mister Negative decided on his future actions and the potential to use Spider-Man whilst returning to his civilian guise as Martin Li at the F.E.A.S.T. shelter. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #580)
After Menace was revealed to be Hollister's daughter, Hollister himself decided to resign from his post as mayor. This saw Li making an unsuccessful run in a special election where he came to lose to J. Jonah Jameson. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #591)
Dark Reign
Mister Negative refused to submit to The Hood's rule during his conquest of New York's criminal underworld. During a meeting with Hood's henchman White Dragon, Negative corrupted him and sent him to attack Hood's headquarters, where he was killed. In retaliation, Hood decided to attack and kill him. H.A.M.M.E.R. sealed Chinatown on Hood's behalf, getting the attention of Spider-Man who arrived to rescue Martin Li. However, he too was corrupted and sent into battle on Mister Negative's behalf. Spider-Man attacked and pummeled The Answer, Lightmaster, Scorcher, Speed Demon, Spot, Squid, and White Rabbit, the members of Hood's gang who were attacking Negative's headquarters and was then sent to kill Betty Brant, who was interviewing the real Martin Li's widow and was coming close to the truth. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #2) The Hood himself then confronted Negative at his Chinatown headquarters and battled him. During the battle, Mister Negative tried to corrupt Hood, but failed. Norman Osborn ended H.A.M.M.E.R.'s blockade of Chinatown when Hammerhead handed him papers implicating Oscorp in the aforementioned drug tests on immigrants. An irate Hood decided to kill Negative anyway, but he escaped. Later conversations that Norman Osborn had with his own darker side, the Green Goblin, revealed that he now had an alliance with Negative similar to the one with Hood. However, Spot slipped in and retrieved the evidence of Oscorp's tests, revealing that he was actually Mister Negative's mole in the Hood's gang under the promise that he will be cured once they get their revenge on the Maggia. Mister Negative viewed the Spot as a kindred spirit because they both have powers derived from the Darkforce dimension and both have vendettas against the Maggia. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
As Martin Li, he donated Terracotta Statues to the metropolitan museum with this being showcased by Mayor J. Jonah Jameson. It was then that his operatives were putting his plans in place with Anti-Venom arriving at the museum but Mr. Negative was prepared for him. This led to him ambushing Brock and prepared to kill him but was stopped by the mysterious Wraith. She freed Spider-Man who was brought to the scene by Anti-Venom with the three heroes battling Mr. Negative along with his minions. During the fight, it was discovered through facial recognition that Mr. Negative was Martin Li with this being transmitted publically revealing the criminal mastermind to the world. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #664)
During the Avengers Vs. X-Men conflict, Mister Negative came to learn that S.H.I.E.L.D. had acquired many of the Red Skull's warmachines from the Fear Itself incident that were being stored at a warehouse. He also received information that said Hydra had planned to strike to recover the weapons with Mister Negative striking with his Inner Demons first at the secret New York Harbour facility. Their plans were thwarted though when Hawkeye and Spider-Woman intervened after Jessica Drew had received a tip about the Inner Demons operation. As a result, the Inner Demons were defeated and arrested alongside their boss Mister Negative. (Avengers v4 #30)
Following the fall of the Goblin Nation, Mister Negative's criminal empire was once again one of the major organized crime powers in New York. He sought to meet with two other powers, the Maggia fraction lead by the Eel and the Goblin Nation remnants lead by the Goblin Knight, to divide the criminal underground. While he and Urich were waiting for the Eel, they were surprised to see him crash in from a window. They were confronted by the Black Cat who demanded the Eel's part. Negative refused, saying that she only had reputation and it was destroyed by the Spider. She remained him that he was exposed by Spider-Man, Wraith and Anti-Venom and that everyone there was outed by Spider-Man but that she will be successful in what they failed, defeating him. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #5)
Spiral
Dark Kingdom
Three weeks ago, Martin Li was in a Department of Justice prison transport being taken to a new facility when the convoy was attacked by the Inner Demons. Alongside them were a mind controlled Cloak and Dagger who dealt with the guards whilst the Inner Demons freed Martin Li as well as turned him back into his Mister Negative persona. Restored once more, Mister Negative decided to shift his operations to China in order to peddle in the drug Shade that was a manufactured version of his corruptive touch ability. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #6)
The Martin Li persona came to see the news that reported on the return of the Sin-Eater who was clearing peoples minds of their criminal deeds. Thus, he ceased control of his body from his darker side and then went to meet the Sin-Eater where he begged to be freed from his sins. This was granted and when he awoke he found himself to be released from Mister Negative with Martin being overjoyed at his new freedom. However, this turned out to be temporary and the negative side was returned to him where he attempted to retake control of their body. On several occasions, Li came to black out but regained possession of his body but in those moments Mister Negative came to send orders to his Inner Demons to secure him. Pursued by his negative side's men, Martin came to flee to the re-opened F.E.A.S.T. centre where he came to make amends to May Parker who looked to help him. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #58) The Inner Demons attacked the centre where they had to battle Spider-Man but despite his efforts he was nearly overwhelmed by the attackers. Fearing for May Parker's life, Martin Li decided to surrender himself where he allowed his negative side to re-bond with his body thus restoring Mister Negative. He then decided to spare Spider-Man and May Parker which was when the authorities arrived at the scene headed by Mayor Fisk who took Mister Negative into custody. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #59)
Gang War
Overview
Personality and attributes
He actually took the name Martin Li from a good man who he had killed. After gaining powers, he gained an altern personality in the form of Mister Negative that embodied his darker nature. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
Long ago, Martin Li said that he had given up in fighting against his negative side. He believed that this was an attempt to achieve a balance between the two personas. However, in reality, he fell into subservience to his negative side. Thus, Mister Negative came to bury Martin Li's psyche all the time to the point that it grew weaker everyday. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #58) Despite their conflicting personas, there were occasions where the two could agree on the same course of action. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #7)
It was said that he ran a tight operation with his henchmen being terrified of him to the point that they worked hard to ensure that they never made mistakes. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #664) He felt that he needed to maintain his reputation so that those people he dealt with had faith in him. As such, he was known to brutally murder his own subordinates if they decided to cheat another party and did it violently in front of others in an effort to show his sincerity in future dealings. This also served as a way of ensuring his brutal reputation as those that witnessed his murders spread word of Mister Negative to others. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #546) It was said that one thing Mister Negative did not tolerate amongst his minions was weakness. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #7)
His Martin Li persona claimed to never want to return to China. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #6)
The original Martin Li was noted to had been married and had a wife named Yana Li. She had went ahead of her husband and moved to America where she waited for him to immigrate. Yana Li came to be indebted to a crime organization and forced to work for them as a bookkeeper until Mister Negative freed her. Though he claimed to be 'Martin Li', Yana quickly came to determine that he was not her husband. Despite that, he provided for her and kept her away from people in order to maintain his civilian persona. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
Powers and abilities
Originally, the man that became Martin Li was an ordinary human being though by adulthood one who became a hardened gangster and people smuggler. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
In America, he was forcibly made to take part in experiments made by the chemist Simon Marshall. As a test subject, he was part of research designed to create a synthetic replacement for imported heroin. These trials though instead gave him superpowers where he came to control corruption as well as resulted in a split persona. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
Mister Negative demonstrated to possess a degree of superhuman strength as he was shown to effortlessly throw a child across an area whilst using only one arm. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #580)
Some foes such as those empowered by magic were capable of resisting his corrupting touch's influence. He claimed that there had to be a light in a person for him to corrupt ad if there was none then he could not turn them. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #3)
Creations of Mister Negative included:
- Devil's Breath : a poison derived from a formula inscribed on the Lemurian Tablet of Death and Entropy. The mixture was capable of selectively targeting and killing anyone of a specific bloodline introduced into the poison. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #547)
- Shade : a drug that chemically induced a refined version of Mister Negative's touch allowing it to corrupt a person allowing them to control them. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #6)
He was the leader of a criminal gang known as the Inner Demons who wore distinct demon masks. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #547)
Martin Li maintained a townhouse as his place of residence that was situated in Chinatown. It was a compound with a high wall and a large gate. Built in the traditional Chinese style, including architecture and garden. This mansion also served as the base of operations for his alter ego Mister Negative. (Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1 #1)
Notes
- Mister Negative was created by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez where he made his first appearance in first appearance in Free Comic Book Day v1 2007 Spider-Man (June, 2007).
Alternate Versions
- In Ultimate Spider-Man v3 #8 (2024), an alternate version of Mister Negative appeared in the new Ultimate Marvel reality that was designated as Earth-6160 in the Multiverse. He was an associate of Wilson Fisk, whilst being the CEO of the F.E.A.S.T Foundation with him secretly operating as a crime boss controlling the borough of Queens with the Demons gang. It was shown that this version served as a member of the Sinister Six on this world.
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, a version of Mister Negative appeared in the animated television series Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 season where he was voiced by actor Keone Young. This version was from a Marvel Noir inspired reality who was initially a henchman for Hammerhead before acquiring petrification abilities from a Siege Perilous shard. After hearing the 'prime' Spider-Man call Spider-Man Noir 'Mister Negative', Li decided to take the name for himself and uses his abilities on his boss, Kid Arachnid, and Joe Fixit's gang before swaying Hammerhead's remaining gang members to his side. Li attempts to use his abilities on all of New York City, but was ultimately defeated by the Spider-Men and Fixit, who strip him of his powers and restore everyone he petrified to normal.
- In Spider-Man, Mister Negative appeared in the setting of the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Eric Bauza. This version was a rival of fellow crime lord Molten Man.
Video games
- In Spider-Man, Mister Negative appeared in the setting of the 2018 video game where he was voiced by actor Stephen Oyoung. The man who would later take the name "Martin Li" was born in Dali, China in 1978. When he was still a child, his family immigrated to the United States in search for a better life, settling in New York City. In 1986, he was afflicted by an unknown medical condition, causing his parents to take him for a medical consultation at Oscorp. Secretly, he was chosen by Norman Osborn as test subject to be injected with the prototype serum called GR-27. the agent had several effects on his body, triggering a reaction that caused Li to gain volatile 'negative' superhuman powers, that burst out of his body, accidentally killing his parents that were nearby. After that, he was left in an orphanage, where he grew up knowing the pain and suffering that the neediest passed. Due to this experience, Li was decided to change the world in some way, he just needed the means to do so. He also carried a deep hatred by Norman and Oscorp, wanting revenge on them as they ruined his life. Over time, Li came to understand how to control his powers, even discovering new abilities, such as corrupting people, and imbuing items with his corruptive touch. He now was faced with two distinct 'personalities': One was like a demon, hungry for revenge and destruction; while the other was a good, altruistic person. When he was 18, Li got back to China, where he made his fortune in the shipping industry, becoming a largely known billionaire philanthropist, coming back to New York a decade later. Enlightened by his dream to help people, he used his fortune to create the Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training, or F.E.A.S.T., a network of shelters scattered throughout the city, where the homeless could find support. His efforts to help the poor represented Li's good side, but secretly, Li started corrupting other chinese immigrants on the city to create his own criminal faction, the Demons. Around 2013, he met and befriended May Parker, a good and caring woman from Queens, inviting her to work with him on F.E.A.S.T.. Over the years, both have become close friends, with Li trusting May as the second in charge of the shelter, in case he needed to leave one day. He also came to be acquainted with May's nephew, Peter Parker.
- In Marvel Contest of Champions, Mister Negative appeared in the setting of the mobile video game. After the downfall of his gang the Snakeheads 'Martin Li' was captured by the international crime syndicate known as The Maggia and used in the experimentation of a new synthetic drug called 'D-Lite'. Surviving the experiments and escaping his captors Li developed super-powers giving him the ability to tap into the Lightforce and Darkforce. Dedicating himself to become Chinatown’s Kingpin of Crime, Li deemed himself 'Mister Negative', swinging between good and evil without remorse with the ultimate goal of erasing the Maggia for what it did to him.
Appearances
- Free Comic Book Day 2007 Spider-Man v1: (2007)
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Dark Reign: Mister Negative v1:
- Avengers v4:
- Herc v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v4:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
External Links
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