Thousand (Marvel)
The Thousand is a comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Carl King
A bully as a child, King's favorite target of abuse was classmate Peter Parker who he has tormented in elementary school. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #1) When Aunt May heard of this, she complained to the principal about Carl King's. No student would testify as a witness. When it came to Peter Parker's days at Midtown High School, Carl King continued to torment Parker by forcing him to write his papers and then beating him up if his grades were not good. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #2)
By this point, Carl had wanted to gain superpowers much like Parker. Thus, King returned to the site of the science exhibit where he found the dead radioactive spider. He would keep it for study before ultimately deciding to eat it in an attempt to empower himself. Nothing seemed to happen for the next couple days, but all with no sign of mutation. Unknown to him, his body had been breaking down, consuming itself, and changing into a horde of a thousand spiders that held his consciousness. One morning, he saw a giant spider in the back of his throat via a mirror. At the time, his mother had come in and yelled at him which was when he accidentally ejected the spiders into his mother's mouth, taking over her form and leaving behind his own now-empty skin. He gained control of his mother's body and the spiders consumed her innards. Later that night, as the Thousand, King passed into and took over his fathers body next. It was noted that he continued his pattern where he later consumed his girlfriend. Each time the Thousand took a new host, it would break their bodies down a little faster. However, each time he took a new host, it was a little stronger in the process. Looking to master his new abilities, he consumed about a dozen new hosts each year, most of whom were homeless vagrants though there had been the occasional odd child. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #3)
Years later, King becomes jealous of the fame and glory Peter Parker has as Spider-Man following his fight against Rhino and decides to kill him. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #1) Murdering and assuming the identity of Daily Bugle employee Jess Patton, King found Peter and, pretended to be Patton, spinning a lie about being broke, alcoholic and homeless after being rejected by a boyfriend. Managing to gain Peter's pity, King was taken to Patton's apartment, where he revealed his true identity and attacked. He managed to beat Peter in seconds after he changes into his Spider-Man outfit, paralyzing him with his venomous bite and, putting him in restraints, takes him back to his apartment where he planned to devour him. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Following his mutation, he came to refer to himself as the Thousand. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #2)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Carl King was an ordinary human being with no inherent special abilities or powers. This changed though when he became obsessed with gaining superpowers after learning Peter Parker was the masked Spider-Man. To that end, he determined that Parker had gained his powers after a bite from a radioactive spider. To achieve a similar end, he searched for the same spider which he studied initially before eating it. At first, there seemed to be no mutation or sign that he gained powers from it. However, unlike with Parker, Carls actions resulted in a far more horrific transformation on his body. King’s body actually broke itself down and changed itself into literally a thousand spiders that inhabited his human shell. The spiders themselves contained Carl's consciousness, and were able to take over another human's body by eating them from the inside out, devouring everything except the skin. Every time the Thousand ate an individual, he became stronger, and while in control of a victim's body, the Thousand could contort the body in nearly any manner imaginable. A possessed host had the power to cling to surfaces and scale walls whilst also possessing superhuman strength on par with the likes of Spider-Man. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #3)
It was noted that the Thousand did not trigger Spider-Man's Spider-Sense allowing him to ambush the hero. Furthermore, King's spidery forms were able to deliver a paralyzing poison to his victims through his bite. (Tangled Web of Spider-Man v1 #3)
Notes
- The Thousand was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea where he made his first appearance in Spider-Man's Tangled Web v1 #1 (June, 2001).
Appearances
- Spider-Man's Tangled Web v1: (2001)
External Links
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