Spencer Smythe

Spencer Smythe (/smaɪð/) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man. A scientist researching robotics and arachnids, he turned to crime to finance his research, and dedicated his life to capturing Spider-Man. Smythe is best known for creating the Spider-Slayers, robots designed specifically to hunt down, capture, or kill the web-slinger. He is also the father of Alistair Smythe, who inherited Spencer's creations and hatred for Spider-Man after his death.

Spencer Smythe
Spencer Smythe and his Spider-Slayers
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965)
Created byStan Lee
Steve Ditko
In-story information
SpeciesHuman
PartnershipsJ. Jonah Jameson (formerly)
AbilitiesGenius intellect
Robotics and arachnids expert

The character has appeared in several Spider-Man adaptations, including animated series and video games.

Publication history

Spencer Smythe and the Spider-Slayers first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965) and were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.[1] Spencer died in The Amazing Spider-Man #192 (May 1979).

Fictional character biography

Professor Spencer Smythe was an expert in robotics and arachnids who asked J. Jonah Jameson to fund his projects, having been convinced by Jameson's editorials that Spider-Man was a menace. After watching a demonstration showing that Smythe's robot could sense and track spiders, Jameson hired Smythe to capture Spider-Man. Jameson himself controlled the robot, meaning that Spider-Man was chased by a machine with Jameson's face. However, the web-slinger escaped by leaving the Spider-Man suit wrapped in the robot's tentacles.[2]

Annoyed at his robot's inability to capture Spider-Man, Smythe began to obsess about the web-slinger, turning to crime to finance his research and constantly improving his robots which he dubbed Spider-Slayers.[3][4] But his creations, no matter how deadly or powerful he made, were always defeated by Spider-Man utilizing a key flaw in their designs.[5]

Eventually, Smythe's criminal career came to an end when the radioactive materials used in the robots' manufacture poisoned him, dooming him to a slow and agonizing death.[6] Blaming Spider-Man and Jameson equally for his impending demise, Smythe handcuffed the two together with a bomb scheduled to detonate in 24 hours, determined to make the two suffer the agony of inescapable death that he saw the two as having condemned him to.[7] Unfortunately for Smythe, his disease was too advanced for him to survive the 24 hours himself, and he died convinced that he had killed off the two responsible. Peter Parker, however, had a pretty good grasp of what made mechanical devices tick, and was able to abort the bomb by freezing its controls mere moments before it would have detonated.[8]

After Spencer's death, his son Alistair Smythe inherited the Spider-Slayer legacy.[9]

During the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, Spencer Smythe is cloned by Miles Warren's company New U Technologies.[10]

In other media

Television
  • A similar character named Henry Smythe appeared in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Henry Ramer. Like Spencer, this version is the creator of the Spider-Slayers, as seen in "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", in which he used one to capture Spider-Man for the eponymous character. However, Spider-Man is eventually able to escape from the robot's clutches after tricking it with a dummy, leaving Smythe to take it back to his house to make adjustments.
    Spencer Smythe as seen in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
  • Spencer Smythe appeared in 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Edward Mulhare. In the episode "The Spider Slayer", Norman Osborn enlists Spencer to capture Spider-Man in exchange for building a hover-chair for his paralyzed son, Alistair. Smythe creates his first Spider-Slayer, the Black Widow, to achieve this, but it instead kidnaps Flash Thompson, who was wearing a Spider-Man costume. When the real Spider-Man comes to the rescue, the ensuing battles leads to a fire at Oscorp. With negative reinforcement from Osborn, Spencer stays to ensure Spider-Man dies and Alistair gets his hover-chair, but is seemingly killed when Oscorp explodes. It is later revealed that Spencer survived and was put into cryogenic suspension by the Kingpin to ensure Alistair's loyalty after he fell in with him. Alistair, after becoming the cyborg Ultimate Spider-Slayer, eventually discovers Spencer's cryonically preserved body and recovered it with Spider-Man's help. Afterwards, Alistair continues working for various resourceful individuals in exchange for his father's revival.
  • Spencer Smythe appears in the 2010s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Benjamin Diskin. This version is Peter Parker and Harry Osborn's strict science teacher at Midtown High School, and the estranged father of Alistair Smythe. In the episode "Horizon High Pt. 1", he sabotages Harry's experiment on the latter's father, Norman's, behalf, resulting in Harry's suspension from Horizon High. Smythe later allied himself with the Vulture to seek revenge against Max Modell, and creates his first Spider-Slayer to steal Harry's work from Horizon High before it is eventually destroyed by Spider-Man. An investigation later reveals Smythe's involvement in sabotaging Harry's experiment and he is fired from Midtown High. In the episode "Ultimate Spider-Man", Spencer is hired by Raymond Warren to steal Oscorp's genetically modified spiders. To do this, he programs one of his Spider-Slayers to attack Norman and threaten to destroy Oscorp while he steals the spiders. However, he bumps into Miles Morales on his way out and loses one of the specimens, which later turns Miles into the Ultimate Spider-Man. Spencer later personally operates a Spider-Slayer to try and capture the Ultimate Spider-Man and fights his son in his own Spider-Slayer, who was sent by Norman for the same task. The two are eventually defeated by Spider-Man and the Ultimate Spider-Man, though only Spencer is arrested, as Alistair manages to escape.

Film

A viral marketing campaign for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 featured a Daily Bugle article that mentioned Spencer Smythe as Oscorp's head of the engineering division and that he is working on significant advancements in robotics. An article published at a later date revealed that he was fired from his position as department head and replaced by his son Alistair.[11][12]

Video games
  • Spencer Smythe is featured in the PlayStation 2 and PSP versions of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. He calls Spider-Man at specific points of the game and is shown to be in alliance with A.I.M. and the Jackal. He has A.I.M. help him with his secret experiments in their underground lab, as well capture and clone J. Jonah Jameson as part of a plot to discredit both him and Spider-Man. Later, the Jackal reveals that Smythe is trying to find a way to control the symbiotes and betrays him to pursue his own goals. Near the end of the game, Smythe sends A.I.M. and a brainwashed Black Cat to retrieve a sonic generator that could stop the symbiote invasion, giving the Jackal an opportunity to steal it himself. After A.I.M. and Black Cat are defeated, Spider-Man calls Smythe to accuse him of having the Jackal steal the sonic generator, but he denies any involvement.
  • Spencer Smythe appears in Marvel Heroes.
  • Spencer Smythe replaces Alistair as the primary antagonist of the Nintendo 3DS version of The Amazing Spider-Man video game. He utilizes multiple heavily reimagined Spider-Slayers and other robots to try to eliminate Spider-Man and Curt Connors.
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References
  1. DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 338. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  2. The Amazing Spider-Man #105
  3. The Amazing Spider-Man #106-107
  4. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 6. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  5. The Amazing Spider-Man #107
  6. The Amazing Spider-Man #186
  7. The Amazing Spider-Man #190
  8. The Amazing Spider-Man #192
  9. Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19
  10. Clone Conspiracy #2
  11. Mercado, Joy (October 14, 2013). "Oscorp Biz Holds Steady". Tumblr. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
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