Spider-Slayer

The Spider-Slayers are a series of fictional robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Spencer Smythe, they were designed specifically to hunt down, capture, or kill Spider-Man. A new generation of Spider-Slayers was later created by Spencer's son, Alistair Smythe.

Spider-Slayers
Spencer Smythe along with several Spider-Slayers.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965)
Created byStan Lee (script)
Steve Ditko (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoNot applicable
SpeciesRobot
AbilitiesVaries according to model

The Spider-Slayers have been featured in a number of Spider-Man adaptations outside of comics, including animated series and video games.

Publication history

The Spider-Slayers first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965) and were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.[1]

Fictional character biography
See List of Spider-Slayers for a full breakdown of all versions of the Spider-Slayer.

The first series of robots were originally designed and built by Dr. Spencer Smythe with the financial backing of J. Jonah Jameson who piloted them for the pleasure of personally hunting the superhero he hated for capture. However, Spider-Man always managed to defeat each robot in turn. Smythe's continual efforts to perfect his machines backfired on him, leading to himself being fatally contaminated by radiation poisoning from the building materials of his creations. Blaming both Jameson and Spider-Man for this, he attempted, as a final act, to murder them both, but died just before Spider-Man thwarted the attempt.[2]

Later, Jameson commissioned another scientist, Dr. Marla Madison, to create a new and improved Spider-Slayer. While that attempt failed, he eventually fell in love with her and married her.[3]

In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19 (1985), Smythe's son, Alistair, emerged as the new builder of Spider-Slayers. He swore revenge on Spider-Man, repeatedly attacking the superhero with his own series of Slayers. Smythe later mutated into a humanoid Spider-Slayer, but remains a minor foe.

The original Spider-Slayer was seen among the robots and machines in the Reanimator's collection. Wolverine later destroyed the Spider-Slayer when the Reanimator attempted to use it against him. It was later used by J. Jonah Jameson to attack the She-Hulk after she had married his son John, but it was destroyed.

In Amazing Spider-Man #603, Jameson (now Mayor of New York) has some old Spider-Slayers sent to him from storage, to better equip his "Anti-Spider Squad" to take down Spider-Man. The Spider-Slayer technology is combined with that of the Mandroid suits. However, the "Spider-Slayer Squad" wearing the suits quit their jobs after Spider-Man saves them and New York from a dirty bomb.

Despite not being technically related to the Smythe's and Madison's creations, when Spider-Man refits all the Octobots confiscated from Doctor Octopus and kept in the New York Police Precinct to carry an antidote able to reverse the mutations turning all the New York population into Man-Spiders, he humorously renames them his own Spider-Slayers.[4]

When the Goblin King and his Goblin Underground group cause havoc in Manhattan, Mayor J. Jonah Jameson unveils the Goblin-Slayers which he plans to use against the Goblin-related threats. Mary Jane Watson voices her concern that the Goblin-Slayers used to be former Spider-Slayers.[5] Mayor J. Jonah Jameson orders Chief Pratchett to send one of the Goblin Slayers to the robbery location and then head to chase the Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus' mind in Peter Parker's body). After Don Lamaze sacrifices his life to get out of the Goblin King's trap, the Superior Spider-Man confronted by a legion of Spider-Slayers with Mayor J. Jonah Jameson's face projected on the front faceplate. Mayor J. Jonah Jameson replies that he's done with being blackmailed by him and he doesn't care if he loses everything as long as he can finally bring down Spider-Man. The Superior Spider-Man tries to fight the Spider-Slayers, but discovers that they're far stronger than all the previous ones. Suddenly, the Spider-Slayers are deactivated remotely by Spider-Man 2099, who confronts the Superior Spider-Man about who he really is and the reasons behind his actions of late. Suddenly, the Spider-Slayers are reactivated to Spider-Man 2099's shock. The Goblin King's voice rings out declaring that he has taken control of the Spider-Slayers as well which grab both Spider-Men by their heads as the Goblin King comments that Norman Osborn now runs this city.[6]

In a Spider-Man 2099 storyline following Smythe's death, dealers illegally sell Spider-Slayers to foreign nations.[7] However, after Miguel accompanies Tiberus Stone on one such deal, he ends up fighting the Scorpion (who was hired by Alchemax to further test the Spider-Slayers) as Stone is captured by the local rebels,[8] Miguel defeating the Scorpion by tricking the Spider-Slayers into attacking him, while Stone's encounter with the rebels prompts him to change his mind about the original deal.[9]

List of Spider-Slayers
Main article: List of Spider-Slayers

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Spider-Slayers are eight foot robots that balance on a large sphere, wield two arm-cannons and have a sphere for heads, and built and controlled remotely by the Tinkerer. In case Spider-Man ever went rogue, clones of Spider-Man begin running rampant to which Nick Fury and a battalion of Spider-Slayers travel to the Parker residence to arrest Peter Parker, only to encounter the Fantastic Four and Carnage which reverts back to Gwen Stacy after the Spider-Slayers take down. The Spider-Slayers later kill a disfigured clone and imprisoned another unstable clone in S.H.I.E.L.D.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

MC2

While trying to apprehend a dimension-hopping supervillain in the MC2 reality, Spider-Girl is accidentally sent into Earth-616's past, where she encounters the first Spider-Slayer. Mistaking her for its quarry, the Spider-Slayer attacks Spider-Girl who manages to evade the machine due to being distracted by how different "Spider-Man" looks. Spider-Girl later returns to her own universe and time, while Spider-Man defeats the Spider-Slayer in the same way he did in the original story.[16]

House of M

In the House of M reality, J. Jonah Jameson (fearing Peter Parker would take revenge due to outing as Spider-Man) has Alistair Smythe construct a Spider-Slayer as protection. When Peter's family breaks into Jonah's home looking for Peter's journal (given by the Green Goblin) Jonah, using the Spider-Slayer, attacks. Hitting Gwen Stacy just as Peter arrives, Jonah's Spider-Slayer is ripped to shreds by the hero.[17][18]

What If

After May Parker and John Jameson are killed in a space shuttle crash caused by the Chameleon, J. Jonah Jameson adopts Peter Parker, and blames the deaths of their loved ones on Spider-Man. Obsessed with taking Spider-Man down, Jameson commissions the creation of the Spider-Slayer and the Scorpion formula, the latter of which is ingested by Flash Thompson. The serum warps Flash's mind and causes Flash to go on a rampage, which ends when subdued by Spider-Man (who reveals being Peter Parker to Jameson) and the Spider-Slayer, controlled by Jameson. Jameson realizes how irrational his hatred of Spider-Man is, and decides to help his adopted son fight crime using the Spider-Slayer.[19]

In other media

Television
  • The first Spider-Slayer appeared in the 1960s Spider-Man animated series. This version was built by Henry Smythe and is equipped with two metallic tentacle-like arms. In the episode "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", it pursued Spider-Man all over the city until the web-slinger tricked it with a dummy. Following this, Smythe took the Spider-Slayer back to his house to make adjustments.
    The Black Widow, Tarantula, and Scorpion Spider-Slayers combined in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series. In the episode "Spider-Slayer", Spencer Smythe, with help from Norman Osborn, builds a Spider-Slayer called the 'Black Widow' to hunt down Spider-Man. However, it is destroyed after a battle with the hero at Spencer's lab, resulting in its creator's apparent death. In "Return of the Spider-Slayers", Spencer's son Alistair joins the Kingpin, recreates the Black Widow, and builds the 'Tarantula' and 'Scorpion' Spider-Slayers, which are able to combine together to wreak more havoc. In "Tablet of Time", Alistair creates the 'Mega Slayer', a heavily armed humanoid robot he can operate remotely. In "The Ultimate Slayer", as punishment for his repeated failures, Kingpin's chief scientist Herbert Landon genetically mutates Alistair into the Ultimate Spider-Slayer, who has organic laser guns growing from his shoulders in addition to superhuman strength and resilience. Alistair eventually breaks free from the Kingpin's control after Spider-Man helps him discover that Spencer is still alive and Kingpin placed him in cryogenic suspension. In "The Wedding", the Kingpin uses a duplicate of the Mega Slayer to stop Goblin Glider-riding robots sent by Alistair and the second Green Goblin from crashing Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's wedding. It is destroyed while helping Spider-Man and Black Cat. The show was also supposed to feature the Alien Spider Slayer (Mark X), which was released as part of the Animated Series Toy Line by Toy Biz, and also served as a boss in the video game adaptation of the show.
  • A Spider-Slayer like concept called the Sentinel Prowlers appear in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. The Sentinel Prowlers are a prototype version of Sentinels.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6. In this version, they are creations of HYDRA and Doctor Octopus' using Arnim Zola's Synthezoids combined with Spider-Man's DNA. Known Synthezoids are Kaine (voiced by Drake Bell),[20] Scarlet Spider (voiced by Scott Porter),[20] and the Delta-Nine Synthezoids: Bone Spider, Goliath Spider (both voiced by Imari Williams), and Ghost Spider (voiced by Roger Craig Smith).[21] Kaine is an imperfect Synthezoid who is highly resistant to damage, can reattach lost limbs, and feed off Spider-Man or the other Spider-Slayers' life energy. Scarlet Spider, later named Ben Reilly by May Parker, is an almost perfect clone of Spider-Man in terms of physical appearance barring a facial scar and powers. Bone Spider has claws and spikes all over his body; Goliath Spider is the strongest Spider-Slayer who can turn his body into metal; and Ghost Spider can teleport, become intangible, and perform bio-electric attacks. Scarlet Spider is introduced early on in the fourth season and becomes an ally of Spider-Man before being revealed to be a spy for Doctor Octopus, though he eventually redeems himself. In "The Spider-Slayers" [Pt.1], Spider-Man encounters Kaine before he, Spider-Woman, and Scarlet Spider follow him to one of Doc Ock's labs, where they defeat Kaine and numerous Synthezoid versions of Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider. In "The Spider-Slayers" [Pt. 2], Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider take Doctor Octopus to HYDRA Island to learn more about the latter's origins, where they encounter the Delta-Nine Synthezoids. There, Doc Ock reveals Scarlet Spider is the most advanced of the Synthezoids and was intended be the Delta-Nine Synthezoids' leader. As Doctor Octopus makes his escape, Arnim Zola reawakens and commands the Delta-Nine Synthezoids to attack Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider, but they eventually defeat them and free them from Zola's control. The Delta-Nine Synthezoids are placed in stasis pods and taken to the Triskelion. In "The Spider-Slayers" [Pt. 3], Kaine returns in a mutated, misshapen form with spiked tentacles to infiltrate the Triskelion. After the Web-Warriors fail to defeat Kaine, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider release the Delta-Nine Synthezoids to help, but Kaine absorbs them and becomes the "Ultimate Spider-Slayer". He is finally defeated after Agent Venom uses an energy transmitter to overload Kaine, causing him to explode.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in the 2010s Spider-Man animated series. These versions resemble spiders and come in human-sized, mecha-sized, and miniature variants. The original Spider-Slayers were created by Spencer Smythe, though Oscorp stole his schematics and created their own versions. In the episode "Horizon High" [Pt. 2], one of Spencer's Spider-Slayers attacks the eponymous school to steal Harry Osborn's devices before it is eventually destroyed by Spider-Man. In "Party Animals", Alistair Smythe remotely operates one of Oscorp's Spider-Slayers to fight Spider-Man. In "Ultimate Spider-Man", another one of Spencer's Spider-Slayer attacks Oscorp as a distraction and fight Spider-Man while he stole the company's genetically-modified spiders. Later, Spencer and Alistair pilot giant Spider-Slayers and compete against each other to capture the Ultimate Spider-Man, though both robots are eventually destroyed by their quarry and the original Spider-Man. In "The Rise of Doc Ock" [Pts. 3 & 4] and "The Hobgoblin" [Pt. 1], Alistair operates human-sized Spider-Slayers. In "Spider-Island" [Pt. 5], several of Oscorp's Spider-Slayers are used by Harry, Anya Corazon and the Spider-Men against the Man-Spiders before the Jackal deactivates them. In the episode "Goblin War" [Pt. 1], Alistair uses miniature Spider-Slayers as security against Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Spider-Girl during their investigation of the Goblin Nation.

Film
  • A viral marketing campaign for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 featured a Daily Bugle article that mentioned Spencer Smythe's Spider-Slayers as significant advancements in robotics before he was replaced as Oscorp's head of the engineering division by his son. [22][23] The Spider-Slayers were to be featured in later installments of The Amazing Spider-Man series before it was cancelled.[24]

Video games
  • The Spider-Slayers appeared in both the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of the Spider-Man: The Animated Series video game. In the SNES version, the Mark X and XIV Spider-Slayers appear as bosses, the Mark XVI and Mark XVII appear as regular enemies, and the Mark XV is featured only in Spectacular mode. The Mark X, XIV, XVI, and XVII return as enemies in the final level. The Mark X also appears in a secret room in the sewers in Spectacular mode. In the Genesis version, the Mark XV appears in the "Deconstruction Zone" level while the Mark X is the boss of the "Mean Streets of the City" level.
  • The Mark X and IX Spider-Slayers appear as regular enemies in the Super Famicom game The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in the Game Boy exclusive The Amazing Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in the 2002 Spider-Man video game. These versions are human-sized mechanical spiders created by Oscorp to hunt down Spider-Man. However, they attacked the Scorpion as he also has arachnid DNA. All the Spider-Slayers are eventually destroyed by the combined efforts of Spider-Man and the Scorpion.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. These versions are large humanoid robots armed with flamethrowers that were created by S.H.I.E.L.D. as a counter-measure to symbiotes. They appear in the final Ultimate segment of the game, wherein they are dispatched when Carnage breaks free and takes over the Triskelion. Due to Spider-Man wearing his symbiote suit at the time, the Spider-Slayers initially attacked him as well. During the final battle with Carnage, several reprogrammed Spider-Slayers help Spider-Man defeat the symbiote.
  • The Spider-Slayers appear in The Amazing Spider-Man video game. These versions are called S-Bots and were created by Oscorp under the supervision of CEO Alistair Smythe as a counter-measure for the cross-species experiments. They consist of Sentries (which come in three variants: Medical, Combat, and Advanced Combat), Seekers (used to track down cross-species), and Hunters (arachnid-like flying robots called in to eliminate the cross-species after being called in by the Seekers). There are also three special robots created specifically for citywide threats: S-01, a larger version of the Hunters that cannot fly, but can shoot lasers and homing missiles; S-02, a giant tentacled snake-like robot equipped with large drills that allow it to tunnel through buildings and underground; and S-03, a massive scorpion-like machine armed with multiple weapons. The S-01 is deployed early on in the game and wreaks havoc in the city until Spider-Man destroys it. S-02 is later sent by Smythe to kill Spider-Man, who destroys it. S-03 appears near the end of the game, with Smythe operating it manually, and is defeated by Spider-Man and the Lizard.
  • The Hunters and Seekers return in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game, used by the Enhanced Crime Task Force to hunt down Spider-Man if his hero reputation is too low.
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See also

References
  1. Cowsill, Alan; Manning, Matthew K. (2012). Spider-Man Chronicle: Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. DK Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0756692360.
  2. The Amazing Spider-Man #191-192
  3. Amazing Spider-Man #167-168
  4. The Amazing Spider-Man #672
  5. The Superior Spider-Man #28
  6. The Superior Spider-Man #29
  7. http://www.newsarama.com/20689-spider-man-2099-swings-again-in-new-ongoing-series-with-peter-david.html
  8. Spider-Man 2099 vol. 2 #3
  9. Spider-Man 2099 vol. 2 #4
  10. Ultimate Spider-Man #99
  11. Ultimate Spider-Man #100
  12. Ultimate Spider-Man #101
  13. Ultimate Spider-Man #102
  14. Ultimate Spider-Man #103
  15. Ultimate Spider-Man #104
  16. Tom DeFalco (w), Pat Olliffe (p), Al Williamson (i). "Father's Day/Slayers, Spiders, and Torches, Oh My" Spider-Girl #10-11 (July 1999 - August 1999), United States: Marvel Comics
  17. House of M: Spider-Man #3
  18. House of M: Spider-Man #4
  19. W.M. Messner-Loebs (w), Anthony Williams (p), Andy Lanning (i). "The Man in the Million-Dollar Mask: What if J. Jonah Jameson adopted Spider-Man?" What If v2, #82 (February 1996), United States: Marvel Comics
  20. "The Spider Slayers Pt. 1". Ultimate Spider-Man. Season 4. Episode 21. October 8, 2016. Disney XD.
  21. "The Spider Slayers Pt. 2". Ultimate Spider-Man. Season 4. Episode 22. October 15, 2016. Disney XD.
  23. ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2′ Viral Marketing Teases More Villains
  24. "Spider Slayers and Black Cat set for future Spider-Man films". Den of Geek. April 16, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
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