Tarantula (Marvel Comics)

The Tarantula is a fictional character name used by supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

For the DC Comics character of the same name, see Tarantula (DC Comics).
Tarantula
First appearance of the Tarantula I in The Amazing Spider-Man #134.
Art by Ross Andru.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearance(Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez)
The Amazing Spider-Man #134 (July 1974)
(Luis Alvarez)
Web of Spider-Man #35 (February 1988)
(Jacinda Rodriguez)
Agent X #6 (February 2003)
Created byGerry Conway
Ross Andru
In-story information
Alter ego- Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez
- Luis Alvarez
- Jacinda Rodriguez
Team affiliationsBrand Corporation
Boca Del Rios revolutionist forces
Boca Del Rios fascist government
Notable aliases(Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez)
Mr. Valdez
(Luis Alvarez)
El Arana
AbilitiesSkilled martial artist
Enhanced agility
Finger claws and toe spikes incorporated into his costume, usually envenomed
As a tarantula-like creature (Rodriguez):
Superhuman strength
Wall-crawling ability
Organic webbing shot from his buttocks

Publication history

The character was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #134 (July 1974).[1] Writer Gerry Conway recalled how he created the character:

During the political upheavals in South America during the 1970s, there was a real sense that we, the United States, were somewhat culpable, both for supporting the repressive regimes that were in power, and in the case of Chile, actually assisting in the overthrow of the democratically elected government. So, in that environment, a character like the Tarantula was inherently political. But the real reason I wanted to write that particular story was something said by my good friend Don Glut, who was also writing for Marvel at the time. Don once asked, "Why aren't there international heroes from smaller countries, a third-world, or old-world Captain America, like say, Captain Serbo-Croatia?" We laughed, but I really liked that notion: Just because the United States came up with their guy, why stop there? Why stop with the larger countries, the superpowers?[2]

Acting as a patriotic enforcer for the oppressive dictatorship of the fictional South American country of Delvadia (essentially a Delvadian equivalent to Captain America), his defining marks are his red stretch costume with a black tarantula on its chest and the poisonous spikes attached to his gloves and boots.[3] The character was killed off in the early 1980s, but the Tarantula identity has been carried on by a series of successors.

Prior to the original depiction's debut, a character with the Tarantula name appeared in Ghost Rider #2 (April 1967). There is no connection between this character and any of the other depictions.

Fictional character biographies

Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez

Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez is a revolutionary terrorist in the small fictional South American republic of Delvadia, and was expelled from his small organization after murdering a guard for no reason during a robbery. Anton then went over to the side of the repressive fascist-dictatorship government, where they created the Tarantula identity for him to serve as a government operative and his country's counterpart to Captain America. After alienating his masters, the Tarantula embarks on a criminal career in the United States. He hijacks a Hudson River dayliner to rob the passengers and hold them for ransom; his plan, however, is disrupted by Spider-Man and the Punisher.[4] He escapes prison with the original Jackal's help who sought revenge on Spider-Man; however, the Tarantula is again defeated by Spider-Man.[5] He is then hired by Lightmaster to assist Kraven the Hunter in committing various kidnappings and murders, but is again thwarted by Spider-Man.[6] The Tarantula then joins forces with Senor Suerte to steal the "Madbombs" and use them for extortion, but this time is defeated by Captain America.[7]

The Tarantula is hired by the Brand Corporation to silence an informer, but is again thwarted by Spider-Man. The Brand Corporation then orders him to kill Spider-Man. In an attempt to bestow him with spider-powers, he is injected with a mutagenic serum and placed in an electrolyte bath. The Will o' The Wisp disrupts the mutagenic process, causing the Tarantula to start transforming into a gigantic, monstrous, spider-like being. He falls into Jamaica Bay, but survives the plunge and continues to mutate, and then battles Spider-Man atop a tall New York City building. Horrified and disgusted with what he has become, he leaps off the building, begging for the police officers gathered below to kill him. Hit by a hail of gunfire, the Tarantula strikes the street below and dies.[8]

During the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, a clone of Tarantula is among the clones that were created thanks to the new Jackal's company, New U Technologies.[9] He was involved in a fight with the other cloned supervillains until it was broken up by a clone of the Prowler.[10]

Luis Alvarez

Luis Alvarez is a special government operative and a former captain in the Delvadian militia, but not given to terrorist activities. Acting more as a death squad/government enforcer, he is chosen by Delvadian government officials to be the second Tarantula, and undergoes a mutagenic treatment to increase his already-considerable physical abilities, wearing an identical costume.[11] He is sent to the United States by the Delvadian government to eliminate political refugees from that country, and to kill Spider-Man for what happened to the first Tarantula, but Spider-Man defeats him as well.[12] Later, working as a mercenary, he teams up with the Punisher. The Tarantula battles the Punisher and Batroc the Leaper.[13] Eventually, he is caught and murdered by the Jury.[14]

Unknown version

A third version of Tarantula (whose real name is unknown) appears as a patron at the Bar With No Name, where he and several other villains get into a brawl with Spider-Man and Alyosha Kravinoff.[15] The Tarantula later fights the Runaways in Van Nuys, and is defeated by a "debugging incantation" cast by Nico Minoru.[16]

Years later, the Tarantula resurfaces as an ally of the Black Cat, and as one of the villains taking advantage of the gang war raging in the Third Precinct.[17][18][19]

In a prelude to the "Hunted" storyline, the Tarantula is among the animal-themed characters captured by Taskmaster and the Black Ant on Kraven the Hunter's behalf. He is among those whom Arcade publicly reveals as the Savage Six.[20]

Jacinda Rodriguez

In Gail Simone's Agent X series, a fourth version of Tarantula is Jacinda Rodriguez, the alleged daughter of Antonio Miguel Rodriguez. Both she and her partner Marie Batroc (Batroc the Leaper's daughter) are shot several times by Taskmaster.[21] Her last name and family relation were confirmed in her own entry in the Appendix to The Handbook of the Marvel Universe.[22]

Kaine
Main article: Kaine Parker

Kaine, a clone of Peter Parker, adopted the Tarantula alias during the Spider-Island storyline.

Powers and abilities

Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez was a great athlete with incredible agility, leaping skills and excellent in hand-to-hand combat. Additionally, he wore gloves with retractable razor-sharp finger claws and boots with two retractable razor-sharp spikes loaded with drugs that would render his victim unconscious, or other harmful or lethal drugs and poisons. He was educated in military school, was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and was skilled in various martial arts, particularly in kickboxing. When he was mutated into a giant tarantula-like creature thanks to the Brand Corporation's mutagenic serum, he gained superhuman strength and the ability to adhere to surfaces. However, in his final mutation into a human-sized tarantula, while he possessed superhuman strength, his limbs were not structured to enable him to lift (press) weights. Just before his death, he developed the ability to shoot organic webbing from his buttocks.

Luis Alvarez had his strength, stamina, agility and reflexes enhanced to peak human levels, thanks to Dr. Karl Mendoza's formula. Like Rodriguez, he also wore retractable razor-sharp finger claws in his gloves, and two retractable razor-sharp spikes in his boots anointed with harmful or lethal drugs and poisons. Also, like his predecessor, he was educated in military school, was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and was skilled in various martial arts, particularly in kickboxing.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate alternative universe equivalent of Tarantula is a clone of Spider-Man (Peter Parker). He wears a variant black costume of Spider-Man's in addition to having six arms with a unmasked appearance has more spider-like physical features (fangs, additional eyes and spiky hair along his entire face). Like his genetic template, Tarantula possessed superhuman strength, reflexes, equilibrium, and had a spider-sense. Created by ambitious mastermind Doctor Octopus (with the CIA's consent), he tries to prevent Kaine's kidnapping mutation of Mary Jane Watson. During Peter's and Spider-Woman's fight with Doctor Octopus, Tarantula attacks his maker and is killed as a result.[23]

Earth-1048

During the Spider-Geddon storyline, the Earth-1048 version of Tarantula is shown to sport mechanical spider legs. He was robbing the Financial District when he was attacked by Spider-Man. After immobilizing the Tarantula with a web bomb, Spider-Man is visited by the Superior Spider-Man of Earth-616 (Otto Octavius's mind in Spider-Man's body) as the Tarantula breaks free. As the Superior Spider-Man gets in the way of the web bomb, the Tarantula gets away. The two later find the Tarantula robbing a research facility and defeat him, while the Superior Spider-Man's spider-bots disable the Tarantula's mechanical spider legs. Both Spider-Men swing off, while the Tarantula is arrested by the police.[24]

In other media

Video games
  • The Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez iteration of Tarantula appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited.

References
  1. Manning, Matthew K.; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2012). "1970s". Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. Dorling Kindersley. p. 74. ISBN 978-0756692360. [Gerry] Conway and [Ross] Andru would introduce another major addition to Spider-Man's rogues gallery when the Tarantula debuted in this first chapter of a two-part tale.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. Williams, Scott E. (October 2010). "Gerry Conway: Everything but the Gwen Stacy Sink". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (#44): 13–14.
  3. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 336. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  4. Amazing Spider-Man #134-135
  5. Amazing Spider-Man #147-148
  6. Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1-3
  7. Captain America #224
  8. Amazing Spider-Man #233-236
  9. Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy #2
  10. Prowler (vol. 2) #1
  11. Web of Spider-Man #35-36
  12. Spectacular Spider-Man #137
  13. Punisher (vol. 2) #64-72
  14. Venom: Sinner Takes All #2-4
  15. Ron Zimmerman (w), John McCrea (p), James Hodgkins (i). "Part One" Spider-Man: Get Kraven #1 (August 2002), United States: Marvel Comics
  16. Brian K. Vaughan (w), Takeshi Miyazawa (p), Craig Yeung (i). "Star-Crossed, Chapter One" Runaways v2, #7 (October 2005), United States: Marvel Comics
  17. Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage (w), Humberto Ramos (p), Victor Olazaba (i), Edgar Delgado (col), Chris Eliopoulos (let), Nick Lowe (ed). "The Graveyard Shift, Part One: The Late, Late Mr. Parker" The Amazing Spider-Man v3, #16 (11 March 2015), United States: Marvel Comics
  18. Gerry Conway (w), Carlo Barberi (p), Juan Vlasco (i), Israel Silva (col), VC's Joe Caramagna (let), Nick Lowe (ed). "Spiral, Conclusion" The Amazing Spider-Man v3, #20.1 (12 August 2015), United States: Marvel Comics
  19. Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage (w), Humberto Ramos (p), Victor Olazaba (i), Edgar Delgado (col), Chris Eliopoulos (let), Nick Lowe (ed). "The Graveyard Shift, Part Three: Trade Secrets" The Amazing Spider-Man v3, #18 (6 May 2015), United States: Marvel Comics
  20. Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #16. Marvel Comics.
  21. Agent X #6
  22. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/tarantuladaughter.htm
  23. Ultimate Spider-Man #103–108
  24. Spider-Geddon #0. Marvel Comics.
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