Montana (comics)

Montana (Jackson W. Brice) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is one of the founding members of the Enforcers, a team usually in the employment of crime bosses like the Kingpin, Mister Fear, or Hammerhead, and a recurring threat of the superheroes Spider-Man and Daredevil.

Montana
Montana (left) with Fancy Dan and Ox.
Textless cover of Daredevil #102 (January 2008).
Art by Marko Djurdjevic.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #10 (March 1964)
Created byStan Lee
Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter egoJackson W. Brice
Team affiliationsEnforcers

The character has appeared in several media adaptations, including animated series and feature films, where he also adopted the Shocker alias. The character made his cinematic debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green.

Publication history

Montana first appeared alongside the other Enforcers in The Amazing Spider-Man #10 (March 1964), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The character subsequently appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964), #19 (December 1964), The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), Marvel Team-Up #39-40 (November–December 1975), The Spectacular Spider-Man #19-20 (June–July 1978), Dazzler #7-8 (October–September 1981), Marvel Team-Up #138 (February 1984), Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons #1 (1996), Civil War: War Crimes #1 (February 2007), Daredevil #99-100 (September–October 2007), #102 (January 2008), and The Amazing Spider-Man #562-563 (August 2008).

Montana appeared as part of the "Enforcers" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #4.

Fictional character biography

Jackson Brice was born in Bozeman, Montana. Along with Fancy Dan (Daniel Brito) and Ox (Raymond Bloch), he was a founding member of the Enforcers. He has great proficiency with the lariat.

Montana, Fancy Dan and Ox make their first appearance under the employ of the Big Man (Frederick Foswell). During this time, they have their first run-in with their longtime nemesis Spider-Man. During their first fight against the web-slinger, Montana's lasso skills initially prove successful but Spider-Man defeats the trio.[1]

Over the next couple of years, Montana and the team would be employed by Lightmaster in one of his many schemes, again bringing them into conflict with Spider-Man, with similar results. They would then lend their services to Tech-Master in his revenge plot against Harry S. Osgood, only to be defeated by Dazzler. Montana and the team would also go up against She-Hulk at one point.

Following the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Montana, Ox (Ronald Bloch) and Fancy Dan reunite to work for Mister Fear, which pits them directly against Daredevil. After Mister Fear's arrest, the Enforcers are taken in by the Hood's organization.

Following the events of the 2008 "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" storyline, the Enforcers are patrons at the Bar With No Name. They take bets with a person calling himself "The Bookie", over whether Spider-Man will show up to battle "Basher", an unknown villain who claimed to have fought Spider-Man. Spider-Man shows up, but is revealed to be Screwball in disguise when the real web-head shows up. The Enforcers decide to get revenge on The Bookie, capturing him. The Bookie's father calls Spider-Man for assistance, and he agrees to help. Spider-Man defeats Fancy Dan and Montana.[2]

In the story arc "Kill To Be You", Montana is the right-hand man of the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), and shows contempt toward the Hobgoblin (Phil Urich). When Spider-Man and the Black Cat come to steal back the Reverbium, Montana falls out a window to his death while Hobgoblin saves Kingpin. Hobgoblin cruelly joked that "he'll be missed by everyone – except the pavement".[3]

During the 2016 - 2017 "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" storyline, Montana is among the cloned villains by Miles Warren's company New U Technologies.[4] He is involved in a fight with the other cloned supervillains until it is broken up by the clone of the Prowler.[5]

Other versions
  • In the future timeline of the 1999 Earth X miniseries, Montana had been mutated and developed the ability to change his hands into lassos. He and his fellow Enforcers were hired as heavies to protect President Norman Osborn. However, this protection proved to be ineffectual when the Skull came to New York to take over America. He took control of Montana and the Enforcers and murdered Osborn. Montana's fate following the defeat of the Skull remains unknown.[6]

In other media

Television
  • Montana appeared in the 1960s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Bernard Cowan. This version is referred to as the "Cowboy" and is portrayed as being more intelligent than his comics counterpart. In the episode "Blueprint for Crime", he and Ox were hired to steal blueprints for the Plotter. While they succeeded, they accidentally left one behind, which Spider-Man retrieved and used to lure and capture them.
  • Montana appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Jeff Bennett.[9] This version is a trained mercenary, leader of the Enforcers, and the series' version of "Shocker". Introduced in the pilot episode Survival of the Fittest, Montana and his fellow Enforcers Ox and Fancy Dan are hired by the crime boss Tombstone via Hammerhead to kill Spider-Man. While they are ultimately defeated by the web-slinger, Montana escaped while his comrades were arrested.[10] In "Market Forces", Montana dons a high-tech costume equipped with vibro-blast emitting gauntlets he stole from Tri-Corp to become the Shocker, and is enlisted by Hammerhead to complete his contract with Tombstone to kill Spider-Man. While he defeats the web-slinger during their first encounter, the two later have a rematch that saw Montana defeated and left for the police.[11] In "Group Therapy", Montana is broken out of prison alongside the Enforcers and five other supervillains, and joins the latter to form the Sinister Six and seek revenge against Spider-Man. The team almost succeeds in killing him during their first fight, but the web-slinger escapes and later defeats them in a rematch using the symbiote suit, leading to their return to prison.[12] By season two, Montana left the Sinister Six to rejoin the Enforcers.[13] In "Probable Cause", Tombstone has the Tinkerer upgrade Montana's Shocker suit and provide the other Enforcers with their own power suits to increase their success rate. Dubbing themselves the New Enforcers, they are tasked with stealing several tons of gold and nearly succeed in their mission, despite Spider-Man's interference. However, Hammerhead sabotages them in an attempt to usurp Tombstone; leading to them being apprehended by the police once more.[14] In "Opening Night", Montana and the Enforcers have been remanded to the Vault, alongside other supervillains. They are all released by the Green Goblin to hunt down Spider-Man while the web-slinger was testing the prison's security system, but are recaptured after Walter Hardy releases sleeping gas into the complex.[15]
  • Montana appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors animated series episode "Nightmare on Christmas", voiced by Troy Baker. He appears in a flashback wherein he and the Enforcers attempt to steal an Oscorp truck and fight Spider-Man for the first time.[16]

Film

Jackson Brice appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming, portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green.[17] This version is an employee of Adrian Toomes' criminal enterprise who wields a modified version of Crossbones's vibro-blast emitting gauntlet and calls himself the "Shocker". After a weapons deal with Aaron Davis attracts Spider-Man's attention, Toomes fires him for his recklessness; to which Brice threatens to expose their operation. In response, Toomes fires one of Phineas Mason's weapons at Brice to intimidate him, but inadvertently disintegrates him instead. Following this, Toomes gives his vibro-gauntlet to fellow associate Herman Schultz.

References
  1. Stan Lee (w), Steve Ditko (a). "The Enforcers!" The Amazing Spider-Man 10 (March 1964), Marvel Comics
  2. Amazing Spider-Man #562. Marvel Comics.
  3. Dan Slott (w), Humberto Ramos (p), Carlos Cuevas, Joseph Damon (i). "Big Time (part 4)" The Amazing Spider-Man 651 (March 2011), Marvel Comics
  4. Dan Slott (w), Jim Cheung (p), John Dell (i). Clone Conspiracy 2 (January 2017), Marvel Comics
  5. Sean Ryan (w), Javier Saltares, Jamal Campbell (p), Jamal Campbell (i). Prowler v2, 1 (December 2016), Marvel Comics
  6. Earth X #9. Marvel Comics.
  7. Spider-Man Noir #1. Marvel Comics.
  8. Bendis, Brian Michael (w), Bagley, Mark (p). Ultimate Spider-Man #10. Marvel Comics.
  9. "The Spectacular Spider-Man Past and Future part one". IGN. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  10. "Survival of the Fittest". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 1. March 8, 2008. The CW.
  11. "Market Forces". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 4. March 22, 2008. The CW.
  12. "Group Therapy". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 11. May 31, 2008. The CW.
  13. "Reinforcement". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 3. June 29, 2009. Disney XD.
  14. "Probable Cause". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 9. October 14, 2009. Disney XD.
  15. "Opening Night". The Spectacular Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 12. November 18, 2009. Disney XD.
  16. "Nightmare on Christmas". Ultimate Spider-Man. Season 3. Episode 22. December 3, 2014. Disney XD.
  17. Gallagher, Brian (April 19, 2017). "Spider-Man: Homecoming Has Two Different Shockers". Movie Web. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
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