Silvermane

Silvermane (Silvio Manfredi) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A notorious crime boss and prominent figure in the Maggia, a fictional organized crime syndicate, he is usually depicted as an adversary of the superhero Spider-Man and the father of Joseph Manfredi.[1] Silvermane later became a cyborg in an attempt to extend his lifespan.

Silvermane
Silvermane's disembodied head.
Art by Al Milgrom.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #73 (June 1969)
Created byStan Lee (writer)
John Buscema (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoSilvio Manfredi
Team affiliationsThe Maggia
HYDRA
Notable aliasesSupreme Hydra
AbilitiesSuperb hand to hand combatant
Excellent marksman
Brilliant strategist and organizer
Superhuman strength and senses via cyborg body
Use of various handguns

The character has made appearances in several forms of media outside of comics, including animated series and video games.

Publication history

He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #73[2] and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema.

The character's original storyline was about a mysterious stone tablet coveted by several Spider-Man villains. The "Tablet Saga" proved popular, although artist John Romita, Sr. said that it was not originally intended as an arc: "We never even thought up Silvermane until the seventh issue [of the story arc], let alone a 'socko' ending."[3]

Fictional character biography

Silvio Manfredi, nicknamed "Silvermane" for his near-white hair, is a professional criminal originally from Corleone, Sicily that started his criminal career as a racketeer in the Maggia, eventually forming his own crime family and becoming a powerful Maggia Don.

In his first appearance, an elderly Silvermane forced Dr. Curt Connors to make a potion from an ancient clay tablet in order to grant himself immortality. He first crossed paths with Conners's alter-ego, the Lizard, and Spider-Man during this scheme. Drinking the serum made Silvermane younger, but its effects caused him to de-age further and further until he was a infant before completely disappearing.[4] Silvermane eventually reappeared, revealing that he had mystically aged to his forties. He started a new career and again quickly rose through the Maggia's ranks until he regained control of his family, the sought to form an alliance with Hydra, determined to take over the world as their leader, the Supreme Hydra. He was defeated by Daredevil, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.[5] Silvermane reappeared in New York in an attempt to unite all of New York's gangs under his leadership and take over the criminal underworld, but his plans were complicated by the Green Goblin, who opposed him. During a confrontation between the Goblin, Silvermane and Spider-Man, Silvermane fell from a great height but survived.[6]

Silvermane has worked with many super-villains, such as Hammerhead, and he has also been known to be a rival of the Kingpin, even once trying to assassinate the crime lord while he was suffering from amnesia.[7] His former partner, Dominic Tyrone, assumed the identity of the Rapier and sought vengeance against Silvermane for betraying him by attempting to take his life.[8] A flashback one-shot focused heavily on Silvermane's lifetime of corruption and crime, going back to his early career in Italy. The framework was reporter Ben Urich investigating the background of the Maggia. He learned that Silvermane was a legendary criminal figure for decades; mothers would even warn their children to behave or "One-Eye" would get them.[9]

In his old age, Silvermane's injuries caused his youth serum to wear off, rendering him an invalid. Though bedridden, he continued to run his criminal empire until Dagger nearly killed him. Silvermane attempted to prolong his life by transforming himself into a cyborg.[10] Kingpin gained control of his cyborg body until Dagger restored his life energy to him.[11] His cyborg body was badly damaged by the first Jack O'Lantern during a gang war between Hammerhead and the Kingpin.[12] Silvermane used a remote-controlled android doppelganger to battle Spider-Man. This was part of an attempt to boost the power of his remaining organic parts by harvesting new ones from Spider-Man's body. He attempted to drain his nemesis's radioactive blood to power a new, much stronger cyborg body.[13] Silvermane also confronted Deathlok and the Punisher while setting up a major drug operation outside a grammar school.[14] Even though he is no longer technically human, he has continued to remain active in the Maggia.

Silvermane attempted to take part in a meetup of various criminal warlords, during a time when Wilson Fisk had fallen from power. The meeting's goal was to divide up Fisk's territory and assets, but it did not go well. Silvermane was caught in the crossfire between the Secret Empire's forces and the Punisher. This was purely by coincidence as he was simply staying at the same motel as Punisher was. Silvermane used the resources of his personal semi-trailer and the cyborg bodies stored within to battle his way through the attackers and escape.[15]

It was revealed some time later that Silvermane was killed during a shootout with Owl's gang at a New York City scrap yard. He was picked up by a magnet and dropped into a garbage compactor, crushing him to death and leaving his already weakened criminal syndicate without a leader. Months later, he apparently returns along with other deceased members of his gang during the Maggia's losing battle with the forces of Mister Negative. However, this is later revealed to be a ruse orchestrated by a mobster named Carmine: "Silvermane" is actually a lifelike robotic duplicate controlled by a hired Mysterio to give Carmine more influence within the Maggia and position him to take over. The tables are turned on Carmine when Mysterio uses the duplicate to murder him, seemingly as a plot to take over the Maggia himself.[16]

Silvermane's head is shown to still be alive as it was found by a young boy when he traveled into the scrap yard, before then being stolen by the Shocker.[17] The head is used as leverage by The Superior Foes of Spider-Man to take control of the Maggia, but the team members turn on each other when it comes time to decide who will actually be in charge. Shocker protects Silvermane from the Punisher; in return, the crime boss nominates him as his successor to head the Maggia.[18]

Powers and abilities

Silvermane is considered one of the Maggia's most legendary bosses. He was a superb hand-to-hand combatant, an excellent marksman, and a brilliant strategist and organizer. The use of magical potions temporarily granted him a form of immortality, allowing him to appear as a man in his early-to-mid 40s. His preferred weapons included various handguns and the Thompson .45 caliber machine gun. Later, Silvermane's brain, vital organs, and head were transplanted into a cyborg body, increasing his physical abilities and granting him superhuman strength and senses. However, Silvermane's remaining organic body parts are those of an elderly man, and thus extremely vulnerable.

Other versions

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Silvermane had a brief cameo. With Wilson Fisk lying low due to legal problems, Silvermane, his chief rival, decided to work with fellow mobster Hammerhead to remove the Kingpin from power. He told Hammerhead that all he needed was a little "up here" (referring to his intelligence). Hammerhead, however, wasn't interested in sharing power, breaking Silvermane's neck while saying "I think I got enough up here already."[19] Silvermane was also mentioned as a leader of a mob family which included Hammerhead and that he owed a debt to Nathaniel Essex.[20] The Ultimate incarnation's real name is shown in the Daily Bugle as Allan Silvermane, though this is likely an alias as he is also referred to as Silvio Manfredi.[21]

House of M

Silvermane appeared in the House of M reality, portrayed as a younger crime boss and one of dozens of mobsters captured by the NYPD's elite Brotherhood unit.[22]

In other media

Television
Silvermane (left) and Tombstone in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
  • Silvermane appeared in the 1980s Spider-Man animated series episode "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner", voiced by Paul Winchell. He and Man Mountain Marko arrive in New York to call a truce with the Kingpin after his scientist Dr. Everett develops a powerful solvent capable of eating through anything. Prior to this, Spider-Man intercepted them, but Silvermane could not be brought in since most of his crimes were on the West Coast.
  • Silvermane appeared in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Jeff Corey. This version is an enemy of Spider-Man and the Kingpin, the latter of whom serves as his rival in New York's criminal underworld. In the episodes "The Insidious Six" and "Battle of the Insidious Six", Silvermane hires Hammerhead to capture Spider-Man. While fighting the eponymous team, Spider-Man rescued Silvermane from the Kingpin, not realizing his true identity as a crime lord until much later. In the episodes "Tablet of Time" and "Ravages of Time", Silvermane became obsessed with finding the titular tablet, an artifact capable of rejuvenating an individual's youth, so he could achieve immortality due to his irregular childhood. After locating it, he arranged for Tombstone to steal it, kidnap Dr. Curt Connors to decipher it, and take the scientist's family hostage to ensure his complicity. Though Spider-Man saved the Connors family and in spite of Dr. Connors warning of the tablet's instability, Silvermane uses it to make himself a young man (voiced by Townsend Coleman) before he becomes a child (voiced by Matthew McCurley) and a baby (voiced by Cannon Young), while Hammerhead steals the Tablet on Kingpin's behalf. In the episode "Partners", while he retained his adult intellect despite becoming a baby, Silvermane required help from his daughter Alisa Silver. Together, they persuaded Alistair Smythe to kidnap the Black Cat and blackmail Spider-Man into apprehending the Scorpion so Silvermane can use neogenic technology to switch bodies with the web-slinger. During the procedure however, the Vulture intervened and accidentally takes Spider-Man's place, allowing the web-slinger, Black Cat, and Scorpion to escape. Following this, the Vulture becomes a young man while Silvermane is returned to his original state.
  • Silvermane appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Miguel Ferrer. This version is a crime lord, rival to Tombstone, and the father of Sable Manfredi. The episode "Accomplices" revealed that he was arrested and jailed 12 years prior after Frederick Foswell exposed his criminal activities to the FBI. Tombstone subsequently took his territory while Sable ran his empire's remnants in his absence. In the episode "Gangland", Silvermane joins a summit between him, Tombstone and Doctor Octopus. After the meeting goes sideways and Spider-Man gets involved, Silvermane uses a hidden hydraulic exoskeleton to combat the web-slinger and the other crime bosses, only to be defeated and apprehended by the police. In the episode "Opening Night", Silvermane was remanded the Vault. Though he was released by the Green Goblin to kill Spider-Man while the web-slinger was there to test the prison's security system, Silvermane was ultimately defeated and returned to his cell.
  • Silvermane appears in the 2010s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Nolan North.[23] Similarly to past depictions, this version is a notorious, elderly crime boss who sports an exoskeleton. In the episode "Bring on the Bad Guys" Pt. 3, he takes Abraham Brown hostage to force the Prowler to capture Spider-Man so he can collect on a bounty on the web-slinger's head. After Spider-Man convinces the Prowler to help stop Silvermane, the crime lord fights back, but is defeated by them and left for the police. After a minor appearance in the episode "Critical Update", during which he was defeated by the Superior Spider-Man, Silvermane appeared in the episode "Goblin War" Pt. 3 as the leader of the Goblin Nation's Cyber Goblins. He fought Spider-Man and the Hobgoblin, but is defeated by the duo.

Video games

Novels

Silvermane appears in the novel Spider-Man: Forever Young, written by Stefan Petrucha. The details of the tablet story are retold, with some elements being updated or changed, such as Silvermane displaying a disdain for personal electronic devices due to their lack of security as well as the Kingpin being left in a coma due to the shock of learning that his own son was the masked criminal, the Schemer. The novel picks up two years after the original storyline, with Silvermane now randomly aging from childhood to adulthood as he attempts to force Curt Connors and Spider-Man to retrieve the tablet and stabilize his condition. Even after Connors's research asserts that the tablet essentially cycles someone through their reincarnations in one lifetime to try and achieve true karma, Silvermane refuses to accept this and attempts to blackmail Spider-Man to help him after deducing his true identity. While Vanessa Fisk also seeks the tablet to help her husband, witnessing what Silvermane has become convinces her to find another way. Spider-Man eventually confronts Silvermane in an old church that the mob boss was using as a hideout. The battle ends with a rage-filled Silvermane burning the church down to try and kill Spider-Man, while his ultimate fate is left unclear.

References
  1. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 316. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  2. Manning, Matthew K.; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2012). "1960s". Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. Dorling Kindersley. p. 48. ISBN 978-0756692360. [Man Mountain Marko] wasn't the biggest threat the web-slinger would face in this issue. That honor went to Silvermane, an elderly crime boss intent on regaining his youth.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 978-1605490557.
  4. The Amazing Spider-Man #73-75
  5. Daredevil #121-123
  6. The Amazing Spider-Man #176-180
  7. The Amazing Spider-Man #197
  8. The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #2
  9. Spider-Man: Made Men #1 (August 1998)
  10. The Spectacular Spider-Man #69-70
  11. The Spectacular Spider-Man #94-96
  12. The Amazing Spider-Man #284
  13. Web of Spider-Man #79-80
  14. Deathlok #8-9
  15. Punisher War Journal #46-48
  16. The Amazing Spider-Man #618-620
  17. The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3
  18. The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17
  19. Ultimate Spider-Man #79
  20. Ultimate X-Men #14 (March 2002)
  21. Ultimate Spider-Man #79
  22. House of M: Avengers #3
  23. "Bring On the Bad Guys Pt. 3". Spider-Man. Season 2. Episode 35. August 6, 2018. Disney XD.
  24. "Cloak & Dagger Join LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2". CBR. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
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