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 character based on Spencer Smythe named Henry Smythe appeared in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series episode "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", voiced by Henry Ramer. Like Spencer, this version is the creator of the Spider-Slayers, one of which he used in an attempt 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", Spencer is enlisted by Norman Osborn to capture Spider-Man in exchange for building a hover-chair for his paralyzed son, Alistair Smythe. 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 at the time. When the real Spider-Man comes to the rescue, the ensuing battles leads to a fire at Oscorp. With Osborn's negative reinforcement, Spencer stays behind to ensure Spider-Man dies and Alistair gets the 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 his son fell in with the crime lord. Alistair eventually discovers Spencer's cryonically preserved body, and recovers him 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 Alistair Smythe's estranged father. In the episode "Horizon High Pt. 1", he sabotages Harry's experiment, resulting in his suspension from Horizon High, and allies himself with the Vulture to seek revenge against Max Modell. Spencer also creates his first Spider-Slayer to steal Harry's work from Horizon High, but it is eventually destroyed by Spider-Man. An investigation later reveals Spencer's involvement in sabotaging Harry's experiment and he is fired from Midtown High. In the episode "Ultimate Spider-Man", he is hired by Raymond Warren to steal Oscorp's genetically modified spiders. To do this, he programs a Spider-Slayer to attack Norman Osborn and threaten to destroy Oscorp while he steals the spiders. During all this, it is revealed that Norman had Spencer cause Harry's suspension in exchange for a position at Osborn Academy, but later reneged on their deal. While leaving Oscorp, Spencer bumps into Miles Morales and loses one of the specimens, which later turns Miles into the Ultimate Spider-Man. Ordered by Warren to capture him, Spencer personally operates a mecha-sized Spider-Slayer to do so, but ends up fighting his son in his own mecha-sized Spider-Slayer, who was sent by Norman to perform the same task. The two are eventually defeated by the original and Ultimate Spider-Man, though only Spencer is arrested, as Alistair manages to escape.

Video games
  • Spencer Smythe appears in the PS2 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 the former 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. foot soldiers and a brainwashed Black Cat to retrieve a sonic generator that could stop the symbiote invasion, giving the Jackal an opportunity to steal it for 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 in 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.

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
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