Spencer Smythe
Spencer Smythe 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.
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 and were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.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.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. But his creations, no matter how deadly or powerful he made, were always defeated by Spider-Man utilizing a key flaw in their designs.
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. 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. 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.
After Spencer's death, his son Alistair Smythe inherited the Spider-Slayer legacy.
During the storyline, Spencer Smythe is cloned by Miles Warren's company New U Technologies.
In other media
Television
- A similar character named Henry Smythe appeared in the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Henry Ramer. This version is also the creator of the Spider-Slayers, as seen in "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", where he used one to capture Spider-Man for J. Jonah Jameson. 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 some adjustments.
- Spencer Smythe appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Edward Mulhare. In the episode "The Spider Slayer", Norman Osborn enlists Spencer to capture Spider-Man in exchange for building a hoverchair for his paralyzed son, Alistair. Smythe creates his first Spider-Slayer, the Black Widow, to achieve this, but it instead kidnaps Flash Thompson. When Spider-Man comes to the rescue, the ensuing battles leads to a massive fire at Oscorp. After Osborn reminds him that he won't build the hoverchair until Spider-Man is dead, Spencer chooses to stay and try to kill Spider-Man, and is seemingly killed when Oscorp explodes. It is later revealed that Spencer survived and was put in cryogenic suspension by the Kingpin in order to maintain Alistair's loyalty. His son eventually discovers Spencer's cryonically preserved body 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 the estranged father of Alistair Smythe. In the episode "Horizon High" Pt. 1, he sabotages Harry's experiment, resulting in Harry's suspension from Horizon High; it is later revealed that Norman Osborn hired him to do so. Smythe is also allied with the Vulture, as both seek revenge against Max Modell, and creates his first Spider-Slayer to steal Harry's work from Horizon High, which is eventually destroyed by Spider-Man. An investigation later proves that Smythe was responsible for sabotaging Harry's experiment, and he is fired from Midtown High. In the episode "Ultimate Spider-Man", Spencer is hired by Raymond Warren to steal Oscorp's genetically modified spiders. To do this, he programs one of his Spider-Slayers to attack Norman Osborn and threaten to explode Oscorp, while he steals the spiders. However, as he is leaving, he bumps into Miles Morales and lose the Electrolis Arachnatis specimen. Spencer later uses a Spider-Slayer that he controls manually to try and capture the Ultimate Spider-Man, and fights his son in his own Spider-Slayer, who was sent by Osborn to do the same thing. The two are eventually defeated by Spider-Man and the Ultimate Spider-Man, but whereas Alistair escapes, Spencer is arrested. In prison, Spencer spots Raymond in a cell and asks when he was rearrested, to which Raymond claims that he never escaped from prison. Raymond is also apparently unfamiliar with him, much to Spencer's confusion.
Film
Video games
- Spencer Smythe is featured in the PlayStation 2 and PSP version of . 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 A.I.M. help him with his secret experiments in their underground lab, and also captured and cloned J. Jonah Jameson as part of a plot to discredit both him and Spider-Man, who can release either the real Jameson or the clone. 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. and a mind-controleld Black Cat to retrieve the sonic generator that could stop the symbiote invasion from Spider-Man, giving the Jackal an opportunity to steal it. 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 claims that he was not involved in the theft, and that whatever the Jackal is planning, it's too late to stop the symbiotes.
- Spencer Smythe appears in Marvel Heroes.
- Spencer Smythe replaces Alistair as the primary antagonist of The Amazing Spider-Man in the Nintendo 3DS version. He utilizes multiple heavily reimagined Spider-Slayers and other robots to try to eliminate Spider-Man and Curt Connors.