Human Fly (comics)

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The Human Fly is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe. There are two characters of the name: a super-villain, who was an occasional enemy of Spider-Man, and a super-hero.

[edit] The Human Fly (villain)

The first Human Fly, Richard Deacon, was a small-time criminal. He was shot by the police and left for dead after his unsuccessful kidnapping attempt was foiled by Spider-Man. Stumbling into the laboratory of Dr. Harlan Stillwell (whose brother Farley created the Scorpion for J. Jonah Jameson), Deacon coerced the scientist into saving his life. Overhearing an offer Jameson made with Stillwell to fund the creation of a new super hero, Deacon insisted he be the subject of the experiment. Stillwell imprinted the genetic coding of a common fly onto Deacon, empowering him and healing him of his bullet wounds. Deacon killed Stillwell and used his newfound powers to further his criminal ambitions. He first used Jameson as bait to get revenge on Spider-Man, but due to his inexperience he was no match for the web-slinger and he was defeated.

It was some time later when the Fly began to display fly-like tendencies (like eating garbage). This later developed into a fully physical mutation which made him eventuall look like a humanoid fly, including antennae and facet eyes.

Sometime later, the Fly attacked Spider-Man and handcuffed him - along with Jameson - to a bomb. The Fly hurled the two from a rooftop and left them for dead. Once freed from the shackle, Spider-Man tried to stop the Fly from stealing an art exhibit, but the villain knocked him down and escaped. Soon afterwards, however, the police caught the Fly using S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment.

Traveling to San Francisco, the Fly sought out Dr. Karl Malus, a criminally inclined scientist. Malus planned to augment Deacon's powers with a blood transfusion from Spider-Woman. The Fly attacked her unsuccessfully. Malus then suggested that he kidnap her associate, Scotty MacDowell. Spider-Woman followed the Fly to Malus's headquarters and, after a brief fight, defeated him. Afterwards, Malus used some of the Fly's DNA to temporarily mutate Scotty into the similarly powered Hornet.

The Fly subsequently battled Moon Knight, leaving the hero temporarily paralyzed, and again tried to seek revenge against Jameson and Spider-Man. Partnered with the Black Cat, Spider-Man once more defeated the Fly.

Over time, Deacon's mutation increased. After escaping from a mental institution, Deacon was killed by one of the vigilantes calling themselves the Scourge of the Underworld while trying to take revenge on Spider-Man.

Trivia: The original story of the Fly was drawn by Fred Hembeck, who (in his cartoon form) had a guest appearance in that particular issue.

[edit] Human Fly (superhero)

The heroic Human Fly was a young man (identity never revealed) who was severely injured during a car crash. After a long hospitalization, including a number of reconstructive surgeries in which much of his skeleton was replaced by steel, he took on the masked identity of the Human Fly. As the Human Fly, he performed daredevil stunts to benefit various charities, especially those helping children with disabilities.

His activities often drew him into conflict with criminals, who were often seeking to rob the charity events at which he performed. Additionally, he drew the attention of Spider-Man, who thought he might be the villain of the same name.

The character was allegedly based on a real-life stuntman named Rick Rojatt. The comic book was promoted with the tag line "The Wildest Super-Hero Ever -- Because He's Real!" and photographs of someone in a Human Fly costume appeared in the comic books. Whether these were photographs of Rojatt is unconfirmed.