Spider-Man 2099
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Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara) is a Marvel Comics superhero, a fictional character created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi in 1992.
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[edit] Publication history
The Spider-Man 2099 stories were set in an alternate future, a dystopian America governed by corrupt corporations. The setting also has a number of cyberpunk elements. His first appearance was a preview in Amazing Spider-Man #365, his first full appearance being soon afterwards in Spider-Man 2099 #1. Spider-Man was one of the many Marvel characters to be reimagined for the Marvel 2099 comic book line, a collection of several series that showed future versions of classic Marvel characters living in the year 2099, decades after the current Marvel Universe time period. A few other examples are Hulk 2099, Doom 2099 and X-Men 2099.
The Spider-Man 2099 series continued on for almost four years, ending in Aug 1996 with #46; Spider-Man 2099 appeared immediately after in all eight issues of 2099: World of Tomorrow, which was for the most part the finale of the 2099 universe, and later still in 2099: Manifest Destiny, a one-shot edition that ostensibly concluded the 2099 series. However, the character has since made several cameo and guest appearances in other comic books, the most recent being Captain Marvel Vol. 5, #28. Another version of the character has since joined the reality hopping team known as the Exiles.
[edit] Fictional character biography
The character's alter ego is Miguel O'Hara, a half-Mexican, half-Irish genetic engineer at the Alchemax Corporation. Miguel is in charge of the Corporate Raider program, the basis of which is to modify the genetic structure of individuals in the idea of endowing them with great abilities. He is working on a possible candidate by studying the file of Spider-Man. Because of this , there is a spider DNA genetic program in the computer.
After an incident in which a convicted prisoner, used as a test subject, dies after being genetically modified for enhanced strength, Miguel is starting to doubt the goings on at Alchemax. His boss, Tyler Stone, sees the fact that the man demonstrated increased strength before he died as very positive, despite the fact that the man died. It seems to matter little to him. Miguel then decides to quit. In the office of Tyler Stone, he has a drink offered to him while Tyler makes a small speech like "Our employees are cherished participants... Not prisoners. You are perfectly free to leave our little family, if you wish. We're a business, not a stalag". Of course, there is a catch, the drink is spiked with a mind expanding hallucinogen called Rapture, made by Alchemax and is perfectly legal. Rapture is incredibly addictive since it bond to the user genetically. Once taken, the user needs it like oxygen and without it, he/she dies.
In order to get rid of the drug, Miguel hacks his way into the alchemax building at night, covering his electronic entries so that records show he wasn't there at all. He intends to use the genetic modiying machine to restore his genetic signature to what it was before receiving the Rapture. Since he used his own signature in his tests, the computers already have a previous version. He programs the device, strips naked and enters it. As he does this, a jealous and verbally abused co-worker, Aaron Delgato, decides that in a procedure this complex, something could go wrong. When the machine threatens to shut down following safety parameters, Aaron disables the safeguards with a manual override. In doing so, the spider file and the Miguel O'Hara DNA file are merged before the imprint in Miguel. The machine explodes with Miguel unscathed but not unchanged. He gains incredible strength, speed and agility, he can now shoot webbing from spinnerets in his forearms, his eyes give him enhanced vision thought they are more light sensitive, he gains talons on his fingers and poisonous fangs. He escapes the lab and after a small period of adaptation, he finally gets home.
After investigating the destroyed laboratory site, an Alchemax enforcer called Venture starts to track him. When Miguel sees him in the streets below, he realizes that he is after him and so he dons a spider-like suit he purchased for the Mexican Day of the Dead. This costume is made of a nigh-indestructible unstable molecule material. He heads out with it and runs around the city, going through the alchemax building and his own appartement to mix up his footprints so that the enforcer cannot associate him with the person that was in the lab of Alchemax. Later, as Spider-Man, Miguel fought against the Alchemax Corporation's control over the city, and tried to bring down the corporation's CEO, Tyler Stone, whom Miguel later discovered to be his birth father.
Miguel's family tree was complicated. His mother Conchata frequently disagreed with his "father", her husband George. He would beat her when she voiced that disagreement. At one point Conchata cheated on her husband with Tyler Stone, and Miguel was born. Miguel went to the Alchemax Academy For Gifted Youngsters (which was hinted at being the future of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Children.) and studied alongside Xina Kwan, who later became his girlfriend, and Kron Stone, whom he did not know until later was his half-brother. Much later, Kron, by then a petty crook, bonded with the Venom symbiote, which discovered him after he was nearly killed by the 2099-era Punisher, Jake Gallows. As Venom, Kron tortured Miguel and Xina Kwan, and eventually murdered Miguel's one-time fiancée, Dana D'Angelo. Miguel's other half-brother, Gabriel "Gabe" O'Hara, grew up resentful of the attention shown Miguel by their parents. He moonlighted in virtual reality as a superhero named Firelight, and at one time was accused of being a 2099 version of the Green Goblin (who later was revealed to be a shapeshifter assuming Gabe's form).
Over the four-year-run of the series, Spider-Man 2099 encountered futuristic versions of modern Spider-Man villains, including the previously-mentioned Goblin and Venom, as well as the Vulture and the Chameleon. He also battled new villains like Venture, a cyborg; Thanatos, the Rick Jones from an alternate timeline; Discord, a virtual reality archetype; and Flipside, a Spider-Man doppelgänger. He also met the other heroes of 2099; the hero Justice from the New Universe, who was known in 2099 as the Net Prophet; and also, in a special edition entitled Spider-Man Meets Spider-Man 2099, his original web-slinging counterpart. This comic also introduced Spider-Man 2211, yet another latter-day Spider-Man from further down the timestream. It also introduced the Hobgoblin of 2211, whose appearance clearly recalled that of Norman Osborn's Green Goblin persona in keeping with the recurrent 2099 theme of confusing distant history, characters, and events.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Spider-Man 2099's hybrid human/spider physiology gives him a wide array of powers. He has the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a spider, which allows him to lift many times his own body weight, perform complicated acrobatic and gymnastic maneuvers that would be impossible for even the most highly-trained athlete, and jump great distances. His durability was also increased to a point where in an issue he suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, major abrasions and bruises, and made it to a hospital in time where a doctor told him he has amazing constitution for him to be alive. He also notably heals faster than a normal human, but does not have a healing factor (he would not have needed a doctor if he did). Notably absent from his suite of powers is a "Spider-Sense", probably due to the fact that it would no doubt be far more difficult to produce via genetic manipulation. Despite this fact, Spider-Man 2099 seems nearly as flexible, acrobatic, and evasive as his namesake. Though he claims to not have been in a fight since he was a child, Miguel quickly develops an effective fighting style that capitalizes on his unique abilities as well as his genius-level intelligence (while the exact levels of his abilities are less discussed and well-known than those of the contemporary Spider-Man, it has been generally assumed that Miguel is physically on par with his predecessor at the time of the original series - who was quoted at the time as having reflexes 40 times above normal, the strength to lift at least 10 tons, and the ability to leap the width of a city block or almost 5 stories (60 feet) straight up. The fact that the "Spider Program" that produced Miguel's powers was designed to mimic the original Spider-Man's capabilities would seem to be inconclusive proof of these figures).
Spinnerets in his forearms enable him to fire organic spider-webbing from the top of his wrists, usable in a wide variety of ways. Like his predecessor, Spider-Man 2099 can travel at high speeds swinging on "weblines" when necessary, and he can use his webbing to ensnare enemies. Retractable talons in his fingertips and toes enable him to climb walls or cut enemies. Though they are rather short (approximately an inch long), they are extremely sharp, and seem strong enough to resist breakage despite his enhanced strength - Miguel has shown capable of rending metal armour on numerous occasions. These talons acted instinctively at first, and it took practice to retract them properly (making short work of his bedsheets while sleeping).
He possesses venom glands and slightly enlarged, pointed canines (which are not entirely dissimilar to a vampire), which allows him to paralyze his foes should he choose to bite them. While the exact makeup of his venom has never been discussed, it seems powerful enough to affect such foes as Thanatos - and it differs from real spider venom in that it does not seem to act as a digestive agent in addition to its paralytic properties. Compensating for his lack of a "Spider-Sense", his hearing exceeds the acuity of a normal human, as does his vision - he can see extremely well over both long distances ("telescopic" vision) and in low-light conditions. In addition to the generally enhanced properties of his vision, the flicker-fusion rate of his retinas is reduced to such an extent that he can easily perceive fast-moving objects that would appear to others as a blur. A side effect of his visual enhancements are the color of his eyes - they are generally drawn as having red irises, making sunglasses a regular part of Miguel's wardrobe. When trying to perform "damage control" with his girlfriend early on in the original series, Miguel told Dana that as a result of breaking his genetically-coded Rapture addiction, his eyes were now more sensitive to light and that his jaw hurt (allowing him to more easily hide his red eyes and pointed teeth).
His web cape, which he obtained from a Thorite (Worshiper of Thor), is made from the Lyte Byte material commonly used in the manufacturing of hang-gliders, and acts as an air foil, allowing him to glide on air currents for a short period of time, as well as slow his rate of descent and control his direction in freefall. Coupled with his superhuman strength and agility, the Lite-Byte cloth allows him near-immunity to damage from falls - on numerous occasions, he has leapt from the top of tall buildings with no apparent ill effects upon landing.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Destiny War
Another version of Spider-Man 2099 was one of the alternate Avengers seen briefly during The Destiny War.
[edit] 2998 AD
In The Amazing Spider-Man #439, the issue takes place 1,000 years (2998 based on the release date of the issue) in the future. Two archaeologists stumble across relics belonging to Spider-Man (such as his webshooters). They speculate on his career, and discuss the other heroes who were inspired by him, such as Spider-Girl, Spider-Man 2099, and Spider-Man 2211.
[edit] What The
In issue #26 of What The--?, a humor anthology title, the character Spider-Ham (an anthropomorphic pig who parodied the original Spider-Man) was reworked for a parody of Spider-Man 2099 entitled "Spider-Ham 15.88". A laboratory janitor named "Piguel O'Hara" accidentally falls into a vat of spider venom and gains spider-powers. A short (and confusing) excursion as Spider-Ham 2099 follows, including encounters with parody versions of The Punisher 2099 and Ravage 2099.
[edit] Exiles
After battling the Exiles on another world, Proteus escapes to 2099, and takes the body of the Hulk. Spider-Man joins forces with the Exiles to stop him. Proteus is too strong, and unmasks Spider-Man to the world. Spider-Man then convinces Proteus that coming to 2099 was a mistake and that he should move on. Feeling guilty, and afraid of being hunted down after his identity is made public, Spider-Man leaves his world and joins the Exiles to continue fixing damaged realities. Not much later the Exiles find a way to neutralize Proteus. A few missions later a version of the Hand -led by the evil Susan Storm- captures and brainwashes him along with two of his teammates: Blink and Longshot.
The appearance of Proteus early in the year 2099 caused a timeline divergence from the original Marvel 2099 continuity, and the new timeline is identified as Earth-6375 in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Toys
- A Spider-Man 2099 action figure was produced by Toy Biz for their Spider-Man Classics toy line. This figure was an exclusive repaint available only through KB Toys.
- Hasbro took over production of Marvel Comics toys in 2007. In their first wave of figures, Spider-Man Origins, they released a newer version of Spider-Man 2099, which was again a repaint.
Categories: Fictional interdimensional travelers | Fictional Irish-Americans | Fictional Mexican-Americans | Hispanic superheroes | Marvel 2099 titles | Marvel 2099 characters | Marvel Comics superheroes | Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds | Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength | Marvel Comics titles | Spider-Man titles
