Spymaster (comics)
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Spymaster is a supervillain from Marvel Comics. The first appearance of the character is in Iron Man #33.
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[edit] Publication History
Spymaster is a Marvel Comics supervillain, whose primary antagonist is Iron Man. He is a master of industrial espionage, though his identity over the years has changed several times.
[edit] Character History
[edit] Spymaster I
The original Spymaster was a master of espionage, to the point where he died without his true identity being revealed. He and his team of assistants, the Espionage Elite, were hired by the criminal organization the Zodiac to infiltrate Stark Industries and steal all of company owner and genius inventor Tony Stark's secrets. His efforts were stopped by armored superhero Iron Man, who was secretly Stark.
Spymaster would come to conflict with Iron Man several more times, and on one occasion with the masked hero Daredevil. At one point Spymaster apparently succeeded in assassinating Tony Stark, but in reality it was a Life Model Decoy. He also succeeded in stealing many of Stark's Iron Man designs, giving them over to Stark's rival Justin Hammer, sparking the Armor Wars event. Stark believes that Spymaster may have found out his secret identity this way, but didn't give it to Hammer.
The first Spymaster would eventually meet his end at the hands of fellow Iron Man villain the Ghost, who has technology enabling him to become intangible. After attempting to kill the Ghost, Iron Man arrived, causing the two villains to attempt escape. The Ghost offered Spymaster one of his intangibility devices, but removed it from his chest while he was still halfway through a wall, killing him instantly.
[edit] Spymaster II
The second Spymaster was an accomplished student of the Taskmaster who won the right to the name in a series of tests including a final test of killing all other contenders in a battleground simulator, with all contestants blindfolded. His first appearance was in Iron Man #330. This iteration had one of his own Espionage Elite bug Tony Stark's office, and overheard Stark and his secretary Pepper Potts talking about this double identity. Acting under orders from the Mandarin, his Elite ambushed and beat Stark severely, until the Black Widow intervened.
[edit] Spymaster III
Sinclair Abbot, a wealthy industrialist, is the latest person to hold the Spymaster mantle. He achieved this by having the previous one arrested, severely beaten in jail, and then killed in intensive care by his wife. His debut was in the miniseries Iron Man: The Inevitable. He has yet to attempt any direct action against Iron Man, choosing to send Ghost against him, and playing mind-games with Stark at public events, subtly jabbing him about his alcoholism and former military contracts. Abbot feels that to be a true supervillain, he needs to prove his mettle against Iron Man, while at the same time, to humble Iron Man; it has been an extended period of time since Iron Man has fought a "supervillain" in the classical sense, and Abbot resents the apparent indication that Iron Man is "too good" for supervillains, as if he is above that station.
With the Civil War causing Tony Stark considerable problems, the Spymaster was hired by Karim Wahwash Najeeb (chairman of the World Islamic Peace Coalition and one of the men responsible for the death of Stark's mentor Ho Yinsen) to kill Iron Man. Spymaster killed Tony Stark's chauffeur and attempted to use Happy Hogan as live bait to draw Iron Man, but Hogan managed to attack him and both fell several stories to the ground (Iron Man vol. 4 #13).
