Human Fly (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Human Fly is the name of two comic book characters in the Marvel Comics universe, one a super-villain who was an occasional antagonist of Spider-Man, and the other a superhero. Additionally, Human Fly was the title of a short-lived series in the late 1950s reprinting some of Fox's Blue Beetle strips from the 1940s. It was published by Super Comics.
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[edit] The Human Fly (Richard Deacon)
| Human Fly | |
 Cover to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10, 1976. Pencils by Gil Kane, inks by John Romita. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10 (1976) |
| Created by | Len Wein, Bill Mantlo, and Gil Kane |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Richard Deacon |
| Notable aliases | Fly |
| Abilities | Flight, wall-crawling, super strength and agility, compound eyes. |
[edit] Fictional character biography
The supervillain the Human Fly (alter ego: Richard Deacon) was born in Newark, New Jersey. He was a small-time criminal who was shot by the police and left for dead after his unsuccessful kidnapping attempt, which 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 eventually look like a humanoid fly, including antennae and facet eyes.
Sometime later, the Fly attacked Spider-Man after Spencer Smythe had 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' 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.
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)
| Human Fly | |
 Cover to issue #1 of The Human Fly, September 1977. Art by Al Milgrom. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Created by | Bill Mantlo |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | unrevealed |
[edit] Publication history
The superhero the Human Fly starred in Marvel Comics' The Human Fly #1–19 (Sept. 1977 — March 1979).
[edit] Fictional character biography
The second Human Fly was a young man of unknown identity 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 based on real-life stuntman Rick Rojatt. The comic-book series carried 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. Jim Shooter, Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, said in 2007 that the photos were indeed of Rojatt.[1]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Back Issue #20 (Jan. 2007)
