Spot (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Spot | |
 The Spot. Art by Marko Djurdjevic. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | (Ohnn) Spectacular Spider-Man #97 (December 1984); (The Spot) Spectacular Spider-Man #98 (January 1985) |
| Created by | Al Milgrom Herb Trimpe |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Dr. Jonathan Ohnn |
| Team affiliations | Legion of Losers, MODOK's 11 |
| Abilities | Ability to create portals that lead to an alternate dimension and instantly cross short distances |
The Spot (Dr. Jonathan Ohnn) is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics' universe who is an enemy of Spider-Man. He was created by Al Milgrom and Herb Trimpe. Ohnn first appeared unnamed in Spectacular Spider-Man #97 and became The Spot in the following issue #98.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
As a scientist working for the Kingpin, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn was assigned to reproduce the radiation levels of the superhero Cloak to find a way to artificially mimic his powers. Working late one night, he succeeded, creating a solid black circular portal. In doing so, however, the drain on the city's power became so great, a blackout washed over the city, causing the portal to shimmer and destabilize. Fearful of losing a once in a lifetime opportunity, Ohnn stepped into it; the shock of the transition caused him to pass out.
He awoke floating weightlessly in a dimension which he initially assumed was Cloak's dark dimension. He soon realized however that the power shortage caused the portal to send him to a different dimension, a place of half darkness and half light. A seemingly infinite number of portals surrounded him in this place. Making swimming motions, he managed to find the original portal that brought him there and slipped back through it.
When Ohnn emerged back into his lab, his body had undergone a radical transformation. The portals from the other dimension had adhered to his skin, covering him with black spots from head to toe. Realizing the spots were portable space warps, he started to think he might be able to use them to defeat anyone in battle. When Spider-Man and the Black Cat arrived to confront the Kingpin, he appeared before them and announced himself as the Spot. Spider-Man collapsed on the roof, laughing at the name. The Spot ended up winning that first confrontation and warned the heroes to leave the Kingpin alone. He later lost a second battle against Spider-Man because he was tricked into throwing too many of his spots as weapons and not keeping enough to defend himself with.
Later, the Spot formed a short-lived team with Gibbon, Grizzly, and Kangaroo II called the Spider-Man Revenge Squad, which was better known as the Legion of Losers. This team fell apart when Spider-Man carted the Spot and the Kangaroo to jail for bank robbery.
Sometime later, the Spot was captured by organization Gideon Trust and was forced to open a portal to the Negative Zone. The Gideon Trust hoped to investigate and exploit the natural resources of the Zone for their own purposes, but were defeated by the Fantastic Four who were trapped there.
The Spot also appeared in the Spider-Man's Tangled Web series, in which he helped Tombstone escape from a maximum security prison. As thanks, Tombstone snapped his neck.
Despite this, he subsequently appeared in issue 26 of Wolverine during Mark Millar's run, he was killed by Elektra and a group of Hand ninjas during a meeting with Slyde, 'The Teflon coated man', in a plot teaming Hydra, The Hand and the mutant group 'Dawn of the White Light' to end all life on earth. He was resurrected by The Hand and joined an assault on the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier which resulted in its destruction. He was killed by Wolverine as were most of the super-villains and heroes The Hand were using in the attack, although having died once before, his death remains questionable.
[edit] Civil War
Surviving yet another "death", The Spot returned in one-shot Civil War: War Crimes, recruited as part of Hammerhead's supervillain army. However, as Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. forces attacked their forces, it remains unknown if The Spot is currently incaracerated with other villains, somehow escaped, or amongst the casualties of the raid.
The Spot is currently appearing in MODOK's 11 as part of a team organised by the villain of the same name to steal a weapon/power-source named the Hypernova. In the book, the Spot's intelligence seems to have been reduced to the point that he brags about having once been defeated by Spider-Man. He is showing a self-serving streak and in #3, it was revealed he'd defected to the Mandarin in return for a larger paycheck. He runs out on the rest of the team - leaving them to die - the instant they get the Hypernova. The Mandarin immediately afterwards trapped the Spot in the dimension he originally gained his powers from: he felt he couldn't trust the Spot not to backstab him like he had MODOK's 11.
[edit] Brand New Day
In the Brand New Day issues of Amazing Spider-Man, the Spot is seen in the "Bar With No Name".
[edit] Powers and abilities
Using his space warps, the Spot can instantly move himself or any part of his body from one area to another over a theoretically unlimited distance via another dimension nicknamed "Spotworld."
The Spot can control and manipulate the warps to almost any degree he wishes. He can expand or shrink them to any size, or he can join together multiple spots to form one larger warp. The spots are unaffected by gravity and can be placed against a surface or left suspended in mid-air. He can also designate which spots will lead to the spot dimension from those that will instantly lead to another location in this dimension. He can create new spots, or close them entirely by retreating into his dimension and pulling the warp in behind him (making a quiet "poit" sound).
By concentrating, he can also revert to his human appearance. When doing this, the spots merge to form one large black void in his chest, though this is easily covered with a shirt.
His preferred method of attack is to surround his opponent with numerous spots, allowing him to punch or kick them from unexpected angles across great distances. This proved very effective against Spider-Man as his spider-sense was unable to detect incoming attacks from another dimension, effectively negating this ability. The same phenomenon was true when Spot flung Spider-Man through a warp and he reappeared in this dimension too close to a wall to dodge. He can also move the spots on his body to protect himself from physical attack by positioning one in the path of a punch or kick, causing the attack to pass harmlessly through a warp.
[edit] Alternate Versions
[edit] Ultimate Spot
The Ultimate version of the Spot appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #111.[1]
Not much is known about him, except that his name is Frank, and he worked for Roxxon Industries, where an accident gave him his powers. He has similar powers to his 616 counterpart, being able to use the "spots" on his body to attack his opponent from long range. After a fight with Spider-Man, he is apprehended. The main difference in appearance between the Ultimate version and his 616-counterpart is that his spots flow around his body like a lava lamp instead of staying put; from an illustrator's point of view, he is not drawn with a Dalmatian-like pattern, but is instead pencilled as a white figure and covered in black ink blots when the page is inked.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Spider-Man: The Animated Series
The Spot appears in an episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series voiced by Oliver Muirhead. In this episode, Jonathan Ohn is fired from his work by Tony Stark (Iron Man) for Ohn's work involves creating dimensional portals. Since the events of the episodes Venom Returns and Carnage, Stark thought it would be best if Ohn's work were shut down.
The Kingpin locates Ohn, pretending to be appreciate Ohn's job of creating portals, and gives him a job with a woman whom he loves, Dr. Silvia Lopez. As weeks pass, Ohn and Lopez finish their work but Ohn falls into one of his portals, becoming the Spot when a whole group of portals attached to him. He can create portals with his mind. The Kingpin was frustrated with Ohn and considered him and Lopez very vague. The Spot used his portal-creating abilities to rob banks and jewelry stores to get more money to fund his research. He then deduces that he works for a criminal like the Kingpin and wants to take over the empire. However, the Kingpin uses Lopez to have the Spot capture and kill Spider-Man. The Spot confronts Spider-Man but the hero defeats him. Spider-Man is aware that if the Spot fails, Lopez would die and the two start to work together. In a battle to defeat the Kingpin, it was discovered that one of Spot's portals was left open to the point where it grows so big it had the potential to engulf the Earth, starting with New York City. Spider-Man, the Spot, Lopez and Kingpin work together to take down the portal. However, the Spot cannot completely close the portal from the outside. He jumps in but not before Lopez expresses her love for him. They were both sucked in and haven't been seen since.
An alternate reality version of the Spot appears in part one of the series finale in a cameo as Dr. Ohn, when the Scarlet Spider explains the origin of Spider-Carnage. In this reality, Ohn works for the Kingpin and accidentally releases the Carnage symbiote through one of his portals.
[edit] External links
- Spot at Marvel.com
