| Alistair Smythe | |
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Alistair Smythe as The Ultimate Spider-Slayer. Art by Mark Bagley. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19 (November, 1985) |
| Created by | Louise Simonson, Mary Wilshire |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Alistair Alphonso Smythe |
| Notable aliases | The Ultimate Spider Slayer |
| Abilities |
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Alistair Smythe is a comic book supervillain, owned by Marvel Comics and existing in that company's Marvel Universe. He was one of the main foes of Spider-Man. At one point Alistair used a wheelchair, but he later gained the ability to walk after transforming himself into what he called the Ultimate Spider-Slayer.
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The Spider-Slayers were a series of robots that sought to destroy Spider-Man. The initial generation of spider-slayers were created by Alistair's father, Spencer Smythe, and commissioned by J. Jonah Jameson. After Spencer failed to kill Spider-Man - and ended up dying as a result of prolonged exposure to the radioactive samples involved- Alistair inherited the legacy from his father and gained a new-found hatred toward Spider-Man. His initial attempt, however, failed when, in a rather humorous misunderstanding, he mistook Mary Jane Watson for Spider-Man (Playing along with it to give Peter time to come up with a plan, Mary Jane claimed she used a super-powered suit designed by aliens) until he was defeated by the real wall-crawler. He initially worked for the Kingpin but left in disagreement over how to deal with Spider-Man and went solo.
After being confined in an asylum, Alistair released himself and took several other inmates with him in order to construct a new series of spider-slayers that tracked Spider-Man across the city. With a plan of revenge, he forced the inmates to assist him in the machines' construction. After sending a series of slayers after Spider-Man (and all of their inevitable destruction with assistance from others including Scorpion and the Black Cat), Alistair lured Spider-Man to his residence for one final battle.
In order to defeat Spider-Man on his own, Alistair enhanced himself by encasing his entire body in a biorganic carapace that not only served as a full body armor, but increased his strength and gave him the ability to walk again by interconnecting with his spine.
The physical structure of the carapace gave Alistair bird-like talons for feet; a long, curved blade-like weapon jutting from each shoulder; a pair of smaller, jagged blade weapons on each forearm; and a specially made web-shooter that fires from the forearm area. Eventually, Spider-Man defeated Alistair and made sure he'd been taken to custody as well as the other asylum inmates who survived the ordeal.
During Scarlet Spider's brief stint as sole web-slinger in town, Smythe (still carapaced as the Ultimate Spider-Slayer) started a war utilizing a new set of slayers he intended to sell on the black market. These Cyber-Slayers, which could be controlled remotely by turning one's thoughts into the slayers' actions, were initially targeted at Lady Octopus and her crew. The Scarlet Spider ended up in the middle of things and temporarily allied with the Cyber-Slayers, a fact that did not go over well with Smythe.
Smythe, no longer in his carapace but with his ability to walk restored by his earlier use of it, found his way outside prison and sought revenge on both Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson for the death of his father. He coerced Jameson to alter the stories in the Daily Bugle or else he'd kill JJJ's wife and son. Once Spider-Man caught on to Smythe's trail, he followed it back to the Bugle where Smythe assaulted him with recreated versions of every spider-slayer ever sent after Spider-Man in the past plus a pair of new creations—a miniature model designed to latch onto Spider-Man's face and penetrate his mind through use of radiation and a larger six-armed model arguably stronger than any other created. While attached to Spider-Man's head, the miniature spider-slayer psionically connected to Spidey's mind, copied thoughts of his loved ones, and broadcast that information to all the other mini-slayers. Smythe gave Spider-Man the choice of either stopping them or preventing the six-armed slayer from destroying Jameson. Spidey eventually shut down all the spider-slayers at the same time, but it was Jameson who beat Smythe to the verge of death with a baseball bat for threatening his family. Smythe made another return in which he used a poisonous spider he made and attacked John Jameson and caused him to end up in the hospital.
In the "Big Time" storyline, Alistair Smythe returns with a new metallic body armor and is hunting down all of J. Jonah Jameson's friends and families. He decides to seek out Mac Gargan for help, who is currently locked away in jail.[1] Posing as a scientist, Smythe infiltrates the Raft and makes off with Gargan.[2] He then performs a cybernetic operation on him, turning him into a cyborg Scorpion, and convinces him to join his crusade against Jameson. At this point, Smythe has amassed a small army of cyborg minions, all of whom want revenge on Jameson.[3] Smythe, Scorpion, and a new villain named Fly-Girl lead their army to attack the site of John Jameson's latest space mission, sabotaging the launch and holding John for ransom.[4] Smythe's new plan was to kill all those close to Jameson, but not to kill Jameson himself so Jameson could feel the same suffering that he did losing his father. Smythe's actions get Jameson's wife Dr. Marla Jameson killed, as well as seemingly permanently negating Spider-Man's spider-sense when a device Spider-Man designed to overload a link between Smythe's current Slayers also damaged his spider-sense.[5] J. Jonah Jameson plans to have the death penalty given to Alistair Smythe for what happened to Marla.[6]
During the "Spider Island" storyline, J. Jonah Jameson brings Alistair Smythe from Ryker's Island to demand his help in resolving the spider-flu plague transforming ordinary citizens into Homo Archanis. Alistair Smythe laughed at the irony of how Jameson has gained spider powers. At the moment, J. Jonah Jameson transforms and seriously wounds Smythe by biting a chunk out of his neck.[7]
J. Jonah Jameson hired Alistair Smythe, an associate of Norman Osborn, to build a Spider-Slayer to attack the Parkers.[8]