Shocker (character)

The Shocker
File:Shocker (comics).png Shocker in an excerpt from the cover of New Thunderbolts #8 Art by Tom Grummett.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #46
Created by	Stan Lee John Romita, Sr.
In-story information
Alter ego	Herman Schultz
Team affiliations	Sinister Six, Masters of Evil
Abilities	Suit deflects blows and makes him difficult to grasp; gauntlets shoot air blasts

The Shocker is a powerful fictional character from the Spider-Man comic book published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man (1st series) #46 (March, 1967). The issue was scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita, Sr..

Character biography

Herman Schultz was a high school dropout who had brilliant talents as both an inventor and an engineer. Instead of using such talents to gain legitimate employment, he became a successful burglar and (according to him in later stories) the world's best safecracker. After finally being caught and incarcerated for his crimes, he developed a pair of gauntlets designed to shoot air blasts, vibrating at high frequency. these blasts operate on five levels, Level 1 being enough to throw someone off balance, whereas Level 5 will vibrate someone's bones into jelly.

Unfortunately, the feedback from these devices is incredibly intense, and thus Schultz developed a very unconventional costume. It consists of yellow quilted material which covers most of his body to protect him from his own weapons, thus making him bear some resemblance to a giant pineapple. In the Spider-Man: The Movie videogame, Spider-Man mocks him by saying: "So who are you supposed to be? Quilt Man? Padded Pete? Mr. Triple-Ply? Wait, I got it; The Cushion!" In the sequel to that game, Shocker makes a second appearance and in combat, Spider-Man says, "I've been meaning to ask you, how is your absorbency compared to the leading brand?" In the Spider-Man 2 video game, after Shocker gets out of prison, Spider-Man is quoted to say "You look different, have you been reupholstered?"

Schultz used the guantlets to escape from prison and became the powerful supervillain known as "The Shocker". His innovation leads some to consider him a counterpart to Spidey, who made his own web shooters and cartridges.

The Shocker has constantly tinkered with and upgraded the abilities of his costume and guantlets. His suit now deflects physical blows and makes him virtually impossible to grasp by creating a vibrational shield generated by built-in vibrator units. He also recently allowed Hammer Industries to drastically upgrade the power of his guantletes. Unfortunately, he is very untrusting about sharing the whole of his secrets, meaning that his unaltered suit offers him less protection than it provided while using his less powerful weapons (he is prone to nose bleeds after using the new ones).

Motivations

While most Spider-Man villains usually shift from their original goals to a vendetta against Spider-Man, the Shocker is still concerned only with profit, making him much more professional than his peers. The Shocker is one of the few super-villains who has never killed; indeed, his very weaponry is designed with fatality as a last resort. He also appears to be mentally stable; another minority in super-villains.

For what many consider to be a B-list villain, Shocker has a remarkably well-defined personality as far as comic book antogonists go. Besides not falling into the usual cliched megalomanic behavior of many "super-villains," he has been shown to recognize his own limitations and suffer from paranoia (in the Deadly Foes of Spider-Man series, which detailed his fears about being targeted by anti-heroes Scourge and The Punisher).

In recent stories ("Venemous" and "Senseless Violence") it has been revealed that Shocker has become extremely frustrated with his place in life, not wanting to be known as a punching bag for superheroes like Spider-Man. He unsuccessfully attempts to purchase the Venom symbiote at auction in order to gain some respect. When temporarily partnered with Hydro-Man, he rebukes Morrie's suggestion that they go kill Spider-Man, being far more interested in more financially lucrative ventures.

At this point, Shocker seems to be driven not only by the desire to make a profit, but to prove to himself that he is the success he believes he feels he once was and should still be.

File:Shocker ASM 335.gif

From Amazing Spider-Man #335
Art by Erik Larsen and Terry Austin.

Recent Activities

The Shocker found a rare moment of victory over Spider-Man when he teamed up with the Trapster. But before the villain duo could finish Spidey off the Trapster receives a phone call from his employer, The Friends of Humanity, saying that payment would be doubled if the villains allowed Spider-Man to live. Greed forces Shocker and Trapster to leave Spider-Man be, despite Shocker's joke that Spider-Man's death would allow him to cut back on therapy. Ironically, Shocker and Trapster were split as allies when the Shocker was given the task to eliminate Trapster by Norman Osborn. He would have succeeded had Spider-Man (using the alias of Dusk) not stopped him.

In recent appearances, he has been trying to pull one big bank robbery so he can retire.

Recently he allied himself with Speed Demon of the New Thunderbolts in order to break into a particular well guarded safe. Though the police arrived at his hide-out in quick pursuit, he was saved by Speed Demon, who dashed in and stole both the loot and Shocker's weapons, removing all traces of evidence (and unfortunately, for Shocker, also keeping the money to fund the Thunderbolt's further activities).

He was later captured by Spider-Man while trying to rob a federal bank alongside Hydro-Man

A new version of the Sinister Six, with the Shocker as a member, banded together during the Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers.

The Shocker has a surprisingly large fanbase for such a low-level villain. Many fans love that he actually isn't a lunactic but a simple thief, who rather will go after the money than kill his enemy.

As a sidenote, Herman Schultz is not the only Marvel villain to use the name Shocker. Randall Darby from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants/Mutant Force also used the name. Darby changed the name to Paralyzer at one point, perhaps merely to avoid confusion with the Shocker proper.

Ultimate Shocker

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Shocker is a 33-year-old petty crook who raids money transports. He wears a purple trenchcoat and a pair of goggles to protect his eyes. He is not especially dangerous and has fought Ultimate Spider-Man four times (once alongside Ultimate Shadowcat and once with Ultimate Wolverine), suffering four embarrassing defeats. He perpetually ends up in jail with his equipment confiscated, but he somehow manages to get a new set every time he escapes, supposedly making it while still in prison. This suggests that either he is smart enough to know how to build his equipment with limited supplies (and without being caught), or that someone builds it for him and can get it smuggled in for him.

Appearances in other media

Television

• In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Shocker is a hired villain by the Kingpin. In his first appearance in The Alien Costume saga, when the reward for a million dollars for Spider-Man's capture was called off because Eddie Brock framed him, the Kingpin was worried that Brock would reveal Wilson Fisk's real occupation as a crime lord known as the Kingpin. So he hired the Shocker to eliminate both Brock and the evidence. Unfortunately, due to the arrival of a black-costumed Spider-Man, Brock got out of Shocker's hands but the Shocker presumably killed Spider-Man by having him seemingly crushed under a pile of rubble. But Spider-Man survived and followed him back to his hideout to Alistair Smythe and Spider-Man stole back the Prometheum X. The Shocker was forced to get it back. So he kidnapped a hospitalized John Jameson and threatened his father if he doesn't show up with Spider-Man and the Prometheum X, John will die. Spider-Man, Jameson and the Prometheum X arrived to meet Smythe and John in a church tower where John was released by the time Spider-Man gave him the Prometheum. But it was a trap and the Shocker got in a battle against Spider-Man. In the end, Spider-Man destroyed his shocking weapons and nearly killed him by having him fall off from a very tall height from the tower. But he saved him by catching him with his web. In The Insidious Six two-part episode, the Shocker became a member of the Insidious Six to kill Spider-Man, but failed again. In the episode The Awakening, the Shocker was hired again by the Kingpin. The Shocker's last appearance was being an Insidious Six member in the Six Forgotten Warriors saga. He was voiced by Jim Cummings.

Video games

• The Shocker is the only supervillain to be fought in all four of the recent Spider-Man games; Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, Spider-Man: The Movie, Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man. A code in Spider-Man allows you to play as Spidey, wearing the Shocker's suit.

• The Shocker will appear in the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as one of the powerful supervillains in the game.

Fan Sites

• http://www.myspace.com/asm_46