Mac Gargan

Venom
File:Venomtbolts.png Mac Gargan as Venom Art by Leinil Yu.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #20 (Jan 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter ego	Macdonald "Mac" Gargan
Team affiliations	Sinister Twelve Masters of Evil
Notable aliases	Scorpion, Venom
Abilities	As the Scorpion: Superhuman strength and endurance, can cling to walls, wears scorpion-like armor with a cybernetic tail that has projectile weapons. As Venom: In addition to his inherent powers, symbiote allows all of Spider-Man's powers. Allows limited shapeshifting and cannot be detected by Spider-sense.

Macdonald "Mac" Gargan is a fictional character in the

, a supervillain most primarily associated with the superhero Spider-Man. Originally known as the Scorpion, he is currently the new Venom. He first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #20, and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Character history

Scorpion

A former private investigator named Mac Gargan who was initially hired by J. Jonah Jameson to find out how Peter Parker is able to get those incredible pictures of Spider-Man, Gargan's efforts set off Peter's spider-sense and the teen was able to easily frustrate the detective. Jameson then decided to hire Gargan as the subject of a barely tested process that would endow him with the useful characteristics of a particular animal. In this case, a scorpion was the base for the purposes of creating a powerful agent capable of defeating Spider-Man.

File:Spectacular215.jpg

Cover to Spectacular Spider-Man #215. Art by Sal Buscema.

This mutagenic treatment seriously affected Gargan's mind, driving him insane. He promptly turned on his benefactor and when Spider-Man intervened, Jameson found himself in the strange position of praying that his investment was insufficient in defeating the superhero he hated. Since then, the Scorpion has repeatedly attempted to indulge in his deadly vendetta against Spider-Man and Jameson, only to be defeated each time. Jonah does appreciate the irony.

The Scorpion, in his career, has accomplished among other things: a new costume, fought Ms. Marvel, and paid for a new tail that spurted acid. In one instance, Scorpion became more psychotic than usual after his battle with Ms. Marvel, resulting in his being dumped in acid. In the sewers, Scorpion came to believe that his costume couldn't come off, but after a quick encounter, Spider-Man proved to him that his belief of being a monster was in his mind.

Venom

File:Venom civil war.jpg

Venom in Civil War: Choosing Sides

Later on through circumstances yet to be revealed, Norman Osborn reveals Spider-Man's true identity to Gargan (a thing that the symbiote should have done before) and gives him orders to kidnap Peter's Aunt May should Osborn ever be captured and imprisoned. When Spider-Man defeats Osborn, he is imprisioned and Gargan carries out Osborn's orders in kidnapping Aunt May. Gargan eventually summons Peter and tells him the only way he can see his aunt again is to break Norman out of jail. Shortly thereafter, the Venom symbiote approaches Gargan, offering him new abilities, and Gargan becomes bonded with the creature. This would later give him an extra edge as part of Norman Osborn's Sinister Twelve. Even with these additional powers he was still swiftly defeated by Spider-Man, as the Avengers dealt with the rest of the Twelve. So far he remains bonded with the symbiote. Though incarcerated, Gargan is unfazed, as with his new powers came the respect of becoming an "A-list" villain.

As of Civil War #4, Venom is a member of a sub-group of the Thunderbolts, which has been drafted by the Avengers to hunt down the members of the fugitive Secret Avengers.

Venom is also featured prominently in Beyond!.

As the Symbiote has shown itself to be adept at Healing its host int he past, it is quite possible that it has cured Gargan of the insanity caused by the process which first made him the Scorpion - or at least calming him, accounting for his recent changes in personality, becoming more cool and confident when the Symbiote is not visible as an outer layer.

Powers and abilities

Mac Gargan has superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, and endurance, and also has the ability to cling to walls. In addition to his superhuman physique, he was traditionally armed with a cybernetic, seven-foot mechanical tail, which can whip at incredibly high speeds. The tail has in the past been equipped with projectile weapons (usually an electrical generator, although it has also been equipped with an acidic spray and a plasma energy projector). The Scorpion is substantially stronger and more durable than Spider-Man, though a much less skilled hand-to-hand combatant.

Mac Gargan was once a skilled investigative journalist but, as he is emotionally disturbed as a result of the procedure in which he acquired his powers, he retains little of his former rationality. He is typically easily outsmarted by Spider-Man and is not very good at cooperating with other supervillains or following instructions. His most prominent weakness is his irrational hatred toward J. Jonah Jameson and he has been known to ignore the orders of whomever he is currently working for, in order to attack the Daily Bugle's publisher.

With the Venom symbiote, Gargan retains his superhuman abilities (which are probably increased because of the symbiote) and has the ability to shoot webbing like Spider-Man can, and can disguise himself as other people or blend in with his background as Brock could. He is undetectable to Spider-Man's "spider-sense". In recent appearances the symbiote has a scorpion-like tail attached to it, effectively a fifth limb packing a deadly venom and with the ability to shoot webbing.

Other versions of Mac Gargan

Exiles

• In one of the many realities visited by the Exiles, Mac Gargan is one of the many superhumans that form the Heroes for Hire, and is part of the Avengers Package, which also includes the Black Widow and the Black Knight. After being hired to protect Tokyo from Moses Magnum and Namorita, Scorpion is killed by the murderous, teenage counterpart of Magik.

Mac Gargan in other media

Television

File:Spidermanep2.jpg

Scorpion in 1990s Spider-Man animated series

Scorpion appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series played by Martin Landau and then Richard Moll when Landau won an award and was no longer available to star in the series. In his debut episode, Mac Gargan works for J. Jonah Jameson as an investigator, but is nervous, plump and balding. In an attempt to discover Spider-Man's real identity, Jameson hires a scientist to use Dr. Connors' Neogenic Recombinator to turn Gargan into a superhero called the Scorpion. This incarnation is similar to the original comics version of the Scorpion. He encounters Spider-Man on a roof top, and after a short battle is able to defeat the wall crawler. However, when he is about to unmask Spider-Man, his body is overcome with pain, and he begins to mutate further; developing yellow eyes, green skin, and talons on his fingers. He becomes horrified with what's happening to him and flees to attempt to gain access to a nuclear reactor, insanely believing it will restore him to normal ("Radiation made me this way, and I'm going to use it to turn me back!"). Spider-Man stops him, sending him to jail.

In "The Insidious Six", Scorpion becomes a member of the Insidious Six, created by the Kingpin, to kill Spider-Man, so Kingpin can settle off his debt with his enemy, Silvermane, but Spider-Man survives the attempt. In "The Final Nightmare", he makes a plan to find a cure for his mutation by kidnapping Dr. Stillwell, the scientist who is responsible for turning him into a freak. Unfortunately, Stillwell destroys the Neogenic Recombinator in order to prevent any other beings like the Scorpion from existing again. Later, he meets Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture, who is as smart as Stillwell, and when Toomes' lab was blowing up, Scorpion saved him. In "Partners", where Moll replaced Landau, he makes another attempt to cure himself, but fails when Spider-Man stops him (this attempt was a plot created by Spider-Man because he needed Scorpion to give to Alistair Smythe to save the Black Cat). In "The Wedding", Scorpion makes a bank robbery and Spider-Man is defeated. Then, he takes the wedding rings, so that he and his girlfriend Sara can get married. And finally, the Scorpion appears in the Six Forgotten Warriors five-parter as his last appearance as a member of the Insidious Six.

Video games

• The Scorpion is the third boss of the Game Boy game The Amazing Spider-Man.

• Scorpion appears in the Game Boy Color video game "Spider-Man 2: Enter The Sinister Six" as a member of the Sinister Six, though in the comics, he never officially joined.

• He appeared twice in Spider-Man: The Video Game.

• He also appears in Spider-Man, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

• In all his video-game appearances, his costume tends to the green and blue armor briefly seen during the Spider-Man: Chapter One/Reboot era instead of his classic green costume.

• In the multiple platform game, Spider-Man: The Movie (based on the film), Scorpion makes an appearance in two of the levels. He was voiced by Mike McColl.

• The Scorpion appears as a villain in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. He works for Dr. Doom's Masters of Evil attacking S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Heli-carrier. Scorpion is the first villain players face in the game and one of the few fought multiple times, as he later appears guarding the defeated Tyr along with the Lizard.

External links

• Gargan's Profile at Spiderfan.org
• MacDonald Gargan at www.marveldatabase.com