Alistair Smythe
Alistair Smythe is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was one of Spider-Man's enemies and the son of Spencer Smythe. Although he used a wheelchair at one point, he later gained the ability to walk after transforming himself into what he called the Ultimate Spider-Slayer.
Publication history
Alistair Smythe first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19, created by Louise Simonson and Mary Wilshire. Alistair Smythe died in The Superior Spider-Man #13.Fictional character biography
The Spider-Slayers were a series of robots that sought to destroy Spider-Man. The initial generation of Spider-Slayers were created by his father Spencer Smythe. After Spencer failed to kill Spider-Man—and ended up dying as a result of prolonged exposure to the radioactive samples involved—Alistair inherited his father's legacy 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 Parker time to come up with a plan while Mary Jane 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, 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 bioorganic carapace that not only served as a full body armour, 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 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 John Jameson. 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. Spider-Man 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.
During the "" 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. Posing as a scientist, Smythe infiltrates the Raft and makes off with Gargan. 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. 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. 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. J. Jonah Jameson plans to have the death penalty given to Alistair Smythe for what happened to Marla.
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, Jameson transforms and seriously wounds Smythe by biting a chunk out of his neck.
Despite his injuries, Alistair Smythe is seen alive and well as a prisoner in the Raft. Alistair Smythe is a witness of the escape of Doctor Octopus and was denied to join up with him.
Mayor J. Jonah Jameson calls in Superior Spider-Man to help oversee the execution of Alistair Smythe so that he would not escape. Superior Spider-Man confronts Smythe, who tries to taunt him by mentioning Marla Jameson's death. Since Smythe is unaware of the mindswap and that Otto was not paying attention due to him remembering his time locked up during his final days as Doctor Octopus, Superior Spider-Man brushes him off. Mayor Jameson alongside Superior Spider-Man, his assistant Glory Grant, and Bugle reporter Norah Jones watch the procedure of Smythe's execution while he claims to be a "better person". Superior Spider-Man tries to reply that no one would buy that, only to stop himself once he remembers that he just pulled that trick. Just as Smythe's execution begins, a swarm of mini Spider-Slayers attack the place allowing Smythe to move freely. However, they are counteracted by Otto's Spider-Bots. Smythe attempts to escape, but he finds out that Otto has prepared himself for every method of escape he may try, prompting Smythe to shift his plan to kill Spider-Man for which he was also prepared. The mini Spider-Slayers enter the infirmary where they surround Boomerang, Vulture, and Scorpion. The mini Spider-Slayers heal and enhance them where they get one request from Smythe to kill Superior Spider-Man.
Superior Spider-Man is seen fighting Smythe and is mocking him for being weak in comparison to his father Spencer Smythe. When Superior Spider-Man says that he has called the Avengers for backup, Smythe states that he has his own backup as Boomerang, Scorpion, and Vulture show up. Superior Spider-Man admits that the Mini-Slayers were clever but inadvertently reveals that his countermeasures are being powered by the Raft's Power Generators distracting him at the revelation. Smythe takes the upper hand until he is narrowly shot down by Mayor Jameson disguised as a Raft guard. Superior Spider-Man hunts Smythe through his comm system only to discover that he did the same trick and informed his allies who tries to convince them that Smythe is using them and will take back their enhancements once he has out. All of them agree that even though that might happen, they will make the best of the situation against him. Smythe manages to reach the Raft's generators, destroying them to shut down the power in the entire island, allowing the Lizard to escape. Once Smythe tries to escape, Superior Spider-Man reminds him about the emergency generators. Smythe warns Superior Spider-Man that just like he does with his Spider-Bots, he can see through his Mini-Slayers catching up on Mayor Jameson and the trapped civilians sending their locations to the group. Scorpion rejects it at first, but is easily convinced once Smythe tells him that one of his targets is Mayor Jameson himself. After Boomerang is defeated, Smythe warns Superior Spider-Man that he is still caught in a predicament since Scorpion is heading to his personal vengeance against Jameson and Vulture is ready to kill the group of civilians so he must make a choice only to be surprised when Superior Spider-Man replies that he will not follow any of them. Instead, Superior Spider-Man determined to complete his mission of slaying him.
Superior Spider-Man succeeds in killing Smythe but only physically his corpse, with his mind intact, attacks the survivors, disarming the guards. Superior Spider-Man tackles Smythe and they fall onto the shore below, Smythe attempts to transfer his mind into Superior Spider-Man, however, Superior Spider-Man had already done this and equipped the mask with armored plating. Before Alistair dies, Superior Spider-Man taunts him by revealing being Otto and that Otto already beat the true Spider-Man to the mind transfer. His body is presumably carried away.
During the storyline, Doctor Octopus' conscious in an Octobot infiltrates New U Technologies and finds that the Jackal has obtained the body of Alistair. Jackal managed to make a clone of Alistair alongside his father.
Powers and abilities
Alistair Smythe is a scientific genius specializing in robotics, cybernetics and genetics. His most notable inventions are the Spider-Slayers, robots built for the express purpose of capturing or killing Spiderman. Though the creation and idea for these originally came from his father, Alistair has made advances and improvements on the originals and current generations are extremely sophisticated and formidable. The Spider-Slayers often operate in groups and Alistair is tactically skilled in his deployment of them. Smythe invented a bio-organic carapace that serves as a full body armor. It gives him increased strength and the ability to walk again by interfacing with his spine. The carapace has bird-like talons for feet, a long, curved bladed weapon jutting from each shoulder and smaller, jagged blades on each forearm. It also has web-shooter that fires from the forearm area. While wearing this armor, Smythe has superhuman strength, durability, speed and agility.Other versions
House of M
In the House of M reality, a furious J. Jonah Jameson hired Alistair Smythe, an associate of Norman Osborn, to build a Spider-Slayer to get revenge against the Parkers.In other media
Television
- Alistair Smythe appeared in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Maxwell Caulfield. This version had worked for various villains. He witnessed Spencer Smythe's failure to destroy Spider-Man which caused his apparent death and was convinced to create the Spider-Slayers to attack Spider-Man as part of a deal with the Kingpin. Alistair was the Kingpin's primary accomplice for some time, even after Alistair's technology failed to kill Spider-Man. His association with the Kingpin came to an end when Spider-Man and Daredevil teamed up to fight the Kingpin, resulting in Richard Fisk's arrest. His angered benefactor blamed the incident on Alistair's 'incompetence' and that his 'days here are numbered'. Fearing for himself, Alistair planned to sell out the Kingpin, but was caught in the act. He was turned against his will into the Ultimate Spider-Slayer cyborg by his replacement Herbert Landon with genetic manipulation. With this change which included his back's 'horns' can fire lasers, Alistair was strong enough to crush Spider-Man in a bearhug and possesses even greater agility than the wall-crawler. He soon broke free of the Kingpin's programming and recovered his father's body thanks to Spider-Man. Alistair later went to work for Alisha Silver. Smythe is later contacted by Miles Warren to have Silvermane send men to help repair Warren's underwater lab. Alistair was later transported to the alien planet where he worked with the Red Skull. However, it is revealed that he doesn't want to rule the planet like Red Skull and Doctor Octopus, but just wanted to get back to his father. An alternate version appeared in two-part series finale where he's seen working for the Kingpin and Spider-Carnage in order to build a mind-control device to take over the world. After Spider-Man foiled these plans, Spider-Carnage fled to another reality but leaves a bomb in the Kingpin's building to which Alistair and everyone else in the building were saved by Spider-Man and Madame Web.
- The Ultimate Spider-Slayer alias is seen in Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 used by Kaine.
- Alistair Smythe appears in 2010s Spider-Man animated series, voiced by Jason Spisak. This iteration is around the same age as Peter Parker and Harry Osborn, and shares Spencer Smythe's rivalry with Max Modell. In the episode "Osborn Academy", he is among the students that are interviewed for a spot in Osborn Academy. In the episode "Party Animals", Alistair controls a Spider-Slayer to fight with Spider-Man. After setting the Spider-Slayer to self-destruct enough for Spider-Man to fling far away from civilian population, Alistair is told by Norman Osborn that he passed the audition to get into Osborn Academy. In the episode "Symbiotic Relationship", Alistair uses upgraded Vulture technology to look for the V-252, resulting in confrontations with Spider-Man using the V-252. After Osborn figures out that the V-252 is on Spider-Man, both Alistair and Adrian Toomes use Vulture sonic attacks on Spider-Man, enabling Spider-Man to break off the V-252 and steal the container from Osborn. In the episode "Ultimate Spider-Man", Alistair uses a mecha Spider-Slayer personally on Osborn's behalf where he competes with his own father while stating that Norman has started to been a better father figure; Spider-Man and Miles Morales were able to defeat the Spider-Slayers. While Spencer gets webbed up by Spider-Man and handed over to the police, Alistair gets away and tells Osborn what happened. He later appears in the episode "The Rise of Doc Ock" equipped with his own Spider-Slayer armor as a member of the Oz Commandos which turned into the Sinister Five via Doctor Octopus and the Jackal's mind control technology. In the episode "Hobgoblin, Part 1", Alistair helps the Sinister Five wear down Spider-Man to brainwash so that Doctor Octopus can expand the Sinister Six. With the Hobgoblin's help, Spider-Man frees Alistair, Steel Spider, Rhino and Vulture from Doctor Octopus's mind control technology. In the episode "Goblin War: Part 1", Alistair enrolls at Horizon High with Peter's spot and is suspected as the Goblin King by Spider-Man; he is merely a 'newbie' Goblin amongst the Goblin Nation and gets defeated by Spider-Man, Otto Octavius, Ghost-Spider and Spider-Girl.
Film
Video games
- Alistair Smythe appeared in ' as one of the enemies of Spider-Man.
- Alistair Smythe appeared as a major boss in the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of the Spider-Man Animated Series game.
- In ', there are newspapers in both timelines about Alistair Smythe.
- Alistair Smythe appears as the primary antagonist of The Amazing Spider-Man video game, voiced by Nolan North. This version is Oscorp's new CEO, who pressured the company to invest more in its robotics division, and attempted to dispose of the various cross-species experiments created by Oscorp using the now incarcerated Curt Connors' research. When Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy sneak into the restricted areas of Oscorp after hours to investigate the rumors about these cross-species, Smythe catches them and agrees to give them a tour to see the experiments themselves, only for them to react to Parker's spider DNA and break free. Smythe is among those infected by the cross-species with a deadly virus, and placed in quarantine. While Spider-Man releases Connors from prison to work on a cure, Smythe creates large robots to hunt down the cross-species, and develops his own cure using nanobots, which destroy the virus, but also slowly kill the host. After Spider-Man brings Connors' cure to Oscorp, Smythe takes it and claims that, if it works, Oscorp will replicate it, and he will take all credit as the city's savior. However, upon testing the cure on himself, Smythe is paralyzed from the waist down, and driven insane. He orders his robots to eliminate Spider-Man, but he escapes. Later, upon being fired from Oscorp for his actions, Smythe deduces Spider-Man's secret identity and kidnaps Connors to lure him to Oscorps' robotics facility. While Spider-Man rescues Connors, he is captured by Smythe, who injects him with his nanobot cure to strip him of his powers and unveils his largest creation yet, S-03, which will spread the serum throughout the city, but Smythe only ends up destroying most of it in the process. Ultimately, Spider-Man is able to regain his powers, and he and the Lizard defeat Smythe, who regains his sanity and realises the error of his ways, before being left for the police. Later, Smythe refuses to take the antidote for the cross-species virus, fearing that it doesn't destroy the virus completely, and escapes from prison. As he approaches the final stages of the infection and regains the use of his legs, Smythe returns to his lab, whereupon he commands one of his robots to kill him, unwilling to transform into a cross-species.