Origin The Scorpion! Mac Gargan was a private investigator that J. Jonah Jameson hired to keep tabs on Peter Parker and Spider-Man , to see if the two had any connection with one another. But Peter's spider-sense alerts him to evade Gargan. Eventually J. Jonah Jameson paid Mac Gargan to undergo a procedure in order to defeat Spider-Man. Dr. Farley Stillwell designed a procedure that could endow his human subjects with the powers of a particular animal. J. Jonah Jameson chose Mac to gain the proportionate abilities of a scorpion because it would be the perfect arachnid predator to Spider-Man. Following genetic modifications, Stillwell outfitted Gargan with a mechanical power-suit to give him a durable exoskeleton with cybernetic stinger. He became the Scorpion!
Creation Scorpion was created by
Stan Lee and
Steve Ditko and first appeared in a cameo in
The Amazing Spider-Man #19 (1964). He appeared full-on as the Scorpion in Amazing Spider-man 20 (1964).
Mayor Story Arcs A Supervillain Born But the experiment later came to affect Mac Gargan's mind, forcing insanity. He blamed J. Jonah Jameson for his destroyed mind and tried to kill him, forcing Spider-Man to intervene. Gargan has attempted numerous times to get Spider-Man and Jameson, but Spider-Man always gets to save both their lives.
Wedding Crasher When Mac learned of the fact that Jonah Jameson was about to marry a woman named Marla, Scorpion became increasingly angry and decided to kidnapp Marla, in hopes of holding her for randsom. Jonah could not do anything about the abduction. Luckily, Spider-man intervened and managed to defeat the Scorpion and save Marla in the proces. Mac was then again sentenced to jail and put behind bars.
Redemption Enter: Scorpion. Some time later Mac escaped prison and had a fight with Ms. Marvel , whom defeated him as well. Scorpion began to believe that his Scorpion suit was stuck to his body, and he started to see himself as a monster in his reflections. Spider-Man later proved this to be a delusion. After experiencing many defeats from Spider-Man, Mac became depressed and decided that he want to redeem himself of his past villainous act. When he met Spider-Man, also experiencing depression, he pleaded to him that he has changed his ways, but Spider-Man beat him bloody. This drove Scorpion's insanity back. Jameson later confess to the public that he was the one who created the Scorpion when the Hobgoblin blackmailed for his secret.
Roxxon Oil and a New Costume A New Costume Scorpion later worked with Roxxon Oil as he was told that they could help him, but he didn't know that he was getting upgrades on his costume and was promised that he can now defeat his enemies. Spider-Man later convinced him that he was being used by Roxxon as Jameson did in the past. Scorpion defeated Roxxon but was defeated by Spider-Man.
Secret War Mac Gargan was present in the Secret War in Latveria , where he was recruited by the dictator of Latveria whom had taken over from Doctor Doom for some time. At this time, Mac was given an upgraded version of his Scorpion armor, leaving behind his more recent costume-change. Although the heroes Mac fought against where outnumbered, they still did not manage to defeat the heroes. Mac escaped and returned to America once more.
Venom Becoming the new Venom The Venom Symbiote travelled to Mac Gargan, another arachnid-powered individual, and offered him additional powers. He agreed and Mac became the next host of the Venom Symbiote which he thought will give him the advantage he needs in defeating Spider-Man as well as being apart of the Sinister Twelve . But he was still defeated by Spider-Man with the help of other heroes. Even though he was incarcerated, it didn't hinder him as with his new powers he would be respected more as a powerful villain. He was later abducted by the Beyonder to participate yet again in another Secret War, but it was really the Stranger in disguise. During this events he thought he had killed Spider-Man but it was really the Space Phantom . All the participants were able to escape from the crumbling planet thanks to Gravity's sacrifice, he is seen mourning for his death.
Gargan later becomes 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 and is currently run by the Commission for Superhuman Activities . It is then revealed that he has been outfitted with electrical implants by the government to keep the Symbiote in check. As a Thunderbolt, he is seen as a hero by the general public and has his own action figures. Gargan displays his new raw power as Venom in a battle with Jack Flag , after pummeling Flag for a bit, the hero manages to stab Gargan, who is protected by his Symbiote. Gargan becomes enraged and ferociously manhandles Flag, and is about to feast upon his flesh, when his electrical implants kick in and temporarily subdue him, allowing Flag to live. Gargan expresses fear of the control the Symbiote possesses over him, yet he has become addicted to the raw unearthly power it brings to him, and cannot begin to imagine life without it, similarly to a drug addict. Later, during an attack from Steel Spider , American Eagle and Sepulchre , Gargan loses control again, briefly becoming a huge monster once more, while Moonstone is incapacitated and thus cannot co-ordinate control of his electrical implants. Afterwards, however, he returns to a normal form with no ill effects. Then, he bites off, and devours, Steel Spider's arm during a fight.
After, the Thunderbolts goes after Spider-Man for being an unregistered hero and like everyone else, he has no memory of Spider-Man's true identity, because of One More Day . When Venom and Spider-Man fought, Eddie Brock got into the skirmish and the Symbiote suddenly left Gargan to bond again to Brock, but his skin acted like a corrosive when the Symbiote tried to attached itself. White substance began to appear from Brock's pores and became Anti-Venom . Anti-Venom battled Venom and seemingly cleansed Gargan of the Symbiote but also inadvertently cleansing Spider-Man remaining Symbiote within his body along with his spider powers.
Thunderbolts Scorpi-Venom During the story arc for Amazing Spiderman called New Way to Die, the Thunderbolts were on a Mission to capture Spiderman, in this Mac Gargan as Venom was weakened by Anti-Venom and his symbiote was almost destroyed. Later, Norman Osborn injected the symbiote with a toxin that healed the suit and gave Venom a toxin that he could inject into Anti-Venom, hopefully killing him. However, the suit was still healing and Venom needed a way to inject the toxin into Anti-Venom. To help he donned his old Scorpion armour to protect himself and give himself a scorpion tail. Later on, Scorpion / Venom and Anti-Venom were battling. Scorpion / Venom then injected Anti-Venom with the toxin and, with his symbiote fully healed, smashed his Scorpion armor to bits, becoming Venom once more. Anti- Venom later re-grew his own symbiote costume and fled.
Later returning from another mission (it ended abruptly when Venom ate the target) the Thunderbolts were attacked by Captain Marvel . When Venom tried to stop him he was sent flying through a window and below Thunderbolts Mountain . It was later on discovered that Captain Marvel was a Skrull . Nobody knew what was happening except Osborn. Earth was at war. The Thunderbolts had been sent to protect Washington. When they arrived, Venom thrived in battle, eating as many Skrulls as he could. Later on he was attacked by a super Skrull, and they were both sent flying off they ship that they were on. They both landed among a crowd, and the Skrull quickly changed its shape. Venom, knowing it was hiding then began suffocating people in the crowd with tendrils, trying to find it. When Osborne saw this he reminded the Symbiote that while he was all for letting it fulfill its urges, there did have to be guidelines. Venom then continued to do what he was doing before. The Skrull saw all of this and, while changing back into its battle form, called Venom a monster saying that humans would liberate the Skrulls after seeing this. Venom then revealed that it was an act, and that the people had been able to breath the entire time. He said he did this to make the Skrull come out of hiding. Venom then proceeded to attack the Skrull. He badly wounded it with his claws and then started eating it. After Washington, the Thunderbolts continued on to New York, where Thor had summoned all the heroes and Skrulls for a final battle in Central Park. When they arrived, Osborne reminded the Thunderbolts that Skrulls were the target. Venom began to complain, saying that Spider-Man was nearby. He was quickly made quiet. Throughout the battle, Venom continued to kill and eat Skrulls, and was only seen harmed once when he was punched by a Skrull taking on the persona of Giant Man. Venom and the rest of the Thunderbolts made it through the Secret Invasion unharmed, excluding the death of Swordsman 's sister .
Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man Sinister "Spider-Man" When Norman Osborn became head of the superhero community, he formed a new team of Avengers called the Dark Avengers , where he recruits Gargan and Venom to be on the team. He first fed Venom with a Skrull impersonating Spider-Man and fed him a medication that turns his monstrous form in to more humane look and named him the Spider-Man of the group. As a member of the Dark Avengers, their first mission is to come to the rescue of Doctor Doom who was being defeated by Morgan Le Fey . When Sentry decapitated her, he suddenly disappeared and Morgan seemingly came back from the dead. In her return, Morgan took control of Venom and started attacking his own teammates.After Morgana is Defeated Sinister Spider-man has returned to normal.
During the Utopia storyline, faces Colossus during the riot at San Francisco, but Colossus escapes with Ice Man and their battle isn't finished, later In the final battle of the Dark Avengers vs the X-men, Venom laughs off the combined attack of Trance and Cannonball and then battles Colossus to finish what they started, but after the Dark Avengers get outnumbered, and the only way to win via killing (in national TV) they retreat.
Venom vs Colossus: Round 1 Venom vs Colossus: Round 2 During the sinister Spiderman arc Venom starts a local drug war between 2 gang members, asides from that he tries to frame J.J. Jameson. Venom defeats a lowly group of villains with ease, but 3 survivors send some incriminating pictures of ''Spiderman'' to J.J. Jameson, but Osborn covers this. At the end in a event dedicated to Spiderman (Venom), the group of lame villains led by the redeemer (with no arms because Spidey ate them), local gang members and Bullseye with Daken (sent by Osborn with their old costumes to bring Mac back) start a major fight with Spidey, at the end Venom beats them all badly, and J.J. stops the brawl in time. Osborn at the end states that next time Mac crosses the line, he himself will stop him, with Venom responding with a smile.
Gargan also appeared in the American Son arc., he gets ambushed by the real Spider-man (with a sonic generator) and captured with the help of Sue Richards, and is sent to the negative zone, but he later escapes. Aside from that, like most of the Dark Avengers he makes numerous appearance during Dark Reign posing as Spider-Man. During the Molecule Man Arc. It is shown that the medication given to him has affected Mac and the Venom symbiote, making the symbiote soft and Mac more insecure of himself. However it was revealed that teammate Daken was using his pheromone powers to screw around with Mac's emotions, which probably also contributed to mac's unusual state of mind.
Siege After the incident in the football game in Chicago, Osborn uses this as a chance to invade Asgard . Osborn assembles his Avengers and tells him of the news, some of them don't like the idea like Hawkeye . Venom asks Hawkeye if he is scared to which he replies yes, stating that he had join only to be a hero, not to do something as crazy as that, then he says that all of them should be scared, Osborn says that this is and order that they must do, if they succeed in this mission they can continue to be Avengers or be free, to which they agree. After Ares gives a speech, they Invade Asgard, and the Dark Avengers are leading the frontline, they land on the ground of Asgard and are welcome by Asgardians, Ares and Venom are seen facing a frontline of immortals while Moonstone and Osborn (as Iron Patriot) are surprised of seeing Thor, but Thor is ambushed by the Sentry , Patriot uses this chance to continue to attack Thor.
Venom in the frontline The battle in Asgard continues, Venom is seen in the front line along with other Avengers who were lead by Ares. Venom is still battling Asgardians and defeating them, but elsewhere Ares turns on Osborn for the invasion of Asgard. Osborn sends Sentry to battle Ares, Venom (covered in blood from the Asgardians he has killed) along with other villains witness the death of Ares, when Sentry tears him in half.
Later the Avengers interfere in the battle and attack Osborn and his troops. Venom is still seen battling and eating Asgardians, Mac knows that Osborn has taken it too far and that they will eventually loose but he plans to enjoy it to the very end, as he is consuming Asgardians and stating that they are the Kobe of Beef Mac is interrupted by Spiderman who quickly goes after him. After the whole kingdom of gods was ruined, Venom found himself on the edge of Asgard. He continued to kill and eat Asgardians until Spider-Man arrived and punched him out on the streets of the city. Spider-Man almost lost the battle, but Ms. Marvel suddenly arrived on the battlefield and pulled Mac Gargan out of the symbiote. Venom decided to assemble with Ms. Marvel, and the brand new creature was created. Venom's personality fully suppressed Ms. Marvel and took the full control of her body, but not the mind. Even so, Venom was able to read mind and revealed that Carol has an affection to Peter Parker. Spider-Man tried to use a bell from the church tower but suddenly found out that the bell was removed. Ms. Marvel tried to separate herself from the black suit and told Spider-Man that she needs a powerful energy charge to overcome the symbiote. Spider-Man knocked Venom onto wires and the electricity disconnected Carol from the black suit. Then it came back to it's previous host - Mac Gargan - and tried to attack heroes once more, but Spider-Man webbed Venom's legs and threw him in the air so Ms. Marvel could beat him with car bumper. That's how Venom was sent to a long flight and then crushed into the flying aircraft (probably the A.I.M. one). That was enough to stop him for now. Carol and Spidey decided to come back to the battlefield set up on the ruins of Asgard. Later before the Sentry destroyed Asgard, Venom is seen battling opponents switching from his monstrous size to his Spiderman size. After the destruction of Asgard by the Void it is unknown what happens to Venom. After the Void is defeated, Mac/Venom are seen captured along with the rest of the Dark Avengers (except Daken). As Siege ends it is speculated that Venom/Mac is sent to jail to pay for him crimes. It has been recently confirmed that Mac Gargan will return to his previous identity as Scorpion and the Venom Symbiote will most likely bond to a different host.
Next we see Mac he is in a new scorpion outfit created by Alistair Smythe and is now working with his insect army. To get revenge on Mayor J. Jonah Jameson and his astronaut son John once again. They attack the launch site where John is flying the Vertex shuttle into orbit which will meet up with a Horizon Labs space station. Spider-Man appears and weblines to a shuttle that just took off but Smythe has locked down the controls and rigged its booster rockets to explode before it leaves the atmosphere and to make matters worse, the evolved Scorpion appears to kill Spider-Man. With the help of the New Avengers , Spider-Man saves John but Smythe sends his Insect Army after Jonah's loved ones. Spider-Man uses a device that jams all of Smythe's minions' enhanced senses but disables his own Spider-Sense in the process. After Spider-Man defeats the Scorpion, he goes to check on the others but Smythe appears and kills Marla Jameson . Spider-Man then defeats Smythe and for the first time, Jonah refuses to blame Spider-Man and blames himself instead.
Powers As Scorpion Mac Gargan was mutated to possess the proportionate abilities of a Scorpion and outfitted with a power-suit to further his new Scorpion persona. Without the suit, Gargan possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift 15 tons, as well as superhuman speed, endurance, and reflexes that exceeded Spider-Man's. His suit provided him with increased durability, pincers on each hand that could tear through Spider-Man's webbing, and an extremely powerful cybernetic tail. Scorpion used his prehensile tail as for both practical purposes and as a deadly weapon. At times, his tail has been given certain additional weapons, such as acidic sprays, electric blasts, or a poison-tipped blade. For a time, Norman outfitted Mac with a Scorpion suit while the Venom Symbiote was recovering from injuries sustained in a battle with Anti-Venom . This Scorpion Suit provided added protection from Anti-Venom, allowed Venom to regenerate, and possessed a cybernetic tail/stinger loaded with a super-venom capable of killing Anti-Venom.
As Venom Gargan's powers have been enhanced after bonding with the Venom Symbiote . He also has a few new abilities, such as a shapeshifting, webbing generation, enhanced durability, regeneration, genetic memory (recalling information from previous hosts), and an immunity to Spider-Man's spider-sense. The natural super strength of Gargan combined with the strength of the symbiote allows him to lift (press) 40 tons. Norman provided Gargan a chemical that allows Gargan to more actively control the symbiote and enables him to alter his appearance with more precision so that Gargan could pose as Spider-Man. The medicine must be taken in between periods of times, or else the symbiote would take over Gargan.
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Alternate Universes Earth-70237 In the last days of Peter Parker being Spider-Man, Scorpion is a member of the Sinner Six, the latest version of the Sinister Six. He was killed by Spider-Man by being kicked out of the window and falling to his death.
Earth-721 In Earth-A, Gargan is a tourist that has gone through Earth-616, to impersonate the Scorpion in that reality. He was later returned back to his home reality.
Earth-2149 In the Marvel Zombieverse, Scorpion is one of the infected by the zombie plague. He is seen collecting food along with Diablo for their leader, Kingpin .
Earth-8545 In this reality, Scorpion is one of the superhumans that have been infected by a mutated Legacy Virus combined with Warlock 's technarch.
Exiles In one reality, Scorpion is one of the founding members of the Heroes For Hire and the Avengers with Black Widow and Black Knight . He was killed by an alternate version of Illyana Rasputin .
In Other Media Video Games The Scorpion was first seen in the Spider-Man game for the Playstation console. He reappeared in the first Spider-Man movie game and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as the first boss in both. He later appeared in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, and he is the third boss and one of the most powerful friends to use. Gargan also appears in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 as a boss and playable character, sporting the Venom suit.
Television Scorpion appears in the 1967 Spider-Man series in an episode called "Never Step on a Scorpion" and was voiced by Carl Beans. He later appears in the episode "Sting of the Scorpion".
Scorpion appears in the 1981 Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Attack of the Arachnoid."
Scorpion first appears in the second episode of Spider-Man "The Sting of Scorpion" voiced by Martin Landau & then later voiced by Richard Moll. He later appears as part of Kingpin's Insidious Six.
Scorpion never appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man but we hear Norman Osborn thanking him over the phone.
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