SCORPION

 

SCORPION

Real Name: MacDonald Gargan

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #19, December 1964

Powers: MacDonald Gargan became the Scorpion after being subjected to the Stillwell process, grafting the genetic material of a real scorpion onto his physiology. As a result, Gargan gained the proportionate abilities of a scorpion. He developed Class 25 strength, superhuman speed, agility, endurance, and reflexes. His skin hardened to give him increased resistance to impact and penetration like a natural exoskeleton. His fingers acted like pinchers, able to pierce solid materials just by applying pressure. This allowed him to climb buildings by digging hand holds into the sides, or tear out chunks of brick or masonry to throw at opponents. He could also snip Spider-Man's webbing just by dragging his fingers over the threads. The Scorpion was given a battle suit with his Mark I tail attachment. The tail employed cybernetic and neuro-motor triggers to control it, which Gargan instinctively took to due to his scorpion genes. The original tail was very short, it could not strike an opponent standing right in front of him without Scorpion turning sideways. It could, however, strike with tremendous force when it did hit, or curl and coil behind him to build potential energy and launch him through the air. He later incorporated a force projector into the tip of his tail.

The Mark II tail was designed with the assistance of the Tinkerer and Justin Hammer's people. It was much longer than the original and capable of extending in length long enough to wrap around a grown man several times. The Mark II had a curved blade on the end of the tail, which could also be used as a delivery system for various internal weapon systems. The Scorpion could generate a powerful electrical current through the tail, deterring anyone from grabbing him by it. He could also project blasts of force, acid, mace, or a hypnogenic compound that acted as a truth serum and made his victims susceptible to commands. The Mark III tail was provided for Gargan by RoXXon when they enhanced his abilities. This tail was physically larger, made of thick metal coils to increase its striking power. It contained a projectile acid spray as well as a neurotoxin that could be delivered with a sting. The neurotoxin had a cumulative effect on the metabolism of his victims, with multiple stings creating a more severe reaction if the residual toxin from previous stings was still in his victim's system. The first sting merely causing intense pain and uncontrollable spasming. A second sting paralayzed all but the strongest of victims, and would lead to death in less than a day if no antidote was administered. A third sting would speed up the death clock to a matter of minutes. Gargan was also altered so that the suit could pump neurotoxin into his own body, then automatically siphon it back out. This allowed him to "play dead", leading police or authorities to drop their guard when he was captured. Finally, the Mark IV tail debuted along with a new suit when Gargan was hired by a mysterious Corporation. This armored look included a tail that fired electromagnetic bolts, or could charge its tip with energy to increase its destructive power. This look quickly faded, however, and Scorpion went back to versions of his Mark I and II tails for several years.

Gargan was radically redesigned when the Venom symbiote bonded with him. He received all the previous powers of Spider-Man and Venom. Under normal conditions, he possessed his strength combined with Spider-Man's, or around Class 50 levels, plus boosted speed, agility, endurance, leaping ability, reaction time, and so on. The Venom symbiote was more aggressive with Gargan during the symbiosis than Brock, feeding more actively on his superhuman adrenal glands. The more strength the symbiote drew from Gargan, the more bio-mass it could produce. As a result, as Venom III, Gargan could add layers of symbiote mass to his body, growing up to around 9' tall and Class 45 strength levels. Doing so left him more susceptible to the Venom symbiote's influence, however, leading to unexpected acts of cannibalism. On the other hand, Gargan could will the symbiote to retreat completely within his body, removing its influence almost entirely. Mac could think clearly in this state, but it also exhausted him physically, so that he couldn't even access his Scorpion strength.

As Venom III, Gargan could nullify Spider-Man's spider-sense so that Parker couldn't detect danger from him. He could scale walls and buildings, become invisible by blending in to his surroundings, duplicate the formula for Spider-Man's webbing, and generate symbiote bio-matter. This bio-matter could be shaped into animated tendrills, padded body armor to absorb knives, bullets, and impact, or even a biological duplicate of his tail for combat purposes.

As the Sinister Spider-Man, Norman Osborn's people found a chemical compound to neutralize the symbiote's influence. This allowed Mac to appear publicly as merely a black costumed Spider-Man, without risk of the symbiote's appetites taking over. However, the long term effects also chemically neutered Gargan, making him generally more dopey and pacifistic. Once the symbiote was removed, Gargan was cybernetically transformed by Alistair Smythe back into the Scorpion. His body was now covered from head-to-toe in an armored exoskeleton, leaving only his jaw exposed. He possesses greater strength, reaction time, and durability than ever before as the Scorpion. Bionic pinchers expand out and over from his regular gloves. They can deliver tremendous pressure, and they and his tail also function as plasma blasting weapons. He used to have a version of Spider-Man's spider-sense, artificially re-engineered by Smythe to give him increased proximity awareness and sensitivity to danger, but getting caught at ground zero of a spider-sense inhibitor robbed him of this ability.

MacDonald Gargan was originally a private investigator. Though criminally insane as a result of the process that transformed him into the Scorpion, he retains his deductive reasoning skills from his previous occupation.