Herman Schultz (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"You know, I wasn't sure about this at first, but now... damn!"

- Schultz regarding his Shocker weaponry

Herman Schultz is the secondary antagonist in the 2017 movie Spider-Man: Homecoming. After the death of Jackson Brice, he takes up the mantle of the Shocker.

He is a member of Adrian Toomes' criminal organization and, in contrast to the impulsive Jackson Brice, is loyal to Toomes. After taking over the mantle of the Shocker, Schultz keeps on with selling weapons to criminals but is almost captured when Spider-Man interferes with a deal. Following this, Schultz wants to leave Toomes' team but is convinced to stay for one last, lucrative heist. During the preparations for this heist, however, he is taken down by Spider-Man and his friend Ned.

Schultz is portrayed by Bokeem Woodbine.

Past
Schultzwas part of Toomes Salvage Company. The company took cleant up after major superhero battles. After the Chitauri invaded New York and were beaten back by the Avengers, the company were employed to clean up the mess. Schultz was ordered to take apart one of the Chitauri chariots but visibly struggled with the past as the chariot proved to be too hard for his tools. Schultz' boss, Adrian Toomes, then arrived and gave him the advice to use the Chitauri weaponry against their chariots. After Schultz tested that out, his work went far better.

After the Department of Damage Control took over the cleanup jobs, basically costing Toomes and all his associates their jobs, Schultz joined Toomes who decided that they would use the already salvaged Chitauri tech to create futuristic weaponry. Toomes, Schultz and others turned to a life of crime, selling the weapons to low-life criminals.

Becoming the Shocker
Eight years later, Toomes and his gang are still in business. During a demonstration for Aaron Davis, a possible customer, Schultz and Jackson Brice demonstrate a weapon to him that is made from Ultron parts. While Brice demonstrates the gun, firing it at objects around them and thus drawing the attention of Spider-Man, Davis tells them that he only wants some small device. After showing Davis weaponry like Black Hole Grenades, he eventually arrives at Anti-Gravity-Climbers which Davis seems to like. The group is suddenly alerted by a noise and, not knowing that it is actually Peter Parker's cellphone, Brice and Schultz draw their guns at Davis because they believe he set them up.

Spider-Man swings in to save Davis, taunting them and daring them to shoot him instead. While Schultz immediately fires at Spider-Man, Brice puts on the Shocker-gauntlets and smashes Spider-Man away when he approaches him. Delighted by the powers of his new weapon, Brice laughs. He and Schultz then jump into their van and drive off but are pursued by Peter who has attached a web to the van. To get rid of Peter, Brice fires another weapon at him. However, he seems not to be in full control of the weapon and only hits the area surrounding them, not Peter. He even accidentally drops a weapon which falls out of the van and lands on the side of the road. Realizing that Brice is not able to get the situation under control, Schultz calls Toomes and asks for help.

Clad in his Vulture exosuit, Toomes sweeps in and grabs Peter and flies off with him. This allows Brice and Schultz to return to their hideout. After an argument between Toomes and Brice results in Brice's accidential death, Toomes tosses Schultz Brice's shocker gauntlets and claims that Schultz is the new Shocker now.

Criminal business
Together with another member of Toomes' crew, Schultz is sent to retrieve the weapon Brice lost while fleeing Spider-Man. Using a tracker, they hunt the device down to the Midtown School of Science and Technology but there, Peter Parker manages to evade them and even manages to place a tracer on Schultz. Following this tracer, he follows Schultz to Maryland. There, Schultz and Phineas Mason are preparing for a heist, planning to ambush a Damage Control convoy directly. While Schultz and Mason are lying in wait in their van at a gas station near the highway the convoy will pass, they are watched by Spider-Man. Spider-Man listens in to their conversation but eventually attempts to engage the two. However, due to the new powers of his suit, Peter doees not even reach the truck and falls down when trying to swing over. Luckily for him, Mason is currently talking to Schultz about his Shocker gauntlet and explaining how to use it, so the two don't notice Peter's failure.

When the convoy arrives, the two alert Toomes who sweeps in in his Vulture exosuit. Schultz and Mason watch Toomes entering the van and being eventually attacked by Spider-Man.

Together with Toomes, Schultz returns to New York City where they are scheduled to meet criminal Mac Gargan on the Staten Island Ferry to sell him a shipment of their weapons. However, Spider-Man is onto them and is listening to the conversation between Schultz and Toomes. When Toomes sends Schultz down to the lower deck to meet with Gargan and go through with the deal, the group is ambushed by Spider-Man. When Schultz attacks Spider-Man with his shocker gauntlet, Spider-Man dodges the blow and webs Schultz's gauntlet to the railing. To save the situation, Toomes dons his Vulture suit and cuts free Schultz. He orders Schultz to make a run for the upper deck while Toomes himself is fending off both Spider-Man and the FBI agents that have secretly surveilled the deal. Schultz runs up to the deck and jumps over the railing, directly onto Toomes who then flies off with Schultz.

Final Job
After having barely escaped that time, Schultz wants to leave the team. He tells Toomes but Toomes can convince him to stay for one last job, the big job their tinkerer Phineas Mason had cooked up for years. Schultz decides to stay for the job, which will make them all rich.

However, before the job can take place, Toomes wants to deal with Peter Parker, whom he now knows to be Spider-Man. Peter, who is going to Homecoming with Toomes' daughter Liz, also knows that Toomes is the Vulture. When Toomes drives Liz and Peter to the ball, he asks Peter to stay in the car for a moment. He then threatens Peter, claiming that he will kill him and everyone he loves if he intervenes with his business again. However, he spares Peter because Peter saved his daughter's life. Nonetheless, he positions Schultz at the high school to take down Peter should he come after them.

Peter actually decides to stop Toomes and leaves the ball. When he storms out onto the yard, he is ambushed by Schultz who uses his gauntlets to blast Peter into a school bus. During the impact, Peter loses his web shooters. Schultz continues fighting and overpowering Peter until suddenly, Peter's friend Ned Leeds shows up and uses the web-shooter Peter dropped to the floor to shoot a web at Schultz' gauntlet. Schultz is distracted and Peter uses the opportunity to pick up his other web-shooter and fire a web at Schultz which ties him to a bus.

When the police arrive later, they pick up Schultz who is presumably sent to prison.