Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!
How about that? I beat Spider-Man! Taken out by the one, the only, SCORPION!
„
~ Scorpion
Mac Gargan, better known as Scorpion, is a supporting antagonist in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
He was a down-on-his-luck private investigator hired by J. Jonah Jameson to discover how Peter Parker was able to get high-quality photos of Spider-Man. When Gargan failed to produce results, Jameson convinced him to participate in a radical experiment by Professor Farley Stillwell, to merge Gargan's DNA with that of a scorpion, the "natural predator" of a spider, in an attempt to create a powerful counter to Spider-Man. He was later recruited into Kingpin's Insidious Six.
He was voiced by the late Martin Landau in season 1 and 2, who also portrayed Leonard in North by Northwest and Judah Rosenthal in Crimes and Misdemeanors. and by the late Richard Moll in season 4 and 5, who also played Two-Face in the DC Animated Universe, Big Ben in House and Hugh Kane in Scary Movie 2.
Before his transformation, Mac Gargan was a down-on-his-luck, down-at-heel private investigator with a "vulnerable ego". This insecurity made him susceptible to Jameson's manipulation and ultimately led him to agree to the risky experiment in the first place, hoping to gain power and respect.
Gargan's primary motivation throughout the series is a burning hatred for the two men responsible for his condition: J. Jonah Jameson (who funded the experiment and manipulated him into it) and Dr. Farley Stillwell (who conducted the procedure). His actions are often driven by a desire for revenge, overriding other opportunities for villainy. The genetic mutation process using the neogenic recombinator Gargan underwent was unstable and had a significant negative impact on his mind. The experiment reportedly increased his inherent evil and predatory instincts, leading to a gradual loss of sanity and making him an unpredictable and dangerous foe. He frequently expresses a strong desire to find a cure and reverse his monstrous transformation, often wandering the sewers in despair.
While he commits crimes and joins the Insidious Six, his core focus remains his personal plight. He's less interested in world domination or wealth and more on ending his suffering and making those he holds responsible pay, particularly Jameson and Spider-Man.
History[]
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York Mac Gargan was often called a lot of unfriendly names in life, which he hated, but because he lacked any means, or even had self doubt, he never stood up for himself.
As a middle aged man, Mac Gargan worked as a private investigator for J. Jonah Jameson to find out who exactly Spider-Man was. One night he tried to track down Peter Parker who was talking to a woman, but was unable to find out.
The following day, Peter noticed "the little" creep who happened to be Mac Gargan, dressing up as Spiderman to discover Mac was hired by Jameson. Jameson was upset Gargan was unable to find anything about Spiderman, only for the wall crawler to show in the flesh and web Gargan to a wall. Where Spider-Man threatened Jameson, and left, Jameson motivated, to give Mac Gargan another chance to defeat Spider-Man. Gargan undergoes a procedure by Dr. Stillwell that endows him with superhuman strength, a durable suit, and an acid-spraying mechanical tail.
Mac, known now as the Scorpion confronts Spider-Man and easily defeats him with his augmented abilities. However, as Gargan's body starts to mutate he becomes mentally and emotionally unstable. Gargan is consumed by rage and instantly views himself as a victim and a monster.
Driven by his growing mental instability and desire to reverse his mutation, Scorpion takes J. Jonah Jameson hostage and goes to the OsCorp nuclear reactor, believing the radiation will cure him. He is unaware that breaking the containment unit will cause a meltdown and destroy the city.
Spider-Man arrives and attempts to stop Scorpion. During the struggle, Scorpion accidentally hits a switch that initiates the nuclear meltdown process.
While Spider-Man is initially focused on preventing the meltdown, Jameson tackles Scorpion. Jameson and Spider-Man then resort to name-calling and insults, infuriating the already unstable Scorpion.
In his rage, Scorpion wildly swings his tail at Spider-Man. Spider-Man, seeing an opportunity, grabs a loose electrical wire from a damaged computer console and touches it to the Scorpion's metal tail. The electric current surges through the tail and into Scorpion's body, knocking him unconscious.
With Scorpion defeated, Jameson is able to press the emergency button to stop the nuclear meltdown. Spider-Man then webs up the unconscious Scorpion and leaves him for the police to arrest.
Scorpion, along with Doctor Octopus, Shocker, Rhino, Mysterio, and the Chameleon, is broken out of prison by the Kingpin and Alistair Smythe to form a team dedicated to defeating Spider-Man. Scorpion initially expresses reluctance to work as part of a team but is convinced when the Kingpin reminds him that operating alone led to his previous defeat and promises him a chance at revenge. He constantly demands to be the one to kill Spider-Man, which leads to frequent infighting with other members, particularly Doctor Octopus, who views him as a thug.
During the "Battle of the Insidious Six" episode, the team captures Spider-Man while his powers are temporarily gone due to his ongoing mutation. When they unmask him, they find Peter Parker, whom they dismiss as a fraud and "nobody" because he lacks the fighting skills they associate with Spider-Man. The infighting and inability to definitively defeat Spider-Man (whom they believe they unmasked as a fake) ultimately lead the Insidious Six to disband by the end of the two-part arc, with Scorpion and the others going their separate ways.
At a later time Scorpion, now mentally unstable and paranoid from his transformation, breaks into a mental asylum and kidnaps Professor Farley Stillwell in an attempt to find a cure for his mutation and escape his monstrous form. He takes Stillwell to a Neogenics lab and demands that the scientist use his research to reverse the process and turn him back into a normal human.
At the lab, he encounters the Vulture, who is also using the Neogenics equipment to cure his own age-related condition. The two briefly team up to fight Spider-Man, who arrives seeking help for his own temporary mutation into an old man. Dr. Curt Connors double-crosses the Vulture, returning Spider-Man's youth but leaving the Vulture with the Man-Spider mutation. In the ensuing chaos, Stillwell, in a fit of remorse and a desire to stop further misuse of Neogenics, activates the lab's self-destruct sequence.
As Spider-Man fights Scorpion and the Vulture, Professor Farley Stillwell, consumed by guilt over his neogenics experiments, activates the self-destruct sequence for the entire lab complex. Spider-Man manages to escape the exploding facility with Dr. Connors. Scorpion also survives the massive explosion and the subsequent fire, emerging from the wreckage. As he looks at the burning ruins, he realizes that his one chance at a cure—the Neogenic Recombinator and the research needed to reverse his mutation—is gone forever, leaving him enraged and without hope of a cure.
Trivia[]
Scorpion serves as a dark mirror to Spider-Man. Both characters have their superhuman abilities derived from an animal source—Peter Parker from a radioactive spider, and Mac Gargan from a neogenic experiment splicing his DNA with a scorpion's. The same technology, the neogenic recombinator, was responsible for both Peter Parker's original mutation (which led to his powers) and Mac Gargan's transformation into the Scorpion. As a result of the experiments, Scorpion gained powers that directly parallel Spider-Man's. Both Peter and Mac are, in a way, victims of scientific accidents and the manipulations of others (Dr. Stillwell and J. Jonah Jameson) and are viewed as monstrous menaces by the public and relentlessly pursued by J. Jonah Jameson. However, Peter is driven by heroism and embraces his powers to protect others, while Mac is consumed by vengeance and a desire to be cured, paying little mind to those he endangers.
