Mac Gargan

Mac Gargan
Mac Gargan / Scorpion
Textless variant cover of Miles Morales: Spider-Man #4.
(March 2023).
Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
First appearanceAs Mac Gargan:
The Amazing Spider-Man #19
(December 1964)[1]
As the Scorpion:
Amazing Spider-Man #20 (January 1965)
As Venom:
Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10 (March 2005)
As Spider-Man:
Dark Avengers #1
(March 2009)
As Virus:
Venom (vol. 4) #25
(July 2020)
Created byStan Lee (writer)
Steve Ditko (artist)
In-story information
Full nameMacDonald "Mac" Gargan
SpeciesHuman mutate
Team affiliationsSinister Six
Masters of Evil
Sinister Twelve
Dark Avengers
Thunderbolts
Savage Six
Cape-Killers
Notable aliasesScorpion
Venom
Spider-Man
Virus
AbilitiesAs Scorpion:
  • Superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability and reflexes
  • Precognitive Scorpion-sense
  • Wearing scorpion-like armor with a cybernetic tail that has projectile weapons
  • Ability to cling to most surfaces

As Venom:

  • Symbiote granting:
    • Immunity to Spider-Man's spider-sense
    • All of Spider-Man's powers
    • Limited shapeshifting

MacDonald "Mac" Gargan is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko,[2] the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #19 (December 1964).[3] Mac Gargan is a recurring antagonist of the superhero Peter Parker / Spider-Man.[4] He debuted as a private investigator hired by J. Jonah Jameson to learn how Peter Parker took pictures of Spider-Man.[5] In the following issue, Jameson decided to turn Gargan into a deadly adversary for Spider-Man through a barely-tested procedure, which left Gargan with an irremovable scorpion-themed armor and the predatory instincts of the arachnid. Driven insane by his mutation, Gargan instead turned to a life of crime as the Scorpion, and went on to menace both Spider-Man and Jameson, whom he held responsible for his transformation. Since then, having finally removed the armor, Gargan has also served as the third host of the Venom symbiote,[6] and a member of the Dark Avengers as Spider-Man,[7] but eventually returned to his Scorpion alias as it kept him alive due to the strain both the neural-armors and symbiote put on his body.

Since his original introduction during the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including feature films, television series, video games, and merchandise. The character made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), portrayed by Michael Mando.

  1. ^ Misiroglu, Gina Renée; Eury, Michael (2006). The Supervillain Book: The Evil Side of Comics and Hollywood. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 9780780809772.
  2. ^ Magnett, Chase (July 14, 2019). "The 10 Best Spider-Man Villains Who Still Need a Live-Action Adaptation". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  3. ^ Lealos, Shawn S. (July 25, 2023). "Spider-Man's 20 Strongest Villains, Ranked". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  4. ^ Beaty, Drew (2021-05-27). "10 Most Powerful Hosts Of The Venom Symbiote, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  5. ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 106. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  6. ^ Lovett, Jamie (December 4, 2016). "Every Venom Host In The Marvel Universe Ranked". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference strongest-spider-men-ranked was invoked but never defined (see the help page).