Showing posts with label John Jameson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Jameson. Show all posts

Sunday 9 October 2022

The Rhino in the MC2

Usually, I try and pick a topic or character related to a recent Marvel movie or television show and detail their MC2 counterpart for maximum exposure. But, since I’ve had some setbacks recently and because I’ve been wanting to cover this character for a good while now, I decided what the heck? Why not just throw this one out before I lose all the data on my laptop and must start from scratch again?! So, today’s post is about Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich aka The Rhino in the MC2. Enjoy!



 

Aleksei Sytsevich made his debut as The Rhino in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #41 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr in 1966. There he is seen rampaging all the way to New York on his way to capture John Jameson before being defeated by Spider-Man and placed in a state corrections hospital. Escaping shortly afterwards, Rhino attempts to complete his original mission but is again defeated after Spider-Man uses a special acid webbing created by Curt Connors (aka The Lizard) to dissolve the Rhino’s armour (Amazing Spider-Man #42-43).



 





It is also in Amazing Spider-Man #43 that we get glimpses of Rhino’s origin where we learn he was ‘a hired hood—a muscle man’ working for professional spies. He was considered so unintelligent he would not betray his employers even after they subjected him to months of experiments and treatments, culminating in gifting him enhanced strength. Finally, he was covered in a molecular adhesive protective ‘second skin’ and truly became the Rhino. However, not only had Rhino received increased strength, but also increased intelligence…at least enough to realize he did not need to follow his employers’ orders anymore and went solo.

 





It is interesting to note that the Rhino has had his suit destroyed on various occasions, the first being his above-mentioned encounter with Spider-Man, but despite this through the first few decades of his existence he inevitably found his way into a new and sometimes improved second skin thanks to various super-geniuses. All this would come to an end when Rhino grew tired of being trapped in his latest suit after it had once again become permanently bonded to him following a shuttle explosion (apparently off-panel in Incredible Hulk #159 implied in Thing #24 and confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10).

 







This became the Rhino’s motivation going forward, driving him to find a cure for his condition as noted above in the Thing #24. Rhino betrays his Sinister Syndicate team mates for a deal with the Kingpin after the doctor attempting to cure him was killed by the team. Despite the Kingpin’s promise of a cure, he instead planned to retain the Rhino as muscle. When Rhino kidnapped one of the scientists in the Kingpin’s employ, he was finally freed from his suit. Unfortunately, the Kingpin threatened the scientist’s family and Rhino reached out to Justin Hammer for a new and improved Rhino suit once more, one he could once again remove this time (Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4).

 







Despite this, by the time of Sensational Spider-Man #31 occurs, Rhino is once again apparently trapped within his suit. This is evident from his rampage through New York in a desperate attempt to feel something as he was unable to feel through his suit. Spider-Man is able to comply with the Rhino’s desire by electrocuting him, defeating him in the process and ending his rampage. I specifically mention this story as it takes place right before the MC2’s divergence from the Main Marvel Universe and somewhat nicely leads us to the Rhino’s one and only appearance in the MC2.

 



In the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Family #3, Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt Anna bring a sick baby May Parker to a hospital emergency room. There they encounter Aleksei Sytsevich who is seeking medical attention for his aunt Yulya Sytsevich. Peter mentions hearing that Aleksei had finally managed to surgically remove his Rhino suit. Aleksei struggles with the registration process and becomes agitated until Mary Jane offers to help with the paperwork, which his aunt accepts. Aleksei recognizes Peter as the Daily Bugle photographer and invites him to get a coffee. Aleksei mentions his was once hired to threaten Peter, a direct reference to Spectacular Spider-Man #190.












Meanwhile, Anna and Mary Jane help fill out the forms for Yulya who tells them that Aleksei sacrificed a lot to bring his family over from Russia, which is most likely a reference to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 where we see he has only managed to bring over his mother and niece Alexia, with intentions of bringing the rest of his family to the United States once he has more money. Aleksei and Peter discuss the expenses of paying for medical treatment and they bond over their common lack of money, both working job to job. Aleksei mentions some of the ‘bad bosses’ he’s worked for including the Beetle, the Leader and Doctor Octopus, the last of which may be a reference to Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-#18 by MC2 alumni Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.

 





Peter explains Spider-Man does what he does because of the loss of a family member and Aleksei relates to this, mentioning how his aunt Yulya lost her husband Borya who was ‘taken away in the night and never seen again’. Aleksei explains that he joined Russian gangsters to protect his family, using the money he was paid to support them, and how this eventually led to him being turned into the Rhino and eventually earned enough to migrate his family to America. Though Peter believes Spider-Man and Rhino are destined to meet again as enemies, Peter and Aleksei found common ground and part ways on good terms.


 


There is a treasure trove to unpack and explore with the Rhino, including the fact he is not even given a real name until the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004 was published nearly 4 decades after the character’s debut. Prior to that, he used the alias Alex O’Hirn (the surname being an anagram) while posing as a baseball player in Incredible Hulk #435, a pseudonym some other adaptions would use, most notably in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics and the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. The use of Rhino’s real name in this MC2 tale is yet another example of later details, characters and story elements being integrated into the MC2 from the Main Marvel Universe after the point of divergence.

 





I am also considering a family tree post to cover Aleksei’s surprising number of relatives, let me know if you’d be interested in seeing that. This post proved rather more difficult to research than I first thought but I thoroughly enjoyed the process. It is good to know some of Spider-Man’s foes had a happy ending, even if the United States’ healthcare system could do with an overhaul. Just saying.

 

Until I talk about the Mecha-Rhino, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

  

 

 

 

   

 


Sunday 6 October 2019

The Smythe Family Tree


One of my favourite aspects of the MC2 universe is the multi-generational characters and legacies that crop up. It's one of the reasons I began this off-and-on-again series of MC2 Family Trees and today's post presents another fun example. The Smythe Family Tree will detail the family of genius creators responsible for the various Spider-Slayer robots!


To begin with, we have Spencer Smythe who first appeared in my all-time favourite Stan Lee/Steve Ditko issue, Amazing Spider-Man #25. In his first appearance, Spencer is only referred to as Smythe and his robot has not yet been dubbed a 'Spider-Slayer' (unless we accept the altered events of Mayday's time travel in Spider-Girl #10 and #11 where it is explicitly referred to as such...). It's also worth noting that poor Spencer was perfectly polite, respectable and in no way obsessed with catching and killing the wallcrawler at this point. No, here he's just a scientist trying to sell his product and he would remain interested in other endeavours when he next appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #28, before being assaulted and robbed by his former assistant, Mark Raxton moments before he becomes the Molten Man using Spencer's own newly created alloy.






After this, Spencer would make further attempts to capture Spider-Man using his newly-dubbed Spider-Slayers by convincing J Jonah Jameson to fund his efforts (Amazing Spider-Man #58). Growing more obsessed with exacting revenge on the web-head, Spencer abused his position as scientific advisor to enact a plot to use Jameson while destroying Spider-Man in the process (Amazing Spider-Man #105-#107). Foiled, Spencer turned his focus solely on killing Spider-Man, this time also building robotic replicas of other villains only to once again be defeated (Amazing Spider-Man #150).





Learning that he was dying as a result of exposure to the radioactive materials he used in his Spider-Slayers, Spencer set about enacting his revenge on both J Jonah Jameson and Spider-Man. Operating from the shadows and becoming increasingly unhinged, Smythe paid various villains to aid him in his master scheme, eventually orchestrating the apparent death of Jonah's son, John Jameson. With Jonah blaming Spider-Man, Smythe was once again approached by Jameson seeking a new Spider-Slayer. However, Spencer captured Jonah and following a battle with his latest Spider-Slayer, shackled Spider-Man and Jameson together with a bomb set to detonate in 24 hours. While Spider-Man and Jameson would eventually free themselves, Spencer would not live long enough to witness his final failure, dying beforehand (Amazing Spider-Man #186-#192).







In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19 we meet Alistaire Alphonso Smythe, the son of Spencer Smythe. In his first appearance Alistaire is an overweight man who worked for the Kingpin until he is promptly fired. We also learn that Spencer Smythe left Alistaire and his mother, only visiting occasionally and ignoring Alistaire, in his obsession talking only of destroying Spider-Man. Due to some silly shenanigans, Alistaire captures Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna, mistakenly believing MJ is Spider-Man until his flying saucer-style Spider-Slayer crashes into powerlines.












 





 When next we see Alistaire, the injuries sustained during his crash have left him confined to a wheelchair with damage to his nervous system, only able to sustain himself via intravenous injections which likely contributed to his significant weight loss. Tracking Mary Jane down in his new Spider-Slayer an attempt to find the true identity of Spider-Man, Alistaire eventually followed her to Pittsburgh. There he was defeated again thanks to the combined efforts of Mary Jane and an enraged Spider-Man  who threatened Smythe not to harm MJ or other innocents again. (Amazing Spider-Man 291-#292).







Sent to an asylum, Alistaire eventually escaped with a group of fellow intelligent patients, keeping them as a work force to build a series of Spider-Slayers. During this time, Smythe developed a bio-organic carapace which repaired and enhanced his body, granting him super-human abilities. Dubbing himself the 'Ultimate Spider-Slayer,' Alistaire sent the various robots one after the other in a wave of attacks on Spider-Man until he was eventually found and defeated by the hero (Amazing Spider-Man #367-#373). 









Alistaire would next appear during the Clone Saga in two connected storylines, Virtual Mortality and CyberWar wherein he allies himself with prospective crime boss Jason Tso against Carolyn Trainer aka Doctor Octopus. Seeking specific microchips to complete and improve his new Cyber-Slayers, Smythe eventually ends up being out played by Trainer when she takes possession of the master control for the constructs following Alistaire's completion of the device, knocking him out in the process (Amazing Scarlet Spider #1, Scarlet Spider #1-#2, Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1-2, Web of Scarlet Spider #2).














That's the last time we see Alistaire before the MC2 diverges from the Main Marvel Universe, but it's not the last time a Smythe plagues the Parker family over in the pages of Spider-Girl. Staci Smythe makes her first appearance as an unnamed store clerk in the Spider Shoppe when May first discovers the place in Spider-Girl #45. Cleverly and subtly, Staci makes small appearances in almost all later issues featuring the Spider Shoppe, including Spider-Girl #73 and Spider-Girl #75 where Mayday purchases her original black suit.





We learn far more about Staci Smythe in Spider-Girl #91 when she is revealed as the costumed villain La Fantome. Staci Smythe desired to be a famous fashion designer and attended fashion college. While there she was recruited by Mary Jane Parker to work at the Spider Shoppe upon it's opening, allowing her to pay for her education. Recognizing Staci's surname, Mary Jane had hoped to give the young woman a break from the stigma of her family's name, which Staci evidently greatly appreciated.




Disguised as La Fantome, Staci began making attacks on Daniel Kingsley at his Spider-Women themed fashion show and warehouse office as revenge for his profiting from idea's stolen from the Spider Shoppe. Staci also organized a rally in support of the Spider Shoppe which attracted the police, prompting her to don her La Fantome guise once more. However, La Fantome undone when her fellow rally attendee's (including Spider Shoppe secret-owner Mary Jane Parker and Spider-Girl herself, May Parker) joined forces to surround her wearing various spider-costumes allowing Spider-Girl the opportunity to easily apprehend and unmask her. 














A few things before I wrap this up: While Mary Jane mentions Staci's uncle made Spider-Slayers and was an old enemy of Spider-Man, we don't learn whether the uncle in question was Spencer or Alistaire. For the purposes of my Smythe Family Tree, I've concluded this refers to Spencer, as Alistaire never mentions having any siblings when discussing his childhood. The only argument I have to refute this is Alistaire is far more familiar to Mary Jane, but there's nothing concrete to support either argument, so I've assumed Staci's family name came from an unseen sibling of Spencer Smythe




Speaking of names, many online sources and even comic writers have spelt Alistaire Smythe incorrectly as 'Alistair' and the same is also true for Staci Smythe, with some online spelling it 'Stacy'. Perhaps it's a family tradition upheld by Spencer and his sibling to spell their children's names oddly?

I'd also like to briefly point out that Mary Jane has strong connections to all three of the Smythe's first named appearances. Spencer Smythe first appears in Amazing Spider-Man #25 which is also the first on-panel appearance of Mary Jane Watson (albeit with her face obscured). Alistaire Smythe first appears in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19 wherein he kidnaps Mary Jane and deludes himself into believe she is Spider-Man. Staci Smythe first appears in Spider-Girl #45 working in the Spider Shoppe, which is owned by Mary Jane as confirmed in Staci's first named appearance Spider-Girl #91. There's just something about her, isn't there?

While I don't touch on it much here, long ago I made an entire post about Spider-Girl #10-#11 which heavily features Spencer Smythe and his first Spider-Slayer. Check it out here. I've also made posts before discussing the connection between La Fantome's name and appearance with that of the Fifth Avenue Phantom from the 1967 Spider-Man animated series and another post detailing how La Fantome connects the Incredibles to the MC2, so I won't go into detail about it here. On the other hand I can't help but mention my love for the Spider-Man: The Animated Series adaption which first introduced me to Spencer and Alistaire Smythe! I still hear Alistaire's voice from the show whenever I read him in the comics.


Until I manage to convince Jameson to buy my latest killer robot, I remain

frogoat