With Sony
and Insomniac about to release Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Playstation
5, I thought I might take the opportunity to revisit a related character
set to appear in the video game;
today I want to look at The Lizard
and the Connors Family Tree.
For the purposes of these family trees, I accept that MC2 characters
share their published history (up to a point) with their 616/Main
Marvel Universe counterparts. I make exceptions for any retcons
implemented after the point the MC2 diverges from the 616 and
in cases where it's explicitly or implicitly different (Aunt May really
died) or when a writer later introduces a previously unheard of relative
(the Lang
family and the Pym family)
who is never mentioned, seen or heard of in the MC2. With the last
exception, I would add them to the family tree in later updates should they be
mentioned in MC2 material at any point.
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor
Curtis ‘Curt’ Connors first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #6. There
we learn Curt was a surgeon who lost his right arm during ‘the War’ and
since then had studied reptile life, becoming a world’s leading authority.
Developing a serum based on lizard’s ability to grow lost extremities, Curt
ingested it as the first human test subject. Initially his lost limb is regrown,
but the serum has the unintended side-effect of transforming Connors
into The Lizard.
As Spider-Man, Peter Parker uses his
scientific acumen to develop an antidote that reverts The Lizard back to human
form as Connors again. Spider-Man keeps Connors
transformation a secret and as photographer Peter Parker convinces Jameson
the reports of a man-sized Lizard are a hoax (Amazing Spider-Man #6).
It’s also in Amazing Spider-Man #6 that we meet Curt’s
young son William ‘Billy’ Connors and Mrs Connors, who goes unnamed
until Amazing Spider-Man #44 where we first learn her name is Martha.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the Lizard antidote doesn’t last and Connors
would often transform in times of great stress or shock such as when he first
encountered Morbius who was in battle with the Six-Armed
Spider-Man. This is one of many occasions where an apparent cure is not
permanent, this one utilizing an enzyme from Morbius to remove Spider-Man’s
extra limbs and revert the Lizard back to Connors (Amazing
Spider-Man #101-#102).
After his return following the events of Marvel Super
Heroes Secret Wars where Connors was again transformed into The
Lizard, Martha was unable to cope and took Billy away. While separated
from his wife and son, Connors managed to control his transformation into
The Lizard, realizing it was an aspect of himself. Reconciling the two personalities
granted Connors enough control of The Lizard to save his family without
killing their kidnapper, The Owl, though Martha still needed time to consider
their situation (Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #127).
This positive turn of events would be short lived as Curt
found himself adversely affected by the events of Inferno and was unable
to prevent another transformation into The Lizard. Soon after, the Voodoo
priestess Calypso used her abilities to drive Connors as The Lizard
into a bestial state bereft of any humanity leading to six people being
slaughtered. Fully under the sway of Calypso, The Lizard is sent
to attack Spider-Man before she poisons him as an act of revenge for the
death of her lover Kraven the Hunter. Calypso eventually brings
the building down on the three of them, though all three survive (Spider-Man
#1-#5).
Curt remains missing following his torment under Calypso,
and we learn he was fully aware during the experience. Still trapped in form of
The Lizard, Connors metabolism was altered by Calypso’s
magic causing him to change from warm to cold blooded at random, leaving him in
a state of confusion, despair, and rage as he wandered the sewers. Discovering
a secret lab left behind by Doctor
Octopus, Connor’s human mind conceived a method that might scientifically
recreate and reverse the magical effect that had controlled him, allowing him
to be rid of his reptilian persona forever. However, this required untainted
DNA, leading The Lizard to seemingly attack Billy Connors to obtain
a sample of his blood. Traumatised and wishing to kill The Lizard for
the suffering their family has suffered through the years, Billy follows
Spider-Man. Fortunately Curt’s plan works, repressing the Lizard
persona, and he tells his son he wants to be the father Billy deserved
all along (Amazing Spider-Man #365).
On trial for the crimes of The Lizard, Curt
Connors voluntarily commits himself to the State for incarceration
in The Vault, requesting a laboratory be set up there so he may pay his
debt to society using his scientific knowledge to do meaningful work (Amazing
Spider-Man Annual #27).
Curtis Connors undergoes integration therapy with Dr
Kafka which allowed The Lizard persona to find common ground. This
connection is severed when Calypso breaks into The Vault to free
her ‘pet’, forcing Connors to once more transform into The Lizard
and immediately kill the witch. Leaving a trail of bodies, The Lizard heads
to its home in the Florida Everglades. Meanwhile, a bounty hunter named Warrant
kidnaps Billy Connors to use in his mission to capture or kill The Lizard.
With Spider-Man attempting to rescue Billy and save The Lizard,
the battle ends with the savage reptile sinking in quicksand and apparently
dying (Web of Spider-Man #109-#111).
In the final panel of Amazing Spider-Man Super special #1
we glimpse a reptilian figure emerge from the Florida Everglades. Next,
in Spider-Man Super Special #1, the creature heads north by burrowing beneath
the earth, drawn by an instinctive psychic pull. Reaching Delaware, the
creature kills and feeds on campers and we see a very different looking Lizard.
Emerging in New Jersey, this bestial Lizard creature makes short
work of a SWAT team before continuing its journey north (Venom Super
Special #1) seemingly drawn to the new chemical signature of Cary Armstrong,
a man revived, regenerated, and empowered by Dr Noah Purl who used a
similar process to his former partner Curt Connor’s Lizard
formula to save the man (Spectacular Spider-Man Super Special #1). The monstrous
Lizard attacks again, targeting Purl but prevented from killing
him by the intervention of the Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) before
being lured into a trap and captured with the help of Armstrong (Web
of Spider-Man Super Special #1).
Without explanation, Connors returns as a specialist
for the ailing Peter Parker (Sensational Spider-Man #7) but is
unable to identify the cause of his friend’s decline -being unaware Peter
was formerly Spider-Man and was at the time believed to be a degenerating
clone- and cannot offer Mary Jane any guarantee of his recovery (Amazing
Spider-Man #414) though he manages to stabilize Peter’s blood pressure and
heart rate following a seizure, he doesn’t know if he will survive the night
(Spider-Man #71). Peter seemingly dies only to revive shortly afterwards
with his powers returning, though not before Connors has departed the
hospital. Shortly afterwards, the monstrous finned Lizard reappears, and
battles Ben Reilly’s Spider-Man. Called back to his patient, Curt
Connors is pleased at Peter’s recovery only for the fight with Spider-Man
and the Lizard to interrupt the pair and causing Connors to flee. Peter
attempts to assist Reilly, informing Ben after the creature
escapes that it wasn’t Curt Connors (Spectacular Spider-Man #237).
Curt returns to his home in Florida and
reminisces about his past. It is here we learn that Connors is obsessive-compulsive,
and he pushed himself through grade school, college and medical school,
graduating top of his class. Drafted into the service, Curt performed
emergency surgery on the battlefield until shrapnel from a phosphorus grenade shredded
his right arm. Caught up in his work, he failed to properly care for his arm,
and it became gangrenous and required amputation. Unable to continue as a
surgeon, Connors turned to herpetology with a focus on the regenerative
ability of retiles. Eventually his study resulted in his horrific
transformation into The Lizard (Spectacular Spider-Man #238).
We also learn that after a rocky period, Martha had
been patient and understanding, encouraging Curt to get counselling for
his anxiety, for which he was taking anti-anxiety medication. A few months
prior, Connors had taken on a new lab assistant, Aldo who worked
with him to isolate the unique fluids that would trigger the R-complex to
remove every last trace of The Lizard persona from his physiology.
Developing a new formula led to poor results until Aldo suggested they
needed to try it on Connors or The Lizard’s own altered DNA.
Curt realized his anxiety medication may be an unaccounted variable, but
soon after he found Aldo near death after testing the new serum on a
segment of The Lizard’s severed tail. The serum caused an entire
humanoid Lizard creature to grow from the tail completely devoid of
humanity driven only by brutal primal instincts. In the present, this Lizardman
attacked the Connors, and Curt triggered his transformation into
the Lizard, who made short work of the creature before battling Ben Reilly’s
Spider-Man (Spectacular Spider-Man #238).
Finally, in our last pre-MC2 published story we have Spider-Man
Unlimited #19, wherein Connors is on a lecture tour but the Lizard
is exerting some influence over him, using a version of the original Lizard
formula to turn addicts into his thralls and planning to save the planet from
humans by turning humans into lizards by using a new formula in the water
supply. This plot is stopped by Spider-Man with help from Martha Connors
who appeals to her husband’s humanity, realizing The Lizard is
manifesting Curt’s own depression and anger at what destruction mankind
has inflicted upon one another. During this story we also learn Curt
(possibly under the influence of The Lizard persona) had tested the
formula on his own son Billy, who had been acting out and engaging in
petty crime. The story concludes with Connors choosing to go away for
treatment for his issues and the family seemingly reconciled for a somewhat
happy ending.
This brings us to Amazing Spider-Man Family #1 and
the first of the (sadly cut short) Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man series
of short stories. This story takes place at some point after the infant May
Parker is rescued and returned to Peter and Mary
Jane Parker by Kaine and
prior to Peter’s final
battle with the Green Goblin.
After having had a few ‘gloriously normal’ weeks as a
family, Peter and Mary Jane leave May with Anna
Watson to meet Dr Connors and his wife Martha for
dinner. However, Curt hasn’t returned from Empire
State University and isn’t answering calls. Martha reveals
that she and their son Billy have been unwell with symptoms
that led Curt to suspect their drinking water in Florida was
compromised. With Billy appearing very unwell, Peter and Mary
Jane head to Empire State University to check on Dr
Connors.
Mary Jane and Peter discover Curt’s Empire
State University laboratory has been smashed up and find his notes for
a formula to purify the water in the Everglades, however the
process could threaten the reptiles there. Believing this conflict between his
family and the environment may have driven Curt over the edge,
and with Mary Jane’s blessing Peter sets out
to find Connor’s as Spider-Man.
Finding Connors has transformed into The Lizard, Spider-Man battles various reptiles to reach the doctor’s alter ego. The Lizard reveals he is trying to protect his reptilian family from Connor’s water treatment plan until Spider-Man tells him that Connors intentionally called forth the Lizard because he didn’t want to use a formula that would only save one of his families at the cost of the other. Apparently accepting Curt saw the reptiles as family too, the Lizard reverted back to Connors. Dr Connors returned to the drawing board, determined to find a mutually beneficial solution to the problem, once more hiring Peter as a lab assistant to help in this endeavour.
That’s it for The Lizard in the MC2, though it’s
worth noting with this story taking place nearly 15 years in the past, we don’t
know the ultimate fate of Dr Curt Connors and his scaly other
half. Another odd note is Martha Connors acting as though
she’s meeting Mary Jane for the first time, despite having met
more than once prior to this occasion in the Main Marvel Universe.
But we can give her a pass here as she states she and Billy haven’t
been very well.
I have omitted a few characters from this Family Tree as
they don’t appear in stories published prior to the likely divergence point for
the MC2 or for reasons I’ll elaborate on separately. Here they are for the
sake of completeness:
·
An unidentified sister of Martha’s
(according to X-Men: First Class #2 and the Official Handbook of the
Marvel Universe) though Curt refers to Billy’s aunt seen
in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #11 as ‘sis’ in #12 and calls
him her ‘brother’ in #13. She appears to have a husband and children,
all unidentified.
·
Doctor Vincent Stegron, aka Stegron,
the Dinosaur Man who used a version of Connors’ formula combined
with dinosaur DNA to become a dinosaur-hybrid (Marvel Team-Up #19).
·
The Iguana, mutated by Connors’ Enervator
device and accidentally gained the memories of Connors in the process.
Your option may vary as to whether he counts as a relative of the Connors,
I’ve chosen to omit the character (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
#32). If you like Iguana, check out The Amazing
Spider-Man video game, where he actually gets some love.
·
Melati Kusuma aka Komodo, a woman
who lost both her legs in an accident and while interning under Curt Connors,
stole and modified his formula for her own DNA (Civil War: Battle Damage
Report #1, Avengers: The Initiative #1).
Hopefully I haven’t missed or forgotten anything but if I have, please let me know! While the Lizard’s Tale is often repetitive, I find the slow and gradual changes and developments that happened at times interesting enough, if only some of it hadn’t been ignored, forgotten, or undone by future events. A huge thanks as always to arias-98105 for valuable assistance.
Until I find a real, permanent
antidote to cure Curtis Connors, I remain
frogoat
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