Lizard (comics)
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The Lizard is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, and an enemy of Spider-Man. In his normal human state however, he is Dr. Curt Connors, a friend and ally of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
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[edit] Character biography
[edit] Curt Connors becomes the Lizard
Curtis Connors was born in Coral Gables, Florida. He was a gifted surgeon who enlisted in the military and was sent off to war. He performed emergency battlefield surgery on wounded GIs, but his right arm was injured in a blast and had to be amputated. After his return to civilian life, he became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of reptilian limb regeneration and studied reptilian biology extensively. From his home in the Florida Everglades, he finally developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA. He successfully regrew the missing limb of a rabbit and then, despite the warnings of his wife Martha, chose to test it on himself. Connors ingested the formula and his missing arm did indeed grow back. Unfortunately, it had a horrible side effect; Connors was subsequently transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster. Spider-Man discovered this situation during a trip to Florida to investigate newspaper reports of the Lizard. Spidey was then able to use Connors' notes to create an antidote to restore him to his human form and mentality.
Later, Curt Connors relocated to New York City and was able to repay Spider-Man by developing a formula to save May Parker's life after Peter Parker had given his aunt his radioactive blood during a transfusion that had put her in mortal peril. It later became clear that the success of Connors' apparent cure from the Lizard persona was short-lived. A repeating pattern occurred, with stress or a chemical reaction turning Connors into the Lizard, Spider-Man fighting him and then forming some kind of temporary cure to revert the transformation until the next time. A second personality had formed with the Lizard, one with the familiar goal shared by many villains of taking over the world. The Lizard envisioned a world where all humans had been transformed into (or replaced by) super-reptiles like himself. Despite the Lizard's overall hatred of humans however, he was often shown to be unwilling to harm his wife Martha or young son Billy.
For a time, Peter Parker worked as a teaching assistant to Dr. Connors at Empire State University, although Connors had no idea that Peter was actually Spider-Man. Connors' wife took their son Billy and separated from Curt after his absence during the Lizard's involvement in the Secret Wars battles. Connors then tried to straighten out his life and control the Lizard, with some degree of success. This ended when the villainess Calypso used her voodoo magic to take control of the Lizard for her own purposes, reducing him to a mindless savage state. After a series of bloody battles, the Lizard and Calypso were defeated by Spider-Man. Connors once again gained control of the Lizard's mind and body, although it was very weak control. Curt carried out a plan to cure himself temporarily, after which he voluntarily submitted to incarceration in the supervillain prison, the Vault. When Calypso forced the transformation and attempted to control the Lizard once again, the creature killed her and escaped from the Vault. After this escape, the Lizard fell into a quicksand pit during a battle with Spider-Man and the bounty hunter Warrant and was believed to have died. This would soon be proven incorrect.
[edit] Lizard-clone and the Lizard's return
Shortly after Connors' apparent death in quicksand during the Lizard's battle with Spider-Man and Warrant, a huge bestial animalistic Lizard appeared. Spider-Man realized that not only had the Lizard survived, this new monstrous transformation seemed to be permanent and the personality of Curt Connors appeared completely lost. However, when this savage mindless Lizard later unexpectedly encountered Dr. Connors himself, Curt became the true Lizard once again and saved his family by killing the "Lizard-clone". It was revealed that the Lizard-clone was a scientific accident resulting from an experimental formula being tested on a piece of the original Lizard's tail, which had then grown into a fully-formed second creature.
[edit] Death of Martha Connors onward
Although reunited after Curt's apparent death, tragedy later struck again in the Connors family - this time for Martha and Billy. Both mother and son were diagnosed with cancer after years exposed to carcinogens from living near an industrial lab of the Monnano Corporation in Florida. Spider-Man assisted Curt in successfully forcing Monnano to admit their environmental culpability. However, Martha succumbed to the cancer and died. Billy survived and remained bitter towards his father. Curt's guilt and internalized anger at these events eventually led him to become the Lizard and attack Spider-Man once again. After reverting back to human, Curt purposefully attempted bank robbery so he would be sent to prison. Curt's stint in prison was short-lived, as he was released and transformed into the Lizard once again as part of a scheme by Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin, to form a "Sinister Twelve" group of villains to kill Spider-Man. The Sinister Twelve was defeated and captured by the combined forces of the Fantastic Four and certain members of the Avengers.
More recently, the Lizard has resurfaced to face Spider-Man with the aid of a smaller twin of himself, who was revealed to be none other than his son, Billy. Curt had injected Billy with the Lizard formula while under the influence of a mysterious meteorite that caused savage behavior in those within range of its radiation. Both the Lizard and "Lizard Junior" were eventually captured and transformed back to human form, but the future effects of the Lizard formula on Billy Connors remain to be seen.
A new version of the Sinister Six including the Lizard appeared briefly during the superhero Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers. Since the Lizard was never a member of the original Sinister Six, the circumstances of his involvement with this recent group of villains has yet to be revealed.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Doctor Curt Connors has no superhuman powers. His superhuman powers do not manifest unless he transforms into the Lizard. However, he is highly intelligent and studied in the fields of genetics and herpetology.
When Connors is transformed into the Lizard, his strength is increased to superhuman levels which enables him to lift several tons. Likewise, his speed, agility and reflexes are also raised to a level equivalent to that of Spider-Man. He can also scale walls using a combination of the sharp claws on his hands and feet and micro-scales that create molecular friction. He is highly resistant to injury due to his thick scaly hide, allowing him to resist punctures and lacerations from ordinary weapons and low-caliber guns. In addition, the Lizard has enhanced healing abilities which allow him to quickly recover from grievous wounds including regenerating lost limbs. He also has a powerful tail which he can whip at high speeds. The Lizard has razor-sharp teeth set in muscular jaws that can deal a lethal bite. Like a reptile, he has cold-blooded characteristics and grows weaker if he is exposed to cold temperatures for too long.
The Lizard can control all reptiles within a mile of himself via telepathy. He has also on at least one occasion secreted powerful pheromones which caused humans to behave violently.
Based on various physiological and environmental factors, the Lizard's intelligence can range from bestial and animalistic to normal human intelligence. The Lizard personality often presents itself with human intelligence, capable of speech and higher reasoning.
[edit] Controversy
In a 2004 story arc entitled "Lizard's Tale" written by Paul Jenkins in the Spectacular Spider-Man comic book, it was revealed that the Lizard persona was not a separate personality from Dr. Connors after all - Curt had been consciously controlling his reptilian alter ego all along. Furthermore, Connors was shown to know that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, despite the discovery of the secret identity never being explained or depicted (Jenkins later admitted that this was an error). The story ended with Dr. Connors deliberately getting himself sent to prison and hoping the Lizard wouldn't be unleashed again. The Lizard's next appearance after this was as a member of the Sinister Twelve, where he showed no indication of being controlled by the mind of Dr. Connors. To date, there have been no subsequent comic storylines referencing the claim that Connors himself was responsible for the Lizard's villainy.
[edit] Ultimate Lizard
In the Ultimate Marvel universe, in addition to becoming the Lizard, Dr. Curt Conners (note different spelling of the last name) created the Ultimate version of the supervillain Carnage using DNA from both himself and Spider-Man. Due to the ensuing chaos, he was arrested and Stark Industries cancelled their financial support of his experiments.
The one comic storyline to date featuring the Ultimate universe version of the Lizard appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up # 10. The character has appeared in subsequent issues of Ultimate Spider-Man in various flashbacks and dream sequences only. Ultimate Lizard appears to be based on a basilisk lizard in design and has been presented as being less intelligent than the original Marvel universe Lizard.
[edit] In Other Media
[edit] Animated series
The Lizard has appeared in several of the Spider-Man animated television series over the years. The original 1967 Spider-Man cartoon featured the Lizard in the episode "Where Crawls the Lizard."
The character appeared again later on in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon series episode "Lizards, Lizards Everywhere." However, there was no mention of Dr. Curt Connors in the episode.
Possibly the most notable of the Lizard's animated appearances was in the 1994 premiere episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, titled "Night of the Lizard". Here, the Lizard was portrayed as possessing a genius level of intelligence but also having the savage mindset from the comics. The Lizard later went on to appear in the episodes "Tablet of Time", "The Ravages of Time", "The Final Nightmare", "The Lizard King" and the "Secret Wars" 3-part episode from the end of this series' run in 1997. The non-mutated Curt Connors had many other appearances as a supporting character. Dr. Connors and the Lizard were both voiced throughout this series by Joseph Campanella.
The Lizard also appeared in the "Law of the Jungle" episode of MTV's 2003 Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. The Lizard's physical appearance in this series was much more beastial and saurian than in the previous comic books. In this episode, Connors is revealed to have lost his arm as a result of an Osborn Industries weapons testing accident and when he transforms into the Lizard he goes after Harry Osborn. The Lizard falls to his apparent death from a helicopter at the end of the episode. Both Dr. Connors and the Lizard are voiced here by rock musician/filmmaker Rob Zombie.
[edit] Video game appearances
- The Lizard's first video game appearance was in the 1991 Sega Spider-Man arcade game, one of several popular side-scrolling team fighter games of the time.
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the Game Boy, the Lizard roams free in a sewer level and must be cured with an antidote secured earlier in the game.
- In the SNES game "Spider-Man", the Lizard is a 'boss' of the sewers in every stage in the game. He is optional and can be avoided to escape the sewers. When you beat him, he transforms back into Dr. Connors. However, attacking Dr. Connors will result in him changing back into the Lizard, who now glows with a yellow aura, and is twice as strong.
- The Lizard is the boss of the second level of the Sega Genesis Spider-Man game.
- The first Spider-Man 3-D environment video game by Neversoft also included the Lizard. This game was released in 2000 for multiple game platforms, including PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and PC. The Lizard had a small role in the game as a villain behind a cage who tells Spider-Man where Venom is keeping Mary Jane Parker. In the entire game, the Lizard is the only villain not fought against, despite the fact he was previously publicized as a level boss. It is possible to complete that level without even meeting him. In the storyboards for the finale that are in the storyboard gallery, Lizard is seen in the jail cell instead of the Jade Syndicate thug.
- In the sequel to the 3-D Neversoft game, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, the Lizard is a boss character. Resembling a velociraptor, the mindless Lizard rampages around his lab and must be defeated again by injecting him with a cure.
- Dr. Connors made a minor appearance in Activision's 2004 Spider-Man 2 console game, but not the Lizard himself. Originally the Lizard was supposed to have been included in this particular video game and was even prominently featured in some promotional materials before being suddenly removed. There was speculation that the character had been removed from the game because at the time he was being considered for use in the future Spider-Man 3 film, but this was never confirmed. The Lizard did appear as a level boss in the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game.
- Lizard makes an appearance in the 2006 RPG video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as a member of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil. In the game, he appears alongside the Scorpion guarding a just-defeated Tyr.
- It is confirmed that the Lizard will make an appearance in the 2007 Activision game based on Spider-Man 3. An action figure based on the version of the Lizard from that game has already been released by Hasbro as part of their Spider-Man 3 toy line.
[edit] Live action feature films
Dr. Connors was mentioned briefly in the film Spider-Man (2002), and appeared in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), where he was played by actor Dylan Baker. Director Sam Raimi had reportedly considered his friend, B-movie legend Bruce Campbell for the role of Dr. Connors, but decided against it since Campbell had already appeared in the first movie as a wrestling announcer. Campbell did appear in a different cameo role in Spider-Man 2.
So far Dr. Connors has not become the Lizard in this franchise and whether he will in any future film is presently uncertain. In the films he is missing his right arm as in the comic book. In Spider-Man 2 Connors is depicted as a physics professor concerned for Peter Parker's well-being and academic performance. Curt's friend, Doctor Otto Octavius recalls Peter's name and tells Peter that Connors considers him "brilliant, but lazy". Otto chuckles about his friend's assumption about Peter once he finds out Peter is also Spider-Man.
The possibility of the Lizard appearing as the villain in Spider-Man 3 was once considered likely, until two different actors, Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Topher Grace (Venom), were cast for Spider-Man 3's villains, along with James Franco (The New Goblin). Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad later confirmed that Dylan Baker would indeed be returning for Spider-Man 3 to reprise the role of Dr. Connors. In the film, Peter turns to Connors to analyze the substance of the Venom symbiote. Connors then deducts it as an 'extra terrestial parasite that can amplify all kinds of human characteristics, especially aggression'.
[edit] See also
- The Alligator People, a 1959 horror movie which may have served as inspiration for the Lizard.[citation needed]
- Reptilian humanoids in fiction
[edit] External links
- Lizard's Profile at Spiderfan.org
- Lizard on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
- Ultimate Lizard on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1963 introductions | Marvel Comics supporting characters | Fictional characters from Florida | Fictional lizards | Fictional scientists | Fictional shapeshifters | Fictional amputees | Fictional Catholics | Marvel Comics mutates | Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength | Marvel Comics supervillains
