Spider-Tracer: Robots, Cyborgs, and Spider-Slayers, Oh My!

If you take a look at Spider-Man’s enemies, you’ll notice that a lot of them are animal-themed (Vulture, Doc Ock, Scorpion, etc.). He’s also faced quite a few goblins (the Green and Hob varieties being the most popular) and symbiotes (Venom and Carnage being the most prominent), too. And while that is all true, what about all the mechanized menaces he’s battled over the years? Spidey’s faced quite a lot of them over his long career, and today we’ll be counting down the top ten robots, cyborgs, and, oh yes, Spider-Slayers, to give him a heaping helping of trouble. I won’t be considering Doc Ock a cyborg. True, while he did have his mechanical appendages fused to his body early on in his career, they’ve since been removed from his body, and have even been known to attack separately from their master. Sorry, no Scorpion, either.

 

10. Timespinner

 

 

In Avengers #11 (Volume 1, 1964), longtime Avengers villain Kang the Conqueror sought to use a robot of everyone’s favorite Web-Head as a means to taking down the Avengers… And it worked! Even the mighty Thor was defeated! That is, until the real Spider-Man caught wind of the imposter. Spidey managed to basically find a button that deactivated the futuristic robot. Easy peasy, right? While that might seem like the end of the spider-bot known as Timespinner, it returned some years later as part of a contingency plan by its master Kang (Spider-Man Team-Up #4). However, it was Ben Reilly who was Spider-Man at the time, not Peter. He, along with the Avengers, united to defeat the time-travelling robot, which ended with its head exploding. Timespinner hasn’t been seen since.

 

9. Living Brain

 

 

The first robot menace Spider-Man ever fought wasn’t a Spider-Slayer, but the Living Brain, which occurred way back in Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Vol. 1, 1964)! Look at the crazy sweet Ditko design! Anywho, the Living Brain was sent to Midtown High for a demonstration for Peter’s class due to its ability to use mathematics for analytical purposes. It printed out an equation for Peter to decipher when it was programmed to discover Spider-Man’s true identity. Some thieves decided to steal the robot in hopes of making a profit off of the information it could provide them, and, in a scuffle between them and the robot’s creator, the Living Brain was damaged and went on a rampage until it was halted by Spider-Man. Living Brain would go on to make several more appearances throughout the years, joining up with Boomerang’s Sinister Six. The Superior Spider-Man confiscated the robot and turned it into a servant. It later was used to hide Doctor Octopus’ mind, until the secret was discovered, thus forcing him to flee before the Living Brain was destroyed. I’m willing to bet this won’t be the last time we see the Living Brain. This wouldn’t be the first time the robot was defeated, after all.

 

8. The Robot Parents

 

 

As part of a complex plot to destroy their mutually hated foe, the Chameleon and Harry Osborn (in his Green Goblin identity) hatched a scheme to mentally, as well as physically, defeat Spider-Man through the use of robotic duplicates of his parents, Richard and Mary Parker. Believed to have been captured by Soviet agents, Peter’s “parents” seemingly returned to Peter’s life following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. While Harry knowingly created the robotic Parkers to break Peter when he inevitably learned the truth, the Chameleon simply believed it was due to the fact that Peter and Spider-Man were both loosely associated with each other, hoping to possibly discover who Spider-Man really was by proxy. Peter willingly revealed his identity to the robots, and before the Richard robot could reveal all he’d learned, the Mary robot “killed” him to protect Peter, before she herself was “killed” by the Vulture, who’d also gotten tangled up in the plot. Peter was devastated, becoming an angry, bitter version of his former self which led into the “Clone Saga”.

 

7. Carnage

 

 

Wait, what’s Carnage doing here? Well, in New Avengers #2 (Volume 1), the Sentry took Carnage into space and tore the symbiotic serial killer in half. Kasady later returned to Earth and was outfitted with robotic legs. It’s a fact that has since alternated, depending who’s doing the writing of the character. One minute he’s got normal legs, and the next he’s back to robotic legs. Symbiotic, serial killing cyborg. What a mouthful! Only in comics.

 

6. Tri-Sentinel

 

 

Remember that time Spidey was given the Captain Universe powers? Well this is the menace that he was given those powers to combat. Loki had forged three sentinels into a super menace following his defeat during “Acts of Vengeance”, and only a cosmically-powered Spider-Man could defeat it by unleashing the full extent of his powers (which occurred in Amazing Spider-Man #329). The Life Foundation later rebuilt it to follow their orders but it rebelled and was defeated when Spider-Man unleashed Antarctic Vibranium in its core, effectively melting the towering robot.

 

5. Hammerhead

 

 

Hammerhead’s a robot?! No, but he is a cyborg. Following a near-fatal shooting, Hammerhead’s brain was transplanted into an adamantium robot body, courtesy of Mr. Negative. Hmm, cyborg gangster that battles Spider-Man… Where have I heard that before?

 

4. Silvermane

 

 

Ahhh, Silvio Manfredi, the original cyborg gangster. Following an almost fatal confrontation with Cloak and Dagger, Silvermane was made over into a cyborg. Silvermane was at one point reduced to nothing more than a head, though he did have a cool new R/C car body…!

 

3. Mendel Stromm/Robot Master/Gaunt

 

 

Mendel Stromm, the Robot Master, has been giving Spider-Man trouble since early on in his career (Since Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1, #37, 1966). In fact, if not for Mendel Stromm, there wouldn’t be a Green Goblin, for it was his notes that Norman Osborn used in his experiments that gave him his powers and created the Goblin Formula. Wanting revenge on Osborn for having him jailed for embezzlement, Stromm created several robots to try and kill his former business partner, but his plan was foiled by Spider-Man. Believed to have suffered a heart attack, Stromm was thought dead for years until Norman Osborn discovered he had taken an early version of the Goblin Formula, which had merely placed him in suspended animation. Revived as Gaunt near the end of the Clone Saga, Stromm battled both Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) and Peter Parker. Stromm has since popped up from time to time, even as nothing more than a head at one point (I’m noticing a pattern with cyborgs).

 

2. Alistair Smythe

 

 

While he himself did not create the Spider-Slayers, Alistair Smythe has gone on to improve and advance them in ways his father never dreamed of, even going so far as to transform himself into a cyborg not once, but twice! Why? To finish his father’s work and kill Spider-Man, of course. He even killed J. Jonah Jameson’s wife, Marla, as revenge for his hand in the Spider-Slayer legacy which Smythe believed had led to his father’s death. Smythe has since died, another victim of the Superior Spider-Man.

 

1. Spider-Slayer MK I

 

 

I had to put at least one actual Spider-Slayer here on the list, and what better model than the original that started it all in Amazing Spider-Man #25 (Volume 1, 1965)? It gave Spider-Man such trouble that he had to sacrifice his costume to get away from it! Plus, it set up the whole Spider-Slayers theme of having J. Jonah Jameson get Spencer Smythe to build the robots while he controls the machines, all while his flat-topped head graces the computer screen. And how can you not love yet another wacky Ditko robot design?

 

And there you have it, the top ten robots/cyborgs/Spider-Slayers to pester Spider-Man. Which is your favorite? Did I miss yours? Sound off in the comments below!