Spider-Tracer: Psyched by the Psycho-Man!

As we all know, Spidey has fought plenty of villains around the Marvel Universe, some of which aren’t even his usual sparring partners, as I’ve covered in a previous Spider-Tracer article. I left this particular villain off the list because he is quite unique in the fact that not only do you usually have to contend with this villain, but the world from whence he comes, as well. Today we’ll be talking about the Microverse’s microscopic menace known as… the Psycho-Man! After discussing Spidey’s journeys to outer space, I thought inner space was the next logical follow up.

 

 

First a little (pun not intended) background on the Psycho-Man. Psycho-Man first appeared in 1967’s Fantastic Four Annual #5. He hails from the the planet Traan of the Microverse; if you follow Marvel Studio’s “Ant-Man” film series, this Microverse is referred to as the Quantum Realm, most likely due to rights issues between Marvel/Disney and 20^th Century (though this may soon no longer be an issue, as I’m sure many of you know). Basically, think of it as worlds with our world. As some will remember, Kaine, Agent-Venom, and Carnage all journeyed here during the “Minimum Carnage” cross-over a few years ago.

 

 

Psycho-Man governs several of the Microverse’s planets through a technocracy. He’s essentially a conqueror, having tried to add Earth to his kingdom of sorts several times over the years. And, because he is microscopic, he tends to randomly favor controlling robots that are in scale with those on Earth. When defeated, he has been known to flee from these robots back into the Microverse to strike another day, which, admittedly, is a pretty cool gimmick.

 

 

The first time Spidey encountered and battled this tiny tyrant occurred during a three part Spider-Man Annuals crossover in 1990 for a story-line entitled “Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure”. In “Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #24, Spider-Man, after exposure to Pym Particles, begins to shrink. By the end of “Spectacular Spider-Man Annual” #10, Spider-Man has continued shrinking all the way down to the Microverse. It isn’t until the end of that issue that he’s introduced to the Psycho-Man.

 

 

It turns out, as we learn in “Web of Spider-Man Annual” #6, that Psycho-Man is attempting to steal the Captain Universe powers from ol’ Web-Head, only to discover that he no longer had them. Poor Psycho-Man.

 

While trapped in one of his cells, Spider-Man, along with some captured aliens, rebel, turning the tide against their captor. In the midst of the fight, Spider-Man wrecks one of Psycho-Man’s controls (note: not his control box that induces Fear, Doubt and Hate in his victims) and by doing so, reduces the Psycho-Man even further but regains his own regular height in the process, so it was win-win for Spider-Man.

 

 

Years later, in real time, Psycho-Man reappears in “Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man” #’s 4-6. This story picks up right where the Silver Surfer’s original 1968 solo series ended, filling the gap between that and the Surfer’s subsequent appearance in “Submariner” #34. This tale works well with the timeline, because during “Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure”, Spidey instantly knows who Psycho-Man is, despite never having met the guy before (since it would be several years before the “Webspinners” tale was relayed to us).

 

 

In issue 18 of his solo series (the final issue in the first volume), Silver Surfer declares himself an enemy of humanity, but by issue 34 of the Submariner’s book, he seems to have gotten over it. Weird, right? That’s where this book comes in. Turns out that the Surfer was being manipulated by, you guessed it, the Psycho-Man! And it’s up to Spidey to help free the Surfer from his influence.

 

 

Their battle of course eventually leads into, you guessed it again, the Microverse! This time around, however, Spidey and the Silver are saved by… you guessed it again (!), Annihilus! Wait, you probably weren’t guessing that, were you? Yes, Annihilus, the Living Death that Walks, a menace from the Negative Zone (remember that brief, cool black and white outfit Spidey got back in the 90’s? He got it from the same place…). With the two foes fighting, Silver Surfer and Spider-Man are able to make good their escape. Kind of an odd way to end the storyline, but it was cool to see these two classic Fantastic Four foemen (say that  4 times fast) battling each other.

 

 

It would be some time before they crossed paths again, but in “Amazing Spider-Man” #658, the Psycho-Man makes a cameo; as the Future Foundation (Spidey was a member of that team, remember) finish one mission and leave the Microverse for another awaiting them back home, the Psycho-Man is able to copy the team’s expansion frequency as expand to normal size, which he’ll later use to cause some havoc in issues 661-662.

 

 

Speaking of which, in those aforementioned issues, Spider-Man decides to become a substitute teacher for Avengers Academy after talking to Hank Pym. While out on patrol with his students, the Psycho-Man strikes, using his mind-altering powers on Spidey and his students.

 

 

While Spidey is able to eventually shake off the villain’s influence, Psycho-Man has decided that the best way to deal with Spider-Man is to have the Avengers Academy students finish our hero off for him.

 

 

Spider-Man is eventually able to get through to his students, starting with Reptil, before the others follow suit. Together, they take out the Psycho-Man’s robotic form, and he escapes back to his own plane of existence.

 

 

This one was a weird story (even for Psycho-Man) in that we never really find any concrete plans as to why the Psycho-Man went after Spidey and the students of Avengers Academy. He just shows up, attacks, and gets his butt handed to him. Did he actually have any plans when he decided to go to Earth? And why did he need an expansion frequency? He never needed one before, or, if he did, he always had one available to him. For a fan of the character like myself, this appearance seemed a little out of character for him.

 

And with that, he hasn’t bothered Spider-Man since, but you never know when or where that guy is going to show up next (seriously, that guy is TINY!).

 

Is the Psycho-Man someone that you think makes for a good occasional villain in a Spider-Man story? Or is he just too out there to really work? And be sure to let me know if you enjoy seeing Spidey enter the Microverse, or is it a concept that you feel doesn’t fit with Spidey and his corner of the Marvel Universe?