Spider-Tracer: What’s Armada You?

I know what you’re thinking: “Who’s Armada? And why haven’t I heard of him before?” Would you believe he’s one of the very few Spider-Man foes that never actually fought Spider-Man? At least, not the Spider-Man you’re thinking of; you see, Armada only ever fought Spider-Man while Ben Reilly wore the webs, not Peter Parker! So join me as we take a look this month at one of the more rather unusual Spider-Man foes.

 

 

Ahhh, the Clone Saga… Or is it “Oh God, the Clone Saga…”? Whatever your thoughts on the controversial Spider-Man storyline, a lot of stuff occurred during its two years’ worth of stories, some of which easily became overlooked or forgotten as a result of everything going on in the books at the time. One such seemingly forgotten character was Armada.

 

 

Armada first showed up during the beginning of Ben Reilly’s brief tenure as Spider-Man; he first appeared in “The Sensational Spider-Man” #0. Armada is first hired by Mysterio to grab the DIT (Digital Imagery Transmission) chip. With such a chip in his possession, Mysterio would be able to convert thoughts into electronic transmissions. Spider-Man defeats Armada in their initial confrontation, but two of Armada’s drones are able to escape with the chip and bring it to Mysterio.

 

 

One thing to note about Armada? He’s… kind of insane. He give the drones he uses actual human names like Elizabeth, calls them his only friesnds, and considers it murder when one drone is smashed by Spider-Man. See? Insane.

 

 

Although jailed, Armada escaped with the help of his drones and once again went after Spider-Man (still Ben Reilly, mind you). With Mysterio’s illusions and the help of a gang that also wanted revenge, Armada attacked Spider-Man again. Despite all of this and the help of his drones, Armada was defeated when Spidey destroyed his armor, which in effect disabled his aforementioned drones.

 

 

Armada returned again not long after in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #413, with Ben still swinging around as Spidey.

 

 

This time, teamed up yet again with Mysterio, Armada managed to capture Spider-Man and placed him in a specially constructed set that was purposefully made to look like a child’s bedroom.

 

 

Armada and Mysterio managed to sic giant robots based on popular toys after Spider-Man, all of which were powered by Armada’s beloved drones.

 

 

Of course, Spider-Man began to destroy the giant robots, and, as a result, the drones powering them. Unable to cope with their “deaths”, Armada attacked Spider-Man again, only to become webbed up for the police yet again.

 

 

If it seems like Armada was no match for Spider-Man, that’s because that’s exactly the case. He was just a guy in a battle suit with drones that acted as his lackeys; there was no way he could defeat a guy with a spider-sense and the proportionate strength and agility of a spider.

 

Armada has since shown up a couple of times, just not in Spider-Man comics. After the last time Ben defeated him, Armada showed up quite sometime later in “Civil War: War Crimes” as a member of Hammerhead’s villainous organization, but was soundly defeated by Iron Man and a group of SHIELD Agents.

 

Armada was last seen at Stilt-Man’s funeral, but as we all know, that ended with the Punisher burning the place down. However, don’t count Armada out; many of the villains that attended the funeral have since turned up alive, and there’s a very good chance that Armada still is, too.

 

Would you guys like to see Armada and his little drone friends return to plague Peter as Spider-Man for the first time, or perhaps to even cause trouble for the Scarlet Spider, what with Ben Reilly alive again? Let me know in the comments section below!