Spider-Tracer: Along Came a Burglar…

Greetings, Spidey fans! I’m honestly shocked it’s March already. Anywho, I recently just had my 30^th birthday (I’m still kind of trying to process it, honestly) and as I got to thinking about some of my earliest years, I got to thinking about what the March 2021 Spider-Tracer article should be about. As a result, it struck me that I should go back to Spider-Man’s early years and look there. Soon I came across the Burglar. What does anyone really know about him? Does he even have a name? Pull a Spider-Man and stick around, won’t you? We’re going to run through everything known on the character.

 

 

The Burglar, just like Spider-Man, first appeared in “Amazing Fantasy” Volume 1, #15 way back in 1962. We first see him running down a corridor with a security guard in hot pursuit. Still an entertainer, Spider-Man refused to get involved, letting the Burglar easily run past him and into an elevator to make good his escape.

 

 

Sometime later, Peter returns home to find that an intruder broke into the Parker home and fatally shot Peter’s Uncle Ben. Not wasting time, Spider-Man tracked the fugitive down to the old Acme Warehouse. A quick fight ensues, and Spider-Man soon discovers that the man he let slip by him into the elevator is the same man that killed his uncle. Had Spider-Man acted responsibly, Uncle Ben might still be alive.

 

 

Most readers probably know at least that much about the Burglar. It’s what happens next, and what we find out about his past later on that a lot of readers probably don’t know. In “The Amazing Spider-Man” #170 and then again in #193 in an ongoing story that leads up to the big 200^th issue, the Burglar returns.

 

We discover that he’d been jailed previously to killing Ben Parker, and shared a cell with a criminal by the name of Dutch Mallone. It turned out that Mallone liked to talk in his sleep, and it was because of this that the Burglar discovered Mallone had hidden his loot in his old home. And wouldn’t you know it? Mallone’s old house was the Parkers’ home in Queens. Once the Burglar was released, he made a stop at the television studio to ransack them before the security guard stopped him. With his first job back on the outside a bust, the Burglar went after his true prize, the Mallone treasure. Ben Parker fought off the Burglar to protect May after he broke in, and it was then that Ben’s life was cut tragically short.

 

Undeterred by his previous arrest, once released again, the Burglar vowed to get Mallone’s treasure. At the time of his release, Peter Parker had his own pad, and Aunt May had been living in the Restwell Nursing Home run by Dr. Ludwig Rinehart. A rental company allowed the Burglar to rent the home (I’m sure he didn’t sign the papers with that name… right?). Searching the Parker home from top to bottom, the Burglar hadn’t found a single clue as to where the treasure was hidden. He thus theorized that May Parker had found the treasure some time ago and knew he’d need her help if he wanted any chance of getting it for himself.

 

With Peter always so close to his Aunt May after the passing of his Uncle Ben, the Burglar found it hard to get close to May and find the information he needed on the treasure. He soon concocted a scheme with Dr. Rinehart to get rid of Peter. Their plan? To fake Aunt May’s death!

 

 

And for those of you longtime fans paying attention, that’s right; Dr. Rinehart is more than he seems. He’s actually Mysterio in disguise! Upon learning why the Burglar needed May Parker, Mysterio revealed to the Burglar that he’d been running the rest home in order to cheat the elderly out of their savings. Wanting the Mallone treasure for himself, Mysterio captured the Burglar, though, ever resourceful, he soon escaped.

 

 

 

Once free from his bonds in issue #200 (and after Spider-Man defeated Mysterio), the Burglar broke into Peter’s apartment and waited for him there, hoping that he might know where the treasure is hidden. Peter put up a ferocious fight; having the proportionate strength of a spider will help you with that, of course. Things were going Peter’s way until the Burglar got a lucky hit in with the butt of his gun.

 

Peter later wakes up tied to a chair in the familiar Acme Warehouse. Peter pretends to know where the treasure is hidden in order to find out the history behind it, but refuses to spill a word as to its location (again, not that he could have if he wanted to). The Burglar gets an idea as to how to get Peter to tell him where the Mallone treasure is; he soon leaves Peter alone who promptly breaks free and goes after him as Spider-Man!

 

 

The Burglar heads back to the Restwell Nursing Home and Spider-Man swings off to meet him there. In the heat of their skirmish, the Burglar gets a few shots off, one of which strikes Spider-Man and he soon fades into unconsciousness. Believing him dead, the Burglar gets what he came for and heads back to the warehouse. The Burglar finds Peter gone, and pulls in his still-living Aunt May in order to draw him out (Aunt May had been a prisoner of “Rinehart” and the Burglar at Restwell, of course).

With May’s life in danger, Spider-Man arrives just in time to confront his first foe for the final time. Their battle takes them beyond May’s view and hearing and in the midst of their battle, the Burglar asks Spider-Man just why Parker is so important to him anyway; and that’s when an angry Spider-Man removes his mask and shows him that he’s Peter, and that it was his uncle he murdered years ago.

 

 

Putting his mask back on, Spider-Man pursues the Burglar again and, terrified that Spider-Man will kill him for everything he’s done, the Burglar’s bad heart gives out and he dies.

 

 

 

Peter later learns from Aunt May that she and Uncle Ben had indeed found an old corroded box in their home, the contents of which had long ago been eaten away by silverfish. The Mallone treasure, much like the Burglar, was gone.

 

Years later in the adjectiveless “Spider-Man” #26, we’re introduced to Jimmy Costas, the Burglar’s possible nephew. While it’s never specifically stated, Jimmy mentions having had a burglar of an uncle that came across Spider-Man a couple times. The resemblance is uncanny, to say nothing of their similar wardrobe. Jimmy was heading down a path similar to that of his uncle. However, scared that Spider-Man would catch up to him after stealing a purse, he turned it over to the Wall-Crawler. Costas wanted to make something of his life and Spider-Man let him go, hoping he’d follow through.

 

 

Fast forward to “Sensational Spider-Man” Volume 1, #0; Ben Reilly is Spider-Man and we’re introduced to a Jessica Carradine. Ben soon finds himself romantically interested in Jessica, whom we learn is a photographer. We eventually discover that her mother was not in the picture while she was growing up and that she bounced around from orphanage to orphanage. Her father had been in prison, and when he wasn’t, he took care of her.

 

 

Jessica’s father claimed that an old man had mistaken him for a burglar, and during their struggle, the gun went off and killed the old man. That’s right; Ben had fallen for the Burglar’s daughter! She also believed that her father had been murdered by the Web-Spinner in the Acme Warehouse as opposed to heart attack he actually had.

 

Wanting to prove that Spider-Man was a menace, Jessica followed Spider-Man around with her camera until she eventually caught him in the act of unmasking.

 

 

She was determined to ruin Ben with the photos until she witnessed him in the act of selflessly saving would-be-victims from a burning building. Coming to the realization that her father hadn’t been honest about Spider-Man, Jessica later turned the pics over to Ben and soon exited his life as quickly as she had entered it. Jessica hasn’t been seen or heard from since (“Sensational Spider-Man” Volume 1, #6″).

 

It’s worth mentioning that the man who killed Uncle Ben in the Sam Raimi movie trilogy was named Dennis Carradine.

 

 

It was later reused in 2014 the video game “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”. The last name Carradine was also on a list of cat burglars seen in “Ultimate Spider-Man” #53, although it, too, takes place in an alternate reality (Earth-1610 to be exact; the main Marvel Universe takes place on Earth-616).

 

Marvel Comics has never confirmed or denied the Burglar’s true name, but with his daughter’s last name being Carradine, as well as its use in other comics and media, I’m inclined to believe the last name is indeed Carradine. I’m willing to say that his first name is Dennis as far as this writer is concerned, until Marvel says otherwise, of course.

 

And there you have it, the history of Spider-Man’s first enemy. What do you guys consider to be the Burglar’s true name? Let me know in the comments section below!