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.
Character biography
The Lizard is the alter-ego of Dr. Curt Connors, a human scientist whose fields of expertise encompass both herpetology and gene therapy.Connors' right arm had been amputated as a result of a war injury while he served as a medic in the military, and he later hoped to find a way to regenerate the lost or damaged limbs of disabled people. To this end, he studied the regenerative nature of reptiles and amphibians. He developed a radically advanced form of therapy which could reproduce these regenerative abilities in humans and began to use this therapy in experiments. Unfortunately, Connors was contaminated by his own serum and physically transformed into a bipedal, sapient reptilian humanoid.
As The Lizard, Connors became a threat to humanity, with an insane determination to replace the human race with super-reptiles like himself. The Lizard possesses superhuman strength and durability due to his alligator-like hide. His regenerative powers give him incredible stamina, and he can fight for days without tiring. His tail is strong enough to cut Spider-Man's webbing and smash through solid concrete. The Lizard possesses the ability to scale walls like a gecko. He is also able to communicate with and control any reptiles within a one-mile radius, usually giving them simple commands such as attacking or guarding something. Although usually intelligent and capable of speech, the Lizard has several times reverted to a mindless, bestial savage state.
Eventually defeated by Spider-Man and returned to his benevolent human self, Connors still transforms back into the evil Lizard to plague the web-slinger every now and then. Although repeated administration of the "Lizard formula" was originally required to change Connors into the Lizard, it was later revealed that great stress can also trigger the transformation. On several occasions the Lizard has retained the mind of Curt Connors and refrained from attacking Spider-Man or other people, but on the whole the Lizard can only be regarded as villainous in nature.
When Connors' Lizard form is dormant, the scientist often helps Spider-Man in the event of serious medical or scientific problems. Even in his Lizard state he doesn't attack anyone he truly cares for, such as his wife Martha and their son Billy. After years of trying to cope with her husband's split personality, Martha Connors died of cancer caused by exposure to industrial toxic waste. Now Curt has the added guilt and stress of single parenthood while still fighting to control the monster within himself.
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 his 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 and organs. He also has a powerful tail which he can whip at high speeds, reaching 70 mph. 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 average human intelligence. The Lizard personality often presents with human intelligence, capable of speech and higher reasoning.
Controversy
In a 2004 story arc 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 his discovery of his identity never being explained or shown (Jenkins later admitted that this was an error). The story ended with Dr. Connors deliberately getting himself sent to prison and threatening to once again unleash the Lizard on the world sooner or later.Given the sheer amount of source material this storyline conflicts and the plot holes it introduces, most fans do not consider it a part of mainstream Spider-Man continuity. 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. It seems likely that this concept of Connors being in control of the Lizard's villainy all along will be mostly ignored by future writers of Lizard stories.
One fan theory (found [here] in the section titled "A Lizard by any Other Name") posits that Connors possessed this evil personality control only briefly due to exposure to the same toxic waste that led to his wife's death.
In other media
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."Possibly the most notable of the Lizard's animated appearances was in the 1994 premiere episode of , 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 "The Tablet of Time", "The Ravages of Time", "The Final Nightmare" and "The Lizard King", as well as the "Secret Wars" 3-part episode from the end of this series' run in 1997. The non-mutated Dr. Curt Connors had many other appearances as a supporting character, including the episodes "The Alien Costume, part 2", "The Insidious Six", "Venom Returns", "Carnage", "The Spot", and "Partners". Dr. Connors and the Lizard were both voiced throughout this series by Joseph Campanella.
The most recent animated appearance of the Lizard was in the "Law of the Jungle" episode of MTV's in 2003. Both Dr. Connors and the Lizard were voiced here by rock musician/filmmaker Rob Zombie. The Lizard's physical appearance in this series was much more beastial and dinosaurian than in the past comic books. The episode ends with the Lizard falling to his apparent death from a helicopter, but his final fate was still left ambiguous.
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. Other Sega Spider-Man games later released for the Sega Genesis home console during the 1990's also featured the Lizard as part of their villain lineups.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. He had a small role in the game as a villain behind a cage. In the entire game, the Lizard is the only villain not fought against (It is even possible to complete that level without even meeting him).
In the sequel, 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 by injecting him with a cure.
Although the Lizard has also appeared in several handheld console Spider-Man games, he has not had much of a role in the more recent home console games. Dr. Connors made a minor appearance in Activision's 2004 Spider-Man 2 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 has not been proven.
Live action feature films
Dr. Connors was mentioned briefly in the 2002 film Spider-Man, and appeared in the 2004 sequel Spider-Man 2, 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 appeared in the first movie as a wrestling announcer (However, Campbell did have a different cameo 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 Spider-Man 2, however, he is missing his right arm as in the comic book. He is depicted as a physics professor concerned for Peter Parker's well-being and declining academic performance and considers Peter brilliant, recommending him to his friend Doctor Otto Octavius. The possibility of the Lizard appearing as the villain in Spider-Man 3 was once considered unlikely given that two different actors, Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Topher Grace, have been cast for Spider-Man 3's villains, but reports of four villains in Spiderman 3 leave the Lizard with a fighting chance. It was rumored for a time that Church might have been cast to replace Dylan Baker in the role of Dr. Connors, but Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad eventually confirmed that Baker would indeed be returning for Spider-Man 3 to reprise the Connors role.
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.
The Ultimate universe version of the Lizard first appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up # 10, and appears to be based on a basilisk lizard in design. Ultimate Lizard has so far appeared less intelligent than the original Marvel universe Lizard.
External links
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