Tarantula (Marvel Comics)

Superherobox|

caption=First appearance of Tarantula (Rodriguez) in "Amazing Spider-Man" vol. 1, #134. Art by Ross Andru
character_name=Tarantula
real_name= - Clay Riley
- Anton Miguel Rodriguez
- Luis Alvarez
- Maria Vasquez
publisher=(All)
Marvel Comics
debut=(Riley)
"Ghost Rider" #2 (April, 1967)
(Rodriguez)
"Amazing Spider-Man" #134 (July 1974)
(Alvarez)
"Web of Spider-Man" #35 (February 1988)
(Vasquez)
"Heroes for Hire" vol. 2, #1 (2006)
creators= (Rodriguez)
Gerry Conway
Ross Andru
(Alvarez)
Gerry Conway
Alex Saviuk
alliances= (Rodriguez)
Brand Corporation
Boca Del Rios Revolutionist Forces
Boca Del Rios Fascist Government
(Vasquez)
Heroes for Hire
aliases=(Alvarez)
El Arana
powers=(Rodriguez)
Finger claws and toe blades incorporated into costume, usually envenomed.
Skilled athlete and hand-to-hand.
Later, spider-like abilitites including: super-strength, wall crawling, and web spinning.
(Alvarez)
Same equipment and skills as Rodrigez had.
(Vasquez)
Skilled knife fighter.
Wrist blades, finger claws, and toe blades incorporated into costume.

Tarantula is the alias of a number of fictional characters appearing in publications from Marvel Comics.

Clay Riley

The Tarantula is a Zorro-like western era villain equipped with a scourge and has a mysterious Mexican accent. He first appears in "Ghost Rider" #2 (April, 1967).

Anton Miguel Rodriguez

Anton Miguel Rodriguez, known as the Tarantula, is a supervillain who wears a red stretch costume with a black tarantula on its chest. He's equipped with poisonous stingers attached to his soles. He was first introduced in "Amazing Spider-Man" #134 (July 1974).

Fictional character biography

As a revolutionary terrorist and government operative in South America, Anton Miguel Rodriguez was expelled from his small organization after murdering a guard without reason during a robbery. Anton then went on to the other repressive side of the fascistic dictatorship government where they created the identity of the Tarantula for him to serve as his country's counterpart to Captain America. He clashed with Captain America, Spider-Man and the Punisher.

After alienating his masters, the Tarantula embarked on a criminal career in the United States. Tarantula was hired by the Brand Corporation to kill Spider-Man. In an attempt to bestow him with spider powers, he was injected with a mutagenic serum and placed in an electrolyte bath. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, Will o' the Wisp disrupted the mutagenic process, causing Tarantula to start transforming into a gigantic, monstrous spider-like being.

Rodriguez remained relatively humanoid at first (at least, he functioned on a bipedal level). However, after several more skirmishes with both the Wisp and Spider-Man, he rapidly continued to mutate into a fully arachnid appearance. Horrified and disgusted with what he had become, he leapt off a tall building, begging for the police officers gathered below to kill him. In a hail of gunfire, Rodriquez struck the street below and died. [Amazing Spider-Man #234]

Powers and abilities

In addition to being a great athlete with incredible agility and leaping skills and being excellent in hand to hand combat, Anton wore gloves with retractable razor blades and boots with retractable razor sharp points loaded with drugs that would render his victim unconscious. When he was mutated into a giant Tarantula like creature he gained superhuman strength and the ability to adhere to surfaces. Also just before his death he gained the ability to shoot organic webbing from his backside.

Luis Alvarez

The next Tarantula (real name Luis Alvarez) wears a costume identical to that of Rodriguez and is also a government operative but not given to terrorist activities. He acts more as a death squad/government enforcer. He was sent to kill Spider-Man for what happened to the first Tarantula. He teamed up with the Punisher during the EuroHit story, more specifically in "Punisher" vol. 2, #64-67. Eventually he was caught by the Jury and had his neck broken by Wysper. [http://www.samruby.com/Villains/Tarantula/tarantula2.htm]

Maria Vasquez

Civil War

The new Tarantula, Maria Vasquez, debuted in the new "Heroes for Hire" series. Even Misty Knight, her team leader knows nothing about her history. Tarantula has a bad attitude and is highly skilled using the blades on her wrists and the toes of her boots. She indicates that she enjoys inflicting pain. If instructed not to kill, she will seriously injure an opponent, to the chagrin of her teammates. She has been observed licking her bloody blade after slicing through an enemy in "Heroes For Hire" vol. 2, #1. Maria has also been shown to be highly intelligent with knowledge of biology and engineering (issue #2 of the same series). In issue #4 she stated that she decided to become a hero to avenge her sister, who had been killed in the Stamford Incident. This was against the wishes of her father, who would have preferred that she found a safer profession (such as a doctor or lawyer) where she could put her intelligence to good use. Shortly after this revelation, her father was killed by ninjas, though she had been the one marked for death by Ricadonna (along with the rest of the Heroes For Hire). After they murdered her father, Tarantula killed the entire team of ninjas herself. She shares a passionate kiss with fellow teammate, the aloof Shang-Chi, but she never manages to find the truest implication of such outburst of passion, as she's offered along with Colleen Wing to the Brood Queen by Humbug. When Shang-Chi and the other heroes come to the save, she has gone unconscious, the utter shock leaving her catatonic and crying. Shang-Chi avenges her, than takes her unconscious body away.

Maria has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of "" #1. [ [http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.947 Avengers: The Initiative #1 Character Map] ]

Ultimate Tarantula

Writer Brian Michael Bendis stated in "Wizard Magazine" that an Ultimate version of Tarantula was set to appear in the "Clone Saga" arc of "Ultimate Spider-Man". [http://www.ultimatecentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6559] Although the story arc introduces several new spider-powered characters, none are called Tarantula within the story. However, "Ultimate Secrets" identifies a black-costumed, six-armed Spider-Man clone with spider-like eyes and fur (reportedly dead as of "Ultimate Spider-Man" #103) as having been Tarantula.

External links

* [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/taranw.htm Marvel appendix - Tarantula (Clay Riley) Biography]
* [http://www.norse-man.net/Marvel/Char-T/Tarantula.htm Tarantula (Rodriguez) RPG statistics]
* [http://www.samruby.com/Villains/Tarantula/tarantula.htm Tarantula (Rodriguez) Biography]
* [http://underworld.fortunecity.com/blood/201/marvel/tarantula.html Tarantula (Alvarez) Biography]

References