Spider Slayers
 The Spider-Slayers are robots designed to hunt and either capture or kill the hero known as Spider-Man. Each robot is equipped with powers meant to nullify or overcome the superhuman abilities of Spider-Man.

To date, Spider-Man has been assaulted by eight different models of Spider-Slayers. The first four robots and the Mark VI version were designed by Spencer Smythe, an inventor who sold several of his deadly machines to J. Jonah Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle and a man who often has a grudge against Spider-Man. Jameson hired Dr. Maria Madison, with whom he fell in love and later married, to build the Mark V Spider-Slayer. Spencer Smythe's son, Alistair, built the last two Spider-Slayers, Mark VII and VIII.

In the offices of the Daily Bugle newspaper, Spencer Smythe demonstrated the uncanny abilities of the
first Spider-Slayer to Bugle employees J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, and Peter Parker (who himself was secretly Spider-Man). Smythe explained that his robot was programmed to sense spiders, and gave Peter Parker a spider in a glass case to hold. After sensing Peter's spider powers, however, the robot ignored the real spider and quickly tangled up Peter in its unbreakable steel coils.

Smythe mistakenly believed that a minor flaw had caused the machine to entangle Peter rather than the spider, and thus Peter's secret identity as Spider-Man was safe. Quite impressed, Jameson agreed to hire Smythe and his invention to capture Spider-Man. Flustered by his failure to escape the robot's coils, Peter Parker left for school, where he nervously watched and waited for the approach of the robotic hunter.

He did not have long to wait. With Jameson at the controls, the robot plodded toward the building. Peter fled and just had time to change into his Spider-Man costume before his tireless pursuer found him. Eventually worn out, Spider-Man's reactions slowed, and the Spider-Slayer ensnared him in its steel coils. Unable to break free, Spider-Man used the suction power of his fingers to open a metal plate in the robot's chest, then used his scientific skills to figure out the operation of the machine's inner workings. By the time Jameson and Smythe arrived on the scene, Spider-Man was gone.

After his first failure, Spencer Smythe built a second Spider-Slayer designed to be twice as sensitive to spiders and much stronger. After an impressive demonstration in which the robot crushed a foot-thick wall, J. Jonah Jameson agreed to hire Smythe once more.

With his face in the machine's viewplate, Jameson tracked Spider-Man to his apartment, and commanded the robot to walk right up the wall of the building. Jameson assumed Spider-Man was burglarizing the apartment, and did not realize that the web-slinger lived there. Spider-Man evaded Jameson's initial attack, and fled into the city.

Impatient with Jameson's handling of things, Smythe took control of the machine and trained its deadly destructo-beam upon Spider-Man. Jameson objected to using the weapon, but Smythe pushed him aside. However, Spider-Man dodged the beam and escaped to a phone booth, where he quickly looked up the address of Smythe's laboratory.

With the fearsome Spider-Slayer breathing down his neck, Spider-Man arrived at the laboratory. The robot smashed through a wall to follow him inside, but suddenly Smythe found that the controls were malfunctioning, and then the Mark II exploded. Just as Spider-Man had guessed, because the robot was so sensitive to spiders, the hundreds of arachnids in Smythe's collection caused it to short-circuit.

Once again, J. Jonah Jameson hired Spencer Smythe to build a robot capable of defeating Spider-Man. This time, however, Smythe had an ulterior motive: He wanted to use the robot to steal a complex computer element and frame Spider-Man for the crime.

Smythe gave Jameson a portable remote-control, which he used to track down Spider-Man and engage him in a fight. Unknown to Jameson, Smythe was at the master controls in his laboratory, and subtly controlled the flow of the battle until Spider-Man and the robot were in the laboratory containing the computer element Smythe wanted to steal. Spider-Man was knocked unconscious, allowing the robot to escape with the computer element. Although things looked bad for the web-slinger, Spider- Man eventually defeated Spencer Smythe and his latest Spider-Slayer.

Out to utterly destroy Spider-Man, Spencer Smythe sent three humanoid robots designed to look like the Vulture, Sandman, and Kingpin to physically and mentally exhaust Spider-Man. Smythe then attacked in his newest Spider-Slayer, hoping to defeat Spider-Man while he was defenseless.

Riding in his huge machine, Smythe grasped Spider-Man in one of the robot's tentacles and began to mercilessly hammer the hero into the walls and ground. Dazed and weakened, Spider-Man had virtually given up when he began to think about his love for Mary Jane. Finding inner strength, Spider-Man burst free of the metal tentacle and subdued Spencer Smythe.

Apparently having given up faith in Spencer Smythe, J. Jonah Jameson hired Dr. Maria Madison to build the Mark V Spider-Slayer. Remotely controlling the robot by means of a cybernetic helmet, Jameson sent the robot to follow Peter Parker, figuring that Peter would lead him to Spider-Man. Peter's spider sense warned him that he was being followed, and he quickly broke off his date with Mary Jane and sent her home in order to change into his costume.

Spider-Man was cornered by Jameson's Spider-Slayer in an alley, but he was able to dodge the charging robot, which rammed into a wall. While Jameson struggled with the cybernetic helmet, Spider-Man escaped.

Jameson and the Mark V eventually caught up with Spider-Man at Rockefeller Plaza, where the web-slinger was engaged in a conflict with the Will o' the Wisp. Jameson caused much mayhem at the Plaza; eventually a statue fell on the Mark V, wrecking it.

Believing Spider-Man had killed his son, a vengeful J. Jonah Jameson sought out Spencer Smythe, and hired the inventor to use his latest Spider-Slayer to hunt down Spider-Man. However, Smythe now hated both Jameson and Spider-Man; he now knew he was dying because of exposure to radioactive materials he had used to build the various models of Spider-Slayers. Smythe tricked Jameson into fastening a strange pair of handcuffs onto one wrist. Laughing hysterically, Smythe told Jameson that the cuffs contained high explosives set to go off in 24 hours.

Smythe sent the Mark VI Spider-Slayer after Spider-Man. During the ensuing battle, the spider-shaped robot was destroyed and Spider-Man was knocked unconscious. Smythe took the hero to his laboratory, where he locked one of Spider-Man's wrists to the handcuffs; Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson were now chained together, and the bomb was ticking.

Smythe did not prevent the pair from leaving. With an angry and frightened Jameson in tow, Spider-Man left to find a way of removing the handcuffs. His efforts were futile, however. With time running out, Spider-Man realized that Smythe was the only one who could remove the cuffs, but upon returning to the laboratory, Spider-Man and Jameson found that Smythe had finally died of his illness. Luckily, Spider-Man found the power source that electronically kept the shackle locked. With seconds to spare, Spider-Man deactivated the power source and the handcuffs.

In an attempt to get revenge against Spider-Man for the death of his father, Alistair Smythe used his own Spider-Slayer to kidnap Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna. With a clue from the Kingpin, who had recently employed Alistair as an inventor, Spider-Man learned where to find the young villain.

After rescuing Mary Jane's aunt, Spider-Man learned from her that Alistair had flown away with Mary Jane in his Spider-Slayer. Spider-Man caught up with Smythe, and saved Mary Jane from the clutches of the Spider-Slayer. The web-slinger defeated the robot by causing it to crash into high voltage wires. Due to the machine's insulation, Alistair survived, but he suffered severe shock damage: He is now a paraplegic and is unable to digest solid foods.

Still bent on revenge, Alistair Smythe built the most recent model of Spider-Slayer, the Mark VIII, which he used to stalk Mary Jane and Peter Parker in Pittsburgh. Riding inside his towering robot, Alistair caught up with Spider-Man and began to pummel the hero senseless. Distracted by a feeble attack from Mary Jane, Alistair turned his attention to her. Clutching Mary Jane in a huge tentacle, Alistair was about to kill her when Spider-Man overcame his injuries and dealt the robot a fatal blow.

Furious at what might have happened to Mary Jane, Spider-Man ripped apart the Spider-Slayer and pulled a terrified Alistair from the wreckage. Presumably Alistair Smythe was taken to prison.


Spider-Slayer Mark I
The Mark I Spider-Slayer was built in a general humanoid form. For locomotion, it rolled on a steel ball attached to the end of each of its two legs. The Spider-Slayer is immune to disease, gas attacks, psionic attacks, and could possibly survive in a vacuum. Its exterior construction provided it with increased protection from physical attacks. Its surface is amazingly slick, making it immune to Spider-Man's webbing, and it could detect arachnids or creatures with spider-like abilities (namely Spider-Man) at fantastic ranges. It could also climb vertical surfaces.

The Spider-Slayer can stretch its arms and legs to attack non-adjacent targets. Circling the front of the Mark I Spider-Slayer's chest are 20 small holes. Each hole contains a steel cable which could be extended from the robot's chest to entangle any single target within the same area as the robot.

All functions of the robot could be remotely controlled from a portable control panel up to a range of five miles. The controller can see, hear, and speak through the robot's face, which was as a video screen that showed the controller's face.


Spider-Slayer Mark II
The Mark II Spider-Slayer was built in a more humanoid form, but otherwise mimics the Mark I in many ways, including its immunity to Spider-Man's webbing. It contained advanced offensive capabilities in the form of a web-cutter and a "Destructo-beam," a destructive energy beam, from its forehead. Suction cups on the feet of the Mark II Spider-Slayer enable it to walk up vertical surfaces.

Spider-Slayer Mark III
The Mark III Spider-Slayer was built in the form of a huge, eight-legged spider with two large eyes. Like all Spider-Slayers, the Mark III is immune to disease, gas attacks, psionic attacks, and could presumably survive in a vacuum. The robot had remarkable leaping ability, could run, jump, and climb walls at fantastic speeds, and had a web-shooter, web-cutter, and knockout gas jets.

All functions of the robot can be remotely controlled from a portable control panel up to a range of five miles. The controller can see, hear, and speak through the Mark IIl's two huge eyes. The controller's face appears in the Spider-Slayer's eyes, which are really two video screens.

The Mark III Spider-Slayer can detect arachnids or creatures with spider-like abilities (namely Spider-Man) as well as nullify Spider-Man's innate power to detect danger, called his Spider-Sense.


Spider-Slayer Mark IV
The Mark IV Spider-Slayer is a much larger version of the spider-like Mark III. In addition to the Mark III capabilities, the Mark IV could elongate its legs, allowing it to reach non-adjacent opponents.

Spider-Slayer Mark V
The Mark V robot is humanoid in form, standing over eight feet tall. For locomotion, each of the Mark V's feet is equipped with a steel tread, upon which the device thunders along the ground. As with previous models, the Mark V is immune to disease, gas attacks, psionic attacks, and could presumably survive in a vacuum. Its exterior construction provides it with increased protection from physical and energy attacks.

From a device in the center of its chest, the Mark V could produce a flash of light capable of temporarily blinding all targets in front of the robot.

A metal claw attached to the end of a steel tentacle could shoot from its chest to grab or grapple a target, a steel tentacle with pincers could cut Spider-Man's webbing, and an additional apparatus in the Mark V's chest could fire an energy blast. The robot could instantly raise the surface temperature of its body to incinerate Spider-Man or his webbing at a touch. Also, it could squirt oil, creating a slick area for Spider-Man or his webbing.

The controller of the Mark V wore a specially designed helmet, which enabled him to instantly command the robot at a range of up to five miles. The controller's face appears on a video screen in the Spider-Slayer's head.


Spider-Slayer Mark VI
The Mark VI Spider-Slayer was built in the form of a huge, eight-legged spider with two large eyes, but otherwise mimicked the capabilities of its predecessors. Its enhanced offensive capability included web-shooters enabling it to entangle its opponents as well as using a swing line to travel large distances. The Mark VI also had increased leaping ability.

Through unrevealed means, Spencer Smythe was able to mentally control all functions of the robot up to a range of one mile. He could see and hear through the Mark Vl's two huge eyes. Unlike all previous models of Spider-Slayers, the controller's face did not appear on video screens in the robot's head.


Spider-Slayer Mark VII
The Mark VII Spider-Slayer is shaped much like a one-man flying saucer, resting upon eight tentacle-like legs, which are retracted into the body during flight. The cockpit is covered by a glass dome, and its exterior construction provides it with protection from both physical and energy attacks, is insulated against electrical attacks, and is slick enough to be immune to Spider-Man's webbing. As with previous models, the Slayer can detect spiders or those with spider-derived powers.

From holes running along its sides, the Mark VII can extend and retract steel tentacles with the following accoutrements:

Grapple-Claws: The Spider-Slayer is equipped with two of these, one on each side. Each grapple-claw can extend to grab its target.
Laser-Tentacles: Each side of the Mark VII is also armed with tentacle which can fire powerful lasers.
Steel Whips: These deadly weapons can lash out from both sides of the Spider-Slayer to whip or entangle their targets.


Spider-Slayer Mark VIII
The Mark VIII Spider-Slayer takes the form of a very tall humanoid. The controller rides within the machine's chest cavity, and his face appears on the robot's faceplate, which is actually a video screen through which the controller can see, hear, and speak. The Mark VIII is a type of walker vehicle with the following accoutrements:

Access Claw: This apparatus is used to lift Alistair, who is a paraplegic, into the Mark VIIl's cockpit.
Body Armor: The Spider-Slayer's exterior construction provides it with protection from physical attacks and energy attacks.
Chemical Tracer: Alistair Smythe developed a chemical tracer that he can spray from his Spider-Slayer onto a target, then track the target from up to approximately 10 miles away.
Elongation: The Mark VIII can elongate its legs, arms, and neck. Its fingers can also be elongated to entangle foes.
Ethyl Chloride: The robot can release blasts of intense knockout gas from its hands.
Headlight: Its faceplate can be used as a beacon.
Slick Surface: The Mark VIII Spider-Slayer's surface is slick enough to be immune to Spider-Man's webbing.


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