Spencer Smythe is an expert in robotics and arachnids who asksJ. Jonah Jameson to fund his projects, having been convinced by Jameson's editorials thatSpider-Man is a menace. After watching a demonstration showing that Smythe's robot can sense and track spiders, Jameson hires Smythe to capture Spider-Man, with Jameson controlling the Spider-Slayer. However, Spider-Man escapes by leaving his suit wrapped in the robot's tentacles.[2]
Annoyed at his robot's inability to capture Spider-Man, Smythe obsesses over Spider-Man, turning to crime to finance his research and constantly improving his robots which he dubbedSpider-Slayers. His creations, no matter how deadly or powerful he made, are defeated by Spider-Man utilizing a key flaw in their designs.[3][4]
Smythe is fatally poisoned by the radioactive materials used in the robots' manufacturing, leaving him to a slow and agonizing death.[5] Blaming Spider-Man and Jameson equally for his impending death, Smythe handcuffs the two together with a bomb scheduled to detonate in 24 hours, determined to make the two suffer the agony of inescapable death that he saw the two as having condemned him to.[6] Smythe dies before the 24 hours are up, convinced that he had killed off the two responsible. Spider-Man stops the bomb by freezing its controls moments before it detonates.[7]
Spencer Smythe is quite intelligent, capable of designing advanced robots that could pursue solitary targets. These robots were physically dangerous enough to overpower Spider-Man at multiple points, but lacked A.I. software.
A character based on Spencer Smythe namedHenry Smythe, appears in theSpider-Man (1967) episode "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson", voiced byHenry Ramer.
Spencer Smythe appears inSpider-Man (1994), voiced byEdward Mulhare.[10] After being enlisted byNorman Osborn to capture Spider-Man in exchange for building a hover-chair for his paralyzed sonAlistair Smythe, Spencer creates his first Spider-Slayer, the Black Widow, to achieve this. However, its fight with Spider-Man leads to a fire atOscorp. With Osborn's negative reinforcement, Spencer stays behind to ensure Spider-Man dies and Alistair gets the hover-chair, but is seemingly killed when Oscorp explodes. Later in the series, it is revealed that Spencer survived and was put intocryogenic suspension by theKingpin to ensure Alistair's loyalty. Alistair eventually discovers Spencer and recovers him with Spider-Man's help before working for various individuals to revive his father.
Spencer Smythe appears inSpider-Man (2017), voiced byBenjamin Diskin.[10] This version is a strict science teacher atMidtown High School and Alistair Smythe's estranged father. Throughout the series, he is hired by Norman Osborn to sabotageAnya Corazon's experiment and frameHarry Osborn to get him suspended from Midtown High and attempts to steal Harry's work with theVulture's help, only for Spider-Man to destroy it. Norman reneges on their deal, leading to Spencer working withRaymond Warren to steal Oscorp's genetically modified spiders. After one specimen escapes, bitesMiles Morales, and turns him into the Ultimate Spider-Man, Spencer and Alistair fight each other in their Spider-Slayer mechs to capture him. Both are defeated by the two Spider-Men, though only Spencer is arrested while his son escapes.
Spencer Smythe appears in thePS2 andPSP versions ofSpider-Man: Web of Shadows. This version is aligned withA.I.M. and theJackal, with the former helping him in his secret experiments and the latter eventually betraying him upon learning Smythe intends to find a way to control invadingsymbiotes.
^ab"Spencer Smythe Voices (Spider-Man)". Behind The Voice Actors. RetrievedAugust 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
