| Mister Negative | |
|---|---|
 Mister Negative. Art bySteve McNiven. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (May 2007) |
| Created by | Dan Slott Phil Jimenez |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Team affiliations | Inner Demons |
| Notable aliases | Martin Li Mister Negative |
| Abilities |
|
Mister Negative is asupervillain appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy ofSpider-Man, thePunisher,Shang-Chi, andCloak and Dagger. The character was created byDan Slott andPhil Jimenez, and first appeared in "Swing Shift", a story inFree Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (May 2007). The name "Mister Negative" is a reference tophotographic negative, as the colors of his skin, hair, and costume are inverted when he transforms into his alter ego.
Originally a gangster and human trafficker whose real name was never revealed,[a] the man who would become Mister Negative was captured by crime bossSilvermane to serve as a test subject alongside the future Cloak & Dagger for an experimental procedure involving a synthetic drug created bySimon Marshall. The experiment gave the character control over both theDarkforce andLightforce, and led to the creation of two personalities:Mister Positive, posing as a benevolent and kindphilanthropist namedMartin Li, who would go on to found the F.E.A.S.T. Project as a means to help homeless people; and the ruthless crime lord Mister Negative, who leads the Inner Demons crime gang in an attempt to take overNew York’s criminal underworld. Originally, the character was depicted as suffering fromdissociative identity disorder, with one personality not maintaining the other's memories, but both were later shown to be fully aware of the other's existence. As Mister Negative, his powers include healing, mind-control through "corruption", and charging weapons with his energy.
Since his conception, Mister Negative has been adapted into several forms of media outside of comics.Keone Young andEric Bauza voice him in the animated seriesUltimate Spider-Man andSpider-Man (2017) respectively, whileStephen Oyoung voices the character in theMarvel's Spider-Man video game series. In 2025, he appeared in the second season ofMoon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, voiced byBowen Yang.
Created byDan Slott andPhil Jimenez, Mister Negative first appeared inFree Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2007), which was set in the aftermath of the "Spider-Man: One More Day" storyline. Negative then appeared inThe Amazing Spider-Man #546 (January 2008), the first issue of the follow-up storyline "Spider-Man: Brand New Day".
Martin Li is introduced with the backstory of a Chinese immigrant fromFujian who attempted to travel to America to be with his wife. His mode of transportation, theGolden Mountain, was a slave ship operated by theSnakehead gang as a way to sell Fujian captives as overseas slaves inKenya. During a storm, the ship's crew evacuated, leaving the captives alone to make a break for the New York shores. Li was the only survivor and spent the following years building a large fortune and dedicating himself to helping those less fortunate.[1]
The story is later revealed to be partially false, though only the Mister Negative persona appears aware of it. It is revealed that Negative was actually one of the crew members of theGolden Mountain. When the ship nearly crashed onto the New York shores, he stole the identity of one of the deceased Fujian slaves (the real Martin Li). This gang member was eventually captured bySilvermane and experimented on with a synthetic drug created byMaggia chemistSimon Marshall. He escaped with the help of two other experimentalinmates and soon developed two personalities, the kind-hearted Martin Li and the villainous Mister Negative, the latter of the two developing the ability to generate ablack electrical energy that could be used to heal, control others, or charge objects with his touch. The Mister Negative side dedicated himself to becoming Chinatown's Kingpin of Crime while the Martin Li side attempts to run the F.E.A.S.T. center with humility.[2]
Martin Li opens and operates a soup kitchen inChinatown: the F.E.A.S.T. Project (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training), wherePeter Parker'sAunt May volunteers.[3][4] Neither Peter nor May are aware of Li's dual identity as a Chinatown crime boss under the Mister Negative name.[3] Despite being a crime lord, Li is a seemingly kind and generous man. The F.E.A.S.T. Project has displayed healing powers for people of various illnesses, although the cause of this healing has yet to be revealed.[5]
In the "Brand New Day" storyline, Mister Negative first comes into conflict with Spider-Man when he makes a power play toward taking control ofNew York's criminal underworld by attempting to wipe out all existing members of the Karnelli and Maggia crime families using abioweapon called Devil's Breath. In exchange for leaving the Maggia families' children alive, he takes a sample of Spider-Man's blood to use in a Devil's Breath formula.[3][4] Mister Negative later tries to use the Devil's Breath formula to kill Spider-Man during a fight with the Maggia, but Spider-Man holds his breath long enough to escape alive.[6] Spider-Man then recruits theBlack Cat to help steal Spider-Man's remaining blood from Mister Negative and replace it with a vial of pig blood so Mister Negative is unaware of his loss.[7]
Martin Li endorses Bill Hollister for mayor of New York City, putting him against Randall Crowne, adding him to a list of opponents (many of whom become targets of the villainMenace). It also causes him to become the target of a smear campaign by Dexter Bennet, editor ofThe DB and supporter of Crowne.[8] After Menace is revealed to be Hollister's daughter and Hollister resigns as mayor, Li unsuccessfully runs in a special election, losing toJ. Jonah Jameson.[9]
Mister Negative later recruitsHammerhead and offers to put the man's brain in a new robotic adamantium skeleton after having been shot point blank in the head byUnderworld. Hammerhead agrees to that and Mister Negative has his surgeonDoctor Tramma perform the procedure.[10]
Mister Negative eventually comes acrossEddie Brock, giving Brock a job at his soup kitchen. A touch from him causes Brock's cancerous cells to completely disappear and combines with remnants of theVenom symbiote to createAnti-Venom.[11] After the F.E.A.S.T center is torn apart during the fight between the two, Li discovers from a group of sweatshop workers (from a shop owned by Crowne) that they were experimented on with drugs made atOscorp.[12] Later, Mister Negative and his Inner Demons encounter and battle Anti-Venom. In the aftermath, Brock watches Negative turn into Li, becoming the first to be aware of his double identity.[13]
During the 2008–2009 "Dark Reign" storyline,Quasimodo researched Mister Negative forNorman Osborn and considers his abilities and methods too new to predict where he might be a thorn in Osborn's side. Quasimodo states to Osborn that he'll do more research on him.[14] Mister Negative refuses to submit toHood's rule of conquest over New York's criminal underworld. During a meeting with Hood's henchman White Dragon, Negative corrupts White Dragon and sends the man to attack the Hood's headquarters. In retaliation, the Hood decides to attack and kill him.H.A.M.M.E.R. seals Chinatown on Hood's behalf and an all out fight breaks out around Li's estate. Hood's gang gets the upper hand until Spider-Man arrives to rescue Martin. However, Spider-Man too is corrupted and sent into battle on Negative's behalf.[1] Spider-Man battles the members of Hood's gang who are attacking the villain's headquarters; Negative then sends the web-slinger to killBetty Brant who is interviewing the real Martin Li's widow and is coming close to finding out the truth. The Hood himself then confronts Negative at his Chinatown headquarters and battles him.[15] During the battle, Negative tries to corrupt Hood but fails.Norman Osborn ends the blockade H.A.M.M.E.R. has on Chinatown when Hammerhead hands papers implicating Oscorp in the aforementioned drug tests on immigrants. An irate Hood decides to kill Negative anyway but he escapes. A later conversation that Osborn has with his own darker Green Goblin side reveals that he now has an alliance with Negative similar to the one with Hood. However,Spot slips in and steals back the evidence of Oscorp's tests, revealing being Negative's mole in the Hood's gang under the promise that he will be cured once they get their revenge on the Maggia.[2]
In the X-Men storyline "Serve and Protect", Mister Negative and his Inner Demons are at San Francisco on attempting to murder a widowed woman who still have a child. When two unidentified heroes, then revealed to be the X-MenRockslide andAnole in disguise, Negative hired The Serpents, and devise a plan to lure them into their traps, then turning then into his pawn into attacking other X-Men as well. Although his plan foiled by Anole's strategy into using a temporary brainwashed Rockslide, Negative releases Rockslide and vow they will meet again on the other side.[16]
During the 2009 storyline "The Gauntlet", Mister Negative corruptsMay Parker when the woman walks in on him punishing an Inner Demon.[17] May manages to escape Negative's corruption when Peter goes to her for moral support.[18]
During the 2010 "Shadowland" storyline, Mister Negative takes the advantage of the conflict against theHand in a plot to set up a criminal establishment there, only for him and his Inner Demons to run afoul of Spider-Man andShang-Chi.[19]
Mister Negative later has an encounter withJackpot andBoomerang.[20] During the "Origin of the Species" storyline, Negative was among the supervillains assembled byDoctor Octopus to secure some items.[21]
During the "Big Time" storyline, Mister Negative is targeted by both Anti-Venom and the newWraith. When they, along with Spider-Man, interrupt a heroin-smuggling operation, Wraith uses visual recognition software, linked to every television broadcast in New York, to publicly out Negative as Martin Li. When the police approach, Negative and his men retreat. Li is later seen locked in a room by Negative's men who wait for him to change back into their master.[22]
During the 2011 "Spider-Island" storyline, Mister Negative is told of a prophecy that he is destined to be killed by Dagger.[23]
During the 2012 "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Mister Negative and his henchmen invade aS.H.I.E.L.D. facility as a way of taking an advantage of the war between theAvengers and the Phoenix Five, butHawkeye andSpider-Woman defeat them while having a discussion about their relationship. It is later revealed that they were informed about Negative's plan byMadame Hydra who wanted to get rid of the competition.[24]
During the 2014 "Original Sin" storyline, Mister Negative is seen meeting with the self-proclaimed Goblin King (Phil Urich), who is now leading the Goblin Underground's remnants. Their meeting is crashed by Black Cat andElectro who demand their share of the plan. When Negative and Urich refuse to listen to Black Cat, the woman reminds them that they were all outed by Spider-Man and will succeed in the goal of defeating Spider-Man.[25]
Following the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, Martin Li is arrested at some point. He is rescued byCloak and Dagger who have been corrupted by his touch and are using patches of the drug known as "Shade" to stimulate the effects of Mister Negative's touch and "remain" loyal to him. After the two break Negative out of the prison ship where Li is being held and revert him to his Negative form, he leads an assault on Parker Industries' Japan branch, which leads to a confrontation with Spider-Man, whom Negative manages to touch.[26] Although Peter exhibits an immunity to Negative's corruption power, Negative escapes to his Hong Kong headquarters and reverts to Li. Li later sees a video message from Negative that he is targeting a philanthropist named Shen Quinghao, the former leader of the criminal Snakehead Syndicate which controlled the slave ship where Li became Negative, and makes a proposal to Li, which Li accepts.[27] His plan fails, and after Cloak and Dagger are eventually freed from Negative's control, they vow to remain in Hong Kong to protect it from Negative's future efforts.[28]
During the "Sins Rising" arc, a revivedSin-Eater steals the powers of Mister Negative and uses it to corrupt the guards at Ravencroft when he targets Norman Osborn. He also uses the powers to corrupt the clone of Ashley Kafka into releasingJuggernaut.[29]
A man claiming to be "Martin Li" shows up at the FEAST building seeking help as the Inner Demons attack.[30] This "Martin Li" later surrenders to the Inner Demons. Mister Negative meets with MayorWilson Fisk and informs him that they will need the sister counterpart of the Tablet of Life and Destiny called the Tablet of Death and Entropy. As Negative has the item, he states to Fisk that their desired function can only be used when both items are together. Fisk allows Negative to control Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Obtaining the Tablet of Life and Destiny from Spider-Man and Boomerang puts Negative in completion withBlack Mariah,Crime Master,Diamondback,Hammerhead,Madame Masque,Owl,Silvermane, andTombstone.[31]
Mister Negative is among the crime lords that attend the wedding ofRandy Robertson andJanice Lincoln. WhenShotgun crashes the wedding and shoots Tombstone, Spider-Man goes after Shotgun as the crime lords blame each other for calling the hit.[32]
During the "Gang War" storyline, Mister Negative andLady Yulan are at each other's throats as she claims that the Inner Demons used holy water on her vampire minions. During a meeting with the other crime lords, Hammerhead hears about what happened between Negative and Yulan as he tells the crime lords thatCount Nefaria and Silvermane are backing him.[33] At the next crime lord meeting at Arthur Avenue, Negative and Yulan are still blaming each other for the attacks.[34]
InSpider-Boy, it is revealed thatMadame Monstrosity previously hired Mister Negative and the Inner Demons to abduct people for her experiments. They kidnapBailey Briggs andEli Hartman, who Monstrosity later transforms into Humanimals. When Madame Monstrosity asks how he will pay her, Negative advises her to turn all the men he brought her into his personal army and to do whatever she wants with. Monstrosity accepts the offer and receives the "keys to his kingdom", which he expects her to eventually return. In the present, Negative learns thatChristina Xu found the keys and sends the Inner Demons to reclaim them. While brainwashing some civilians and police officers, Mister Negative was unable to brainwash Aunt May again. When pretending to be brainwashed after procuring a specific item from the bank vault, Bailey helps to defeat Mister Negative as he is arrested by he police.[35]
Prior to his transformation, "Martin Li" was a member of the Snakehead gang, whose true name has not yet been revealed. Both the Martin Li and Mister Negative personae are the result of experimental drug tests by Maggia chemist Simon Marshall, the same tests that poweredCloak and Dagger. Unlike the two heroes, who were each given a power over light and dark, Negative was given both a light and dark side. As such, Negative considers himself an embodiment of black and wickedness and both of his personas view the balance of good and evil as a necessary part of the universe.[2] The two halves, while fully aware of one another's existence, take no steps to interfere with one another, with the Martin Li persona even taking such drastic steps as allowing his bad side to corruptMay Parker to keep it a secret.[17]
During an encounter inThe Amazing Spider-Man #621, Negative displays a degree of superhuman strength high enough to send Spider-Man flying through two buildings with a single blow. Negative also demonstrates superhuman reflexes during his battle with the Hood, dodging bullets or cutting them in half with his sword. He also has the power to charge up knives and swords with black electrical energy, a form of Darkforce energy, and he can corrupt people he touches in the same manner, bringing them under his control.[1] The effectiveness of his corruption varies depending on how good the affected person was before their conversion: White Dragon, a villain himself, gained increased stamina and endurance, but was still easily dispatched (his clothes reverted to normal once he was killed). Conversely, Spider-Man, a hero in every respect, was corrupted into a spiteful and angry villain, despising every value he held dear (even hisUncle Ben's memory) and no more above killing.[15] Spider-Man is able to break the hold his malevolent side has over him when he is on the verge of killingBetty Brant, as he remembers the love he once had for her upon getting close. Negative's corrupting touch appears to be ineffective against beings with supernatural powers, as Hood is unaffected when Negative attempts to corrupt him; Negative claims that this is because the Hood's soul belongs toDormammu, a being even darker than he is.[2] It has since been revealed that while Negative can renew his influence on others, he cannot corrupt someone once that individual has broken free of his influence already, allowing Peter Parker to infiltrate his plan by using the fact that he had been corrupted by Negative as Spider-Man without his foe knowing his secret identity.[27]
Mister Negative's alternate Martin Li persona seems to have the power to cure others: inThe Amazing Spider-Man #568, a simple touch from Li completely cures Eddie Brock of his cancer, and combines the remnants of the Venom symbiote in his blood with his white blood cells, creating a new symbiote namedAnti-Venom that possesses similar healing powers. Aside from this, homeless people who have stayed at Martin Li's shelter have rapidly recovered from any illnesses or injuries they suffered from. It is possible that his healing touch is supposed to be the opposite of Negative's corrupting touch. It is revealed that Anti-Venom can be affected by Negative's energy because it negates his healing ability.
Mister Negative also has access to advanced technology and secret laboratories, in which he is able to give his subjects medical care far more advanced than that available to the general public.[10]
In 2020,CBR.com included Mister Negative in their "Spider-Man: The Best New Villains of the Century" list.[36]
Dagger Li, a fusion of Mister Negative and Dagger created by theInfinity Gems, appears inInfinity Wars.[37]
Mr. Negatiger, afunny animal version of Mister Negative fromEarth-8311, appears in the graphic novelHollywood May-ham.[38]
An alternate universe version of Mister Negative fromEarth-6160 appears inUltimate Spider-Man (2024). This version is a lieutenant and associate ofWilson Fisk who controls Queens on his behalf. In response to emerging vigilantesSpider-Man and theGreen Goblin threatening Fisk's operations, Negative joins hisSinister Six to eliminate them.[39]
| Title | Material Collected | Published Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Reign: The Underside | Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1–3 andDark Reign: Lethal Legion #1–3,Dark Reign: Zodiac #1–3,Dark Reign: Made Men | December 23, 2009 | 978-0785141600 |
| Dark Reign: Mister Negative | Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1–3 | March 25, 2010 | 978-0785141648 |
| Spider-Man: Brand New Day — The Complete Collection Vol. 4 | Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1–3 andAmazing Spider-Man #592–601 andAnnual #36,Spider-Man: The Short Halloween,Amazing Spider-Man: American Son Sketchbook and material fromAmazing Spider-Man Family #7 | December 20, 2017 | 978-1302907990 |
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