Tarantula (Marvel Comics)

The Tarantula is a fictional character name used by several characters, usually supervillains, appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history
The character was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #134 (July 1974). Writer Gerry Conway recalled how he created the character: "During the political upheavals in South America during the 1970s, there was a real sense that we, the United States, were somewhat culpable, both for supporting the repressive regimes that were in power, and in the case of Chile, actually assisting in the overthrow of the democratically elected government. So, in that environment, a character like the Tarantula was inherently political. But the real reason I wanted to write that particular story was something said by my good friend Don Glut, who was also writing for Marvel at the time. Don once asked, "Why aren't there international heroes from smaller countries, a third-world, or old-world Captain America, like say, Captain Serbo-Croatia?" We laughed, but I really liked that notion: Just because the United States came up with their guy, why stop there? Why stop with the larger countries, the superpowers?" Acting as a patriotic enforcer for the oppressive dictatorship of the fictional South American country of Delvadia (essentially a Delvadian equivalent to Captain America), his defining marks are his red stretch costume with a black tarantula on its chest and the poisonous spikes attached to his gloves and boots. The character was killed off in the early 1980s, but the Tarantula identity has been carried on by a series of successors.

Prior to the original depiction, a character with the Tarantula name appeared in Ghost Rider #2 (April 1967). There is no connection between this character and any of the other depictions.

Anton Miguel Rodriguez
Antonio "Anton" Miguel Rodriguez is the first character to use the Tarantula codename.

He was a revolutionary terrorist in the small fictional South American republic of Delvadia, and was expelled from his small organization after murdering a guard for no reason during a robbery. Anton then went over to the side of the repressive fascist-dictatorship government, where they created the Tarantula identity for him to serve as a government operative and his country's counterpart to Captain America. After alienating his masters, the Tarantula embarks on a criminal career in the United States. He hijacks a Hudson River dayliner to rob the passengers and hold them for ransom; his plan, however, is disrupted by Spider-Man and the Punisher. He escapes prison with the original Jackal's help who sought revenge on Spider-Man; however, the Tarantula is again defeated by Spider-Man. He is then hired by Lightmaster to assist Kraven the Hunter in committing various kidnappings and murders, but is again thwarted by Spider-Man. The Tarantula then joins forces with Senor Suerte to steal the "Madbombs" and use them for extortion, but this time is defeated by Captain America.

The Tarantula is hired by the Brand Corporation to silence an informer, but is again thwarted by Spider-Man. The Brand Corporation then orders him to kill Spider-Man. In an attempt to bestow him with spider-powers, the Tarantula is injected with a mutagenic serum and placed in an electrolyte bath. The Will o' The Wisp disrupts the mutagenic process, causing him to start transforming into a gigantic, monstrous, spider-like being. He falls into Jamaica Bay, but survives the plunge and continues to mutate, and then battles Spider-Man atop a tall New York City building. Horrified and disgusted with what he has become, he leaps off the building, begging for the police officers gathered below to kill him. Hit by a hail of gunfire, the Tarantula strikes the street below and dies.

During the Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, a clone of Tarantula is among the clones that were created thanks to the new Jackal's company, New U Technologies. He was involved in a fight with the other cloned supervillains until it was broken up by a clone of the Prowler.

Luis Alvarez
Luis Alvarez is the second character to use the Tarantula codename. He was a special government operative and a former captain in the Delvadian militia, but not given to terrorist activities. Acting more as a death squad/government enforcer, he is chosen by Delvadian government officials to be the second Tarantula, and undergoes a mutagenic treatment to increase his already-considerable physical abilities, wearing an identical costume. He is sent to the United States by the Delvadian government to eliminate political refugees from that country, and to kill Spider-Man for what happened to the first Tarantula, but Spider-Man and Captain America defeat him. Working as a mercenary, the Tarantula teams up with the Chameleon to eliminate Spider-Man where he nearly kills Flash Thompson, but this plan failed and he is defeated by Spider-Man and the Black Cat. The Tarantula later battles the Punisher and Batroc the Leaper. Eventually, he is caught and murdered by the Jury.

Third version
An unnamed character is the third character to use the Tarantula codename.

A patron at the Bar With No Name, he and several other villains get into a brawl with Spider-Man and Alyosha Kravinoff. The Tarantula later fights the Runaways in Van Nuys, and is defeated by a "debugging incantation" cast by Nico Minoru.

Years later, the Tarantula resurfaces as an ally of the Black Cat, and as one of the villains taking advantage of the gang war raging in the Third Precinct.

In a prelude to the "Hunted" storyline, the Tarantula is among the animal-themed characters captured by the Taskmaster and the Black Ant on Kraven the Hunter's behalf. He is among those whom Arcade publicly reveals as the Savage Six.

The Tarantula was among the supervillains fought by Old Man Logan for Mysterio's location, and Miss Sinister telepathically took the Tarantula's information then killed him.

Jacinda Rodriguez
Jacinda Rodriguez is the fourth character to use the Tarantula codename, and the daughter of Anton Miguel Rodriguez. She and Marie Batroc were hired by the East Winds to go after Agent X, Taskmaster and Outlaw, however, Taskmaster surprised both the Tarantula and her partner and gunned down the two females. The Tarantula is later seen as an operative of Delvadia alongside the Devil-Spider, assisting Spider-Man and Mockingbird in confronting El Facóquero (aka the Warthog), Delvadia's druglord and Norman Osborn's body double.

Her name and family relation were confirmed in her own entry in the Appendix to The Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Maria Vasquez
Maria Vasquez is the fifth character to use the Tarantula codename.

She wanted to avenge her sister Rosa Vasquez who was killed in the Stamford Incident but this went against her father Fernandez Vasquez preferring a safer profession of putting her intelligence to good use. After her father is killed by ninjas while visiting Rosa's grave by Ricadonna, Maria killed the ninjas herself and able to injure Ricadonna but unable to kill her father's killer as desired.

Along with the Heroes For Hire's members, the Tarantula's paid to locate and put a stop to a dangerous group of thieves who had been using advanced exoskeletons to aid in robberies regardless of collateral damage or death left behind; their investigation involved stopping the Grim Reaper and Man-Ape with the Statue of Liberty's destruction.

The Heroes For Hire later went to the Savage Land thanks to Paladin to capture Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur for study by S.H.I.E.L.D. to which the group refused to pay before solving problems with the Hulk, resulting in the Tarantula getting into an argument with S.H.I.E.L.D. which raised some tension between the two teams. During this time, the Tarantula also came close to having a relationship with Shang-Chi and fought with the Heroes For Hire against the Hulk, after which she left the group after disbandment.

Kaine
Kaine, a clone of Peter Parker, used the Tarantula alias for a hulking Man-Spider form during the Spider-Island storyline thanks to the original Jackal and Adriana Soria.

Powers and abilities
Anton Miguel Rodriguez was a great athlete with incredible agility, leaping skills and excellent in hand-to-hand combat. Additionally, he wore gloves with retractable razor-sharp finger claws and boots with two retractable razor-sharp spikes loaded with drugs that would render his victim unconscious, or other harmful or lethal drugs and poisons. He was educated in military school, was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and was skilled in various martial arts, particularly in kickboxing. When he was mutated into a giant tarantula-like creature thanks to the Brand Corporation's mutagenic serum, he gained superhuman strength and the ability to adhere to surfaces. However, in his final mutation into a human-sized tarantula, while he possessed superhuman strength, his limbs were not structured to enable him to lift (press) weights. Just before his death, he developed the ability to shoot organic webbing from his buttocks.

Luis Alvarez had his strength, stamina, agility and reflexes enhanced to peak human levels, thanks to Dr. Karl Mendoza's formula. Like Rodriguez, he also wore retractable razor-sharp finger claws in his gloves, and two retractable razor-sharp spikes in his boots anointed with harmful or lethal drugs and poisons. Also, like his predecessor, he was educated in military school, was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant and was skilled in various martial arts, particularly in kickboxing.

Maria Vasquez is highly skilled in hand to hand combat. She is skilled in using the blades on her wrists and the toes of her boots as very effective weapons. She is also a skilled detective, capable of observation and forensic investigation, as well as an exceptional marksman who is also skilled in sharpshooting and knife throwing.

Ultimate Marvel
The Ultimate universe equivalent of Tarantula is a clone of Spider-Man (Peter Parker), wearing a variant black costume of Spider-Man's while having Man-Spider esque features of six arms, fangs and spiky hair, and possessing superhuman strength, reflexes, equilibrium and a spider-sense. Created by ambitious mastermind Doctor Octopus (with the CIA's consent), he tries to prevent Kaine's kidnapping mutation of Mary Jane Watson. During his genetic template's and Spider-Woman's fight with Doctor Octopus, the Tarantula attacks his maker and is killed as a result.

Earth-1048
During the Spider-Geddon storyline, the Earth-1048 version of Tarantula is shown to sport mechanical spider legs. He was robbing the Financial District when he was attacked by Spider-Man. After immobilizing the Tarantula with a web bomb, Spider-Man is visited by the Superior Spider-Man of Earth-616 (Otto Octavius's mind in Spider-Man's body) as the Tarantula breaks free. As the Superior Spider-Man gets in the way of the web bomb, the Tarantula gets away. The two later find the Tarantula robbing a research facility and defeat him, while the Superior Spider-Man's spider-bots disable the Tarantula's mechanical spider legs. Both Spider-Men swing off, while the Tarantula is arrested by the police.

Television
An adapted iteration of Tarantula appears in the Spider-Man: Maximum Venom animated series. This version is a battle suit sporting the first four iterations' colors and Maria Vasquez's wrist blades while the latter is adapted as Maria Corazon (voiced by Valenzia Algarin), Anya Corazon's scientifically-minded stepsister. In the two-part episode "Generations", Maria is studying out of the country for her Ph.D. while the Chameleon disguises himself as her to infiltrate Horizon High and pilot the Tarantula battle suit on the Dark Goblin's behalf to combat Spider-Girl who defeats the Tarantula battle suit.

Video games
The Anton Miguel Rodriguez iteration of Tarantula appears as a playable character in Spider-Man Unlimited.