User blog:ARTaylor/50 Years of Spencer Smythe

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of Spencer Smythe. He first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #25 where he promised to destroy Spider-Man for J. Jonah Jameson with his series of Spider-Slayers. Following his initial defeat, he became obsessed with defeating the wallcrawler creating bigger and better robots. Eventually he discovered that the radioactive materials he used to power the Spider-Slayers were killing him. He then handcuffed Spider-Man and Jameson together with a bomb. However, he died before the bomb could go off and the hero escaped. Eventually his son Alistair became a thorn in the webslinger's side.

Spencer first appeared in the 1967 series Spider-Man episode "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson" voiced by Henry Ramer. This version was renamed Henry Smythe. The episode was a faithful adaptation of his first comic appearance.

His most significant appearance outside the comics came in Spider-Man voiced by Edward Mulhare. He appeared in the episode "The Spider Slayer" where he was hired by Norman Osborn, secretly under orders by Kingpin, in order to defeat Spider-Man in exchange for a hoverchair for his son. Unfortunately, he is apparently killed in an explosion. Alistair then joins with Kingpin to further his father's work and get revenge on Spider-Man. The follow-up episode "Return of the Spider Slayers" featured Alistair, inspired by his father's comic adventures, binding Spider-Man and Jameson together to a bomb. Eventually it was discovered that Kingpin saved Spencer from the explosion and placed him in cryogenic suspension. When Alistair learned of this he went out on his own to find a way to free his father.