Needle

Origin

The true identity of Needle is unknown but he was an elder man who used to work as a tailor. One evening he was mugged and attacked by a number of young hoodlums. He was hospitalized for a few weeks and suffered numerous injuries which included bruises, broken bones and lost sight from his left eye. As he laid in the hospital bed with futile rage, he felt an electric presence and discovered he could release that force from his one good eye. The elder man was a mute when he was released from the hospital and discovered that his business had died. It did not matter to him anymore, he decided not to become a victim anymore and would strike back as a vigilante. This tailor created his unusual attire and ventured out at night to exact his revenge. One evening after a date with Jessica Drew, her boyfriend Jerry Hunt finds a young woman in an alleyway being terrorized by the Needle. The Needle stares at Jerry with his single eye and the former SHIELD agent is unable to move any muscle. The Needle sewed his lips shut as he stood helpless in a paralyzed state. 
 
Jessica decided to investigate after seeing Jerry in the hospital. Spider Woman was on the prowl for the Needle and Jerry decided to help her after he recovered. The two would split up until she hears a gunshot. The Needle has paralyzed Jerry again so Spider Woman shoots a venom blast at her skinny foe. The Needle dodged the first blast was struck with the second one. He laid motionless as Spider Woman cautiously approaches. The Needle suddenly slashes her glider-wing with his giant needle and grabs her wrists. The Needle’s mind numbing force builds up and is released into the face of the crimson clad beauty. The Needle rolls his paralyzed opponent off him and begins to remove a tiny needle and thread from his gauntlet. The Needle is so intent on his task, that he does not notice a trembling hand toward his chest. He is struck with a powerful venom blast at close range and is incapacitated. Spider Woman’s power of paralysis was similar to the Needle and made her immune to his gaze. The police shortly arrived and placed the Needle into custody.    

Creation

Needle was created by Mark Gruenwald, Carmine Infantino and Al Gordon in 1978 and first appeared in Spider-Woman # 9.  

Character Evolution

Silver Age

Needle in his debut was a mute after the beating he suffered from the hands of some young thugs and became a vigilante after he discovered his “evil eye” ability. Needle in his eccentric costume and weaponry appeared solo for two adventures until he joined the Night Shift a couple years later. 

Modern Age

Needle is mostly remembered as a member of the Night Shift in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Needle would become a loyal member of that team throughout the years and encountered the West Coast Avengers and Captain America on a few occasions. His primary weapon has been a giant needle but had a upgrade during one encounter with Captain America where he had a small needle gun mounted on his wrist gauntlet that allowed him to fire smaller needles at a rapid rate. Needle and the Night Shift would be absent from the comic scene for a number of years until they recently resurfaced in the Marvel Zombies 4 series where they worked for the Hood and engaged the Midnight Sons. 

Story Arcs

The Locksmith was once a successful escape artist until costume super-humans overshadowed interest in his act. The Locksmith partnered up with a mutant named Tick Tock, who had precognitive abilities and both men captured numerous heroes and villains. Numerous prisoners included Needle, Spider Woman, Gypsy Moth, Daddy Longlegs, Dansen Macabre, Enforcer, Nekra, Hangman, Tatterdemalion, the Shroud, the Werewolf , Poltergeist, Flying Tiger, Angar the Screamer and Killer Shrike. Needle and the rest of the prisoners wore harnesses that dampened their powers and placed in special cells that negated their abilities. Needle was kept blindfolded so he could not use his mesmerizing gaze. Spider Woman managed to escape and free everyone from their cells. Needle and the rest of his former cellmates confront Locksmith and Tick Tock. The two villains surrender without a fight.

The Night Shift

The Needle would be recruited into the Night Shift by the Shroud and battle numerous super-humans with this group. The Night Shift would battle alongside Captain America and take down the Power Broker when they discovered he was dumping his failed augments into the sewer system of Los Angeles. The Night Shift would come into conflict with the West Coast Avengers on a few occasions. They fought the West Coast Avengers at their compound after they found out that Mockingbird took down one of their members named Digger and placed him into police custody. The Shroud was absent at the time so the deputy leader, Dansen Macabre decided to take matters into her own hands. She wanted the Night Shift to infiltrate their facility and teach them a lesson. The Needle used his gaze to paralyze one male servant and took a female maintenance staff member hostage. Hawkeye, Vision and Scarlet Witc h are outnumbered but the tide of battle swings in the Avenger’s favor when Wonder Man arrives. Wonder Man saves the female hostage from the lanky villain and the Vision breaks his three foot needle in half. The Night Shift is defeated but they manage to escape when the Shroud bails them out with his darkforce abilities.   
  
A new Hangman would take over as leader of the Night Shift and all the current members were supernaturally augmented by the powerful demon, Satannish in exchange for their souls. Satannish was conjured up during a national televised fight between the West Coast Avengers and the Night Shift. Needle and the rest of his teammates were getting stronger after Satannish appeared. The Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange told the Night Shift members that the Hangman offered their souls to the demon so he can become a movie star. The Night Shift members agreed to give up their demon-given energies to power up the West Coast Avengers. Needle and the rest of the Night Shift decided to help the Avengers and they attacked Satannish together. Satannish was forced to leave the earthly plane and all members of the Night Shift lost their augmented abilities.  
 
The Blazing Skull confronts a Night Shift member named Digger and wanted him to answer some questions. A fight ensues and the Blazing Skull knocks out Digger. Captain America intervenes and wants to talk to the Blazing Skull because he thinks he is connected to the Red Skull. Needle, Misfit and the Brothers Grimm interrupt their fight and take on both men for messing with Digger. Needle fires a bunch of tiny needles from a wrist gun and engages Captain America. However, Needle and the rest of the Shifties are taken down by Captain America and the Blazing Skull.  

Marvel Zombies

The Hood has recently enlisted the Night Shift to accompany him on an assignment to the island nation of Taino. Black Talon has captured the Zombie, Simon Garth and Z-Pool (zombie Deadpool) after they escaped quarantine from the ARMOR agency. Black Talon wanted to sell his undead captives to the Hood because their zombie disease could possibly be weaponized. Morbius created a vaccine against this infection and brought his team, the Midnight Sons to Taino so they can stop this threat. The Night Shift attack the Midnight Sons as they approach a cemetery. Needle paralyzed Hellstorm with his evil eye and thrusted his giant needle into his chest. Hellstorm recites a spell and spews hellfire from his mouth. The fire melts off the needle protruding from his body and Jennifer Kale hits Needle with a mystic blast. Some residents of Taino are infected by Z-Pool after he bites a guard’s finger. A zombie army approaches the super-humans and Morbius uses his vaccine on the undead. The zombie virus mutated into a superbug strain when it came into contact with the vaccine and emerged as a green cloud of death. The zombie virus was airborne and it transformed Needle and the rest of the Night Shift into zombies. The Hood and the Midnight Sons joined forces to stop this zombie army. It would take the magic of Jennifer Kale and voodoo sorcery of Black Talon to bottle up the zombie cloud. They directed the virus-mind into the body of Simon Garth and successfully contained the infection. Needle and the rest of the Night Shift reverted back to their human form and left Taino with the Hood. 

Moon Knight

Needle would reunite with the Night Shift when they are hired by Snapdragon to eliminate Moon Knight and Echo in Los Angeles. Needle and the Night Shift fail to kill Moon Knight which would lead to their ultimate demise. Needle and the Night Shift would be confronted by the new West Coast Kingpin, Count Nefaria where he incinerates them for being so incompetent and moronically stupid. 

Powers & Abilities

Needle has the ability to hypnotically paralyze people with his gaze. The paralysis is instantaneous and the victim is unable to move any muscle. The victim is conscious during the paralysis and unable to speak or yell. It takes a normal human being hours before they regain the ability to move from their paralyzed state. The Needle has a strong vise-like grip despite his lanky form.  

Weapons & Paraphernalia

Needle carries a giant needle that is over three feet long as his weapon of choice. When he was supernaturally augmented, his needle was sharp enough to cut Iron Man‘s armor. He recently added a wrist gun that can rapidly fire tiny needles. He also carried tiny needles and thread in one of his gauntlets to sew the mouth shut of his victims.