Spot

Origin

After The Answer was killed by Dagger, Kingpin hired Dr. Johnathon Ohnn to create a superhuman to replace him. Ohnn decided to try to recreate Cloak‘s powers for the superhuman. But there was a malfunction on the machine and Ohnn found himself in a dimension called the Spotworld. Using one of the portals, Ohnn returned but found himself covered with spots. These spots were actually portals to the Spotworld.

At this time Spider-Man, along with Black Cat, decided to investigate Fisk’s lab. Ohnn fought them using the name “The Spot”. Spot managed to score his first victory against the two of them. But Spider-Man returned later and defeated Spot, destroying his confidence.

Creation

Spot was created by Al Milgrom and Herb Trimpe. He first appeared in 1985’s The Spectacular Spider-Man #94.

Character Evolution

After his first defeat at the hands of Spider-Man, Spot lost much of his self-confidence, resulting in many humiliating losses over the years and regrettably making him a joke to much of the superhuman community.

After being trapped in Spotworld for an indeterminate amount of time however, Spot grew progressively less sane. Coupled with a desperate drive for vengeance against a crime-lord for hospitalizing Ohnn’s estranged son, Spot returned from Spotworld much more driven and dangerous then before, now having no qualms about taking lives. He has since gone from being a small-time crook to a nigh-inescapable hit-man.

Only time will tell though if Spot will manage to gain a lasting reputation beyond that of a joke.

Major Story Arcs

Several years later, Spot reappeared in the Legion of Losers. Spider-Man tricked two members of the squad to turn on the rest of the team and defeated them.

Later, The Gideon Trust forced Spot into opening a portal to The Negative Zone. They were hoping to use its resource for their own gain. But the Fantastic Four happened to be trapped in the Negative Zone and defeated the Gideon Trust. Spot seemed to have died in the process.

Spot actually survived the last battle and was put into a super prison called the Cage. He teamed up with a group of villains led by Tombstone. Spot snitched on Tombstone, but Tombstone still managed to use Ohnn to escape, and then broke Spot’s neck.

Spot later appeared trying to contact a close friend, Slyde. He was upset that Hydra was killing off lesser super-villains. When Spot met Slyde, he found him dead with Elektra and The Hand standing over his body. Spot was captured and taken to join the Hyrda’s army of super-villains.

MODOK’s 11

Spot later joined MODOK‘s villainous team, MODOK’s Eleven. He betrayed the team for a large payoff, but his employer the Mandarin trapped him afterwards in the world the Spot had first obtained his powers.

Marked – Spot’s Return

The Spot was trapped in his own anti-dimension and had no idea which was the route out. Occasionally he could project his image back to our world and tried to contact some of his old cronies at the Bar with No Name but that attempt was unsuccessful. The Spot was going mad but found peace when he concentrated on his son, Wyatt Ohnn. One day, the Spot was able to return back to our dimension and discovered his son was hospitalized after a drive-by shooting. The man responsible for his son’s condition was a Russian crime-lord named Ivankov. From that day forth, the Spot spent every waking moment on the perfect method of vengeance and revenge. Spider-Man was spying on Ivankov and his gang during a possible weapons transaction. Ivankov’s men were systematically killed by a dimensional hopping assassin and Spider-Man realized it was the Spot. Ivankov pleaded for Spider-Man’s help so the web-slinger did his best to fight off the Spot. Parker’s spider sense was unable to warn him of incoming danger because the Spot started his attacks from another dimension. The Spot was able to grab Ivankov and throw him into one of his portals. Ivankov emerged outside of Seattle’s Space Needle and was descending to his doom. Spider-Man saved Ivankov by webbing his feet and pulling him back through the portal. Spider-Man webbed his left arm to Ivankov’s right arm and stood his ground against the Spot. He told the Spot that he was not going to let him kill anyone and staked his life on that statement. The Spot stood there silently until he pulled out a package from his chest cavity. The Spot presented that package to Spider-Man and disappeared. Inside was the book, Treasure Island and it was the same book that he use to read to his son every night before his accident. Spider-Man delivered the book to Wyatt’s hospital room and his mother found it. Ivankov would be placed in the psychiatric unit of Bellevue Hospital after his incident with the Spot. Ivankov was hysterical and would be in constant fear of the Spot.

Spot’s most recent appearance was in 2011’s Daredevil #1 written by Mark Waid. In the issue, Spot is about to interrupt a wedding when Daredevil intervenes. The two fight it out with Daredevil eventually winning.

Powers & Abilities

Being exposed to the Spotworld has bleached Ohnn’s skin white and dotted it with warps in space. These spots can transport things or people to another area by way of another spot and passing through the Spotworld. Ohnn can also teleport himself or extend parts of his own body over various distances as defined by his spots. He also has the ability to move the spots all over his body or even taking them off and placing them somewhere else. He can even suspend the spots in mid-air.

Spot cannot however throw an unlimited number of his space warp spots, as he primarily draws on the ones on his own body. Spider-Man for instance was able to defeat Spot when his body was mostly white. Spotworld does have an infinite number of spots though, from which Spot can retrieve them should he wish to do so.

Alternate Versions

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

In this reality, the only information about the Spot is that he is a man named Frank, who works for Roxxon Oil Industries. He fought Spider-Man, but was defeated and later apprehended by the police.

Other Media

TV

Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1995)

Dr. Ohnn appeared in one episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, with some slight differences. For one, his powers came about from an accident that occurred when he was experimenting with portals, not Darkforce energy. Also, he could move the spots on his body to make one single spot that appeared in the middle of his chest. In the episode, he called himself The Spot instead of simply Spot.