Black Tarantula
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Black Tarantula is a fictional character appearing in
American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...
s published by
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
. The character first appears in ''
The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...
'' #419 (January 1997), and makes his first full appearance in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #432 (March 1998). Black Tarantula was created by writer
Tom DeFalco Tom DeFalco (born June 26, 1950) is an American comic book writer and editor well known for his association with Marvel Comics, with long runs on ''Amazing Spider-Man'', ''Thor'', and ''Fantastic Four''. Career While in college, DeFalco "wrote fo ...
and artist
Steve Skroce Steve Skroce () is a Canadian comic book and film storyboard artist. He is of Croatian descent. Biography Skroce broke into comics in 1993 on the Clive Barker series ''Ectokid'' for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint. He went to work on the Marv ...
who stole the name from a
Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
song.


Fictional character biography

The origin of the Black Tarantula is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. There is a legend that the Black Tarantula was a European explorer, who traveled to Japan several centuries ago and was trained by the
ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...
clan called the
Hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...
. At the end of the training he was awarded with a special potion that gave him superhuman powers and immortality. In reality, the Black Tarantula's immortality has a more earthly origin: the title is inherited from father to son, all posing as the same person (reminiscent of the comic strip character
the Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...
). Though not truly immortal, the Black Tarantula possesses a multitude of superhuman powers as a result of the potion his ancestor drank. The current Black Tarantula moves his base of operations from Argentina to New York, claiming that he wants to expand his operation. He comes into conflict with the local crime lord the Rose (Jacob Conover), and defeats the Rose's enforcer,
Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved b ...
, though he heals her severe injuries afterwards. The Black Tarantula hires
Roughouse Roughouse is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the occasional enemy of Wolverine. His first appearance was in ''Wolverine'' vol. 2, #4. The character was created by Chris C ...
and
Bloodscream Bloodscream (originally Bloodsport) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Wolverine. Publication history Bloodscream's first appearance was in ''Wolverin ...
to do his dirty work and drives back the Rose, establishing control over a large part of New York City. When the Rose goes to
Don Fortunato Vincente Fortunato is fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. An elderly crime boss affiliated with the Maggia and HYDRA, he is usually depicted as an enemy of the superhero Spider-Man, and a competitor ...
, a powerful crimelord ruling over New York City, for help, the Black Tarantula appears in person and offers Fortunato an alliance. Fortunato accepts, but the Black Tarantula has to prove his loyalty by defeating Spider-Man and bringing back his mask. Black Tarantula did as he was asked and defeated Spider-Man—not even caring who Spider-Man was under the mask—but lets him live when he learns that Spider-Man was trying to rescue a small child. Spider-Man takes on the identity of Ricochet during the "
Identity Crisis In psychology, identity crisis is a stage theory of identity development where it involves resolution of a conflict over the 8 stages of the lifespan.(Schultz, 216) The term was coined by German psychologist Erik Erikson. The stage of psychosoci ...
" storyline (faced with accusations of murder and assault, Peter temporarily abandoned the Spider-Man identity and donned four new costumes to continue his heroics while trying to clear his name), to infiltrate the Rose's organization and find out more about Black Tarantula, fighting Bloodscream and Roughouse with his former enemy Delilah (although she was, in fact, Black Tarantula's ex-wife, who had fled the country with their son, disliking the changes that Carlos underwent when he took on the mantle of Black Tarantula and did not want the same fate for her son). Furthermore, Marina had a friend, who was Don Fortunato's cousin. They ask Don Fortunato for protection and Black Tarantula attacked Don Fortunato's mansion. Inside the mansion, Black Tarantula defeats Fortunato's guards including Spider-Man again, but loses his wife when she confronts him and points out that he is scaring his own son. She reminds him what a burden the title of the Black Tarantula had been on him and Carlos relented. He leaves, but tells her that he would one day come back to take his son. Black Tarantula is later seen at
Ryker's Island The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters, such as unique places and artifacts. There follows a list of those features. Places Certain places fe ...
and is taking drugs that suppress his superhuman powers. During a riot, Black Tarantula is attacked by the assassin
Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...
, who stabs him in the chest with a playing card. Black Tarantula is released early from prison due to a record of good behavior and prison overpopulation. Carlos goes to
Matt Murdock Daredevil is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Daredevil was created by Literary editor, writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby. The c ...
for a job; Matt has him work with Dakota North, an investigator working for Nelson & Murdock. Carlos, who is dissatisfied with the job, longs for a more hands on approach to stop crime. Matt notices and takes Carlos with him to battle a
Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
gang working in
Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...
. The leader of the Yakuza gang flees from the attack; Daredevil chases him but fails to catch him because he has the flu, which is limiting his abilities. Black Tarantula and Daredevil survey the scene and notice a large pile of money. Black Tarantula says that he would like to take the money but Daredevil stops him. Later, Black Tarantula takes on a gang whose leader was hired to kill an old woman. This leader is a vengeful former recruit of Black Tarantula who, years before, Carlos had personally invited into his gang, naming him "Little Loco".''Daredevil Annual'' #1. Marvel Comics After Black Tarantula takes care of the gang, he kills Loco by choking him with the money he was paid for killing the woman. Daredevil shows up at the scene, asking what Black Tarantula has done; Black Tarantula then tells him that he plans on taking the rest of the money from the hideout. Daredevil attempts to stop him but is knocked out with a single punch from Black Tarantula. Black Tarantula collects the money and gets ready to leave, but before he goes he kneels in front of Daredevil and heals the flu he has been afflicted with. Black Tarantula leaves the money he took from the gang in a church, with a note saying "Help people with this". Carlos LaMuerto's story is focused upon again in April 2008, in a one-shot issue entitled ''Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula'', where he turns in desperation to Matt Murdock to help his new 'mission'. One morning Carlos was attacked in his apartment by a group of
Hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...
assassins. His fight is observed by
Lady Bullseye Lady Bullseye (Maki Matsumoto) is a supervillainess appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A female counterpart of Bullseye, she was created by Ed Brubaker, Marko Djurdjevic, and Clay Mann, first appearing in ''Daredevil (M ...
and he is evaluated by his performance. Some time after he defeated the assassins he was captured by
Master Izo Master Izo is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A superhero martial artist, he is associated with Daredevil, and first appeared in '' Daredevil'' vol. 2 #112. He was created by Ed Brubaker and M ...
and brought to Matt Murdock's apartment. After some explanation the group separates and
Master Izo Master Izo is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A superhero martial artist, he is associated with Daredevil, and first appeared in '' Daredevil'' vol. 2 #112. He was created by Ed Brubaker and M ...
and Black Tarantula are tracked by a Hand ninja. As they chase after him, they are led to pictures of some of the greatest martial artists including Carlos himself,
Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...
,
White Tiger The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the Mainland tiger. It is reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, in the Sunderbans region and ...
, and
Shang-Chi Zheng Shang-Chi ( ), also known as the Master of Kung Fu and Brother Hand, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin, debuting in '' ...
. While out patrolling, Black Tarantula runs into White Tiger being attacked by Hand ninjas exactly like he was. After diving in to help her he is killed by White Tiger and resurrected by the Hand as an assassin. Carlos then leads an attack against Daredevil at his home along with White Tiger, Lady Bullseye, and Lord Hirochi. They were fought off after Daredevil was joined by Master Izo and Iron Fist. Black Tarantula defeated Iron Fist but stopped White Tiger from killing him, giving the excuse that he did not want the competition. Black Tarantula and White Tiger are then given the assignment to kill
Foggy Nelson Franklin Percy "Foggy" Nelson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as part of the supporting cast of Daredevil (Matt Murdock); Foggy is Matt's best friend and, for ...
by Lady Bullseye, who has been hired by the Owl. Black Tarantula instead saves Foggy's life and then battles White Tiger, attempting to cure her of the Hand's influence. When Matt Murdock took over leadership of the Hand, Black Tarantula became Matt Murdock's lieutenant, along with White Tiger. He then currently ran the Hand in North America and oversaw the construction of " Shadowland" while Matt and White Tiger were in Japan, meeting high ranking Hand leaders from across the globe and discussing Murdock's vision of a more heroic Hand. While New York was in crisis, Black Tarantula is ordered by White Tiger to execute looters, but he becomes confused and sees that something is wrong with Matt Murdock's motives. However, White Tiger was still possessed by the Hand and stabbed Black Tarantula in his back with a blade, and tossed him over the edge of Shadowland to fall into a vehicle, leaving him for dead. In the aftermath, it is revealed that Black Tarantula is still alive, having been cared for by Night Nurse following his confrontation with White Tiger. During the " Hunted" storyline, Black Tarantula is among the animal-themed characters that are captured by Taskmaster and Black Ant for
Kraven the Hunter Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff; Russian: Сергей Кравинов) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' issue #15 (August 1964) as an adversary to ...
's "Great Hunt" sponsored by
Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...
's company Arcade Industries. He was seen watching the fight between Spider-Man and
Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
until the Hunter-Bots created by Arcade Industries arrives.''The Amazing Spider-Man'' vol. 5 #17. Marvel Comics.


Powers and abilities

Black Tarantula possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) up to 25 tons. He also possesses superhuman speed, reflexes and reactions, agility, and durability of an unquantified degree. He has a powerful healing factor on a par with the likes of
Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...
or
Deadpool Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadp ...
that, combined with his superhuman durability, make him extremely difficult to seriously injure. He is also able to stimulate the healing process in other people's bodies, though he rarely does this. He is able to fire laser-like beams from his eyes, but this drains his physical resources severely, so it is only used as a last resort. Spider-Man claims that it is not possible for himself to physically match Black Tarantula because the latter is not only stronger than him, but also faster and more agile. Black Tarantula is also skilled at different forms of martial arts, and has a genius level intellect.


Other versions


MC2

In the alternate future MC2, Fabian LaMuerto, the son of the current Black Tarantula, has taken up his father's mantle. Fabian wears a variation of his father's suit, removing the sleeves and using futuristic metal gauntlets and boot-soles, and possesses the same superhuman powers as his father. He is also trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. He made his first appearance in a conflict with the crime lord Canis. Many originally thought he was responsible for the death of
Wilson Fisk The Kingpin (Wilson Grant Fisk) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., and first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #50 (cover-dated July 19 ...
. It was proven later to be Canis. Fabian later confronted Canis, and was about to kill him, until Spider-Girl intervened. She talked Fabian out of committing the act, after which he departed. Later, the Black Tarantula started to show an interest in May's crime fighting career and actively supported her by providing her with a strike team for backup. Spider-Girl later discovers though, that he is working with
Lady Octopus Lady Octopus (Carolyn Trainer), also known as Doctor Octopus II, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily as an enemy to the superheroes Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider. The character is the protégé ...
to replace Canis as the Kingpin of Crime. Feeling betrayed, she accused him of using her. Fabian denied it, stating he is fascinated by her and that they are destined to be friends, if not more. Kaine and his team arrive, buying Lady Octopus time to run, while being pursued by
Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on ...
and Spider-Girl. Black Tarantula defeats the combined forces of Kaine, Quickwire, and Big Man. He then willingly surrenders to Spider-Girl, not wanting to harm her. Fabian later escapes custody. Though a criminal, this Black Tarantula has a deep sense of honor, and he has helped support Spider-Girl's crime-fighting career. He does have a hidden agenda, however—he hopes to win her over as "his mate". Black Tarantula and Spider-Girl face each other often, and their story is ongoing. He attempted to negotiate with the Cabal of Scriers (the former lackeys of
Norman Osborn Norman Osborn is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character, created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #14 (July 1964) as the first ...
) to call off their hit on Spider-Girl, and when this failed, he challenged their leader to mortal combat for leadership of the Cabal. Victorious, he ordered the hit canceled. In ''The Amazing Spider-Girl'' #3 it is revealed that after the time jump between the series, the Black Tarantula is the current Kingpin of Crime and it is implied that he is interested in the mysterious item that Mona Carlo is carrying. Mona, a known con artist, stole a disk from her boyfriend and was planning to sell it. The disk supposedly contained information about the organization of Wilson Fisk. Black Tarantula and the
Hobgoblin A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nigh ...
were about to start a war to obtain it. With the help of
Mad Dog Mad dog is a phrase commonly attributed to rabid dogs. Mad Dog may also refer to: Music * ''Mad Dog'' (album), an album by John Entwistle * "Mad Dog", a song by America from '' Holiday'' * "Mad Dog", a song by Deep Purple from '' The House of B ...
, Spider-Girl obtained the disk and left Mona safely with the police. Chesbro reported to Black Tarantula about Spider-Girl's interference. Fabian decided to move on, but sent a threat to the Hobgoblin, warning him to "back off" from Spider-Girl.


In other media


Video games

* Black Tarantula appears in ''Marvel: War of Heroes''. * Black Tarantula appears in ''
Spider-Man Unlimited ''Spider-Man Unlimited'' is an American animated series by Saban Entertainment which features the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man, intended as a loose sequel series to the previous '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series'', which ran from 199 ...
''.


References


External links


Profile at Spiderfan.org


at Marvel Appendix {{Spider-Man characters Fictional Argentine people Comics characters introduced in 1997 Fictional drug dealers Fictional ninja Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Marvel Comics male supervillains Marvel Comics martial artists Marvel Comics mutates Characters created by Tom DeFalco Spider-Man characters Fictional crime bosses Vigilante characters in comics