Sting Operation
A few months later, the Scorpion escaped from jail, his rage focused on Jameson, blaming him for his public humiliation and losing his normal existence. Publishing a disparaging headline, Jameson lured Spider-Man to his office to protect him. When the Scorpion attacked Jameson, Spider-Man tangled Gargan with “web bolas” and dropped him into the Hudson River; Scorpion was again imprisoned.
Paroled, Scorpion was hired by an unidentified spy ring to follow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter. He was defeated by Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, and taken into custody, where the android assassin Mr. Kline somehow captured him and Calvin Zabo, AKA Mister Hyde. Kline made android duplicates of the Scorpion and Hyde and sent them against Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil. Following Kline’s defeat, Scorpion and Hyde escaped and, assuming S.H.I.E.L.D. had held them, terrorized S.H.I.E.L.D. agents until being stopped by Captain America and Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon.
Gargan was released from a federal penitentiary on good behavior, but soon robbed a bank. Spider-Man clashed with the Scorpion, who left him for dead in a construction site’s concrete vat; Spider-Man, however, survived. In Monticello, New York, the Scorpion failed to take over territory from gangster Constanzo Santonio, claiming to kill Spider-Man though the wall-crawler was seen on TV. Running from the gangsters, the Scorpion was recruited by Dr. Miles Warren, AKA Jackal, to find Spider-Man at a Midtown Manhattan hospital (where his aunt, May Parker, was recovering). After finding the stolen money in the Scorpion’s apartment, Spider-Man visited his ailing aunt. The Scorpion manhandled bed-ridden May for Spider-Man’s location, but Spider-Man quickly directed the fight outside, and saved the Scorpion from falling on the condition that he apologize to the angry May before the police took him away.
Eventually escaping prison, the Scorpion’s sanity deteriorated as he believed himself trapped in his costume. The Scorpion purchased weapons manufacturer Kerwin Korman’s Brooklyn lab where he attempted to immerse an abducted Jameson in acid; Carol Danvers, AKA Ms. Marvel, rescued Jameson after throwing the Scorpion into the acid. The Scorpion was taken captive by Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) agents, but escaped and rampaged, mad with pain from his burns. A rematch with Ms. Marvel was interrupted by Korman, AKA the Destructor, leaving the Scorpion to flee to New York’s sewers, locating Stillwell’s laboratory. Unable to remove his powers, he instead painfully repeated Stillwell’s procedure, healing his acid burns, and apparently making him stronger, but more mentally unstable. Spider-Man subdued and unmasked Scorpion at the Daily Bugle, proving that the suit could be removed. By feigning mental incompetence, Gargan was placed in a mental institution.
Escaping, he once again targeted Jameson, but was thwarted by Captain America and Spider-Man. The Scorpion was freed from prison by agents Egghead and recruited into his Masters of Evil alongside Moonstone and Whirlwind, but was swiftly defeated by the Avengers and imprisoned anew.
When Roderick Kingsley, AKA Hobgoblin, blackmailed Jameson about his role in creating Scorpion, Jameson revealed the truth in a public confession within the Daily Bugle and stepped down from the newspaper. Whether Scorpion knew of this confession or not, the Scorpion again escaped and tried to ruin Jameson’s upcoming wedding by kidnapping his son, John, and bride-to-be Marla Madison. Spider-Man once more defended Jameson, rescued his loved ones and defeated the Scorpion.
Again at large, the Scorpion obtained his second costume design from Justin Hammer—including a more powerful spiked tail—in exchange for kidnapping General Chester Musgrave for illegal business dealings in Europe. Though the Scorpion defeated Spider-Man and captured Musgrave, hearing how the Daily Bugle would profit from the headlines of the kidnapping enraged him enough to renege on his deal with Hammer and demand Jameson take the place of the general; Jameson did not respond. Hammer retaliated against his rogue agent, sending Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino, and Mark Scarlotti, AKA Blacklash, after the Scorpion. While Spider-Man rescued Musgrave (pursued by Blacklash), the Rhino crushed the Scorpion and pulled out his tail before fleeing.
Under the ancient evil Llan the Sorcerer’s influence, Scorpion and other Super Villains were lured to Canada, supposedly fleeing the United States over the threat of passage of the Super-Powers Registration Act (a failed precursor to the enacted Superhuman Registration Act). Llan planned to build a small army to instigate combat, which provided him mystical energy to free the Forces of Darkness. The Tinkerer supplied the Scorpion with a simplified costume similar to Justin Hammer’s. In Winnipeg, the Scorpion went on a killing spree until confronted by Diamond Lil. The Scorpion, joined by Leland Owlsley, AKA Owl, Nekra Sinclair, AKA Nekra, and Cleo Nefertiti, AKA Asp, warred against Alpha Flight and Gamma Flight until Jane St. Ives, AKA Nemesis, cut off part of Scorpion’s tail and Ananym, AKA Witchfire, severed Llan’s control over his army, causing the villains to collapse.
After Spider-Man accepted power removal from “Dr. Turner” (secretly Dmitri Kravinoff, AKA Chameleon) in hopes of retiring, the Chameleon hired Scorpion to kill Spider-Man. With a new costume the Chameleon purchased from Hammer, the Scorpion kidnapped Jameson, demanding Spider-Man take Jameson’s place. The Black Cat shorted out Scorpion’s tail and helped the powerless Spider-Man free Jameson. The Scorpion’s mention of Turner led Spider-Man to investigate, leading to a battle with Scorpion and Chameleon’s agents, and Spider-Man recovered his powers, though Black Cat lost hers; all of the villains except the Chameleon were captured. Free again, the Scorpion got an updated costume from the Tinkerer, now able to electrify his tail. He assaulted Spider-Man and Black Cat, but electrocuted himself by impaling his tail into an amoeboid Spider-Slayer robot attacking Spider-Man.
The Scorpion befriended mentally ill millionaire Phillip Cussler Sr. while wandering despondently through Manhattan’s sewers. The Scorpion and Cussler partnered to sabotage and rob Cussler’s son, Philip Jr., who had taken ownership of his father’s china shops. After Spider-Man accidentally knocked out Cussler Sr., hospitalizing the old man, Gargan considered quitting crime and living in Cussler’s underground hideaway. Spider-Man located the costume-less Gargan, and beat him until halted by a sentient slime living in the sewers, allowing Gargan to escape.
Earning biological enhancements and a third suit with a poisonous stinger, the Scorpion served corrupt corporation Roxxon Oil, which hoped to take over Rand/Meachum to create or augment super-powered agents. Holding Jameson hostage to suppress an exposé on Rand/Meachum, the Scorpion was defeated by Spider-Man (Peter Parker’s clone, Ben Reilly), Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Danny Rand, AKA Iron Fist. The Scorpion was seemingly killed remotely by neurotoxins rigged into his costume, but was revived and escaped while being driven away by police. The Scorpion resurfaced at a press conference announcing his conversion from criminal to patriotic mercenary through Roxxon’s “Rehabilitation Therapy.”
Marla Madison, working with the Justice Department, staged a lecture to draw out the Scorpion. Taking the bait, the Scorpion and Carlos Lamerto, AKA Black Tarantula’s men kidnapped Jameson and Marla to Roxxon’s secret facility on Tarantula’s land in Bolivia. The Scorpion stung Jameson to coerce Marla into leading a bio-engineering research team to make superhuman agents. Spider-Man (once again Peter Parker), who had stowed aboard the Tarantula’s plane, attacked the Scorpion, stinging him with his own tail. Marla alerted the authorities, who provided antidotes to the Scorpion’s stings and launched a federal indictment against Roxxon.
An unrevealed benefactor freed the Scorpion from prison, brainwashing him to serve as a mercenary and providing a powerful fourth costume. Tasked to find Peter Parker at his new job at Tricorp, he brushed aside new “Spider-Man” Mattie Franklin, until Peter electrocuted the Scorpion. Oil baron Buck Masterson hired the Scorpion to battle Spider-Man as part of a group of four wealthy businessmen wagering on the outcome of local Super Hero fights. Teamed with robot XP-2000, the Scorpion (in a modified second costume) was defeated. Later, the Scorpion and assassin Delilah formed the short-lived “Spider-Man Revenge League.” After failing to recruit Katrina van Horne, AKA Man-Killer, and Daniel Axum, the sole Squad members were once again left to the police by Spider-Man.
Norman Osborn then offered the Scorpion increased strength, an improved costume and Spider-Man’s secret identity. In exchange, if Osborn were ever to be arrested or publicly exposed by Spider-Man, Gargan was to retaliate by kidnapping May Parker. Accepting Osborn’s terms, Gargan was augmented, though somewhat disfigured by the operations. After Spider-Man was instrumental in Osborn’s arrest, Gargan secretly buried May alive to coerce Spider-Man into liberating Osborn. Shortly thereafter, the Venom symbiote bonded with Gargan and he joined with the Sinister Twelve, but Spider-Man pulled an abandoned building down on him and he was again incarcerated.
Escaping prison, Gargan was transported into outer space on the restored Battleworld with other super-powered individuals. Instructed to eliminate his competition by the Stranger (posing as the Beyonder) with promises of all that he desired, Venom seemingly killed Spider-Man (actually a Space Phantom) and abandoned the team. Later, as the team traveled to Limbo to capture the Space Phantom, Venom destroyed the equipment of a Skrull impersonating Hank Pym, trapping them. The team escaped Limbo, while “Pym” tricked the Stranger into ending the Battleworld experiments. After Greg Willis, AKA Gravity, sacrificed himself, pushing his powers to the limits to hold the disintegrating Battleworld together while creating a gravity tube for the team's escape, Venom and the others returned home.
After passage of the Superhuman Registration Act, Venom was invited to join the Thunderbolts under Director Norman Osborn, controlled via batrachotoxin poison traps in his handcuffs and implantation of a nanotech control net that would deliver an electric shock upon disobedience. As a Thunderbolt, tasked to detain rogue unregistered super heroes, Venom received unprecedented public acceptance with intense marketing and merchandising. In his first missions, he was restrained from biting during Jack Harrison, AKA Jack Flag’s arrest, but on another assignment, Venom ate the Ichigo Uzimaki, AKA Steel Spider’s arm. After helping to arrest the Jury, four psychics (Caprice, Eric Gelden, AKA Mindwave, Mirage, and Bluestreak) allowed themselves to be captured by the Thunderbolts, driving the Thunderbolts insane from within Thunderbolt Mountain. Venom ate several guards before Andreas Strucker, AKA Swordsman, impaled him; while the symbiote helped heal Gargan, Bullseye killed all the imprisoned psychics.
Gargan was coerced to secretly meet with Whirlwind, Mr. Hyde, Fred Myers, AKA Boomerang, and Todd Arliss, AKA Tiger Shark. The four offered Gargan his freedom from the Thunderbolts if he delivered Osborn to them. If he refused, the team threatened to tell Osborn about Gargan’s theft from Osborn years before. Gargan told Osborn everything, and returned to the four villains feigning his acquiescence. Osborn and Venom defeated the four in a surprise attack. For his loyalty, Venom was offered a day each month free from the nanochain. Following Scorpion’s eating Swarm‘s skeleton, a worldwide alien Skrull invasion erupted. In Washington, D.C., Venom was unleashed, viciously battling the Skrull armies before heading to New York’s Central Park, where Earth’s heroes and villains joined forces against the Skrulls. Killing the Skrull queen, Veranke, Osborn became celebrated around the world. While in New York, the Venom symbiote was drawn to visit its former host, Eddie Brock, healed of his cancer and transformed into Anti-Venom. As the two clashed, Anti-Venom’s touch severely injured the symbiote. Osborn, using the hyper-evolving Freak, healed Venom contained within his Sinister Twelve Scorpion costume to briefly battle Spider-Man and Anti-Venom.
With Osborn leading S.H.I.E.L.D. (renamed HAMMER), the Thunderbolts officially disbanded, while Gargan secretly became “Spider-Man” for Osborn’s Avengers team. Gargan toyed with newly elected mayor, J. Jonah Jameson, leaving a dead prostitute on his bed, and (as “Kilgore Trout”) inciting two rival New York gangs to war, while (as Spider-Man) assigned to help Jonah maintain order. A motley band of mostly Gargan’s victims formed under Dr. Shep Gunderson, AKA Redeemer, to supposedly reform Venom. Instead, Venom ravaged the team. The now limbless Redeemer sent photos of “Spider-Man’s” horrific deeds to Mayor Jameson, prompting Osborn to dispatch Bullseye and Akihiro, AKA Daken, to kill Venom. However, “Spider-Man” publicly defeated the two assassins, both gang leaders and the Redeemer’s team, earning public adulation, and changing Osborn’s mind. Taking behavior medication, Venom’s position on the Avengers remained tenuous. He participated in Osborn’s siege of Asgard and devoured Asgardians, though New Avengers’ members Spider-Man and Carol Danvers, AKA Ms. Marvel, pulled the symbiote apart from Gargan to stop him.
Incarcerated at the Raft, Gargan was separated from the symbiote because it conflicted with his original genetic mutation. He was then liberated from the Raft by Alistair Smythe, AKA Spider-Slayer, and outfitted with a fifth Scorpion suit. Smythe desired revenge on Jameson and invited Scorpion along. They joined with Super Villain Fly-Grl and other minions and attacked the now Mayor J. Jonah Jameson and his wife Marla, and held them for ransom. Though Spider-Slayer killed Marla, both Spider-Slayer and Scorpion were defeated by Spider-Man and the New Avengers, and arrested again.
In a scheme to save Dr. Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus’ dying body, who was inhabited by Spider-Man, Scorpion got involved alongside Morris Bench, AKA Hydro-Man but is thwarted accidentally by Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man’s body who instinctively punched Scorpion so hard in his jaw that it breaks away from his head. His jaw was later replaced with metal and he is once again approached by Smythe to kill Spider-Man and go after Mayor Jameson.
Later, Scorpion encountered Miguel O’Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099, and mistaking him for his Spider-Man, he attacked him with robotic Spider-Slayers until Spider-Man 2099 projected a hologram over Scorpion, tricking the Spider-Slayers into attacking Scorpion. Though, Scorpion survives the attack.
When Scorpion worked for Black Cat’s gang, he became suspicious of Lee Price, a man involved in their black market sale. Scorpion donned a sixth iteration of the Scorpion armor and, in feigning an alliance with Price, he attacked him. Though Price had the Venom Symbiote and while he nearly killed Scorpion, Spider-Man intervened thinking this Venom was Flash Thompson.
Scorpion later joined the Savage Six.
