The Hornet is an identity used by three fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters appear in the Marvel Universe, one villain, and two heroes. Both the first and third Hornets have suffered from physical disabilities.
Video Hornet (comics)
Publication history
Although the armor of the third Hornet first appeared in Spider-Man as one of the four new superheroes Peter Parker had taken on, this version first appeared in Slingers #0 and was created by Joseph Harris, Todd DeZago, and Mike Wieringo. Speculation that the deceased Hornet in Wolverine #23 was not Eddie, but instead someone else who took on the name and costume, has been disproven by Loners writer C. B. Cebulski, and Loners #2 states that Hornet was indeed killed by Wolverine.
Maps Hornet (comics)
Fictional character biography
Scotty McDowell
Scotty McDowell was a wheelchair-using criminologist, who assisted Spider-Woman on her cases. He was kidnapped by the mad scientist Karl Malus, who injected Scotty with a formula composed of human and insect DNA, as well as several kinds of medicine. Spider-Woman rescued Scotty, who seemed fine.
Scotty began to suffer from nightmares in which he killed Spider-Woman. He awoke to discover that he had great strength and insect-like wings that allowed him to fly (but still unable to walk). He then received a costume in the mail (sent by Malus), and when he put it on, had a personality shift, becoming aggressive and chauvinistic. He flew around as the Hornet, and started out as a hero, saving people, and working with Spider-Woman. He even learned that he could throw bursts of bio-electricity.
But Hornet became more and more resentful of Spider-Woman, and began to endanger the innocents he was "helping", even striking an onlooker with one of his electric blasts. When he nearly killed some thieves, Spider-Woman was sent after him. However, Hornet's abilities were almost a match for hers, and unlike Spider-Woman, he wasn't trying to hold back for fear of hurting his friend. After a prolonged battle, Spider-Woman was able to subdue the Hornet, who was nearly homicidal by this point. She learned that Malus had altered Scotty into the Hornet, for the sole purpose of having her die at the hands of a friend. Spider-Woman was able to flush the formula from Scotty's bloodstream, and revert him to normal (stripping him of both his powers and aggression).
Afterwards, Spider-Woman learned that although the formula did make him more aggressive, the resentment he felt towards her was real. Scotty admitted he was in love with her, but felt that she didn't notice him. He was also jealous of the attention she garnered with her heroic deeds. This put a strain on their friendship, and Spider-Woman ended their "working relationship". McDowell accepted this as well, taking a job farther away so as to preserve what was left of their friendship.
Peter Parker
When Spider-Man was accused of murder during the Identity Crisis storyline, Peter Parker donned four different costumes to continue saving lives without anyone knowing it was him. The Hornet costume was designed by Mary Jane Watson-Parker and the weapon gauntlets were designed by Spider-Man based on Ben Reilly's stinger launching pod built within his web-shooters. The cybernetically-controlled wing harness was designed by Hobie Brown, the Prowler, who never used it as it was too heavy to be worn by a person of normal strength. Spider-Man, however, was easily able to wear it.
He used it with great success for several days, becoming a popular hero with the media after his debut featured him thwarting the Looter's attempt to rob the Daily Bugle. However, during a battle, the Vulture realized that he was actually Spider-Man and exposed him. He abandoned the Hornet persona, and soon after cleared his name.
Although the hero called Black Marvel later gave Eddie McDonough a duplicate Hornet costume, Spider-Man remained in possession of the original, except for the flight harness which was returned to Hobie Brown.
Eddie McDonough
Eddie McDonough was a science whiz who compensated for his palsied right arm with a knack for inventing. He was given the Hornet costume by the Black Marvel, and joined the Slingers. Eddie was able to modify the harness, making it light enough to wear. He also added additional weaponry, and made the costume more like a suit of armor (and even enabled the costume to enhance his strength). As the new Hornet, Eddie was more confident than he was normally. With the suit enhancing his strength, nobody (but his teammate Dusk) noticed that his right arm was normally weaker and atrophied. Hornet fought mutant rats, gangsters, and demons with his powers. Hornet also had to fight team leader Prodigy to save his friend Ricochet and even the villains they were fighting from the superhumanly strong "hero". Hornet also tried to win the affections of his teammate Dusk, but she was more attracted to the energetic Ricochet.
Hornet learned that the Black Marvel had made a deal with the demon Mephisto, to return his powers and youth, and let him train new heroes (the Slingers), and when Mephisto collected the Black Marvel's soul, he took the Slingers too and sent them to Hell. He offered them the chance to leave, if they abandoned Black Marvel. While the other Slingers wanted to leave Black Marvel to his fate, Hornet was able to forgive the old man, and convinced the others to help free him. Black Marvel died in the attempt, but Hornet's act of forgiveness enabled the Black Marvel's soul to ascend to a better place. In doing so, Hornet's armor and Prodigy's powers were surrendered and lost. The team disbanded and the depowered Hornet and Prodigy apparently retired from superheroics.
At some point, Johnny and Eddie returned to fighting crime together under their old identities. Hornet ended up going alone against HYDRA and a mind-controlled Wolverine as they attacked the Stark International building and was killed. Nick Fury, Elektra, and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents later found his corpse at the scene. Somehow, agents initially mistook Hornet's body for Spider-Man's, Fury musing grimly on the tragedy of the man dying a hero when nobody could even remember his name. Elektra then beheaded the corpse in order to prevent the Hand from resurrecting him into their army.
Silas Burr
Following Hydra's takeover of America, a man in Eddie's Hornet costume appears in Las Vegas, hired by the Forbidden City casino owner named Silas Thorne to stage a robbery of a mass food delivery being sent to another casino, as Silas Thorne claims that casino owner Cassandra Mercury will simply take all of the food for herself and her employees rather than pass it around. The Hornet is able to defeat most of casino security before he is intercepted by Scarlet Spider/ Hornet declines to answer questions about his apparent resurrection and flees. When Scarlet Spider and Ricochet track Hornet to the Forbidden City casino where Silas Thorne works, the Hornet uses a strange amulet to summon an army of monsters, subsequently introducing himself to Ricochet as "Silas" during the fight. After the Scarlet Spider damages the amulet, the monsters are contained by Dusk, but Hornet flees in the resulting confusion. He brings the rest of the Slingers together, claiming that he has been chosen by the Black Marvel, and the team are ordered to capture the Scarlet Spider to charge him for his attack on Silas Thorne. As the two Scarlet Spiders confront the Slingers, it is revealed that the Black Marvel has no soul and the Hornet is actually a resurrected Cyber who was brought back to life by an as-yet-unidentified entity that was posing as Black Marvel.
Powers and abilities
As the Hornet, Scotty was superhumanly strong and had insect-like wings on his back that allowed him to fly at high-speeds. He could project focused bursts of bio-electricity (his "Hornet Sting") that could stun or kill a person.
In addition to his regular abilities, the Hornet costume gave Spider-Man the ability to fly and shoot fast-acting sedative stinger darts.
The Hornet costume Eddie wore had a jet-powered wing harness that enabled Eddie to fly at high speeds. Micro-servos in the armored suit enhanced his strength to superhuman levels. His gauntlets contained wrist blasters that could fire darts filled with a fast-acting sedative, or powerful laser-beams.
The Silas Burr version of Hornet appears to retain the costume of his predecessor, which includes a jet-powered wing harness that enabled high-speed flight, enhanced strength through micro-servos in the armored suit, and wrist blasters in the gauntlets that could fire darts filled with a fast-acting sedative, or powerful laser-beams. He has also been shown using an amulet that allows him to summon a twisted demon creature, but it is unclear if he can do this on a regular basis after the amulet that allowed him to summon the creature was destroyed.
In other media
Video games
- Hornet appears as a downloadable costume in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.
- Hornet appears as an additional costume in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game.
References
External links
- Hornet on the Marvel Univerese Character Bio Wiki
- Hornet (McDonough) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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