Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Jabroniville]

MENDEL STROMM (aka The Robot Master, Gaunt)
Created By: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko

I vaguely remember this guy as the adversary of Christopher Bennett's Spidey novel, Drowned in Thunder.

The next two guys are also part of some of the Spidey novels, actually. I only discovered them because of Wikipedia's "List of Spider-Man Characters".

[Jabroniville]

THE FINISHER (Karl Fiers)
Created By: Stan Lee & Larry Lieber
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 (Nov. 1968)
Role: One-Off Character
PL 7 (89)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+7)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Tracker) 10 (+13)
Intimidation 2 (+4)
Investigation 4 (+7)
Perception 6 (+9)
Stealth 4 (+7)
Technology 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Weapons & Gear), Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Guns & Stuff +8 (+4-6 Ranged Damage, DC 19-21)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 8 (89)

-The Finisher is the hired hand who murdered Richard & Mary Parker, under the orders of the Communist Red Skull (it's kind of funny to me that they chose that guy to off the Parkers- was it supposed to be the original one and they had to Retcon it? When did that change take place?). He messed with their plane, causing them to perish. When Peter Parker discovered that his parents were thought of as traitors, he moved to clear their names- The Finisher was put to the task of tracking and killing him.

-Tracking Spidey from a single piece of cloth (his trademark trick, apparently), he launched a missile at his target, but when Spider-Man dodged it, it flew straight back to the Finisher's limousine, killing him. This probably makes him the single dumbest villain to ever fight Spider-Man, killed by accident without Spidey ever even SEEING him! A dying Finisher confessed his crimes to Spider-Man, convincing him of the rightness of his cause.

-A pretty useless crook, all in all, he is nonetheless a fantastic tracker, said to be able to find his target with only a single scrap of cloth.

[Davies]

Right, this guy's the brother of the big bad of Adam Troy Castro's Sinister Six trilogy.

As to your question about the Red Skull, I believe that there's nothing in the Annual's storyline that indicates that this isn't the real Red Skull, and that the retcon likely came in because Stan Lee forgot (his bad memory is proverbial) that Jack Kirby had established that the Skull was also frozen in the years between the end of World War II and his first modern appearance in 1966. The change would thus have come in after the reveal that there had been an anti-communist Captain America fighting a communist Red Skull in the 50s, so in 1972.

[Jabroniville]

THE GENTLEMAN (Gustav Fiers)
Created By: Adam-Troy Castro
First Appearance: Spider-Man: The Gathering of the Sinister Six (1999 novel)
Role: Behind-The-Scenes Manipulator
Group Affiliations: None
PL 0 (63), PL 3 (63) Defenses, PL 5 (63) Skills
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 5 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 10 (+14)
Expertise (History) 7 (+12)
Expertise (Criminal) 10 (+15)
Expertise (Business) 5 (+10)
Insight 7 (+12)
Perception 1 (+6)

Advantages:
Benefit 6 (Wealth, Influence)

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +0 (DC 10), Parry +0 (DC 10), Toughness +0, Fortitude +0, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Dr. George Williams- Treasury Agent)- The two have engaged in a cat & mouse game for decades.

Total: Abilities: 36 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 1 (63)

-This mostly-unknown figure comes from a Spider-Man novel trilogy from the late '90s, but has since appeared in both the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man film (!!), AND the mainstream Marvel Universe. Now, the whole "Peter's father was murdered" thing was more of an undercurrent to the films, so I didn't even really pick up on the guy (who was named Gustav in the film itself, apparently), and since Disney owns the rights again, that whole thing's a dead deal. So, uh... so much for this guy's importance.

-The Gentleman is the brother of The Finisher (the killer of Spider-Man's parents), and is known in the underworld as an elaborate planner and wealthy sort of guy. He's said to be behind the scenes in many important world events. He hated regular people, and visited poor parts of the world just to solidify his belief in his own superiority. He allied with the Red Skull himself during World War II, growing to respect the man, which pretty much proves his evil right there (even THE JOKER didn't like the Red Skull).

-He worked with the replacement Skull and had Richard & Mary Parker killed, and later discovered Spider-Man's secret identity owing to his continued interest in their son (whom he wanted as a challenge). When his brother died because of Spidey, The Gentleman took it personally. He hired the Sinister Six (now including his longtime ally, The Chameleon) to do a bunch of stuff, but outsmarted himself- the Chameleon got greedy and shot him, leading him to bleed to death penniless (he'd spent his fortune hiring the Six)- his old enemy Dr. Williams taunted him, tossing a penny just out of reach, joking that the Gentleman might reach it "before blood loss sends you to Hell"- he bleeds out and is buried in a pauper's grave.

-The character, whom I'd never heard of till checking Wikipedia for any last-minute Spidey characters, appeared during the comics in Civil War II, as an associate of The Kingpin. All he appears to do is agree to follow Janus, the Kingpin's successor.

-The version in the novel is a particularly dangerous kind of opponent- a master of plans and plots, but not a combatant. Focusing on killing by proxy, he's particularly difficult for more physical characters like Spider-Man to fight.

[Jabroniville]

Right, this guy's the brother of the big bad of Adam Troy Castro's Sinister Six trilogy.

As to your question about the Red Skull, I believe that there's nothing in the Annual's storyline that indicates that this isn't the real Red Skull, and that the retcon likely came in because Stan Lee forgot (his bad memory is proverbial) that Jack Kirby had established that the Skull was also frozen in the years between the end of World War II and his first modern appearance in 1966.

Yeah, and thinking about it, the "Intermediary Red Skull" thing likely came about as a result of the "Captain America- Commie Hunter" retcon that established that Steve Rogers was frozen in 1944-ish, and that the subsequent adventures were by other guys. So in a 1968 story, this would've likely been the ORIGINAL Red Skull, which would have given the story a lot more "kick".

[KorokoMystia]

Ah, the Gentleman. I only know of him because, like most people, I had no frickin' idea who the guy that appeared in the post-credits scene in "The Amazing Spider-Man" was, until I researched it and found out who it was. I really wonder what made them want to use him in the movies. I'd heard rumors that they wanted to make a Sinister Six movie, but of course, that never happened.

[Jabroniville]

Ah, the Gentleman. I only know of him because, like most people, I had no frickin' idea who the guy that appeared in the post-credits scene in "The Amazing Spider-Man" was, until I researched it and found out who it was. I really wonder what made them want to use him in the movies. I'd heard rumors that they wanted to make a Sinister Six movie, but of course, that never happened.

What's funny is with him, Finisher & Stromm, I was like "WTF? They used these guys in the movies!?!?" I swear I didn't even think they were comic book characters- just backgrounders or random guys they added. Maybe because I figured I KNEW all the guys from Spidey's backstory, and so "Generic Scientists #405" from the first Spider-Man didn't seem to be a named character, just "Dr. Stromm" or something. It was kind of neat that they put some more obscure names out there, at least.

[Jabroniville]

THE RED SKULL III (Albert Malik)
Created By: Stan Lee & Carmine Infantino
First Appearance: Captain America #61 (March 1947)
Role: Replacement Big Bad
Group Affiliations: The KGB
PL 7 (95)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Deception 7 (+11)
Expertise (Government Agent) 7 (+10)
Insight 4 (+7)
Intimidation 4 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+6)
Perception 3 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+7)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (Wealth), Contacts, Equipment 2 (Gun +5), Ranged Attack 4

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +8 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +3, Fortitude +5, Will +6

Complications:
Motivation (Power)- Malik, like Schmidt, wants to hold power, and is willing to kill anyone to get it.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 10 (95)

-With the "1950s Cap" problem being solved with the creation of The Grand Director & Nomad, we also had another issue- the "1950s Red Skull", a Communist-themed villain who was supposed to be the original guy. However, with the Skull having been thrown into suspended animation (coincidentally right when Steve and Bucky were- comics are funny like that) in 1945, we had an issue. Therefore, Albert Malik, a Soviet spy in a mask, was created, and HE was the guy fighting off-and-on with "Cap" in the Post-War years. This guy was basically an eyeblink of history, yet has a major impact on continuity nonetheless- he is the killer of Richard & Mary Parker, the parents of Spider-Man.

-He rarely appeared (at one point, Silver Sable hired Sandman, Hawkeye & Le Peregrine to stop him from detonating a nuclear bomb), and never even really crossed paths with the REAL Red Skull, but was nonetheless gunned-down in the final moments of The Captain arc, when a Scourge of the Underworld assassinated him under orders from Johann Schmidt. He's basically a very scaled-down Skull, not being as good in combat.

[Jabroniville]

JACKPOT I (Sara Ehret)
Created By: Dan Slott & Phil Jiminez
First Appearance: Spider-Man: Swing Shift (May 2007)
Role: Failed Rookie Hero
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (65)
STRENGTH 6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+8)
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+5)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +6, Fortitude +6, Will +3

Complications:
Responsibility (Doesn't Want To Be A Hero)- Sara doesn't feel cut out for the heroing business, and quickly gives up her role. A lecture from Spider-Man convinces her to try again, but then her husband dies. Nice going, Spidey.

Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 11 (65)



JACKPOT II (Alana Jobson)
Created By: Dan Slott & Phil Jiminez
First Appearance: Spider-Man: Swing Shift (May 2007)
Role: Failed Rookie Hero
Group Affiliations: None
PL 6 (57)
STRENGTH 0/6 STAMINA 0/6 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2/6 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 3 (+3)
Expertise (Science) 3 (+5)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Mutant Growth Hormone"
Enhanced Strength 6 [12]
Enhanced Stamina 6 [12]
Enhanced Fighting 4 [8]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
MGH +6 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +6, Fortitude +6, Will +2

Complications:
Motivation (Excitement)- Alana thinks that being a hero will be fun, so she literally buys her way into it.
Secret/Power Loss (MGH)- Alana is using Mutant Growth Hormone to gain powers. Without regular applications, she drops to human-level stats.

Total: Abilities: 12 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 33 / Defenses: 8 (57)

-Jackpot is a fairly recent character, created by Dan Slott as a bit of a "new hero" concept for a "Free Comic Book Day" giveaway, at which point she started recurring in ASM, before getting her own Limited Series. Her identity was initially up in the air- she physically looked a lot like Mary Jane, giving fans a hint (never mind the name). Sara Ehret gained powers by accident, and gave up super-heroing when another woman, Alana Jobson, paid her for the costume. Alana, however, was fairly irresponsible, using Mutant Growth Hormone to gain temporary super-powers, and pretended to have a crush on Spider-Man, despite being a lesbian! Alana later kills another person while interfering in a fight between Spider-Man and Menace, and then dies after an antidote to a blindness potion is used on her, reacting poorly with the drugs already in her system. So she's basically the stupidest character ever.

-Spider-Man later discovers the differences between the two "Jackpots", and scolds Alana for giving up the responsibility and letting a non-powered person go to their deaths. Sara thus tries to make a real go of it as a heroine, but her husband is almost immediately executed by Boomerang, under orders from the new Rose. She unmasks the Rose, but goes into witness protection.

-Honestly, the whole "you HAVE to be a super-hero" thing from Spider-Man seems like kind of a dick move. For all he knows, Jackpot had no real talent in the game, and was obviously inexperienced. While I get that his whole deal is "With Great Power...", basically demanding that someone engage in a life-threatening position just because they theoretically can is kind of weird. Not everyone's built for the life, y'know? And now her husband is dead. Nice job, Spider-Asshole.

-Sara is a rookie, and Alana is incompetent. Both had the makings of solid rookies (they could beat up Secret Invasion-era Super-Skrulls, who were notably giant weenies in fights), but were unable to really be good professionals.

[Jabroniville]

THE GREAT GAME:
-One feature of the mid-90s Spider-books, before the Clone Saga nearly wiped them out, was The Great Game, a pretty interesting concept where super-people would fight on behalf of wealthy gamblers, who'd bet on the outcomes. Most of the characters were completely generic, but it did give us Joystick. And killed off Nightwatch, in so hilariously casual a manner that they just HAD to have offed him out of embarrassment- he is killed by two goons in the story, one of whom immediately kills the other! The story was Tom DeFalco's baby, and involved a lot of obscure characters from Spider-Man's history, like Rocket Racer, The Prowler, Cardiac, Nightwatch and Chance. Unfortunately, the "wrap-up" story came in Spider-Man Unlimited #14, which did not feature Tom, but Glenn Herdling, and "editorial" type who had Nightwatch killed, along with most of the bad guys created for the story arc. I wonder how many politics were involved here, as DeFalco was removed from Marvel in 1994, just before this story came out.

[Jabroniville]

The depths you go to find the most elite Jobbers is truly inspiring, it brings tears to my eyes...haha.

I think the best part of Hypno-Hustler is his "And now you will only see me as a foe to be reckoned with." line. Just SO over the top, somewhat overly-wordy and pretentious, and very arrogant... considering he looks like the world's hugest idiot, complete with "Super" and "Funk" on his knuckles.

[Jabroniville]

POLESTAR I (Thomas Duffy)
Created By: Tom DeFalco & Mark Bagley
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #409 (March 1996)
Role: One-Off Character
PL 7 (81)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Mercenary) 3 (+4)
Intimidation 2 (+4)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Perception 1 (+2)
Technology 3 (+4)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Magnetic-Powered Costume" (Flaws: Removable) [20]
Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
"Protective Aura" Force Field 2 (2)
"Armor" Protection 2 (2)

"Tractor Beams" Blast 7 (Flaws: Requires Metallic Objects To Throw) (7) -- (9)

• AE: "Magnetism" Move Object 7 (Flaws: Limited to Ferrous Objects) (7)
• AE: "Peel Back Armor" Weaken Toughness 7 (Extras: Ranged, Affects Objects Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Ferrous Objects) (7)

-- (25 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Tractor Beams +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Peel Armor +7 (+7 Ranged Weaken, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2 (+4 Armor, +6 Force Field), Fortitude +3, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 11 (81)

-Polestar was another player in The Great Game, but was the least-utilized new character- Joystick had turned on the game-runners, and El Toro Negro was a loyal agent, but Polestar was a mere backgrounder. He was easily beaten by Ben Reilly (as Spider-Man), but reappeared fighting Nightwatch. He was able to peel back Nightwatch's armor using magnetism, at which point the interfering El Toro Negro shot him through the chest. And thus one of Marvel's most embarrassing characters died, killed by two Jobbers. Polestar turned to thank his new partner, who promptly shot him in the face. Years later, some other idiot would wear the suit for a one-off, but nothing became of him.

-A Goon wearing some pretty unique armor, Polestar is only PL 7 owing to his limited appearances and poor showings (even early on, he is easily beaten by Ben Reilly, and then can only stalemate Nightwatch for a bit). He and the PL 8 El Toro Negro were at least able to kill Nightwatch using a double-team (and Polestar's Magnetic Armor).

[RUSCHE]

The depths you go to find the most elite Jobbers is truly inspiring, it brings tears to my eyes...haha.

I think the best part of Hypno-Hustler is his "And now you will only see me as a foe to be reckoned with." line. Just SO over the top, somewhat overly-wordy and pretentious, and very arrogant... considering he looks like the world's hugest idiot, complete with "Super" and "Funk" on his knuckles.

Would Hypno-hustler receive some type of bonus against Spider-Man's webbing due to all of that polyester??

[KorokoMystia]

POLESTAR I (Thomas Duffy)
Created By: Tom DeFalco & Mark Bagley
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #409 (March 1996)
Role: One-Off Character
PL 7 (81)

Nice build of Polestar there. He's such a forgotten goof. I'm surprised he even got a legacy character. Also, according to this write-up of Polestar in another system, the Force Field also makes him immune to webbing, and the armor also grants him enhanced strength and a Blast.

[HalloweenJack]

MENDEL STROMM (aka The Robot Master, Gaunt)
Created By: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #37 (June 1966)
Role: Forgotten Villain, Mad Scientist
Group Affiliations: None
PL 7 (84)
STRENGTH 0/6 STAMINA 0/4 AGILITY 0/2
FIGHTING 0/6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 6 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills: 
Deception 4 (+4)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+12)
Expertise (Teaching) 2 (+8)
Insight 2 (+2)
Intimidation 4 (+4)
Perception 2 (+2)
Technology 8 (+14)

Advantages: 
Inventor, Ranged Attack 6, Startle

Powers:
"Cybernetic Enhancements"
Enhanced Strength 6 [12]
Enhanced Stamina 4 [8]
Enhanced Agility 2 [4]
Enhanced Fighting 6 [12]
Protection 2 [2]
Enhanced Dodge 4 [4]

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (+0 Damage, DC 17)
Cyborg +6 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +0 (+2 Cyborg)

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (+8 Cyborg, DC 12-18), Parry +2 (+8 Cyborg, DC 12-18), Toughness +0 (+6 Cyborg), Fortitude +0 (+2 Cyborg), Will +4

Complications: 
Enemy (Norman Osborn)- Osborn fired him for embezzling funds years ago, and Stromm returned wanting revenge. He keeps trying to get it over the years.
Enemy (Spider-Man)
Responsibility (A.I./Robot Body/Undead Stuff)- Stromm keeps coming back in different forms, and dies fairly often. Sometimes he's a cyborg, sometimes he's a head, and sometimes he's an A.I.

Total: Abilities: 12 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 8 (84)

-Huh, well I'll be damned- one of the guys from The List is actually a forgotten Spider-Man baddie, created by the original duo, Stan & Steve. He was Norman Osborn's college professor, and later became a partner in OsCorp- it was his early research that helped create the strength-enhancing Goblin Formula. Osborn discovered he was embezzling funds and had him arrested (this is probably before Osborn went evil; otherwise he'd have just murdered him), and came back to send Evil Robots after his ex-boss. He seemingly died of a heart attack, and was gone for eons (actually, eighteen years, because holy shit 1982 was as close to 1966 as we are to the year 2000 now) before suddenly returning with his brain waves having been transferred into a robot double.

-Now the Robot Master, he was destroyed by Spidey. Another huge gave (fourteen years), and he's a cyborg called "Gaunt"- apparently his original body had been fused to robotics, because why not? He eventually got out of that and came back wearing some robotic suits, but was typically defeated. Another five years went by (a new record!), and he came back with a sentient robot to kill Osborn, but was instead decapitated, his head being kept alive somehow. As an A.I., he attempted to take over New York's electrical grid, but a computer virus created by Spidey was uploaded into him. He later joins The Initiative program, having been rescued from his A.I. loop thing, but he later appears as a villain again.

-What a weird character- he's like the most half-assed of Stan & Steve's creations, and even the WRITERS never use him (he's like Molten Man in that regard), but he pops up here and there as a "hey, remember THIS guy?" type of baddie, but only for quickie stories. He's really not terribly interesting, anyways- he's your everyday Kill-O-Bot Inventor, and Alistair Smythe or even Norman frickin' Osborn is better at that.

-A generic Mad Scientist, I included his occasional Cyborg enhancements, though sometimes he wears similar gear as a Removable Suit. His primary threat, though, comes from his Robot Creations.

and he was in the first Spider-Man movie....no really!