Lizard (comics)

Template:Superherobox The Lizard is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe, and an enemy of Spider-Man. He first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #6 (1963), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The Lizard is the alter-ego of Dr. Curt Connors, a human scientist whose fields of expertise encompass both herpetology and gene therapy.

Connors' right arm had been amputated, and he hoped to find a way to regenerate the lost or damaged limbs of disabled people. To this end, he studied the regenerative nature of reptiles and amphibians. He developed a radically advanced form of therapy which could reproduce these regenerative abilities in humans and began to use this therapy in experiments. Unfortunately, Connors was contaminated by his own serum and physically transformed into a bipedal, sapient reptilian humanoid.

As The Lizard, Connors became a threat to humanity, with an insane determination to wipe out the human race and replace its population with reptiles. The Lizard possesses superhuman strength and durability, due to his alligator-like hide. His regenerative powers give him incredible stamina, and can probably fight for days without tiring. His tail is able to smash through solid concrete and once broke Spider-man's arm. The Lizard possesses the ability to scale walls like a gecko. The Lizard is able to communicate and control any reptiles within a one-mile radius, usually giving them simple commands, such as attacking or guarding something. The Lizard, however, possesses a reduced intelligence and his mind will slowly wither into nothing. He is weak against the cold.

Eventually defeated by Spider-Man and returned to his benevolent human self, Connors still transforms back into the evil Lizard to plague the web-slinger every now and then. (On at least one occasion, the Lizard retained a vestige of his human sympathy and conscience, and refrained from killing people, but on the whole the Lizard can only be regarded as villainous in nature.)

When Connors' Lizard form is dormant, the scientist often helps Spider-Man in the event of serious medical or scientific problems.

In other media

Dr. Connors was mentioned briefly in the film Spider-Man, and appeared in Spider-Man 2, where he was played by Dylan Baker. So far Dr. Connors has not become the Lizard in this franchise, and whether he will in any future film is presently uncertain. In Spider-Man 2, however, he is missing an arm. He is depicted as concerned for Peter's well-being and declining academic performance, and considers Peter brilliant. The possibility of Lizard appearing as the villain in Spider-Man 3 was once considered high given his introduction in Spider-Man 2, but is now considered unlikely given that a different actor, Thomas Haden Church, has been cast for Spider-Man 3's villain. It was rumored for a time that Church might have been cast to replace Baker in the role of Connors, but Avi Arad eventually confirmed that Baker would indeed be returning for Spider-Man 3.

The Lizard has also appeared in every Spider-Man animated series, with the single exception of the briefly lived Spider-Man Unlimited cartoon. Possibly the most notable of the Lizard's animated appearances was in the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series, in the episode "Night of the Lizard". Here, Lizard was portrayed as possessing a genius level of intelligence but also having the savage mindset that the character has in the comics today. The Lizard went on to appear in the episodes "The Tablet of Time", "The Ravages of Time", "The Final Nightmare", "Lizard King" as well as the "Secret War" 3-parter, with the non-mutated Curt Connors making many other appearances. Dr. Connors and the Lizard were both voiced throughout the series by Joseph Campanella.

The most recent animated appearance of the Lizard was in the "Law of the Jungle" episode of MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series in 2003. While the end of the episode implies that Connors dies from falling off a helicopter onto the city streets below, his fate is still left fairly ambiguous.

Ultimate Lizard

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, in addition to becoming the Lizard, Dr. Curt Conners (note different spelling of the last name) created the Ultimate version of the supervillian Carnage using his and Peter Benjamin Parker's DNA.
The Ultimate universe version of the Lizard first appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up # 10, and appears to be based on a basilisk lizard in design. Ultimate Lizard has so far appeared less intelligent than the original Marvel universe Lizard.