Throughout the years, Spider-Man has amassed quite a collection of iconic villains. From Doc Ock and Mysterio, to Green Goblin and Vulture, Peter Parker’s foes are almost as famous as him. Now, with the release of this week’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a new villain is looking to make a name for themselves. The lesser-known Marvel character known simply as The Spot is ready to come off the bench and become a synonymous villain with Spider-Man. But who is this rather goofy-looking villain and how do they fit in the mythos of Spider-Man? Well, let’s find out.
Introducing The Spot
Created by Al Milgrom and Herb Trimpe, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn debuted as a former MIT scientist in 1984’s Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #97. However, the man would not officially become The Spot until the following issue. In his introduction, Ohnn was shown working for Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the Kingpin. Under Kingpin, Ohnn attempted to replicate the powers of the hero Cloak, who could create portals out of their own energies.
However, in classic Marvel fashion, the experiments backfired leaving Ohnn trapped in a halfway dimension of light and dark. Eventually, he clawed his way through a portal back to Earth, but the damage was done. His body was permanently altered by dimensional black holes attached to his body. He soon learned he could manipulate these portals to travel great distances, amongst other powers. So, his first thought was to use this newfound ability to attack Spider-Man.
A Laughingstock
Unfortunately for Ohnn, his new abilities inspired him to adopt the villainous name The Spot. While The Spot does have some arguably cool powers, that name is not striking the same amount of fear as Venom or Lizard does. Not to mention the fact that Spider-Man defeated The Spot in their first confrontation. Plus, Spidey spent a lot of the confrontation poking fun at The Spot’s rather comedic presence. It seems The Spot was not destined for villainous greatness.
Following his debut,The Spot attempted to defeat Spider-Man several times. However, he never quite managed to overtake the web-crawler, although his portal powers did prove a challenge to Parker a time or two. He eventually faded into the background of the comics as more popular villains emerged. Though, he would often show up as part of a larger criminal organization, a villain for hire, or pop up in another Marvel comic only to be thwarted by that hero.
Superpowered Scientist
Before gaining his interdimensional portal powers, Ohnn was just your average brilliant MIT student. However, he used his smarts for rather devious means. Working under Fisk, Ohnn spent his time trying to steal the powers of Marvel heroes. This, of course, led to his own superpowers which are actually interesting.
Visually, The Spot looks like a bad cow-print bodysuit. His solid white body is bespeckled with black dots. These dots are his trademark warp spots that allow the villain to transport any part of his body from one place to another. This works even over vast distances. However, that is not all this spotted man can do.
Thanks to the “Spotworld” dimension that he gained his powers from, Ohnn has total control over the spots on his body. He can send them out and change their size, seemingly at will. They can be as large as a car or as small as a fingernail. He can even form them in midair, allowing for some pretty awesome fighting moves.
He can also control where these portals lead within the power-giving “Spotworld” dimension. Plus, this connection to that dimension that gives Ohnn his powers, also allows him some semblance of immortality. Since he is technically part of the dimension itself, he cannot die if it survives. Let’s see Doc Ock do that!
Jumping Into Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
While The Spot has stayed mainly within the pages of Marvel Comics, he is about to leap off the pages and into the Silver Screen. Trailers have revealed that The Spot is featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. While the trailers showcase a rather comedic confrontation between Miles Morales and the once-studious Jonathan Ohnn, it seems he is primed to be the story’s “big bad.”
Warning: Mild Spoilers For Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
In the new film, it is revealed that Jonathan Ohnn was a scientist at the Fisk-owned Alchemex. In the climax of the first film, when Miles and his team destroyed the super-collider, it seems Ohnn was caught in the explosion. Now permanently altered by this incident, the newly created The Spot is ready to get revenge. This revenge comes in the form of stealing a super-collider from another dimension and using it to become an unstoppable force. Luckily, there are plenty of Spider-personas to help stop The Spot.
Jason Schwartzman injects some great humor and drama into The Spot in the just-released sequel. Now that you are caught up on who exactly this spotted villain is, you can sit back and enjoy Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and what is sure to be an action-packed adventure! Just be ready for a cliffhanger as a third film is already in the works.
