Tracer is a
supervillain
A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...
appearing in
American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...
s published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
. His first appearance was in ''
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
''Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man'' is a comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics. The title is derived from a trademark self-referential comment often made by Spider-Man (as in "just another service provided by your friendly ne ...
'' #1.
Fictional character biography
Tracer claims to be a "machine god" that the artificial intelligences of other machines created to worship, alleging that he becomes stronger over time since the more machines worship him the longer he operates. Testing his increasing powers, Tracer robs the
Bank of New York
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY, is an American international financial services company headquartered in New York City. It was established in its current form in July 2007 by the merger of the Bank of New York an ...
, holds off Spider-Man and escapes.
Soon after, Tracer takes to the skies in his Flying Wing, claiming he had a bomb he would detonate if New York City fails to pay him a fortune. Spider-Man and
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
(Tony Stark) foil his scheme, but Tracer escapes again.
The next night, Tracer infiltrates
Stark Tower
The Stark Tower Complex is a high-rise building complex appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, USA, the complex is named after its owner Tony Stark, who is the alter ego of the su ...
planning to kill Spider-Man after learning from his machine worshipers that Spider-Man is living there. At the same time, Tracer uses his powers to cause cars to swerve out of control, entire computers grids to crash, and a giant robot to rampage throughout New York as a diversion. Posing as a reserve
Avenger
Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sa ...
named "Tommy" on monitor duty while the other Avengers were busy dealing with Tracer's "machine revolt", Tracer converses with
Aunt May
Maybelle "May" Parker-Jameson (née Reilly), commonly known as Aunt May, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. Making her first full appeara ...
until Spider-Man returns and attacks him. During the battle, Tracer analyzes Spider-Man's DNA and determines that Spider-Man is in no condition to fight him. Vowing to rein in his mechanical worshipers and step off the path of divinity for the time being, his skin melts away, revealing his robotic body.
Powers and abilities
Tracer is a robotic life form capable of controlling virtually any machine. He can metamorphose his hand into a gun which fires homing bullets capable of zeroing in on specified targets and avoiding all other targets in their pursuit.
He is also equipped with telescopic infrared vision and scanners which can estimate the age, weight, power and threat level of his targets. His fingertips contain hypodermic probes which can obtain DNA, tissue, skin and blood samples, instantly analyzed by his internal systems. He masks his true appearance with an unidentified flesh-like material.
References
External links
*
*{{Marveldatabase, Tracer_(Tommy)_(Earth-616), Tracer
Characters created by Peter David
Characters created by Mike Wieringo
Comics characters introduced in 2005
Marvel Comics robots
Marvel Comics supervillains