Farley Stillwell is a fictional character 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 ...

. He is a scientist best known for transforming

Mac Gargan MacDonald "Mac" Gargan is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #19 (December ...

into the

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

Publication history

Stillwell first appeared in ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

'' #20 (January 1965), and was created by writer

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

and artist

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko. Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular ac ...

Fictional character biography

When

J. Jonah Jameson John Jonah Jameson Jr., known as J. Jonah Jameson, is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist St ...

first hired

Peter Parker 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 appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of ...

, he was amazed at how he managed to obtain pictures of Spider-Man and hired

to investigate. When Jameson saw an article about inducing animal mutations into humans, he visited the scientist that established this experiment: Dr. Farley Stillwell. Jameson first thought Stillwell was a crackpot, but later saw him as an opportunity to take down Spider-Man. As such, he had Stillwell experiment on Gargan and give him a high-tech scorpion suit. However, Stillwell learns that the process will eventually drive Gargan insane and unsuccessfully attempts to cure him, during which he falls to his death.''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #20. Marvel Comics.

Legacy

It was later revealed that Farley Stillwell had a brother named Harlan Stillwell who used the experiment to create the Human Fly after Richard Deacon held him at gunpoint. After Richard became the Human Fly, he shot Harlan after he served his purpose. The Stillwell brothers' technology would also later be used to give superpowers to the Answer, and the fourth

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

. The sixth volume of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' confirms that

Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

's minion

Shannon Stillwell S'Byll S'Byll (sometimes spelled S'byll) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. S'Byll is a Skrull that was raised on the planet Satriani. She was responsible for curing Super-Skrull of his disease. Si ...

is the sister of Farley and Harlan Stillwell. In addition, their mother is Melodia Stillwell, who is also known as

Madame Monstrosity M-11 M-11 is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally known as the Human Robot, the character was named "M-11" in the 2006 to 2007 '' Agents of Atlas'' miniseries as an allusion to its firs ...

and similarly specializes in combining animal and human DNA to create her Humanimals. Farley's father Jeremy Stillwell was turned into an owl Humanimal upon being fused with an owl where an attempt to restore Jeremy to normal resulted in Jeremy's mind being in the owl's body and vice versa.

Skills and abilities

Farley Stillwell is a brilliant biologist and cyberneticist.

Other versions

An alternate universe variant of Farley Stillwell from Earth-58163 appears in ''

House of M "House of M" is a 2005 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics, consisting of an eight-issue comic book limited series with a number of crossover tie-in books written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel. Its first i ...

: Avengers'' #1 as one of several scientists who gave

Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr. in 1972, he was the first Af ...

his powers.

In other media

Television

* Farley Stillwell appears in ''

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 ...

'' (1967), voiced by Tom Harvey. * Farley Stillwell makes a cameo appearance in ''

'' episode "Wolfpack", portrayed by Joseph G. Medalis. * Farley Stillwell appears in '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series'', voiced by

Michael Rye Michael Rye (born John Michael Riorden Billsbury; March 2, 1918 – September 20, 2012) was an American actor. His decades-long career spanned radio, television, animated cartoons and video games. Aside from his voice over work, Rye also acted in ...

. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version was involved in neogenic researchIan Hague, ''Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels'', Routledge, 2014, ch. 2: "Sight, or, the Ideal Perspective and the Physicality of Seeing". that would later lead to Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man and the creation of the neogenic recombinator machine.

Video games

A female incarnation of Dr. Farley Stillwell appears in ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directe ...

'', voiced by

Nika Futterman Nika Futterman (born October 25, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her voices in various animated series, including Mike in '' Mike, Lu & Og'', Asajj Ventress in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', Stretch and Squeeze in ' ...

. This version is the head of a science corporation called MechaBioCon who captured Scorpion for use in her military cybernetics and mind control experiments.

References

External links

Dr. Farley Stillwell
at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe {{DEFAULTSORT:Stillwell, Farley Characters created by Stan Lee Characters created by Steve Ditko Comics characters introduced in 1965 Fictional biologists Fictional roboticists Marvel Comics scientists Marvel Comics supervillains Marvel Comics male supervillains Spider-Man characters