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Spider-Man Encyclopedia
- Spider-Man Villains
- The Lizard
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The Lizard first appeared in
Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963), and was created by Stan
Lee and Steve Ditko. The Lizard is Dr. Curt Connors, a friend
and ally of Spider-Man in his human guise, but when he is
transformed to the Lizard he loses all of his true personality
becoming evil and more animal like in behavior.
Curtis Connors was born in
Coral Gables, Florida. A gifted surgeon, who enlisted in the
military and was sent off to war, Connors performed emergency
battlefield surgery on injured soldiers. His right arm was
injured in a blast and had to be amputated. In his civilian
life, he became obsessed with uncovering the secrets of
reptilian limb regeneration and studied reptilian biology
extensively. From his home in the Florida Everglades, he finally
developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA. He was
able to re-grow the missing limb of a rabbit and then, despite
the warnings of his wife Martha, chose to test it on himself.
Connors was able to grow back his missing arm, but
unfortunately, it had an unforeseen side effect. |
Amazing Spider-Man #6 debut of the Lizard |
Connors changed into a reptilian
humanoid monster. Spider-Man became aware of the situation during a trip
to Florida to investigate newspaper reports of the Lizard. Spider-Man
was then able to use Connors' notes to create an antidote to restore him
to his human form and mentality.
Dr. Connors has often helped Spider-Man, but his evil alter ego keeps
resurfacing from time to time. Spidey always finds a way to help turn
Connors back to his old self. Connors has helped save the life of Aunt
May, and even given Peter Parker a job working for him at Empire State
University.
Connors has had a rough family life.
The strain caused his family to break up, and later his wife died of
cancer and almost claimed his son.
Powers
The Lizard has super strength and agility. He can climb walls using his
claws. He also has the ability to communicate telepathically with other
reptiles, and has the ability to create hostility in humans.
Live Action Movies
Dr. Connors was mentioned briefly in the 2002 film Spider-Man, and
appeared in the 2004 sequel Spider-Man 2, where he was played by actor
Dylan Baker. Director Sam Raimi had reportedly considered his friend,
B-movie legend
Bruce
Campbell for the role of Dr. Connors, but decided against it since
Campbell appeared in the first movie as a wrestling announcer (However,
Campbell did have a different cameo in Spider-Man 2).
Animated series
The Lizard in "Night of the Lizard" episode of Spider-Man (1994 Animated
Series)The Lizard has appeared in several of the Spider-Man animated
television series over the years. The original 1967 Spider-Man cartoon
featured the Lizard in the episode "Where Crawls the Lizard."
The character appeared again later on in the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon
series episode "Lizards, Lizards Everywhere.
Possibly the best done of the Lizard's animated appearances was in the
1994 premiere episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, titled "Night
of the Lizard". Here, the Lizard was shown as possessing a genius level
of intelligence but also having the savage mindset from the comics. The
Lizard later went on to appear in the episodes "Tablet of Time", "The
Ravages of Time", "The Final Nightmare", "The Lizard King" and the
"Secret Wars" 3-part episode from the end of this series' run in 1997.
The non-mutated Curt Connors had many other appearances as a supporting
character. Dr. Connors and the Lizard were both voiced throughout this
series by Joseph Campanella.
The Lizard from MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.The Lizard
also appeared in the "Law of the Jungle" episode of MTV's 2003
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. The Lizard's physical appearance in
this series was much more beastial and saurian than in the previous
comic books. In this episode, Connors is revealed to have lost his arm
as a result of an Osborn Industries weapons testing accident and when he
transforms into the Lizard he goes after Harry Osborn. The Lizard falls
to his apparent death from a helicopter at the end of the episode. Both
Dr. Connors and the Lizard are voiced here by rock musician/filmmaker
Rob Zombie.
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