The Marvel Universe is filled with iconic heroes whose origin stories inspire, delight, and amaze. However, not all Marvel superheroes are so lucky, with many having incredibly horrific, disturbing, and downright disgusting origins that started them on their path to heroism. For every Ant-Man, inspired to become the minuscule hero after discovering Pym Particles, there is a Mettle, whose flesh was ripped from his body by Norman Osborne to create a super-powered being the villain could control.
From the classic 1940s hero The Whizzer to the Spider-Verse variant of Peter Parker called Spiders-Man, there are countless examples of Marvel characters whose gross origins have shaped them into the heroes they are today. Enjoy this list of some of Marvel’s most disgusting superhero origins, ranging from the horrible manifestation of acidic vomit to the discovery of sentient slugs living in a young boy’s stomach.
10 Charlie America
Charlie America’s alternate reality origin in the Nextwave series is nothing short of revolting, proving that not all super-soldiers are created equal. After Steve Rogers was successfully transformed into Captain America, and the scientist beyond the serum Erksine was murdered by a Nazi spy, Nextwave #9 revealed that another Nazi spy collected Steve’s super-urine. It turned out that the serum strongly expressed itself in urine post-procedure, so the Beyond Corporation used Captain America’s super-pee to create Charlie America, a short-lived antihero who joined the New Paramounts team and fought against Elsa Bloodstone.
9 Fantomex
Fantomex, or Charlie Cluster-7, is one of Marvel’s more complex heroes, and the origin story of his fascinating powers is both convoluted and repulsive. Created as a technological-human hybrid in The World by the Weapon Plus program, Fantomex was given the designation Weapon XIII by his creators and has since become an important, if not very confusing, part of the X-Men mythos. The origin of Fantomex’s grossest and most unique powers manifested the hero a portable techno-organic machine called E.V.A., which disgustingly emerged from his mouth when his powers evolved. E.V.A. is a technological ship and weapons array that is literally Fantomex’s internal nervous system, meaning the hero can’t feel anything when they are separated.
8 Maggott
Japheth’s origin as the iconic 90s X-Men hero Maggott is nothing short of appalling and nauseating. Revealed in X-Men #76, Japheth was a young boy growing up in South Africa, slowly dying of what doctors thought to be stomach cancer since he couldn’t digest food properly and was getting sicker and sicker. Japheth was discovered by Magneto, who revealed that he was in fact a fascinating mutant with a disturbing ability. In a scene directly out of the Alien horror franchise, two sentient slugs – eventually named Eany and Meany – emerged from Maggott’s stomach cavity. It was revealed that these two creatures are Japheth’s digestive system, the only way he can eat food, and when they burrow back into his stomach he gains incredible strength and blue skin.
7 Mettle
Ken Mack’s origin story as the teenage superhero Mettle is truly horrific and incredibly gross. Debuting in Avengers Academy #1, Ken was a chill Hawaiian surfer bro when at age 16 he was hit in the face by another surfer’s board while in the water. To the horror of everyone around him, the collision ripped much of the skin on his face away, revealing red iridium flesh below. Turning his tragic situation into a true nightmare, the monstrous Norman Osborne then collected Mettle, convincing him he was going to help heal him. Instead, Osborne turned the teenager’s life into a horror movie, flaying the young hero’s flesh, escalating the trauma on his body until he was entirely made out of the highly resistant metal material.
6 Marvel Boy
Marvel Boy, or Noh-Varr, is an iconic and beloved genetically engineered Kree hero known for his affiliations with the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Young Avengers. Noh-Varr is a Kree super-soldier who was revoltingly created by splicing Kree DNA with that of a literal cockroach, while also imbuing the young hero’s blood with powerful nanobots. Giving him various insectoid abilities, Marvel Boy is horrifically triple-jointed, able to stick to walls, has hallucinogenic saliva, and is able to rapidly grow his fingernails which can then be expelled and exploded on impact with an enemy. Although honorable and heroic, Noh-Varr’s experimental origins are truly gross for a Marvel hero.
5 Angel Salvadore
Unsurprisingly, several of the grossest origins for Marvel superheroes involve bodily fluids and shock vomiting, and the X-Men hero Angel Salvadore is a prime example of this nasty trend. With the young teen’s body exuding a horrible smell and growing pus-filled sores, Angel ran away from an incredibly abusive mutant-hating father in the pages of New X-Men #118. As her mutant powers activated Angel found herself in a slimy, disgusting bug cocoon, and emerged like a creature from a David Cronenberg film. As Angel is hunted by a group of monstrous U-Men she uses her newfound power of acidic regurgitation to assault the soldiers, cementing her newly developed insectoid form.
4 The Whizzer
Robert Frank was a beloved 1940s wartime hero who debuted in 1941s U.S.A. Comics #1 as the super-fast Whizzer, and this classic speedster’s origins are not only disgusting but also incredibly bewildering. While traveling through Cameroon with his father Dr. Emil Frank, Robert contracted a rare tropical virus, and as he was close to death his father began to transfuse his own blood into his son in the hopes of keeping him alive. Becoming delirious, Emil witnessed a mongoose killing a deadly cobra, and decided to inject his son with the blood of the mongoose, stating that the mongoose was “the fastest animal in the world.” While this is entirely untrue, this disgusting ploy to save his son’s life worked, transforming Bob into the mongoose-blooded Whizzer.
3 Husk
A mutant’s X-Gene often activates in times of extreme stress or duress, creating stomach-churning and disturbing origins for many of the X-Men’s coolest characters. The X-Men hero Paige Guthrie, sister of the iconic Cannonball, was obsessed with becoming a mutant after her brother’s power manifestation and tried every possible way to activate her powers. Eventually, in a fit of rage, she began pulling at her skin feeling as though she didn’t belong in her body… when her skin peeled away as if in a monstrous experiment gone awry. Looking like a flayed torture victim, this horrific origin of the hero Husk proves that not all powers are glamorous, but that doesn’t make them any less impressive.
2 Zeitgeist
Axel Cluney, who goes by Zeitgeist, is a truly gross mutant who debuted in X-Force #116 as the leader of the short-lived first X-Statix team, attempting heroics for a short time before being put into a coma and eventually emerging as a full-fledged villain. Axel’s mutant powers manifested when he was a carefree 14-year-old, engaging in a secret make-out with a teenage girl after a party. Just as the two were about to become intimate, Axel disgustingly vomited acid all over the poor girl’s face, horrifically burning her and leaving him with nightmares for the rest of his life.
1 Spiders-Man
The Peter Parker of Earth-11580 has one of the most tragic, and disgusting, superhero origins in all of Marvel Comics history. In this alternate reality Peter, who now goes by the name Spiders-Man, is quickly revealed to be a horrific hive mind of heroic spiders occupying a Spider-Man suit. The disturbing origin of Spiders-Man was revealed in Vault of Spiders #2, where it was shown that when Peter and Gwen visited Horizon Labs, the young man fell into a pool of radioactive spiders who devoured his flesh while simultaneously absorbing Parker’s consciousness. The writhing mass of superhero spiders now has to ponder daily whether it truly is a version of Peter Parker or just the disgusting monster that killed him.
There is no prerequisite for becoming a Marvel hero, besides having an intense drive to help save innocent lives. That is why, regardless of how gross or appalling some of these superhero origin stories are, most of these heroes deserve the full respect and admiration of their peers. Intense trauma sometimes creates the most passionate, dedicated, and motivated heroes, and the horrific origins of many of these heroes mean they have all experienced more trauma than most, preparing them for a lifetime of tragedy in their fight against evil.
