Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man and web-slinging have gone hand in hand for decades, but swinging through New York City can be physically taxing. What treachery, then, that the return of Spider-Man’s previously inactive car the Spider-Mobile should be under the secret operation of one of Spidey’s earliest foes!
The Spider-Mobile was formerly built by Spidey’s close friend and resident hothead of the Fantastic Four, Johnny Storm a.k.a. The Human Torch, as a publicity move for car company Corona Motors. But after sinking in New York’s Hudson River issues prior, the Spider-Mobile returned in The Amazing Spider-Man #160, appropriately titled “My Killer, My Car.” But little did Spider-Man or Storm realize that when the flamboyant buggy came back, it did so as a tool wielded by a supervillain.
Similar to its spider-based operator, the Spider-Mobile can do virtually anything a Spider-Man can… perhaps even better. While Spider-Man climbs a nearby building to escape the wrath of his car, the Spider-Mobile quickly changes its own method of attacking, driving up the wall of the building as effortlessly as Spider-Man himself. When Spidey believes he has the car outmatched by leaping onto an adjacent rooftop, the Spider-Mobile adjusts its methods once more, and jumps from building to building as a superhero or parkour tracer would. With the web slinging superhero fearing that he has met his match in his own car, Spider-Man must ultimately resort to running on foot from his menace. To bring an end to the pursuit as quickly as it began, the Spider-Mobile finally employs its built-in web shooters as well as a gas designed to nullify Peter’s powers, achieving the feat most villains could not: capturing Spider-Man.
Though acquiring the proportional strength to escape, Spider-Man is willingly brought before the new commander of the Spider-Mobile, who is none other than the supervillain technician Phineas Mason a.k.a. The Tinkerer. Spider-Man and The “Terrible” Tinkerer were last acquainted during the very early days of Peter Parker’s superhero career, wherein Mason was believed to be yet another alien from outer space, before disappearing in the midst of a fire to his repair shop lair. However, Tinkerer’s alien disguise was simply a ruse to deceive Spidey. It was Tinkerer who would later recover the discarded Spider-Mobile from the Hudson River and retool the car to fit his evil liking.
Acting as the resident technician for not only Spider-Man’s supervillains but the villains of Marvel’s earthbound society as whole, The Tinkerer has had a hand in the weaponry and armor of many street level criminals from Rocket Racer, Jack O’ Lantern, Stilt Man, and Whirlwind. When the Scorpion needs a new tail to take down Spider-Man once and for all, The Tinkerer will always be one phone call away.
