Silvermane
Real Name: Silvio Manfredi
AKA: The Supreme Hydra.
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man 73
Died In: Amazing Spider-Man 75, Spectacular Spider-Man 69, Spectacular Spider-Man 70. His cyborg body was blown up in Amazing Spider-Man 284, but the pertinent bits survived. Resilient old cuss, eh?
Got Better In: DareDevil 120 (explained in DareDevil 123); Spectacular Spider-Man 70 (organic body replaced by a cyborg one); Spectacular Spider-Man 93 (bodily resurrection) and Spectacular Spider-Man 96 ("light" returned to him by Dagger).
What's His Problem? The elderly Maggia leader with more than one life has more than one problem as well. Mistrusting his scheming lieutenants, Silvermane had the Tablet of Time swiped and kidnapped Dr. Curt Conners from his lab in the Everglades to translate it. Silvermane got his youth, all right, and then some, as a disbelieving Spider-Man watched him de-age from sight in Amazing Spider-Man 75. As Magneto can testify, good villains don't stay babies for long: Silvermane resurfaced as the Supreme Hydra, explaining that the formula derived from the Tablet de-aged him to a molecule, then rebounded like a rubber-band to land him securely in the prime of his life. His stint as HYDRA head didn't go so well, however, and Silvermane soon sought to re-establish himself as a Maggia leader. Unfortunately this was at the same time that the Green Goblin was attempting to take over the city's rackets. A confrontation between the two would-be crime bosses resulted in Silvermane's being dropped from the Goblin Glider (and taking about four pages across two issues to fall, holding a serious and complex mid-air conversation with Spidey and Gobby as he did so--only in comics, folks). The impact broke almost every bone in Silvermane's body, necessitating that Silvermane be hooked up to a life support system. Tracked down by Cloak and Dagger after the two discovered his gang was responsible for the drug experiment that created them, he was slain by Dagger's light knives. As it happened, Silvermane was prepared for the death of his body, and, as planned, his brain and vital organs were transplanted into a waiting artificial body. Silvermane then made the crucial mistake of taking off after Dagger, only to have his cybernetics fried by her light powers. Silvermane's "body" was taken to the morgue, where it was stolen and reanimated by the Kingpin, who meant to use it as the ultimate unliving assassin. Reviving Silvermane's body unexpectedly activated a rapport between him and Dagger; since she had absorbed his life energy, he was able to hone in on her no matter where she was. In the end Dagger purged herself of the evil she had absorbed by bathing his body in light, at which time consciousness returned to Silvermane. He broke free of the Kingpin's control and once again assumed leadership of the Maggia.
Abilities: As a cyborg, Silvermane could toss the likes of Spider-Man and the Kingpin around with ease and, as one stunned henchman noted, even leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: Spider-Man keeps getting tangled up in Silvermane's affairs, usually through his efforts to save others from the drug lord. When he ran HYDRA, Silvermane had to deal with DareDevil, the Black Widow, Nick Fury, and all of S.H.I.E.L.D. His drug empire not only created Cloak and Dagger, who remain his arch enemies, but has created friction between him and fellow cyborg Deathlok, and caused him to be targeted by the Punisher. He also has his share of enemies from the world of crime: the Rapier, his former best friend who turned vigilante after Silvermane tried to off him; the third Green Goblin, who challenged Silvermane for control of the Maggia; Jack O'Lantern, who successful blew Silvermane up yet didn't manage to kill him; and the Maggia's greatest competition, the Kingpin.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: While he has had trouble with upstarts like Caesar Cicero within his organization, most of Silvermane's gang members are fanatically loyal and willing to follow him whatever body he happens to be wearing at the time. His son, the super-villain Blackwing, was one of his section heads when Silvermane headed up HYDRA. Blackwing opted to stay with HYDRA (and eventually became one of the Red Skull's elite enforcers); despite this, he and his dad remain close.
Most Despicable Act: An excellent enforcer during his younger days, Silvermane made his fortune and secured his position in the underworld because he had a knack for designing and peddling drugs. Despite what happened with Cloak and Dagger, Silvermane continues to target kids for his wares, even setting up operations that use grade schools as headquarters.
Continuity Goof Central: Silvermane in Spectacular Spider-Man 69 (1982 in Real Time) told Cloak and Dagger that almost every bone in his body had been broken when the Green Goblin callously dropped him from a great height (Amazing Spider-Man 180, 1978 in Real Time), reversing the youth formula and forcing him to live attached to a life support system. Apparently he had a brief, miraculous recovery during his appearance in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 2 (1980 in Real Time), when a youthful and vital Silvermane took on his old friend the Rapier. So Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 2 must take place sometime before the bone-shattering fall in Amazing Spider-Man 180, despite being years later...oy, anyone have an Excedrin?
Back to the Spidey Villains page
Back to the Bad Guys page
