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STYX

Real Name: Jacob Eichorn

Identity/Class: Human mutate, citizen of the United States

Occupation: Mercenary

Group Membership: Partner of Stone (Gerald Stone)

Affiliations: Jonathan Caesar, Cult of Entropy, William "Bill" Grant, Justin Hammer, Life Foundation,

Enemies: Cardiac (Elias Wertham), Deadpool (Wade Wilson), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Logan of Earth-21923, Mercs for Money (Foolkiller/Greg Salinger, Masacre, Slapstick/Steve Harmon, Solo/James Bourne, Stingray/Walter Newell), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Venom (Eddie Brock), Mary Jane Watson

Known Relatives: Unrevealed

Aliases: "Mr. Styx" (nickname used by Stone), "Marilyn Manson" (nickname used by Logan of Earth-21923), "Mr. Stinkfinger", "Dracula" (nicknames used by Spider-Man)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Jonathan Caesar's condominium in New York City, New York;
    formerly the Cult of Entropy's hideout in Bolivia;
    formerly Gerald Stone's penthouse in New York City, New York;
    formerly mobile

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#308 (November, 1988)

Powers/Abilities: A living cancer, Styx can instantly rot and kill all organic matter by touching it with his hands. His fingers elongate when he reaches out. He must touch his victims directly for the effect to take hold. He cannot affect inorganic matter. Styx is immune to the effects of his own power. Mentally unstable, he derives great pleasure from using his death touch. Styx's powers were altered and enhanced after he joined the Cult of Entropy, his powers were altered and enhanced. Now appearing emaciated and near death, Styx wears a blindfold but can still see. His hands appear permanently elongated and his arms can extend up to at least 30 feet. Styx is able to restore hacked off limbs within seconds. 

Height: 6'2"
Weight: 134 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown

History:

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333 (fb) ) - Jacob Eichorn was living a vagrant lifestyle when he agreed to participate in experiments for new pharmaceuticals. At the medical research firm he met Gerald Stone, an ambitious scientist out to prove his theory that people could develop immunity to cancer through controlled exposure.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377 (fb) - BTS) - Stone was so eager to test his theories, he secretly diverted company funds to finance his side project.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333 (fb) - Stone injected Eichorn with a mutated cancer compound only to find that it not only made him immune to the disease, it also turned his subject into a living cancer, able to rot and kill organic matter with a mere touch.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333 (fb) - BTS) - Eichorn's mental stability was also affected by the mutation. Now calling himself Styx, after the mythological passage to Hades, he dedicated himself to death. Ending life is the only thing that brought him pleasure and release.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377 (fb) - BTS) - Gerald Stone, feeling responsible for Eichorn's fate and unable to tell Wertham because of the money he stole, decided to become Styx's minder. He promised Styx he'd always be safe with him and that he'd never hand him over to anyone. Still needing money to devise a way of curing him, Stone suggested they hire themselves out as mercenaries. That way Styx could redirect his bloodlust towards "justifiable targets" while also funding their rather opulent lifestyle. 

(Amazing Spider-Man I#376 (fb) - BTS) - Styx moved into Gerald Stone's luxurious penthouse on the East Side of Manhattan.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#309 (fb) - BTS) -  Over time, Styx and Stone made a name for themselves as ruthless, efficient mercenaries. Among their clients was the malevolent businessman Jonathan Caesar.


(Amazing Spider-Man I#309 - BTS) - After kidnapping Mary Jane Watson, Jonathan Caesar learned Spider-Man was looking for her. He called on the services of Styx and Stone to deal with this menace.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#309) - Styx and Stone arrived at Jonathan Caesar's apartment in the Bedford Towers for their briefing. Taking off one of his gloves, Styx demonstrated his powers by withering one of Caesar's house plants with a mere touch. Caesar told them to stand ready to go out and deal with Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#309 - BTS) - When Caesar happened to spot Spider-Man pass by, he summoned Styx and Stone who immediately boarded their Turbo Hopper to chase after the wallcrawler Not too long after this, Mary Jane managed to free herself, armed with one of Caesar's bodyguards' guns.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#309) - Styx and Stone caught up with Spider-Man near Central Park. After Stone subjected the hero to gas pellets and a sonic barrage, they briefly blinded him with a giant strobe flash. Styx directed Stone to use his nova beam weapon against the disoriented hero.

Spider-Man dodged the heat ray, but didn't see he was tricked into landing on a layer of fast-acting glue. Styx moved in for the kill, but was distracted by the arrival of Mary Jane who fired several shots at them to get the villains to back off. This allowed Spider-Man to recover, webbing up Stone's guns. Styx and Stone decided on a strategic retreat, jumping on their Turbo Hopper and taking off. Styx lamented he didn't get to kill anything, but Stone cheered him up by saying they might run into a stray puppy.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (fb) - BTS) - Jonathan Caesar once again hired Styx and Stone to kill Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332) - Learning that Spider-Man was scheduled to appear at a charity event, Styx and Stone decided to attack him there. Styx made his way through the crowd and tried to get the jump on the hero who simply webbed up his exposed hand. Styx was rescued by Stone who dropped a rope ladder from the Turbo Hopper and got ready to take off. A well-aimed webline allowed Spider-Man to crash the vehicle into a nearby building. Their fight continued in a rooftop garden where Styx's touch withered away all the flowers until Stone got the Turbo Hopper working again, which allowed them to safely get away.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332 - BTS) - Styx and Stone returned to Caesar's apartment at the Bedford Towers where they heard their boss arguing with Mary Jane Watson who had come to tell him to stop harassing Spider-Man.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#332) - As soon as Mary Jane left, Styx and Stone went to check on their employer. Styx was sure her upcoming death would be delicious, but Caesar reminded him they were only hired to kill Spider-Man. He told the duo to keep monitoring news broadcasts and police communications to find their target. To amuse himself, Styx killed Jonathan Caesar's parakeet which the businessman told him would be coming out of his salary.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333 (fb) - Styx and Stone learned that Spider-Man was fighting Venom, but failed to reach the location in time. Unable to follow Spider-Man undetected, they instead opted to shadow Venom. They figured that his obsession with their shared enemy would inevitably lead them to him. However, they eventually lost track of him as well and returned to Jonathan Caesar empty-handed.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333) - Caesar was beyond displeased with the duo, especially when Styx once again started killing plants to satisfy himself. Annoyed, Stone ordered him to wait in the alley where he could pass the time killing cockroaches which Styx didn't like because they were so small.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333 - BTS) - After Styx left, Stone shared an abbreviated version of their origin story with Caesar before the businessman barked new orders at him: Styx and Stone were to return to Central Park and watch the tunnel Venom originally disappeared into.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#333) - During their stakeout, Stone had an increasingly difficult time getting the easily bored Styx to stop killing the foliage that served as their cover. The duo spotted Spider-Man entering the tunnel to confront Venom in his fallout shelter base. Following him in, the duo soon found themselves fighting Venom as well. Stone briefly incapacitated the symbiote by firing chains and sonics at him while Styx tangled with Spider-Man who was horrified to see his opponents deadly fingers growing larger and creeping towards him. Spider-Man tried to keep some distance between himself and Styx and hurled several giant sacks of grain at him, only to find it rotted off before impact. However, Styx left him alone when he spotted Venom was about to overpower Stone. He rushed to aid Stone and found his touch was lethal to the Venom symbiote. Styx was left in a state of ecstatic bliss over this murder, leaving Spider-Man to knock out Stone. In the aftermath, Styx was taken to a mental institution.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Styx and Stone started working for Jonathan Caesar again. He allowed the duo to stay at a condominium in one of the buildings he owned on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4 (fb) - BTS) - Styx and Stone learned of the 200.000 dollar bounty placed on the head of Venom (Eddie Brock) by Justin Hammer. Bored and eager to earn some money, they started to study their target to prepare an ambush.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4 - BTS) - Sick and tired of being hounded by vigilantes out to make a quick buck, Venom went on television to issue a challenge: anyone who wanted to take him down was welcome to try at noon at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4) - Styx and Stone watched Venom's announcement on television, but Styx was too bored to really pay attention. He was entertaining himself killing Caesar's houseplants with his death touch and even called down to the concierge to order a basket of kittens to be sent up for his amusement. Stone stepped in and cancelled his partner's request. Instead, they focused on ambushing Venom before he could reach Yankee Stadium.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4)  - Riding the Turbo Hopper, Styx and Stone caught up with Venom who was web swinging through the city. After forcing him to stop, they fought on a nearby construction site. Venom took down the Turbo Hopper, briefly taking Stone out of the fight. He dodged Styx's attack, grabbing his arm and forcing him to touch his own face, hoping it would instantly kill his opponent. Styx calmly explained he was immune to his powers, otherwise he would have put himself out his misery a long time ago. Venom then hurled his lethal opponent into a pile of sand so he could focus on the newly recovered Stone.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4 - BTS) - Stone began his assault by firing adhesive gel to restrain Venom, followed by gas pods to knock him out. Neither weapons proved effective, Venom was unaffected and damaged Stone's backpack arsenal when he slammed him into a container. Stone tried to counterattack using a gasoline impact drill he discovered on the ground, but the Venom symbiote proved impervious to it.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4) - Styx tried to attack from behind while Venom was focused on Stone. Sensing the attack, Eddie and the symbiote cleverly manoeuvred him so his hands almost touched Stone instead. For a brief moment Styx openly relished the chance to end the life of his partner, admitting he often wondered what it would be like before realizing it would also mean losing his only friend. Styx willingly told Venom that Justin Hammer was the one who put a price on his head.

(Venom: Lethal Protector II#4 - BTS) - Styx and Stone were arrested and taken away by the Metro special incident team.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#376 (fb) - BTS) - Some time after escaping and reconnecting, Styx and Stone were hired by controversial film director William Grant to protect his studio from vandals. Unbeknownst to them, Peter Parker snuck in as Spider-Man to take a few photos of the sets to sell to the Daily Bugle.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#376) -  Styx and Stone attacked Spider-Man who wasn't expecting "Dracula and the Terminator". Their fight caused major damage to the studio, much to Grant's frustration. When a security guard tried to step in, Styx grabbed the man and delighted in draining his life energy. Outraged and determined to finally put an end to the killing, Spider-Man attacked Styx but Stone's intervened. His counterattack caused a fire and injured Grant, forcing Spider-Man to stay behind and help the civilians get to safety.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#376) - On the roof Styx and Stone had a chance encounter with the vigilante Cardiac who had come to take down Grant for making movies that incited violence and murder. On the run from Spider-Man, they had no time to waste and attacked Cardiac to get to their Turbo Hopper. Cardiac blasted Stone and then used his weapon stick to engage Styx, chiding him for wallowing in his handicap instead of trying to overcome it.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#376 - BTS) - Stone lost his mask during the fight, leading Cardiac to realize the mercenary was actually his old employee Gerald Stone. Briefly startled, Cardiac could not prevent Stone from using his weapons to blast his way to safety. Some time later at his home base, Cardiac confirmed Gerald Stone's identity, which led him to vow he would not escape him.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#376) -  Styx and Stone went down to Grant's offices to collect the money he owed them. When the director protested, after all they did destroy his studio, Styx expedited matters by calmly withering away a nearby plant. Later that night, Styx and Stone were relaxing at their penthouse home. Styx refused to join Stone in the pool, opting instead to murder a goldfish in a bowl. At that point, Spider-Man entered and attacked the startled duo. Styx kept the hero occupied while Stone rushed to get his weaponry. Once he was fully armed, Stone managed to glue down and tie up Spider-Man, setting him up for Styx to lay his hands on him.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377) - Styx was horrified to learn the material in Spider-Man's mask was immune to his touch. Before they could remove it, Spider-Man slipped out of his boots and jumped to the ceiling where he continued his attack. Staying away from Styx, he webbed up Stone's weapon pack and swung the mercenary around on a webline, dumping him on top of his lethal partner. Styx did his best not touch Stone's exposed flesh. The duo escaped when Cardiac burst into the penthouse and attacked.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377 - BTS) - Taking a break from minding Styx, Stone went for coffee at a local diner where he was approached by his old boss Elias Wirtham. Stone confessed what had happened that led to the creation of Styx and Stone, while Wirtham feigned sympathy for their plight. He offered Stone access to a research facility in Hoboken that could cure Styx's condition. Stone happily accepted the offer, unaware that Wirtham was Cardiac and that he planned to kill Styx.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377) - Stone did not inform Styx of his plan to cure him, instead he brought him to the Hoboken facility in a van which was secretly traced by Spider-Man. Inside, Styx got anxious when he saw Cardiac was waiting for them. When Styx got ready to kill Cardiac, Stone was forced to punch his partner out.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377 - BTS) - Stone placed Styx in a nearby diagnostic tube while Cardiac started the "treatment". It didn't take long for Stone to realize he was killing Eichorn, leading to a fight that was interrupted when Spider-Man showed up. While the masked vigilantes fought, Stone headed for the van to suit up. He returned firing on all cylinders, furious and vowing to feed both his enemies to Mr. Styx. He retrieved his still unconscious partner from the tube and headed for the Turbo Hopper. Cardiac and Spider-Man caused the flying hovercraft to crash, which incapacitated both Styx and Stone.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#377 - BTS) - After making sure Cardiac didn't kill them, Spider-Man webbed up Styx and Stone and left them for the police to find.

(Spider-Man: The Arachnis Project I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Some time after escaping prison, Styx and Stone were approached by the Life Foundation, posing as a secret crime society working out of Washington D.C. The cabal wanted the duo to come work for them, but insisted they auditioned first. This offended Styx and Stone who considered themselves top-notch talent who didn't need to prove themselves to anyone.

(Spider-Man: The Arachnis Project I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Top-notch talent or not, the duo still needed money. That's why they decided to rob a bank on Wall Street instead. But after breaking into the vault, Styx gave into his darker urges, killing two guards with his life absorption powers. This delayed the villains long enough for the automated security systems to inform the authorities, which drew the attention of Spider-Man.

(Spider-Man: The Arachnis Project I#1) - Styx couldn't control his desire to take more lives and was ready to lunge at nearby bank patrons. Spider-Man intervened, leading to Stone firing his weapons at the wall-crawler who dodged the blasts that instead knocked out Styx. Stone was so lost in thought pondering the situation, he was not prepared for Spider-Man drop-kicking him to the ground. After threatening to crush his skull, Spider-Man got Stone to tell him about the secret society that wanted to hire them.

(Spider-Man/Deadpool I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Styx and Stone fell under the influence of the Cult of Entropy. Embracing the cult's nihilistic philosophies, Styx and Stone became dutiful believers and moved to Bolivia. During their time with the Cult, they began to change. Styx grew increasingly emaciated and his arms and hands became permanently extended. Stone turned into a giant rock creature now able to wither away inorganic matter with a touch.

(Spider-Man/Deadpool I#3) - Styx and Stone were called to action when the Cult's base was attacked by Spider-Man, Deadpool and his Mercs for Money. Styx used his elongated fingers to kill the horse Deadpool was riding into battle. He was briefly stopped by Spider-Man's webbing, but Stone's new powers easily freed him. Styx faced Deadpool whose first solution was hacking off his opponents' fingers. Eichorn quickly regrew them and began to tear into the vigilante whose healing factor worked overtime to keep up with the immense damage he caused. In the end, Styx was defeated when he was slammed into the toppled Stone. Realizing they were outmatched, the duo retreated to the Cult's base.

(Dead Man Logan I#2) - Styx and Stone had a brief altercation with Hawkeye and Logan of Earth-21923 who were looking for Mysterio. The two villains had no idea where Quentin Beck was.

Comments: Created by David Michelinie, Todd McFarlane.

Sticks and stones might break my bones, but Mr. Styx will rot 'm right off... Talk about a nasty piece of work. It's easy to see how the creation of Styx in 1988 turned out to be a trial run for David Michelinie to come up with Carnage in 1990. Both Eichorn and Cletus Kasady are unhinged sadistic killers who get off on causing as much misery and mayhem as possible... And only one of them cares for a profit margin.

'Eichorn' sounds a lot like 'eichhorn', which is German for squirrel. I guess it fits: Styx certainly acts nutty enough.

It's remarkable that Styx and Stone languished in comics limbo from 1994 to 2016. They have an interesting dynamic that could have been explored more.

Styx (along with Stone) received full profiles in Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook I#1 and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#11

Profile by Norvo

CLARIFICATIONS:
Styx should not be confused with

Images: (without ads)
Spider-Man Deadpool I#3, p10, pan1 (main image)
Amazing Spider-Man I#309, p14, pan3 (first appearance)
Amazing Spider-Man I#377, p10, pan5 (transformed by Stone)
Amazing Spider-Man I#309, p12, pan3 (close up)
Amazing Spider-Man I#309, p21, pan2 (wants a puppy)
Spider-Man the Arachnis Project I#1, p9, pans 1&2 (accidentally shot by Stone)
Spider-Man Deadpool I#3, p15, pan4 (versus Deadpool)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#309 (November, 1988) - David Michelinie (writer), Todd McFarlane (pencils & inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#332 (May, 1990) - David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#333 (June, 1990) - David Michelinie (writer), Erik Larsen (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#376 (April, 1993) - David Michelinie (plot), Steven Grant (script), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Al Milgrom, Dan Panosian (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#377 (May, 1993) - David Michelinie (plot), Steven Grant (script), Jeff Johnson (pencils), Randy Emberlin (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spider-Man: The Arachnis Project I#1 (August, 1994) - Mike Lackey (writer), Andrew Wildman (pencils), Stephen Baskerville (inks), Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth (editors)
Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook I#1 (November, 2007) - Mike Fichera, Ronald Byrd, Al Sjoerdsma, Stuart Vandal, Anthony Flamini, Michael Hoskin, Jeff Christiansen, Sean McQuaid, Madison Carter, Eliot Brown (writers), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#11 (November, 2009) - Jeff Christiansen, Stuart Vandal, Sean McQuaid, Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, Mike Fichera, Mike O'Sullivan, Madison Carter, Eric Moreels, Rob London, David Wiltfong, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Markus Raymond, Chris Biggs, Rich Green, Kevin Garcia, Jeph York, Mark O'English, Chad Anderson, Al Sjoerdsma, Anthony Flamini, Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Bill Lentz, Barry Reese, Eliot Brown, David Sexton (writers), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald, Mark D. Beazley (editors)
Spider-Man/Deadpool I#3 (May, 2016) - Joe Kelly (writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Jordan D. White, Nick Lowe, Devin Lewis (editors)
Dead Man Logan I#2 (February, 2019) - Ed Brisson (writer), Mike Henderson (pencils & inks), Jordan D. White, Chris Robinson (editors)
Venom: Lethal Protector II#3 (September, 2022) - David Michelinie (writer), Ivan Fiorelli (pencils & inks), Tom Groneman, Devin Lewis (editors)

First Posted: 07/24/2024
Last Updated: 07/25/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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