SWARM
Real Name: Fritz von Meyer
Identity/Class: Human (German) mutate (World War II, post war, pre-modern to modern era)
Occupation: Toxicologist, apiculturist, would-be conqueror
Group Membership: Hateful Hexad (Bearboarguy, Gibbon/Martin Blank, Ox/Raymond Bloch, Squid/Donald Callahan, White Rabbit/Lorian Dodson);
formerly
Sinister Six (8-Ball, Delilah, Killer Shrike/Simon Maddicks, Melter, Squid/Don Callahan), Exterminators (Chameleon/Dmitri Smerdyakov, Electro/Max Dillon, Molten Man/Mark Raxton, Rhino/Aleksei Systsevich, Scarecrow/Ebenezer Laughton, Will O' The Wisp),
Nazi party
Affiliations: Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff), Master Pandemonium
Enemies: Avengers (Amadeus Cho, Hercules/Heracles, US Agent/John Walker, Stature/Cassie Lang, Vision/"Jonas", Wasp/Hank Pym), Robin Callahan, Champions (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Darkstar/Laynia Petrovna, Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze, Hercules/Heracles, Iceman/Robert "Bobby" Drake), Phillip Chang, Deadpool (Wade Wilson), Firestar (Angelica Jones), Giant-Man (Hank Pym), Gargoyle (Isaac Christians), Steve Hopkins, Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Itsy Bitsy, Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (Bamfs, Doop, Krakoa), Marcy Kane, Koi Boi (Ken Shiga), Kraven the Hunter (Alyosha Kravinoff), R.G. Mathieson, Onslaught, Punisher (Frank Castle), Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich), Runaways (Lucy in the Sky/Karolina Dean, Victor Mancha, Sister Grimm/Nico Minoru), Brian Sears, Secret Defenders (Cadaver/Cody Fleischer, Dr. Druid/Anthony Druid, Shadowoman/Jillian Woods), Dr. Morris Sloan, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Spider-Man (Ben Reilly), Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green), Thunderbolts (Moonstone/Karla Sofen, Norman Osborn, Penance/Robert Baldwin, Radioactive Man/Chen Lu, Songbird/Melissa Gold, Swordsman/Andreas von Strucker, Venom/Mac Gargan), Mary Jane Watson, X-Men (Archangel/Warren Worthington III, Iceman/Robert "Bobby" Drake), X-Men's Special Class (Ernst, Eye Boy/Trevor Hawkins, Glob Herman/Robert Herman, Hellion/Julian Keller, No-Girl/Martha Johansson, Rockslide/Santo Vaccarro, Shark-Girl/Lara Dos Santos)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Lord of the Killer Bees, "Bees Knees" called by Sister Grimm, "Bee Man" called by Brian Sears & Squirrel Girl
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Buenos Aires, Argentina
formerly Colorado, Denver
formerly Los Angeles
formerly underground base, Houston, Texas
formerly Dr. Sloan's office, Empire State University, New York
formerly South American jungle
formerly Leipzig, Germany (place of birth)
First Appearance: Champions I#14 (July, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: As a disembodied sentience made up of swarms of mind-controlled bees, Swarm can order the insects to do his bidding. Usually, he has them sting his victims to death (though that also kills the bees). His aggregate body of killer bees lives in symbiosis within the mental energy field of Fritz von Meyer's surviving sentience and skeleton. He once claimed he no longer required the skeleton, but his dependency on it apparently returned some time after his psi-link with the animals was disrupted by Onslaught's psychic maelstrom. He can control over 2 billion bees, though his norm is closer to 200,000. However, he requires a queen to actively control them or recruit new swarms. Working together, the bees can carry his skeleton, enabling flight. He is virtually immune to injury: bullets, knives and similar attacks pass through him with very little to no effect. Swarm can extend his consciousness to the swarm, using bees to spy on others and keep him apprised of events that might even occur half a world away. Swarm has shown a vulnerability to sonic and electric attacks. He is also vulnerable to bug repellant. As Fritz von Meyer, he proved scientifically gifted enough to construct a psychic amplifier "gun" designed to control entire bee populations. He has also built giant mechanical bees and has been seen controlling his bees to such an extent that they can form their own humanoid form. An unapologetic Nazi, Swarm considers all non-Aryans part of the "mongrel races".
Height: 6'5" (variable)
Weight: 104 lbs. (variable); originally 210 lbs.
Eyes: Yellow (made from honey); originally brown
Hair: None; originally black
History:
(Champions I#15 (fb) - BTS) - German scientist Fritz von Meyer joined the Nazi party. During the second World War he looted gold from countless European capitals which he stashed away.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#36 (fb) - BTS) - Von Meyer was an expert apiculturist who experimented with insect toxins for use in chemical warfare.
(Champions I#15 (fb)) - After the war, Fritz von Meyer used his stolen gold to start a new life in South America where he worked in the jungle as an expatriate Nazi scientist. Despite this incognito lifestyle, Von Meyer was tracked down by Interpol who sent an agent Robin Callahan looking for him and other war criminals.
(Champions I#15 (fb)) - He devoted himself to researching the breeding patterns of killer bees in comparative peace until he stumbled upon a giant hive of passive bees not like anything he had ever seen. Meyer had previously learned the area had been bombarded by an unusual, highly radioactive meteor shower and concluded the radiation could have mutated the hive. He also found the exposure to the unknown cosmic forces had increased the insects' intelligence a thousandfold. Convinced that these bees could be used to conquer the world, he returned to his laboratory to start work on a device that could get the killer bees to serve him. He came up with a variable psionic frequency beam with which he could stimulate the hive's aggressive tendencies. When Von Meyer used his device on the hive, the beam did not work as planned. Instead of serving him, the psionically stimulated bees attacked. Von Meyer tried to save himself by enslaving the queen bee. However, by the time he had mentally enslaved her, the hive had consumed his body. As fate would have it, the hive had been enveloped by Von Meyer's cohesive "mental field". His mind surviving as part of the bee community, he made symbiotic use of his skeleton to organize their swarm around in the configuration of a human body. Becoming a group of individual organisms with a collective consciousness controlled by his will, Von Meyer called himself Swarm and proceeded to plan for world domination.
(Champions I#14 - BTS) - To aid in his plans for conquest, Swarm created several giant mechanical bees he could control mentally.
(Champions I#15 (fb) - BTS) - Von Meyer lost his control over his actual bee swarm when Interpol caught up with him and Interpol agent Robin Callahan stole the queen bee, encasing her in amber. To keep the hive on his side, Swarm travelled to the United States in search of the man.
(Champions I#14) - Having tracked down the Interpol agent Robin Callahan to the harbor on Santa Monica, Swarm ordered his giant mechanical bees to kill him. The agent's screams caught the attention of Champions members Black Widow, Darkstar and Ghost Rider who were at the docks to see their friend Ivan Petrovich off. While the Champions fought the mechanical bees Swarm decided to deal with agent Callahan himself, killing the man with the bees from his body. But when he then tried to retrieve the briefcase, he found he couldn't open it because it was treated with a form of fast acting insect repellent. Swarm therefore chose to flee the scene, taking his mechanical bees with him (see comments). The Champions later discovered the corpse of Interpol agent Robin Callahan and decided to take his briefcase with them, making them a target for Swarm.
(Champions I#15) - Swarm ordered millions of bees to cover the Champions headquarters in Los Angeles, trapping the heroes inside. Having the heroes where he wanted them, Swarm entered the building himself, joined by his giant mechanical bees who easily defeated and captured Iceman and Darkstar. Swarm grabbed the briefcase from the Widow's grasp and fled, closing the hallway behind him with a hive wall strong enough to keep even Hercules out. When Iceman and Darkstar awoke they found themselves within Swarm's hive, who proceeded to share his origin story with the heroes. Swarm hoped they would help him to free the queen bee from the amber without hurting her, Darkstar complied, feeling no living being should have to endure entrapment. With the queen freed, she immediately grew to giant proportions. Feeling the heroes had served their purpose, Swarm and the queen bee wanted them dead. As Swarm battled the Champions the queen bee fought Hercules but when the demi-god used all his strength to throw the giant insect out the window over the sea all the bees that made up Swarm's body left him to follow her, leaving only his skeleton behind with a single bee hiding in the skull.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#36 - BTS) - Von Meyer's skeleton was donated to Doctor Sloan of New York's Empire State University (ESU) for study.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#36) - Dr. Sloan and his student Marcy Kane discussed the ways mutated bees could benefit man. They were hoping to find some trace of the radioactivity that mutated Swarm's killer bees, but failed to notice a lone queen bee had survived inside Von Meyer's skull. When Sloan activated his radiation detecting machinery, Swarm managed to completely recover within moments. The campus was soon flooded by bees, which caught the attention of student Peter Parker who quickly changed to Spider-Man to deal with the situation at hand. Spider-Man confronted Swarm and rescued Dr. Sloan from the villain's wrath. As he helped Sloan out of the window, he asked the professor to contact Reed Richards or Henry Pym, since this was out of his league.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#37) - Spider-Man, unable to fend off the dangerous killer bees, seemed to be fighting a losing battle until he accidentally fell on some lab equipment. Shattering several vials containing chemical insect repellent and passing out in the process, he inadvertently rescued himself. Swarm was unable to touch the hero and decided to leave the laboratory to find a quiet place where his queen could mutate and breed millions of extra bees. When Spider-Man finally regained consciousness, Swarm had already built a giant hive on the ESU campus. Parker and other chemistry students Marcy Kane, Steve Hopkins, Phillip Chang came together with Dr. Sloan to create a synthetic insect repellent strong enough to stop Swarm. When the students finished, Spider-Man doused his costume in the repellent and entered the giant hive. After combating Swarm and the giant queen bee, Spider-Man used the repellent to cover both in the liquid. Refusing to obey Von Meyer's commands any longer the bees began to attack each other and the queen bee herself. With most bees fleeing the scene, Swarm's skeleton and the body of the giant queen bee was all that's left.
(Spider-Man Family featuring Spider-Man's Amazing Friends#1/1) - Swarm and Kraven the Hunter were attacked and defeated by Iceman and Firestar.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3 (fb) - BTS) - The queen bee was kept in a containment capsule on top of a building at ESU.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3) - On their way towards Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus and the Answer passed through the ESU campus and Dr. Octopus accidentally cracked the containment capsule with one of his mechanized arms. The crack was big enough for Swarm's queen bee to escape and quickly reform Swarm. With the bee free Swarm could once again regain his full form. One of the first things he saw was the criminals Boomerang, Rhino, Hardshell, Beetle (Abner Jenkins), Vulture (Adrian Toomes) and Stegron fighting the cyborg Strikeback and among each other over a nuclear blaster while their common enemy Spider-Man lay unconscious on the side. Swarm decided to involve himself.
(Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4) - Swarm set his bees upon the unconscious Spider-Man, but when the the hero woke up he tried to fight the bees. As Spider-Man attempted to escape Swarm's killer bees, he bumped into the Rhino who had gained the nuclear blaster the villains had been fighting over and he accidentally fired it. Both he and Spider-Man were stunned by the explosive feedback of the blast, but Swarm was hit the worst: the nuclear blaster disrupted the psychic link between him and the bees, once again neutralizing his threat.
(X-Men II#56 - BTS / Sensational Spider-Man I#9 (fb)) - Somehow reforming after his psychic link to the bees was disrupted, Swarm was one of the many psi-sensitives hit by Onslaught's psionic hurricane. The mental maelstrom severed the telepathic bond that reverberated within Swarm's mutant colony. To restore it's damaged vibratory resonance Swarm and the bees were drawn to the origin of the storm, New York City.
(Sensational Spider-Man I#9) - Swarm headed for Manhattan's Institute of Seismoharmonic Research, dedicated to studying the countless layers of vibratory energy that permeate the Earth and air. After threatening to kill one of the researchers, Swarm showed himself and explained his reason for coming to the facility, threatening to kill all if they would not help him. The pilgrimage of the bees that had been calculated to be in the trillions caused pandemonium in the streets and caught the attention of Spider-Man (Ben Reilly). Reilly followed the bees and witnessed how Swarm had erected a dome around the facility. Swarm recognized Spider-Man by his costume (although he had never fought Reilly before) and claimed there was nothing he could do to stop him.
(Sensational Spider-Man I#10) - After gaining access to the facility, Spider-Man and the scientists tricked Swarm into thinking they were doing his bidding while they were secretly constructing a device that would disrupt the bees' ability to fly. With all Swarm's bees lying stunned on the ground, Reilly captured the queen to eliminate Swarm's threat.
(Secret Defenders#18 (fb) - BTS) - Swarm devised a new plan for world domination: destroying the Rand-Meachum super collider which would result in a massive electro-magnetic pulse that would destroy man's technology and leave them vulnerable to his bees. Swarm figured mankind would be easy prey as he prepared for bees to become Earth's new master race.
(Secret Defenders#17 - BTS) - After no less than five people were stung to death by bees near the Rand-Meachum facility in Houston, paranormal investigator R.G. Mathieson contacted his ally Dr. Druid to look into the local insect populations' unusual behavior.
(Secret Defenders#18) - Swarm appeared in Houston where he took over the Rand-Meachum facility and quickly constructed a giant, underground hive where he kept the super-collider. But thanks to Mathieson's early warning signal Druid and the Secret Defenders were on the case, aided by insect expert Hank Pym and Iron Fist (Rand-Meachum's director). As Pym and Rand dealt with the problems above ground, Druid and the Secret Defenders tried to find the source themselves. The team stumbled upon Swarm's underground basis. The villain took Druid and Cadaver captive, but was unaware of Shadowoman, who was invisible in her shadow-form. At the same time, Swarm influenced his bees to attack the research facility above ground. However, Hank Pym was able to rig his ant-controlling helmet into a crude cybernetic scrambler to keep the bees at bay. As a last recourse the captive Dr. Druid telepathically reached out to Archangel and Iceman, disguised as Charles Xavier. He asked them to come and help, seeing as they had dealt with Swarm before.
(Secret Defenders#19) - Swarm's bees were seen attacking Archangel and Iceman who had been sent by "Charles Xavier" and arrived in time to help Pym and Iron Fist. Before Swarm could harm his captives, Shadowoman managed to free Cadaver, who in turn tried to free Druid. Druid used his powers to recover Cadaver's powerful bone sword which he used to destroy the hive. This seemingly destroyed Swarm, but as the group reached the surface the bees (no longer needing Von Meyer's essence) again took form. However, without Von Meyer's essence to mentally back up the hive, Druid successfully persuaded the Swarm to stand down, threatening what would happen if all of Earth's superhumans would turn towards its destruction. Sensing truth in Druid's words Swarm dispersed.
(Runaways II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Some of Swarm's drones living on the west coast learned the criminal cabal known as the Pride had been taken down. Eager to become the "queen" of this abandoned "hive", he returned to Los Angeles.
(Runaways II#7) - While Swarm prepared himself to terrorize Los Angeles he was found by the teenage group called the Runaways. Sister Grimm, Lucy in the Sky and their most recent recruit Victor Mancha decided to take the super villain on. Sadly, Sister Grimm used the wrong incantation to fight Swarm (as she can only use every spell once) and was teleported away alongside Lucy in the Sky, leaving only Victor to deal with Swarm. Not seeing the youngster as a real threat, Swarm jokingly questioned the boy's heritage, calling him "one of the mongrel races". This infuriated Mancha who unleashed his electrical powers that proved strong enough to disrupt Swarm's body.
(Sensational Spider-Man II#29 - BTS) - After Spider-Man had publicly revealed his secret identity, in the prelude to what would become known as the superheroes' Civil War, Swarm joined several other super villains to form the Exterminators, determined to kill Peter Parker and his loved ones. Swarm decided to go after Parker's wife, actress and model Mary Jane Watson who he tracked down to the Soho Playhouse.
(Sensational Spider-Man II#29) - Swarm lurked from the rafters of the Soho Playhouse anticipating his attack on Watson.
(Sensational Spider-Man II#30) - Swarm leapt from the playhouse ceiling, descending down on Watson. She didn't recognize the villain but understood it must've been after her, since Spider-Man had publicly unmasked himself. Within seconds, former stunt man Brian Sears hurled a seventy-five pound sandbag at Swarm, scattering the bees. Swarm continued to chase Watson while she tried to escape, throwing a huge curtain over Swarm and putting the sprinklers on. The water from the sprinklers weighed the bees down so they couldn't move, revealing Swarm's skeleton. Swarm, now down to his skeleton form, still tried to grab Watson but Sears smashed and broke his skull with a mace. As Swarm lay unconscious on the floor the actors fled the playhouse, while Swarm was seemingly slowly pulling himself back together again.
(Sensational Spider-Man II#32 - BTS) - Swarm appeared in the crowd as part of Mary Jane Watson's recurring nightmare where she had to face a spider monster at a coliseum.
(Punisher War Journal II#14 - BTS) - Swarm was captured by Kraven the Hunter (Alyosha Kravinoff) along with other animal themed superhumans like Gargoyle, Rhino, Bushmaster, Mandrill, Tiger Shark, Kangaroo, the horse Aragorn, Vulture, Mongoose, Man-Bull, Dragon Man, Frog-Man and Grizzly. He kept them in cages aboard a ship, bombs strapped around their necks to keep them from escaping. Kraven was a cruel keeper, feeding his zoo only occasionally. Swarm and the others were eventually let loose on his sinking ship by Kraven when he was attacked by the Punisher and needed someone to attack the Punisher (Frank Castle).
(Punisher War Journal II#15) - Swarm was seen fighting the Gargoyle, but when both of them spotted the Punisher coming, they joined forces to attack him. The Punisher barely survived the encounter.
(Thunderbolts I#122) - While on a mission to detain unregistered superhumans, the Thunderbolts engaged Swarm in Denver, Colorado. Swarm had grown to twenty times his normal size, forcing Norman Osborn and Moonstone to come up with the best possible strategy to take him down. They systematically sent every Thunderbolt agent against Swarm. Penance managed to scatter enough bees for Osborn to see Swarm's human skeleton was still inside the mass of bees. He then decided to send in the ravenous, cannibalistic symbiote Venom who eagerly dug into the bee swarm and devoured the skeleton. Without a host body to actively control them, the bees dispersed. Osborn then commented it was unlikely Swarm was dead, given how hard it is to kill a disembodied intelligence.
(Mighty Avengers I#24) - Loki (disguised as the Scarlet Witch) put his newly formed "Mighty" Avengers on the trail of dozens of crisis situations around the world. One of these so-called hotspots was a Swarm sighting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Joined by Young Avengers members Stature and Vision, they faced the super villain. Swarm managed to create body doubles of all heroes dubbing them his master race of insect men. As the heroes fought their body doubles, the Wasp (Hank Pym) and Stature shrunk down to bee size to look for the queen inside Swarm. When Stature trapped the bee with an inhibitor collar, Swarm and his body doubles began to fade away as Swarm was unable to think anymore. When Quicksilver (searching for his sister Wanda) arrived on the scene he hoped to help the team and used his speed powers to blow the bees away, unaware he was also dispersing the still shrunk down Wasp and Stature. Both heroes were alright and left Argentina, leaving Quicksilver behind.
(The Heroic Age: Villains - BTS) - Captain America (Steve Rogers) reviewed and commented on a list of known supervillains as part of his new job as head of SHIELD. He analyzed Swarm as well and noted that Reed Richards and Charles Xavier needed to be consulted to see if it was possible to contain Von Meyer's psyche. Until then, Rogers strategized the best way to deal with Swarm in combat was to locate and destroy his queen bee, which would disperse his swarm.
(Wolverine and the X-Men I#19) - Deciding to make his mark by attacking the X-Men, Swarm targeted the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. But before Swarm could even enter the school, he was intercepted by a band of interdimensional Bamfs, the sentient school grounds Krakoa and Doop who was holding a can of bug spray. Before too long, Swarm surrendered and promised them all the honey in the world.
(Wolverine and the X-Men I#42) - Wanting revenge on the X-Men after his embarrassing defeat, Swarm joined forces with Master Pandemonium to kill the mutants. The villains managed to gain access to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning the day after graduation, hoping to kill the mutants in their sleeps. Doop, however, was ready to deal with the villains by blasting them away with the sound of his amplified electric guitar playing.
(Spider-Man and the X-Men#4 - BTS) - Nazi super villain Swarm gathered several super powered criminals to form his version of the Sinister Six.
(Spider-Man and the X-Men#4 (fb) - BTS) - Swarm planned to have his new team make a proper debut by stealing a gold shipment worth 10 million dollars from a New York City bank.
(Spider-Man and the X-Men#4) - While robbing the bank, the Sinister Six were discovered by Spider-Man and the Special Class of X-Students who he was mentoring. They happened to be on patrol in the area, when the ultra sensitive Eye Boy noticed bee pheromones, which alarmed Spider-Man who had battled Swarm before. As the Sinister Six attacked the X-Students, Spider-Man focussed on Swarm. He got some assistance from Hellion who blew up Swarm with a telekinetic blast. With their leader out of commission, the Sinister Six surrendered.
(Deadpool & the Mercs for Money I#3) - Swarm attended the auction of a Rigellian Recorder, but did not actively bid on the alien artifact.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#7 (fb) - BTS) - Upset about the global collapse of bee colonies, Swarm blamed humanity and planned to conquer te world. He started off by attacking New York City on the one day all the heroes were away, except for Squirrel Girl. He prepared for her by fighting the heroine's strengths and weaknesses.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#7) - With the heroes away, Squirrel Girl had a busy day picking up the slack. After dealing with Bonehead at the local farmer's market, Doctor Yes at Times Square and the eldritch god Quoggoth in Central Park she suddenly noticed a weird buzzing noise. Squirrel Girl discovered Swarm who allowed her a brief moment to check her "Deadpool's Guide to Super Villains". Swarm revealed why he was there and dared the young girl to stop him. Doreen took the bait and tried to hit Swarm, even sending waves of squirrels after him. She proved unable to physically hurt him. Attempting psychological warfare, Squirrel Girl offered to help Swarm to help the bees. Swarm saw through her retoric, forcing Squirrel Girl to retreat and figure out a better plan. Aware all the heroes had left the city, Squirrel Girl thought of the one hero Swarm wouldn't have; her friend Koi Boi. When he arrived on the scene, Koi Boi immediately figured water would be the key to bring the villain down. Squirrel Girl lured Swarm to the sea where Koi Boi hit Swarm with a giant wave of water. The wave succeeded in washing away most of his bee body, allowing Squirrel Girl and Koi Boi to trap the queen bee in an empty jar and sweep the wet bees in trash bags. Squirrel Girl and Koi Boi handed the queen bee and trash bags over to the New York Police Department.
(Vision III#9 - BTS) - While in conflict with his nephew Vin, Victor Mancha remembered how he'd fought Swarm in the past.
(Spider-Man/Deadpool I#9) - Swarm and a group of animal-themed criminals gathered to discuss what they were going to call themselves. After a brief discussion they decided on the Hateful Hexad.
(Spider-Man/Deadpool I#9) - Three days later Swarm and the Hateful Hexad began their crime spree but were opposed by Deadpool and Spider-Man on Wall Street. The Hateful Hexad proved no match for the heroes. As they got their butts handed to them, Swarm urged the group to work together as a team. Noticing that Swarm led the team Spider-Man threw the Squid (Donald Callahan) at him, successfully dispersing his beeswarm body. Swarm managed to pull himself together in time to see his teammates were defeated, he was then shot by Deadpool which caused his bees to flee again. The fight was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Itsy Bitsy, an old enemy of Deadpool out for revenge. Singing the nursery rhyme she based her code name on, Itsy Bitsy seemingly slaughtered Bearboarguy, Gibbon and the Squid. Once itsy Bitsy revealed her presence Spider-Man and Deadpool tried to stop her but were unable to stop her from fleeing. Swarm missed the defeat of his Hateful Hexad, when he was stopped from pulling himself together for a third time. This time, his body was dispersed when a SWAT team kicked open the door he was standing in front of.
(M.O.D.O.K. Head Games#2) - Swarm attended the Criminal Technology Show in Las Vegas, there to bid on new weapons.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo &, John Byrne.
A Nazi beekeeper turned into a living swarm of killer bees? God bless you, Bill Mantlo. Still, Swarm's initial appearance in Champions makes very little sense. In #14 his "arm units" refuse to pick up the suitcase the queen is kept in because it's been doused with insect repellant. Ignoring the fact he's actually wearing the huge, insulated gloves from his old beekeeper outfit... He can convince thousands of bees to happily kill themselves stinging a man to death, but they rebel at the thought of even being near bug spray? That's some darn *buzzing* writing. Also, Swarm had a small army of giant robot bees on hand, couldn't one of them have opened the suitcase or at least carried it for you, Fritz?
Spider-Man Family featuring Spider-Man's Amazing Friends#1/1 takes place prior to Web of Spider-Man I#75.
Robin Callahan was identified in Swarm's OHOTMU HC#11 entry. Thanks to Loki for pointing this out.
Swarm received profiles in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#11, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#7, All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#11, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe HC#11.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Swarm has no known connections to
To aid in his plans for conquest, Swarm created several (presumably around ten) giant mechanical bees he could control mentally. Swarm used the mechanical bees to capture Interpol agent Robin Callahan who caught Swarm's queen bee, but when the superhero team the Champions intervened Swarm ordered his mechanical bees to attack them. With fair ease the Black Widow managed to destroy one by ripping off it's head as her teammates Ghost Rider and Darkstar destroyed five more. After failing to retrieve the queen bee Swarm chose to flee the scene, taking his mechanical bees with him. Swarm and the mechanical bees next attacked the Champions headquarters and faced the full team, this time the mechanical bees managed to defeat and capture Darkstar and Iceman. During the final battle it was the demi-god Hercules who destroyed the last of Swarm's mechanical bees.
--Champions I#14 (Champions I#14-15
Tasked with bringing war criminals to justice this specific interpol agent had managed to track down Fritz von Meyer in the South American jungle. After witnessing von Meyer's transformation into Swarm the agent captured the queen bee in a briefcase covered in insect repellent. After arriving on the docks of Santa Monica he was attacked and consequently killed by Swarm.
--Champions I#14 (Champions I#15 (fb), Champions I#14
images: (without ads)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#11, Swarm entry (main image)
Champions I#15, p9, pan3,4 (origin)
Champions I#15, p3, pan4 (facing the Champions)
Champions I#15, p16, pan4 (apparent death)
Sensational Spider-Man I#9, p22, pan1 (dome)
Sensational Spider-Man II#30, p12, pan1,2 (attacking Mary Jane Watson)
Thunderbolts I#122, p7 pan3 (devoured by Venom)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#7, p6, pan5 (meeting Squirrel Girl)
Champions I#14, p7, pan2 (mechanical bees)
Champions I#14, p6, pan6 (Interpol agent Robin Callahan)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#7, Swarm entry (handbook image)
Appearances:
Champions I#14 (July, 1977) - Bill Mantlo (writer), John Byrne (writer, pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Champions I#15 (September, 1977) - Bill Mantlo (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#36 (November, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer),
Jim Mooney (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#37 (December, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer),
Jim Mooney (pencils), Pablo Marcos (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#3 (November, 1993) - Danny Fingeroth
(writer), Keith Pollard, David Boller (pencillers), Ian Akin, Keith
Aiken, Jim Amash (inkers), Rob Tokar (editor)
Lethal Foes of Spider-Man#4 (December, 1993) - Danny Fingeroth
(writer), David Boller (pencils), Ian Akin, Keith Aiken, Jim Amash,
Brad Vancata, Mike DeCarlo (inkers), Rob Tokar (editor)
Secret Defenders#18 (August, 1994) - Tom Brevoort, Mike Kanterovich
(writers), Bill Wylie (pencils), Don Hudson, Tony DeZuniga (inkers),
Craig Anderson (editor)
Secret Defenders#19 (September, 1994) - Tom Brevoort, Mike Kanterovich
(writers), Bill Wylie (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Craig Anderson
(editor)
Sensational Spider-Man I#9 (October, 1996) - Todd DeZago (writer), Mike
Wieringo (pencils), Richard Case (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Sensational Spider-Man I#10 (November, 1996) - Todd DeZago (writer),
Mike Wieringo (pencils), Richard Case (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Runaways II#7 (October, 2005) - Brian K. Vaughan (writer), Takeshi
Miyazawa (pencils), Craig Yeung (inks), MacKenzie Cadenhead (editor)
Spider-Man Family featuring Spider-Man's Amazing Friends#1 (October,
2006) - Sean McKeever (writer), Patrick Olliffe, Casey Jones, Kano,
Nick Dragotta (pencillers), John Livesay, Vince Russel, Kano, Alvaro
Lopez, Nick Dragotta (inkers), Nathan Cosby (editor)
Sensational Spider-Man II#29 (October, 2006) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
(writer), Angel Medina (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Warren Simons
(editor)
Sensational Spider-Man II#30 (November, 2006) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
(writer), Angel Medina (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Warren Simons
(editor)
Sensational Spider-Man II#32 (January, 2007) - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
(writer), Angel Medina (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Warren Simons
(editor)
Punisher War journal II#15 (March, 2008) - Matt Fraction (writer), Scott Wegener (pencils, inks) Aubrey Sitterson (editor)
Thunderbolts I#122 (September, 2008) - Christos N. Gage (writer),
Fernando Blanco (pencils, inks), Molly Lazer, Bill Rosemann (editors)
Mighty Avengers I#24 (June, 2009) - Dan Slott (writer), Rafa Sandoval
(pencils), Roger Bonet Martinez (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Wolverine and the X-Men I#19 (December, 2012) - Jason Aaron (writer),
Nick Bradshaw, Steven Sanders (pencillers), Walden Wong (inks), Nick
Lowe (editor)
Wolverine and the X-Men I#42 (April, 2014) - Jason Aaron (writer), Nick
Bradshaw, Steven Sanders, Pepe Larraz, Ramon Perez, Shawn Crystal, Nuno
Alves, Chris Bachalo (pencillers, inkers), Nick Lowe (editor)
Spider-Man and the X-Men#4 (March, 2015) - Elliott Kalan (writer), R.B. Silva (pencils), Rob Lean (inks), Katie Kubert (editor)
Deadpool & the Mercs for Money I#3 (June, 2016) - Cullen Bunn
(writer), Salvador Espin (pencils, inks), Jordan D. White, Heather
Antos (editors)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#7 (June, 2016) - Ryan North (writer), Erica
Henderson (pencils, inks), Will Moss, Charles Beacham, Tom Brevoort
(editors)
Spider-Man/Deadpool I#9 (November, 2016) - Joe Kelly (writer), Ed
McGuinness (pencils), Mark Morales (inks), Jodan D. White, Nick Lowe,
Allison Stock, Devin Lewis (editors)
M.O.D.O.K. Head Games#2 (March, 2021) - Jordan Blum, Patton Oswalt (writers), Scott Hepburn (artist), Annalise Bissa (editor)
First Posted: 03/08/2015
Last updated: 06/29/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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