SIMON MARSHALLSIMON MARSHALL
Real Name: Simon Marshall
Identity/Class: Human scientist
Occupation: Pharmacological chemist;
former pharmacist
Group Membership: Maggia
Affiliations: Maggia (Chic DiAngelo, Silvermane/Silvio Manfredi, Joey Tartaglione);
Spider-Man (Peter Parker) tried to protect him from Cloak and Dagger;
Mr. Negative/Martin Li may consider him an ally or an enemy
Enemies: Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), Dagger (Tandy Bowen), New York Police Department;
Mr. Negative/Martin Li may consider him an ally or an enemy
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
died on unidentified rooftop in Manhattan, New York;
formerly based out of a laboratory on Ellis Island, New York
First Appearance: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64 (March, 1982)
Powers/Abilities:
Simon Marshall was an experienced chemist, able to synthesize variant
versions of drugs. However, at least one such creation (an attempted to
create a synthetic heroin) resulted in mass fatalities.
Further, three of those exposed to
his synthetic heroin developed superhuman powers; it has been noted
that such beings may have held a latent gene for mutation
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (very little color is shown in the few images showing his face clearly/closely, but perhaps light brown)
Hair: Gray (formerly reddish-orange; see comments).
History:
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) - When pharmacist Simon Marshall got himself badly into
debt, he accepted an offer for a way out from "certain people" who were
perfoming experiments. He was told he would be rich if he continued to
procure illegal drugs, although he at least claimed that he, at least initially, had no idea how the drugs
would be used.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) - Marshall was instructed by the Maggia to develop a
highly-addictive and inexpensive synthetic alternative to heroin.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64 (fb) - BTS) - Marshall was based out of Ellis Island.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) <Earlier in the year of the main story> - Maggia agents recruited numerous runaways at the Port
Authority bus terminal, filling them with promises of food, clothing,
and shelter, and bringing them to Ellis Island.
Among the Maggia agents working with Marshall was Joey Tartaglione.
(Cloak and Dagger III#19 (fb)) - Maggia agents abducted Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen, taking them to Ellis Island.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3 (fb) - BTS) - The future Martin Li / Mr. Negative was added to group of runaways on Ellis Island by agents of Silvermane.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64 (fb) - BTS) - As the Maggia agents restrained and abused a captive, Marshall instructed them to pin his arms so they wouldn't have to repeat the injection. He further noted that if his drug worked, the Maggia would be in possession of a drug that would wipe all of the other drugs off the street -- "Once hooked, the kids'll lap this stuff like flies lap sugar!" -- and they would become very rich.
(Cloak and Dagger III#19 (fb)) - Marhsall prepared to inject Tyrone Johnson.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3 (fb)) - Marshall injected the future Li.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64(fb)) - When he kids began dropping off rapidly, the Maggia discovered that two of the runaways were missing and had likely crawled away. After Marshall assured the others that the missing kids wouldn't last long with the drugs in their system, Joey Tartaglione advised them all to wash their hands of the operation and cut their losses.
(Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3
(fb) - BTS) - Escaping through a hole broken by Tyrone Johnson in the
decaying mortar of their cell, the captive was mutated by the injection
into the dual form of Martin Li and Mr. Negative.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) - While all of the other kids perished, Tyrone Johnson and
Tandy Bowen survived and were mutated to become the vengeance-seeking
Cloak and Dagger.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) - An informant tipped the police off to Marshall's
activities and location, and they launched a midnight raid, only to
find a number of kids dead for less than half hour (as the city medical
examiner later determined)
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64 (fb) - BTS) - An All-Points Bulletin was put out for Simon Marshall, known to the NYPD as a snake and a drug-runner.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64)
- Fleeing from Cloak and Dagger, Marshall's cries for help drew
Spider-Man. Panicked, Marshall admitted his crimes and begged
Spider-Man to hide him, protect him, and/or take him to the district
attorney where he would confess everything. 
Cloak and Dagger then arrived and told Marshall it was time for him to pay. Marshall desperately fled, and while Spider-Man engaged Cloak, Dagger swiftly outdistanced the out-of-breath chemist. When she told him she was going to use the powers he had given her to end his miserable life, Marshall argued that they had no right to set themselves up as his judge, jury, and executioner. He continued that he had agreed to confess and serve out his time, and that he was sorry. Asking him if he though remorse could possibly mean anything now, she fired five light-knives into his chest, knocking him back into a pigeon coop and killing him.
Furious at their murder, Spider-Man engaged Cloak and Dagger but was ultimately subdued by Dagger's light-knives. Upon recognizing Marshall's corpse, a NYPD member told Spider-Man he didn't know whether to take him in or take him out to dinner.
(Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64
(fb) - BTS) - Cloak and Dagger captured Joey Tartaglione and a number
of other Maggia agents associated with Marshall and synthetic drug
experiments. Most of the Maggia men ultimately perished in this
conflict.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Edward Hannigan, and Allen Milgrom.
When Cloak and Dagger were chasing
down Marshall, he clearly had gray hair, although it was night time. A
flashback in the same issue to his working on the kids at Ellis Island
showed him with reddish-orange hair (the Daily Bugle's Mack said the
events took place "earlier this year"). The only other flashback of
which I know also shows him with reddish-brown hair at the time of
mutation. Perhaps he dyed is hair at that time, or perhaps the guilt of
what he'd done and the pursuit of Cloak and Dagger caused his hair to
rapidly turn gray. Right after Marshall's death, the experiments were
described as having taken place "earlier this year," so it could have
been several months between the experiments and his death.
I think Marvel Team-Up I Annual#6 involved an
attempt to recreate Simon Marshall's drug, or perhaps to recreate the
circumstances that gave Cloak and Dagger their powers, with Wolfsbane
and Sunspot being affected, and then there was a sequel to that in New
Mutants I#22-25, with Wolfsbane and Sunspot suffering effects from the
exposure that affected Cloak and Dagger. I'll have to pull those issues
and check out the details to see if anything specifically involves
Simon Marshall.
Thanks to Stuart Vandal and Greg O'Driscoll for identifying the above issues.
Joey Tartaglione
was identified as a mobster apparently supervising the experiments in
Spectacular Spider-Man I#64. Chic DiAngelo may have been Tartaglione's
superior, and perhaps he ordered the experiments but didn't
attend...which is why he wasn't among those gathered and slain by Cloak
and Dagger. At the time of DiAngelo's kidnapping of DiAngelo, Cloak and
Dagger knew who he was. Perhaps they discovered the information at a
later date, and when they started coming after him, he was feeling the
pressure, leading to his kidnapping of Gilbert?
Or not?
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Simon Marshall should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64, pg 3, panel 1 (gray hair, face);
pg. 5, panel 1 (mostly full, with Dagger's hand);
panel 3 (shot by Dagger);
pg, 15, panel 5 (face, reddish-orange hair);
Cloak and Dagger III#19, pg. 11, panel 4 (side-view, priming syringe);
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3, pg. 13, panel 3 (working on Li)
Appearances:
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man I#64 (March, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Edward Hannigan (penciler), Allen Milgrom (inker), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Power
Pack I#6-7 (January-February, 1985) - Louise Simonson (writer), June
Brigman (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Carl Potts (editor)
Cloak and Dagger III#19 (August, 1991) - Terry Kavanaugh
(writer), Chris Ivy (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Danny Fingeroth
(editor)
Dark Reign: Mr. Negative#3 (October, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer),
Gianlluca Gugliotta (artist), Tom Brennan (assistant editor), Stephen
Wacker (editor)
First posted: 12/29/2019
Last updated: 01/14/2020
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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