- "Now that Spider-Man's gone, this city will never be the same."
"Oh, I'm counting on that." - ―Gustav Fiers and Harry Osborn[src]
Gustav Fiers, known to certain circles as The Gentleman[2] or the Man in the Shadows[1] is a mysterious criminal with ties to Oscorp Industries and is a close associate of Norman Osborn. He was sent by Norman to kill the Parker Family, namely Richard Parker and Mary Parker.[4]
In 2014, he eventually conspires with an incarcerated Harry to assemble a team of supervillains equipped with prototype weaponry built by Oscorp with the express purpose of killing Spider-Man.
Biography[]
Killing the Parker Family[]
Fiers attacking Richard Parker
Much of Fiers' early history and origins are unknown, only that for most of his life, he'd been a ruthlessly efficient criminal and assassin, having become a friend and associate with ailing billionaire industrialist and geneticist Norman Osborn sometime prior to 2001, becoming employed as a private operative of OsCorp Industries' inner circle.[5]
Due to Osborn's terminal affliction, dubbed retroviral hypoplasia, slowly but surely killing him, The industrialist recruited various accomplished geneticists, namely Curt Connors and Richard Parker, whose exceptional work with splicing animal genes with human genomes produced hybridization mutation effects, allowing for a person to take on aspects and abilities of a specific species. Fiers, alongside Dr. Rajit Ratha and Donald Menken, would be tasked with closely monitoring and supervising Connors' and Parker's work and progress, as the hope was their breakthroughs would produce a potential cure to Osborn's disease, finding particular success with a new breed of spiders mutated via genetic engineering. Both scientists were on less than pleasant terms with both Fiers and Menken, due to their smug and conniving dispositions towards both of them, while Ratha displayed modicums of respect and decorum in opposition.[6]
However, Parker would eventually discover that Osborn harboured sinisterly ulterior goals, as he tasked other scientists, roboticists Otto Octavius, Adrian Toomes, and Alistair Smythe with constructing prototype battlesuits with unique attributes, namely a harness with four mechanical limbs on Octavius' part and a winged magnetic flying harness on Toomes', while Smythe would construct a line of heavily armed robotic drones, all designed with military combat capabilities in mind. Osborne had also had intentions to utilize any serum or drug procured by the Cross-Species Genetics research as bioweaponry rather than pharmaceutical use. He'd also discover a mysterious amorphous alien organism held in secret captivity, all together stockpiled and stored in an off limits top secret department lab dubbed Secret Projects.
Realizing that Oscorp had aims of war profiteering via orchestrating terrorism and warfare in foreign nations, and unwilling to allow his work to be abused as an asset of such, Parker would effectively desert the company, quietly destroying his cluster of Araneus Oscorpeous spider subjects and making off with a briefcase containing his research documents and notes, namely an incomplete formula that solved a decay-rate algorithm that obstructed the final stages of the splicing process on various subjects.[7]
Peter Parker, who posed a threat to both Fiers and Osborn
Upon discovering Parker's betrayal, an enraged Osborn tasked Fiers with stalking Parker, including breaking into his home and looking through his study to locate any crucial information or sensitive documents he'd learned of and absconded with. Realizing he'd been targeted, Parker and his wife Mary would resolve to go into hiding, leaving their young son Peter with relatives Ben and May Parker.
Under Norman Osborn's orders, Fiers snuck into the Parker's private plane as they planned to rendezvous with government allies dubbed Roosevelt, undercover as the G-5 Co-Pilot. Murdering their pilot, Fiers attacked Richard as the plane malfunctioned and began to fall. He managed to successfully shoot Mary dead, but was overpowered by Richard, who shot the window of the boarding door which depressurized the cabin and tore open the doorway, sucking out Fiers, who slammed against one of the wings as he free-fell out of sight. As a plane finally crashed, both Parker and Fiers' fates were left unknown.[2] However, Fiers had miraculously survived, albeit gruesomely scarred from his fall. Found and recovered by his security detail, he resumed service to OsCorp, albeit now taking a direct position in managing external affairs under Norman's jurisdiction. He was also instructed to surveil and keep tabs on the remaining Parker family, specifically the orphaned Peter, whom both believed could become an asset or threat in the future.
Enter Peter Parker[]
Visiting Curt Connors[]
- "Did you tell the boy the truth?"
"No." - ―Gustav Fiers and Curt Connors[src]
Peter Parker would serve as a threat after becoming Spider-Man.
11 years later, in 2012, a teenage Peter, now in high-school and having inherited his father's scientific prowess and passion, would discover his old briefcase in the basement after a flood. Discovering all of his father's old notes and formulas, as well as a calculator and pair of glasses, Peter's dormant curiosity of learning about why his parents had disappeared was renewed, as he began studying and attempting to solve his father's incomplete research, eventually discovering his father's employ at Oscorp and partnership with Connors. Sneaking in on an internship tour, Peter would meet Connors and his apprentice, Gwen Stacy, a fellow classmate and daughter of NYPD police captain George Stacy.
Fiers visited Connors to ask him if he told Peter the truth about Richard's death.
While Peter snooped around the facility, he would discover a hidden laboratory where a large cluster of new mutated spiders were kept in a rotating weaving mechanism, where their souped up webbing would be utilized to create OsCorp's Biocable adhesive. Accidentally disrupting the process which caused several spiders to fall on him, Peter would be bitten by one as he was escorted out by Gwen. The altered venom would quickly get to work transforming Peter's genome and DNA, successfully completing the hybridization splicing process The company had long struggled with and granting him strange spider-esque capabilities / superpowers. After avoiding getting assaulted during an altercation on a subway, Peter was both amazed and scared of his new abilities, seeking out Connors in hopes for answers.
Fiers visited Curt Connors after he was incarcerated in Beloit Psychiatric Hospital, questioning Connors as to whether he'd told Peter Parker the truth about his father's death. After revealing that he had kept the secret, Connors told Fiers to leave Peter alone, to which he responded by simply disappearing.[1]
Special Projects Plans[]
In 2014, Fiers visited Harry Osborn in his cell at the Ravencroft Institute. They began to talk about building a team, and Harry requested it be a small one. He suggested that they begin with Aleksei Sytsevich. Fiers later walked in to a level in Oscorp Tower, walking past a room where mechanical tentacles, mechanical wings, and a rhino-esque battlesuit were being built.[2]
Personality[]
To be added
Powers and Abilities[]
To be added
Equipment[]
- Gun: To be added
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Norman Osborn - Close friend and associate
Enemies[]
Trivia[]
- At the time of the release of The Amazing Spider-Man, the man's identity was a secret, so he was simply credited as "Man in the shadows". His identity was later revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where he was also credited as "Gustav Fiers (The Gentleman)".
- The man that tried to kill Peter's parents in the prologue of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a younger Fiers himself who survived falling out the plane whom the Gentleman aims to avenge by targeting Spider-Man.
- In both of the films, he visits someone who is incarcerated.
- Gustav Fiers, aka The Gentleman, originates from a trilogy of novels based on the Sinister Six of dubious canon to the comics, of which he was the main antagonist and new leader. They would establish he was a criminal mastermind who had run afoul of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past, namely Richard Parker and Mary Parker, who were operatives of it at the time. The Parkers foiled his plots which lead to him being involved in a conspiracy to have them killed by crashing the plane that lead to their deaths (caused by Albert Malik, an imposter of the Red Skull, whom Fiers was acquainted with in his youth). This makes Fiers, alongside Dennis Carradine, who murdered Uncle Ben, the catalyst of Peter's transformation into Spider-Man, making him Peter's most personal foe. This is stronger in the film series as it's implied a young Fiers (played by Bill Heck)
- In the aforementioned novel trilogy, we learn Gustav targets Spider-Man for vengeance.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Amazing Spider-Man post-credits scene
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- ↑ Known only by codename
- ↑ The assassin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the man responsible to kill Richard and Mary. However, the man is connected to Gustav. (here are the proofs)
- In The Amazing Spider-Man, Fiers asks Connors if Peter knows the truth about Richard. Fiers is implying to Norman Osborn, but he is concerned if Peter does know or not. This shows Fiers may be the man who killed Richard and Mary.
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Fiers says "Spider-Man is gone" and he is delighted. This proves he is happy Spider-Man is gone, and that's maybe because he lost another loved one, after his parents and uncle.
- In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Gustav Fiers (also known as "The Gentleman") is implied to be the assassin responsible for the deaths of Richard and Mary Parker. This connection is suggested by Fiers’ close involvement with Oscorp, as he has significant ties to both Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn, serving as an operative who helps carry out their plans in secret.
- Though Fiers’ role as the assassin is not explicitly confirmed in the film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suggests he was the one who sabotaged the Parkers' plane, orchestrating events to protect Oscorp’s secrets from being exposed by Richard. Additionally, Gustav Fiers is credited as the "Man in the Shadows" in the first Amazing Spider-Man film, where he is seen visiting Dr. Connors in prison, emphasizing his central role in Oscorp’s covert operations and his knowledge of Parker family secrets.
- Further implications of Fiers as the assassin were expected to be clarified in future installments or spin-offs involving the Sinister Six, but these plans were canceled when the franchise direction shifted.
- Here, we can say the G-5 Co-Pilot and Gustav are the same person, though people say the co pilot is his brother, Karl Fiers (Finisher).
- ↑ Taken information via The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- ↑ Information taken from The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2
- ↑ Taken information from: -The Amazing Spider-Man -The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Special Projects scene and credits
External Links[]
Gustav Fiers on Wikipedia- Gustav Fiers on the Marvel Wiki
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