When it comes to Spider-Man foes, Marvel has pulled a few surprises out of the bag. The friendly neighborhood superhero had to battle with some very horrible foes like Venom and Carnage, but the emergence of the Doppelganger was undoubtedly one of the most shocking adversaries he faced.
The character was developed by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim and first appeared in the first Infinity War comic book in 1992. Over time, this monster foe, who resembles an animalistic and fanged Spider-Man, evolved into a genuine threat to the web-slinger, causing fans to sit up and take notice.
We decided to give you everything you need to know about this deadly Spider-Man adversary in this video. The growling, nasty monster has been defeated countless times, but he keeps reappearing, and we will look into how he was created and why he is still chasing Spider-Man around like a crazy person.
It all started in the comic version of Infinity War
The movie Avengers: Infinity War was quite different from the comic version, which dealt with the emergence of the evil portion of Adam Warlock’s soul, Magus. He planned to gain absolute power, and this evil entity started to operate from a far-off reality. Magus then started to acquire the cosmic containment units, which were very similar to the Cosmic Cube. This enabled him to blend multiple realities together, and he created some demonic doppelgangers of the superheroes and villains, and he set them loose. He wanted to get his revenge against both Adam, and the Mad Titan Thanos.
After Reed Richards and Iron Man are defeated, things take a serious turn, and the remaining heroes barely escape being destroyed by the evil doubles that replaced the two. This is when the major superheroes took a crucial decision and they decided to split up into two groups. One of the groups remains on Earth and the other one travels to the far stretches of space. The traveling group planned to take down Thanos because they believed him to be the real enemy.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the superheroes had a tough time fighting their evil doppelgangers. Many were defeated and replaced, and Spider-Man was challenged by his monstrous replica. This was just one of the many mindless forces created by Magus, and the beastly Spider-Man-like entity simply fought according to Magus’ will. Eventually, after much turmoil, all the Doppelgangers were destroyed after the defeat of Magus. Their bodies withered away into nothingness, but Spider-Man’s Doppelganger had another story to come!
How the Doppelganger changed his master!
Magus was gone, and technically, Spider-Man’s evil doppelganger should have been destroyed as well. However, there came a twist in the tale, courtesy of the Demogoblin. For this, you have to go back to the events of Infinity War in Spider-Man #24, where Hobgoblin accidentally killed the Doppelganger. Jason Macendale, the man behind Hobgoblin had struck a deal with a demon for unlimited powers, but eventually, the demon was removed from his body and it became a separate individual entity.
This became the Demogoblin, and although he was a demonic entity himself, he had the goal of eliminating all forms of evil from the world. He revived the Doppelganger because he felt that the monstrous Spider-Man variant could help him in the war against evil. There is an epic battle between the Doppelganger and Spiderman, where the latter is shocked to find something so unique and powerful.
He throws the Doppelganger from a building, but he is still powerful enough to continue the fight. A magical link was established between the two and this caused the Doppelganger to survive even when the others were destroyed following the defeat of Magus. From this moment onwards, the Doppelganger simply followed Demogoblin like his pet and obeyed his orders.
Later, they did get separated and the Doppelganger was found by Carnage and Shriek. The latter adopted the Doppelganger and this did not please Carnage. In fact, when Carnage attacked Shriek in a fit of rage, the Doppelganger tried to defend her like a loyal pet. Unfortunately, he was no match for Carnage, who threw him from a building after stabbing him. This was the second time that the Doppelganger seemed to have died, but hold on, there was another comeback waiting to happen!
The Third Return from the dead for the Doppelganger!
It turned out that the Doppelganger was immune to being stabbed, or being thrown from buildings. Thus, he was back and served as the loyal pet of Carnage and Shriek once again. The Doppelganger even helped Carnage spread chaos around Manhattan before Spider-Man and Iron Man managed to stop him. Later, he also joined the Cult of Knull, which was all about the revival of the dark god Knull, and it was only after the fall of Carnage that the Doppelganger could be successfully captured by the authorities. He was imprisoned in the Ravencroft, but when a group of vampires took over the facility they released him.
What Makes the Doppelganger so Powerful?
One big question for many Spider-Man fans is just how powerful the Doppelganger really is and the answer is really simple. He is easily stronger than Spider-Man in terms of brute strength, and he had all the abilities that the friendly neighborhood superhero possessed. For instance, apart from his superhuman strength, agility and stamina, he also could shoot webs that were sharp like razors.
He had sharp talons and fangs which could rip apart human tissues, and his wall-climbing skills were no less than Spiderman because of his six arms. His only shortcoming was his lack of intelligence and this was large because of his animalistic nature. His instincts were like that of a dangerous pet, and he could only follow instructions. His savage nature meant that he couldn’t even speak for a long time, and later when he could his vocabulary was rather limited. Thus, he could be outsmarted quite easily even though he was so very powerful.
Doppelganger in Spider-Man games
The gamers will surely remember this deadly boss-level enemy in the video game titled Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. This side-scrolling game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was quite popular, and it featured several heroes, including Spider-Man. Doppelganger was one of the toughest to fight, and you had to face some tough challenges before sneaking past him.
Our Final Words
The Doppelganger enjoyed an extensive run in comic book history, but that hasn’t been reflected in the movie universe. With his uniqueness, and his ability to trouble Spider-Man, he can be a potential candidate for a gripping villain in an upcoming movie. We understand that he wouldn’t be able to fight individually because of his mindless nature, but he could be more than a potent ally for some twisted, evil antagonist who could spice up the Spider-Man movie universe!