Dr. Curtis "Curt" ConnorsLizard

Army doctor Curt Connors loses his arm in combat so he dedicates his time studying cellular regeneration. His experiments with reptiles turn him into the Lizard, a reptilian monster with super-strength and enhanced senses.

A Limb Lost

Gifted surgeon and biologist Dr. Curtis “Curt” Connors goes to war when his country calls. He serves as a battlefield medic until his arm’s injured in an explosion and ultimately amputated. His surgical career comes to an abrupt end, so Curt returns to his Florida laboratory. Inspired by a reptile’s ability to regenerate lost limbs, he pursues a revolutionary study of reptilian molecular biology and DNA manipulation to replicate the process in humans. Curt creates then drinks his untested formula; within seconds, his lost arm miraculously regenerates.

Although the serum works as predicted, it’s more powerful than Curt had expected. The chemical mix transforms him into a human lizard. Overwhelmed by his new reptilian nature, he flees into the dense Florida swamps. From his jungle sanctuary, the Lizard builds an army of coldblooded creatures—aiming to destroy humankind. Rumors of a “giant lizard” soon spread, drawing the attention of New York’s Daily Bugle. Viewing the creature as a public menace, the Bugle’s Publisher John Jonah Jameson, AKA J. Jonah Jameson, brazenly challenges Spider-Man to face the Lizard. 

As a photographer for the Bugle, Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, travels to Florida. Tracking down Curt’s wife, Martha, and young son, Billy, Spider-Man learns the truth. Using Curt’s lab notes and equipment, as well as his own scientific knowledge, he concocts an antidote. Battling the Lizard to a standstill, Spider-Man forces the creature to swallow the solution and revert to human form—minus his newly regenerated arm. Spider-Man’s aid earns him Curt’s undying gratitude, as well as the enmity of his reptilian alter ego. 

Curt would soon have the opportunity to repay the favor. When Peter gives his ailing Aunt May a transfusion, his radioactive blood puts her in deadly peril. With doctors powerless, a desperate Spider-Man brings his friend a sample of May’s blood. Curt helps the hero develop a formula to save May’s life. However, Curt remains unaware of Spider-Man’s secret identity. 

Shortly thereafter, Curt and Spider-Man again work jointly to create a solution that would soften Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino’s hide. Unfortunately, the chemicals in that solution cause Curt to revert to reptilian form once more. Knowing a cold-blooded creature cannot regulate its internal temperature, Spider-Man traps the Lizard in a refrigerated train carriage.

Lizard Physiology

The Lizard possesses a number of superhuman powers endowed by his reptilian form, including the ability to regenerate missing limbs, release pheromones to produce violent behaviors in people, and superhuman strength, allowing him to lift 12 tons. His powerful leg muscles enable him to clear 12 feet in a standing high jump and 18 feet in a standing broad jump. His alligator-like hide is tougher than human skin and is capable of resisting the penetration of small-caliber bullets. His reaction time is about twice that of the normal human being and he can run at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. 

The Lizard possesses a 6.5-foot tail that he can whip at speeds up to 70 miles per hour. Like a Gegku lizard, his hands and feet have retractable 1-inch hooks growing from the base of his palm and the ball of his foot. His fingers and toes are covered with scores of tiny claws to create adhesive pads. As a result, the Lizard can support his weight climbing up and down normally intractable surfaces. 

When the Lizard emerges, the R-complex of Connors’ brain (the most primitive region of the human brain containing the most bestial drives) takes over the cerebellum, causing Connors’ mind to become progressively inhuman. The Lizard gains a quasi-telepathic ability to communicate with and command all reptiles within about a one-mile radius of himself. 

In his human form, Dr. Curtis Connors is a brilliant biologist and biochemist, and is a leading herpetologist—a scientist who studies reptiles.

Internal and External Foes

Connors faces many foes, but his greatest struggle is internal against the uncontrollable, violent Lizard that’s part of him. Eventually Connors retains his consciousness while he’s the Lizard but not trusting himself, creates an inhibitor chip to control his transformations.

Occasionally, Connors gets captured by Sergei Kravinoff, AKA Kraven the Hunter, during his great hunt, and others attempt to control him, like Dr. Vincent Stegron, AKA Stegron, and Calypso. He also battles Edward Whelan, AKA Vermin. 

His research into reptilian regeneration sometimes helps transform others into monstrous beasts like the drug-addicted Freak and a young disabled student Melati Kusama, AKA Komodo, who both steal the Lizard formula. Komodo, however, retains her consciousness in Lizard form, so despite her theft, Connors recommends her to join the Initiative.

Colleagues

When he loses control as the Lizard, he battles Spider-Man, but often the wall-crawler brings him back to himself and together they work towards curing Connors of his Lizard problem. 

When he kills a rival scientist as the Lizard, Connors goes to prison willingly but soon joins Norman Osborn, AKA Green Goblin’s Sinister Twelve and gains his freedom.

A Lizard’s Tale

For a while, Curt split his time between Florida and New York. A research grant at Empire State University established him for a time in Manhattan, where Peter worked as his teaching assistant. Yet Curt could not escape the Lizard’s shadow. More and more frequently, extreme stress or exposure to chemicals would transform him into the horrific creature. Connors and many heroes and villains were transported off Earth to the so-called “Secret Wars” orchestrated by the near-omnipotent Beyonder. There on “Battleworld,” though grouped with the villains, the Lizard tried to remain neutral after sustaining an injury, and befriended Janet Van Dyne, AKA the Wasp. 

Upon returning to Earth in tatters, Martha took Billy and left him, unable to deal with the toll of her husband’s relapses. Though distraught by the separation, Connors managed to gain some control over his Lizard persona and helped rescue his family, kidnapped by the Owl. This control was short lived, as a demonic invasion of New York called the “Inferno” turned the Lizard savage again. Calypso used her voodoo powers to usurp control of the Lizard’s mind in pursuit of her own deadly vendetta against Spider-Man, after the death of her lover, Kraven the Hunter. The Lizard was captured after an explosion at Kraven the Hunter’s mansion. Calypso infiltrated the Vault prison to liberate the Lizard but, after training to resist her charms, the Lizard instead slaughtered her. 

In the wake of Calypso’s defeat, Curt embarked on a search for a permanent cure to his condition. To that end, he created a modified version of his original regeneration formula. Connors’ assistant, Aldo Quadrini, injected this new serum into a severed fragment of the Lizard’s tail, with disastrous effects. The tail grew into a completely new Lizard, devoid of any shred of humanity. Curt was forced to trigger his transformation to protect his wife and son. 

Following her husband’s brave sacrifice, Martha returned to Curt. With his missing arm miraculously restored by Hammerhead, a happy ending for the Connors family seemed assured. However, the cellular structure of Curt’s new arm proved unstable, and it soon became useless. A short time later, Martha and Billy were diagnosed with cancer, a result of pollution from an industrial lab near the Connors’ Florida home. The combined efforts of Curt, his reptilian alter ego and Spider-Man were enough to persuade a Monnano Corporation employee to expose the company’s misdeeds—but it was too late. Martha’s cancer was inoperable, and Curt’s long-suffering wife died. 

Billy survived, and unwillingly holds his father partly responsible for the tragedies which befell them both. Under the strain of his wife’s death and his son’s resentment, the line that once existed between Curt Connors and the Lizard has become ever more blurred. It seems Curt can exert some control over his reptilian alter ego—but in return, the Lizard is ever waiting for those moments of weakness in the man that will allow him to take over Curt’s human form. Curt committed a bank robbery, deliberately allowing himself to be imprisoned for the protection of himself and those he loved. 

Free from prison, the Lizard was given a power upgrade by Norman Osborn, enabling him to radiate aggression through pheromones. In return, the Lizard joined Osborn’s short-lived Sinister Twelve team to greet Spider-Man once the wall-crawler was coerced into liberating Osborn from prison; the Twelve were defeated by Spider-Man and his heroic allies, Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. 

Later, Connors returned to research, but was driven feral by Stegron’s use of the ancient Rock of Life, which de-evolved animalistic beings. In this crazed state, the Lizard injected his bio-restorative serum into his son, causing Billy to become a lizardman as well. Billy was treated by Reed Richards, AKA Mister Fantastic, while the Lizard raged against Vermin until Spider-Man defeated Stegron. 

Connors’ research inadvertently gave superhuman powers to a drug-addicted intruder in his lab, transforming him to become the super-adaptive monster known as Freak. One of Connors’ graduate students, Melati Kusama, stole the Lizard formula and perfected it for her own DNA, enabling her to transform into a lizard-like form. Calling herself Komodo, Kusama gained a tail and regenerative abilities, however unlike Connors, she could control her transformations and maintained her human mentality while in lizard form. Connors recommended Komodo for the Initiative. 

While working at pharmaceutical company Phelcorp, Connors’ abusive boss Brian King triggered the Lizard’s return by engaging in a romantic affair with Connors’ assistant, Marissa, the object of Connors’ affections. The Lizard killed King and six other Phelcorp employees, but left Marissa alive. He set his sights on Connors’ son Billy, and with Ana Kravinoff, AAK Kraven’s assistance, killed the boy. Spider-Man attempted to reach Connors but to no avail, Connors was gone. The Lizard tapped into the reptilian parts of the human brain and triggered violent riots across New York City—the people giving into their animal instinct. When Spider-Man showed the Lizard a picture of Billy, the Lizard felt guilt and shame. He retreated underground where he continued to control humans.

When Norman Osborn and Lily Hollister’s son Stanley was born, the first child with Goblin Serum in his blood, several Super Villains sought the child including Doc Ock who wanted its DNA to cure his illness. The Lizard ended up taking Stanley to test him but couldn’t remember how, though he could smell that something wasn’t right. Spider-Man appeared and tested the child’s DNA and determined that Norman wasn’t the child’s father. Doc Ock arrived who Lizard had mind-controlled, but Spider-Man webbed up them both, trapping them.

The Lizard was soon cured by the efforts of Dr. Michael Morbius, AKA Morbius, the Living Vampire, and Spider-Man. While at Horizon Labs, Connors could not accept his new state and turned himself back into the Lizard but not before he tested his serum on others around him. Though Spider-Man defeated him and the Lizard was locked up at the Raft, where he retained his consciousness and realized his imprisonment was his penance for his choices. 

Curt later escaped his cell during a breakout coordinated by other Super Villains and interrupted a confrontation between MacDonald Gargan, AKA Scorpion, and J. Jonah Jameson, and was able to convey to Jameson that he retained his mind.

Connors ended up imprisoned at the Andru Correctional Facility where Ben Reilly, AKA Scarlet Spider, paid him a visit though going by the Jackal. He requested Connors join him in his next endeavor and convinced him by presenting his family to him alive and well. Grateful to have his family back, he didn’t ask any questions right away. Though Martha and Billy were clones and were soon impacted by the Carrion Virus. Connors vowed to protect his family and gave them the Lizard serum to keep them alive, and they too transformed into lizards. 

He soon handed over patents to ESU so that they’d allow him to rejoin their faculty. They accepted and while there, he created an inhibitor chip, one that was surgically implanted and attached to his spinal cord, which allowed him to control his transformations and prevent him from harming others. 

When Kraven the Hunter kidnapped Connors’ son, Connors went after him but ended up captured alongside Spider-Man. Connors asked Spider-Man to remove the chip so his Lizard form could save his son, whom he revealed was his true son as confirmed by Sorcerer Supreme Dr. Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, despite his cloned body. Spider-Man agreed and Connors saved his son without any casualties.

After the Kraven madness ended, Connors feared he’d lose control so he locked himself in a containment facility he built in the sewers, guarded by self-replicating drones that would attack him should he try to escape the prison of his own making. Spider-Man tracked him down and convinced him to make amends another way and to do it for his son Billy. Convinced, Connors and Spider-Man re-implanted an inhibitor chip that contained new safeguards and returned to his family who welcomed him with open arms.