The Birth: Daily Bugle publisher, Jonah .J. Jameson's hate for Spider-Man was known to all. It was this hate that got the better of J.J.J when he tried to create an assasin to demolish ol' Spidey. Spending ten , thousand dollars, the tightwad got an animal mutation researcher to perform an untested human mutation experiment. He had to spend another ten grand to pay the subject of the experiment; a washed-out private detective by the name of Mac Gargan. The result of the experiment was the transformation of Mac Gargan into a crazed super killer called the Scorpion. The Scorpion made his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #20, 1965.

The Alter-Ego: Mac Gargan was a private detective before he was "changed". But his luck ran out and the only cases he started to get were the occassional paranoid husband wanting to know about whether his wife was cheating on him. He could barely make enough to pay the bills. He was willing to do anything to make a buck. Losing his scruples was necessary for him to survive in his line of work. Blackmailers started to hire him to take photographs which they could use to extract money from some poor soul who made a mistake. Gargan waited for a break that could change his life. That's why he accepted the post as geniea pig for the experiment which he knew was going to have dire consequenses.

The Legend: Mac Gargan, through the mutation experiment was indeed transformed - but for the worse. The former detective lost his sanity but gained an enhanced strength and a deadly costume with in-built weaponery. The Scorpion's tail can be used as an effective weapon - a club as well as a stinger. When he was first developed, his tail held a bio-electric stinging device. But later, Gargan increased the length of his tail and equipped it with a lethal spike which could release tear gas as well as acid. The strength which he gained was nearly equal to Spidey's. Scorpion was also equipped with pincers on his hand which could be used as weapons as well as aid in climbing vertical sufraces. Combining his strength and the power of his tail, Scorpion could leap great distances. One of his later changes in his exoskeleton was a failsafe by which he could play dead incase trouble came after him in bold letters.

Scorpion had been created to attack Spider-Man. After losing his sanity, he never lost that focus and always tried to destroy the web-slinger, but in vain. And his hatred for Jonah Jameson also grew with time. Gargan blamed Jonah for his mutated form and wanted to get even with the publisher. But with Spidey's timely intervention, he never got that chance.

After his initial bout with Spider-Man, Scorpion was imprisoned. He broke out of the jail and went after Jonah. But Spidey was again able to stop him. He served quite a long sentence till he was paroled and could walk freely.

There was also a time when he kidnapped J.J.J.'s bride in a bid to take out J.J.

Scorpion has also been hired as an assasin by Justin Hammer as well as by Chameleon. When Scorpion was in the employ of Chameleon, he faced not only Spider-Man but also Black Cat.

Scorpion ahs also fought the likes of Luke Cage and Power Man who along with Spidey put a dent in his armor when he kidnapped Jonah.

Later on, Gargan was able to recover his sanity and gave up his life of crime.

Amazing Spider-Man #20