Swarm (comics)

Swarm first appeared in Champions #14 (July 1977). He was created by Bill Mantlo and John Byrne.[5]

Fritz von Meyer was born in Leipzig, Germany and became one of Adolf Hitler's top scientists. Escaping capture after World War II, he became a beekeeper or apiarist in South America and discovered a colony of mutated bees. Intrigued by their intelligence and passive nature, von Meyer attempted to enslave the queen bee, but failed and the bees devoured him, leaving only his skeleton. The bees' unique qualities caused his consciousness to be absorbed into them, allowing von Meyer to manipulate the hive to do his will, although some of his skeletal remains are inside the swarm itself. His consciousness merged with the hive to the extent that they are one being, calling himself/themselves "Swarm".[6]

Swarm battled the Champions.[7] After being defeated, Swarm resurfaced to battle the original Spider-Man (Peter Parker).[8] In the first of many fights, Spider-Man prevailed against him by dosing his own costume in a new type of insecticide that hurt the bees if they got too close to the web-slinger. Swarm lost his/their skeleton in this battle, but returned to fight again (no longer having the skeleton but still possessing von Meyer's consciousness), first teaming with Kraven the Hunter against Iceman and Firestar,[9] then against Spider-Man,[10] but feedback from a weapon fired by the Rhino caused Swarm's bee body to disperse temporarily.

Swarm next appears when a Super-Collider from Rand Industries is activated and called his/their attention.[11] Swarm decides mankind should be exterminated so insects can rule the world. Doctor Druid convinced Swarm that mankind will exterminate themselves and the age of insects can begin.[12] Eventually, Swarm became tired of waiting and returned to New York, after a psychic wave generated by Onslaught disrupted the psychic field that bonded him and his bees together. He forced a group of scientists investigating energy fields to help him not only restore his original field, but expand it to grant him control of every bee on Earth. As New York City is invaded by bees, the second Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) tracked the bees to their destination and — taking advantage of the fact that the swarms' instinctive memory of Peter's use of Raid caused them to automatically flinch away from Spider-Man — infiltrated the building to contact the scientists. By claiming that the scientists' equipment is having trouble broadcasting a sufficiently powerful signal through the dome of bees, Spider-Man is able to trick Swarm into allowing the construction of a device designed to negate the vibrational frequency that the bees create to allow themselves to fly, presenting it as a means of boosting the power of the existing signal. With the bees now grounded, Spider-Man subsequently recovers the queen of Swarm's hive and leaves her in the care of the authorities, reasoning that without her, Swarm won't be a future threat.[13]

Now back with an internal skeleton, Swarm felt that the fall of the criminal organization Pride allowed access to their former territory, specifically Los Angeles. However, he/they are defeated by the Runaways, protectors of the city, when his/their body of bees' mental link is disrupted by electrical blasts.[14]

Swarm regained control over his colony and joins the Chameleon's Exterminators[1] to kill Spider-Man now that Parker's true identity is revealed. Swarm attacks Mary Jane Watson but Mary Jane sprays Swarm with water while a co-worker smashes Swarm's skeleton, but the bees reformed around the skeleton as Stark Industries bodyguards take him/them away.

When Alyosha Kravinoff began collecting a zoo of animal-themed superhumans, Swarm is in one of the cages.[15] He fought Gargoyle as the Punisher passes them and escaped.

Swarm next turns up in Denver, Colorado, having amassed enough bees to become giant-sized. The Thunderbolts face him/them unsuccessfully until Norman Osborn dispatches Venom devouring Swarm's bones. Osborn speculated this was, by now, a minor inconvenience that shouldn't prevent Swarm's return.[16]

Next, Swarm turns up in Buenos Aires having his intelligence again. He fought the Mighty Avengers by creating 'avatars' made of bees. Notably, the Avengers roster included the Wasp, Stature and Amadeus Cho. Stature placed an inhibitor collar on the queen bees which caused Swarm's intelligence to somehow disperse.[17]

He was briefly seen trying to launch an attack of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning only to be almost instantly thwarted by the X-Men's Krakoa, the Bamfs, and Doop.[18]

Swarm later formed his own incarnation of the Sinister Six with 8-Ball, Delilah, Killer Shrike, Melter and Squid. They attack Spider-Man and the students of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Swarm gets dispersed by Hellion which caused the other members to surrender.[2]

Swarm later attacked New York but was defeated by Squirrel Girl and her ally Koi Boi covering him with water and turning bags full of his constituent bees in to the police.[19]

Swarm later appeared as a member of the Hateful Hexad alongside Bearboarguy, Gibbon, Ox, Squid and White Rabbit. During the disastrous battle against Spider-Man and Deadpool, the battle is crashed by Itsy Bitsy.[20] Swarm relocates to Florida, where he encounters Macrothrax and his minions, like him sentient insect colonies in humanoid form, accidentally created by the invention which created him. He ends up joining forces with Ant-Man and taking a liking to him.[21]

Swarm is a composite being of hundreds of thousands of bees driven by a human intelligence. He is technically intangible, as his body is merely an aggregate of tiny forms. He can fly through the air and assume any shape and size he desires. He can mentally influence the actions of other bees, the full range of which may extend over hundreds of yards in radius. With the aid of a team of scientists, Swarm was briefly able to enhance his power to the point where he could have theoretically taken control of every bee on Earth, but this plan was averted by Spider-Man. At first, Swarm seemed capable of only controlling other bees, but he has exhibited the ability to communicate/control other insects as well. Fritz von Meyer's skeleton, the focal point of his consciousness, remained behind as his only remains until being devoured by Venom.[16]

In August 2009, TIME listed Swarm as one of the "Top 10 Oddest Marvel Characters".[31]

Swarm was ranked #29 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015.[32]

• Swarm (Fritz von Meyer) at the Superhero Database
• Swarm at Marvel.com