WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Deadpool: Invisible Touch #1, available now on Marvel Unlimited.
Marvel is home to some of the deadliest villains in comic book history, with the likes of Thanos nearly bringing the world to the brink of ruin countless times. But for every insidious supervillain, there is an incompetent one in a gimmicky costume who comes across as nothing more than comic relief.
However, there are times when a villain who had been written off as a joke manages to surprise everyone with a sudden show of competency. While Spot has often been considered one of Spider-Man's most laughable rogues, his latest appearance in Marvel Unlimited's Deadpool: Invisible Touch #1 (by Gerry Duggan, Lucas Werneck, Geaffo, Rachell Rosenburg, and Joe Sabino) shows that even the silliest looking villains can be threatening under the right circumstances.
Originally a researcher working under Wilson Fisk, Jonathan Ohnn's life took a dramatic turn when he was tasked with finding a way to replicate Tyrone Johnson's powers, which allow him to teleport by creating portals into the Darkforce. After many attempts, Ohnn finally managed to create a similar portal and stepped through it, arriving in a nexus filled with similar portals, which attached themselves to him. Upon arriving back in the real world, Ohnn discovered that he'd gained the ability to create interconnected portals of various sizes that he can teleport through. Enthralled by his newfound powers, Ohnn interrupted a battle between Fisk and Spider-Man, proudly taking on the moniker of the Spot.
Spot's debut was met with flat-out laughter from Spider-Man, but the new supervillain forced Spider-Man to flee during their first fight, as he had no idea how to counter Spot's powers. During their rematch, Spider-Man defeated Spot by using the villain's inexperience with his portals against him, and since then Spot has become a D-list member of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery. Outside of a prominent appearance in the 'Hunted" storyline of Amazing Spider-Man, where his portals were used to trap Kindred, Spot has become a joke villain who is repeatedly defeated and humiliated by Spider-Man.
That being said, Spot's powers can be very dangerous, and he's spent years honing his fighting abilities to make the most out of them. Spot's primary means of offense is creating small portals around his enemies before punching and kicking them from a safe distance. This unique form of hand-to-hand combat has proven to be surprisingly effective in the past, as it allows Spot to attack his enemies at unpredictable angles, which makes blocking his blows and counter-attacking him very difficult. While his previous victories against Spider-Man and Jessica Jones prove that his abilities are at least useful at worst, his unprecedented triumph over a room full of villains in Deadpool: Invisible Touch #1 shows that they can be unstoppable at best.
In the issue, a criminal middleman is auctioning off a flash drive containing lucrative patents for Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man's various inventions to a gathering of villains that Deadpool has infiltrated by disguising himself as Stiltman. After making an uncharacteristically cool entrance, Spot steals the drive and overwhelms the assembled villains with a barrage of precise blows. When Deadpool attempts to intervene, Spot silences the Merc with a Mouth with a devastating kick to the crotch before escaping the telekinetic grasp of the Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman.
This incredible combination of power and skill isn't the first time Marvel has flirted with the incredible potential of Spot's abilities. In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Fisk forces Spot to capture Spider-Man by threatening his love interest. During the process, one of Spot's portals is left open for so long that it expands into a black hole that threatens to swallow New York. When conventional means to stop it fail, Spot sacrifices his life to save the city and his loved ones.
Spot is a rare example of a joke villain with the potential to be a truly terrifying threat. With his intelligent use of his powers and his combat skills, Spot is an unconventionally powerful villain who can effectively silence anyone who thinks otherwise.