Warning: The following contains spoilers for Symbiote Spider-Man: King In Black #1, by Peter David, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Frank D'Armata, and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now. 

Many of Spider-Man's classic villains are variations on common themes. His foes range from goblins and symbiotes to a variety of animal-based super-criminals. One villain, however, continues to shamelessly copy the ideas of his colleagues: Alistaire Smythe, The Spider-Slayer.

While Smythe is an iconic Spider-Man foe, his ideas have always lacked originality which stems all the way back to Smythe's villainous debut. From the beginning, Alistaire has largely worked off of his father's Spider-Slayer idea. Spencer Smythe was the scientist who created the original Spider-Slayer, so that J. Jonah Jameson could capture and unmask Spider-Man.

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After Spencer was killed during his final confrontation with Spider-Man, Alistaire swore revenge on both Spidey and Jameson. Smythe's, plans, however, largely derived themselves from Spencer's Spider-Slayer concept. Alistaire's first plot involved attacking Spider-Man with the Spider-Slayer Mark VIII. From there, Smythe just kept playing off of his father's work, creating many different types of Spider-Slayers. Just like Spencer Smythe, Alistaire used these slayers in schemes against Spider-Man and Jameson, hardly an original plan. Of course, unlike his father, Smythe did some of the fighting himself. Indeed, Alistaire frequently became "The Ultimate Spider-Slayer," donning an exoskeleton that increased his strength and speed. Still, this suit was just another variation on his father's idea, rather than a brand new plan altogether.

In The Superior Spider-Man #13 by Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli, Smythe tried to steal another villain's idea. This desperate ploy came about when Smythe organized a takeover of The Raft, the supervillain prison. Attempting vengeance against Jameson and Spider-Man once again, Smythe demonstrated a true lack of novelty. Smythe's plan was unsuccessful, and he was ultimately killed by Spider-Man. Before he died, Smythe attempted a rather unoriginal ploy as he tried to swap brains with Spider-Man, but his brain was protected from any interference. As it turned out, Doctor Octopus had already swapped brains with Spider-Man, taking over Peter Parker's body several months prior. For this reason, the Superior Spider-Man's brain was safeguarded against Smythe's derivative plan.

It should be said, however, that Smythe was unaware that Doc Ock had pulled off the brain-swap already. In this sense, it's not as if Smythe intentionally copied anyone's plan. Still, Smythe was behind the curve when it came to evil plans since Doc Ock had thought of brain-swapping far earlier than The Spider-Slayer.

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Smythe Mister E

Most recently, Smythe attempted yet another unoriginal scheme, in Symbiote Spider-Man: King In Black #1. An alien symbiote appears before Smythe, taking the form of Spencer Smythe, which appeals to Alistaire's clear devotion to his father. The alien promises Smythe access to the laboratory of the asylum where he's staying, and to make Smythe walk again if he follows its plan.

Smythe agrees, later infecting everyone in the asylum with symbiotes and becoming "Mister E," bonding with the symbiote. First of all, the identity of Mister E was taken long before Smythe claimed it. Also, Smythe is not the first person to bond with an alien symbiote, as many others have merged with a symbiote before. Even one of Smythe's colleagues was said to have been a symbiote's host before he became "Mister E." Smythe's bond with the symbiote not only leaves him at the alien's mercy, it also lacks any originality on his part. Alistaire Smythe may be a classic Spider-Man villain, but he's certainly not an original one.

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