Black Supervillain: Black Spider

"You look confused. Don't be. Everyone in this sick ward was like you. A convict. I kill convicts. I may be locked in here with you, but I'm not like you or Waller's trash. I was a superhero, but they called me a vigilante, put me away, just made it easier to kill convicts"

Eric Needham - Black Spider

Eric started out his career as a heroin addict. He couldn't wake up in the morning without a hit of heroin. Often times he ended up homeless and near over dosed. To support his habits he would steal and break into homes. One day he was arrested because he almost killed an old woman during a robbery. He served less than three years in jail because he was a drug addict and below the age of 18. When he left prison he married a woman named Linda Morrel and they had a child together.

However, the drugs kept calling Eric. He knew he had a problem but couldn't stop. One day he attempted to rob a liquor store. However a customer began yelling at him and attacked. Eric shot the customer and didn't realize who it was until after the man was dead. Eric had just shot and killed his father who was disgusted to see his son robbing stores for drug money. In that moment he swore never to use drugs again and turned himself in for the crime. He swore when he left prison he would become a vigilante and fight for good.

When he was released from prison he put on his first costume (the one with the emblem on the head) and began taking on criminals in the drug trade. After a murder Batman confronted Eric who had just killed a drug lord with a sniper rifle. He explained to Batman that he had been trying to emulate him and bring justice to the "the drug dealers, the superflies, and the dregs of the other." Explaining that it's best for a spider to catch flies. Batman chastised him for this but Eric actually asked him to form an alliance. (It's not like the Batfamily doesn't have multiple killers already)

His methods grew more supreme. He went on a shooting spree at Gotham International Airport taking out several drug dealers that had a meeting. Batman was unable to stop the killings or prevent Eric from escaping. When they met next Eric was in the middle of trying to bomb a train to kill the a drug dealer. Batman explained it would kill innocents and Eric stated it was just bad luck for them because the dealer had to die. Batman managed to make the train stop suddenly. This threw Eric and the bomb from the train in an explosion. Batman assumed he was dead but that wasn't the case. Eric survived his close meeting with death by crawling to a free clinic he visited when he was a drug addict. Eventually he claimed that he nursed himself back to health with hate. Batman didn't actually cause the injuries. The bomb Eric was using went off before it was supposed to. It had been tampered with by Hannibal Hardwick, who had been supplying Eric with money. Hardwick was actually a secret drug lord using Eric to kill the competition. When Eric recovered he killed Hardwick.

With his war on drugs going well in his eyes he sought to kill the man who was supplying his wife Linda with drugs. Before he could do that his wife and son were murdered by a drug dealer who had learned his secret identity. In a suicide attempt Black Spider and attacked a meeting between Gotham's drug lords. Killing countless henchmen but the dealers remained locked in a safe room. When Black Spider was captured after being shot dozens of times he was taking to them who laughed at him and celebrated killing his family. He laughed too because they didn't realize he had strapped a bomb to his chest expecting this to be his final run. He detonated the bomb killing everyone in the mission.

But Eric wasn't destined for death. During The Sandman comic it was shown that Eric had escaped Hell when Lucifer gave up the throne. (Read The Sandman series. It's good) He then briefly dated Lyta Hall before starting a successful business. Some time later he becomes a member of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad. He hates working with villains, refusing to see himself as one, despite teaming up with other villains like Merlyn and Deadshot in the past. On the contrast he didn't view himself as a hero anymore, just a man who killed criminals.

Attempting to prove that he is better than people on the team with augmented abilities he gets injured several times. He also refused to kill some targets because he felt they had done nothing wrong. Amanda Waller offered him the option of quitting the team because "You're not a monster like the others." Yet Eric remained on the team stating that he needed them because they helped fill the void of his family.

Later Eric is shown to be a double agent working for the terrorist group Regulus. He had sent a decoy of himself to accompany the team to Basillisk's hideout. Deadshot feels that something is wrong since he isn't talking as much as usual. He fires a shot at the back of the decoy's head, killing him. The team is in shock and ready to attack. Deadshot explains that the real Eric would have been able to dodge that shot, even from behind. They unmask him to show it really was a decoy.

The real Eric however was seeking to kill Amanda Waller. He broke into the home of Waller's grandmother whom she often visited. He didn't expect Amanda Waller to have planned for this. She had also been alerted by Deadshot ahead of time. Eric was beaten by Amanda and her grandmother before being locked away in solitary confinement of the maximum security Belle Reve Prison. Knowing Eric, he'll probably find a way out soon.

Abilities and Equipment

• Peak human
• Above average speed
• Extensive martial arts training
• Master marksman
• Wrist mounted guns
• Knowledge of explosives
• Expert strategist

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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