Carlyle

File Photo

Attributes

Eyes:	Blue.
Features:	Red sunglasses.
Hair:	Black.
Height:	Unknown.
Weight:	Unknown.

Powers

Abilities:	A good con-man.
Equipment:	Full steel body armor.
Limitations:	Without his equipment, he's just a regular guy. His armor is resistant, but when cracked it is highly vulnerable.
Strength Level:	Normal human strength.
Weapons:	Six extendable steel tentacles that fire powerful jolts of energy.

Summary

Citizenship:	U.S.
Created By:	J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita, Jr., Scott Hanna
Current Aliases:	Spidey called him "Carlyle Calamari".
Current Occupation:	Jailbird.
Dual Identity:	Known to the authorities, certainly.
Education:	Unknown.
Former Aliases:	Has a criminal record under a different name.
Former Bases:	Los Angeles.
Former Occupation:	Professional white-collared criminal.
Known Confidants:	None known.
Known Relatives:	None known.
Legal Status:	Criminal record in U.S. for varied crimes.
Major Enemies:	Spider-Man, Doc Ock, The Amazing Lobster Man (don't ask).
Marital Status:	Wears a wedding ring, but could be a facade.
Place of Birth:	Unknown.
Real Name:	Unknown. Carlyle could be it, though he admitted to have at least one other name. Who knows what's the fake one.
Usual Bases:	His cell.

Background

Carlyle was a career criminal. He collected convictions for fraud, forgery, extortion, racketeering and even assault and battery and a bunch of other charges, all under another name. Nexus Industries desperately needed a PR, and they didn't check his background as deep as they should have, so he seemed to be the perfect man for the job. After a few more financial crimes, he was confronted by the company's CEO. He was his first murder.

With the CEO departing on an "unexpected vacation", Carlyle had little time to act, and most of the company's assets were either gone or unreachable. So he thought about power. Having the power to do whatever he wanted to, and being unstoppable. He thought of Doctor Octopus's tentacles.

The best way to beat a self-absorbed genius is through his ego. Carlyle knew this. Lusting for power, he appealed to Doctor Octopus's ego with a fake job offer for Nexus and lured him to a trap. He placed all the company's resources studying Ock's tentacles, and in 5 days they had built him an upgraded set, superior to Ock's because they had the latest generation technology. Leaving Octopus in a die-in-24-hours trap (with a plausible reason, since if anything went wrong he might need to question Ock about the tentacles again), Carlyle left to do a test run on his tentacles, one from which he didn't plan to return unless there was some technical problem.

Of course, Doc Ock didn't die, and he chased Carlyle, who had robbed a bank and was living large in a luxury hotel. The two were joined by Spider-Man, in L.A. to patch up things with his at the time separated wife, and they have an all-out battle, which ends with the hotel collapsing after Carlyle's escape. Doc Ock helps Spidey saving the innocent civilians, but leaves Spidey to die under the rubble. Spidey breaks out, and follows Carlyle to MJ's studio, where he went to find an important hostage. Doc Ock saves Aunt May from him, and Spidey arrives. He and Ock are both outmatched by Carlyle's equipment. But Ock managed to breach Carlyle's armor and told Spidey about it. Spidey flooded the breach with webbing and tore the armor apart, rendering Carlyle harmless. Ock took advantage of the confusion to flee.

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Appearances