Silvermane

Background

By the time Spider-Man dealt with Silvio Manfredi, known as Silvermane for his white hair, the gangster was elderly and threatened by usurpers. He admitted to being old and tired, but the control of the Maggia was still his. He did, however, have a plan to keep that power that involved The Tblet of Time. This ancient tablet had been stolen from Empire State University by Wilson Fisk and after it was retrieved by Spider-Man, it was left in the care of Captain George Stacy. The captain's home was soon attacked by the Shocker, who had a stripper girlfriend. As far as Silvermane knew, that was it's last location, so he sent the goon called Man-Mountain Marko to capture it. Spider-Man was also looking for the tablet and found Marko harassing the girlfriend. During the fight, Marko found the tablet in a safe and escaped.

Meanwhile, an underling of Silvermane, Caesar Cicero, paid the bail of one of the Kingpin's henchmen, another man named Wilson. Wilson had been one of Kingpin's smarter henchmen and was bailed out to work for Silvermane and decipher the secrets of the tablet. Cicero took Wilson to Silvermane just in time for Marko to arrived with the tablet. Wilson examined the tablet and declared it to be genuine. Soon Dr. Curtis Connors was taken in the middle of the night from his home in Florida and delivered to Manfredi. (Amazing Spider-Man #73)

Man-Mountain was soon threatening Connors to gain his cooperation, until Manfredi backhanded him to remind him who was in charge. He then ordered Connors to get to work on the tablet's secrets. Meanwhile, Spider-Man learned that Cicero had bailed out one of the Kingpin's men and found it strange that one gangster would bail out a man that worked for a rival gangster. He went to investigate Cicero and was nearly caught in an explosion set as a trap. Cicero escaped with Martha and Billy Connors and brought them to Silvermane. The old man thought Cicero foolish for bringing them to their headquarters, as Spider-Man would be sure to follow. He also demanded that Curtis work faster on deciphering the tablet. Curtis soon claimed that the mysterious symbols were a biological formula, not words as had been believed. Connors soon created the formula as described by the tablet, but urged more testing before Silvermane consumed it. Naturally, Silvermane didn't listen and drank it immediately. He immediately fell to the ground and Marko assumed that he had been poisoned. He was about to kill Connors when a young, healthy Silvermane stopped him. (Amazing Spider-Man #74)

Caesar Cicero soon arrived to see that Silvermane had lost 40 years worth of age. He told Marko that it was a trick and convinced the brawler to fight the boss. Silvermane easily overpowered Man-Mountain due to a combination and speed and fighting skill. He forced the thug to admit that he was really Silvio Manfredi and that he was young again. Marko agreed to what he was told and was stunned to see Silvio getting even younger as they spoke. Spider-Man then crashed through the window and easily over powered Marko, as he had gone easy on him previously because of the presence of Shocker's girlfriend.

In the next room, Silvio continued to become younger and was soon a man in his early 20's. He was soon challenging Spider-Man to fight him. Spidey overpowered Silvermane as he became weaker and younger. Ignoring Silvermane, Spidey went to get Martha and Billy. When he returned, Silvio had de-aged past birth. (Amazing Spider-Man #75)

Somehow he managed to mystically accelerate his aging to the point that he was in his early 40s and again came to the top of the Maggia organization. At this point he fought Daredevil and SHEILD after Foggy Nelson became a SHEILD officer. He hoped that killing Nelson would damage the organization. He had hired Man-Killer to do the asassination. Daredevil and Black Widow defeated them under Shea Stadium. (Daredevil #122)

Silvermane was soon making another play for control of the New York crime syndicates and made his move at the "Top of the World" restaurant at the World Trade Center. The Maggia meeting was crashed by the Green Goblin (Barton Hamilton), who also wanted to lead. Silvermane ordered his men to kill the Goblin, who were overpowered by the maniac. Afterward, Silvio demanded to know how the Goblin could ever offer them what they couldn't get for themselves. He replied that he knew Spider-Man's identity. (Amazing Spider-Man #177)

Silvermane was still resentful of the Green Goblin crashing his meeting with the other mob bosses, but agreed to consider his offer when the Goblin left. At that point, Silvermane's thugs heard Spider-Man in the ventilation system. He burst out at them, taking them by surprise. He beat them easily but in the meantime, Silvermane escaped. (Amazing Spider-Man #178)

The Green Goblin soon captured Spider-Man and was hauling him away in a net, when Manfredi's goons attacked the Goblin's glider with a bazooka. The attack caused Goblin to drop Spidey, but he managed to escape unharmed. Later, Silvermane was attacked in retaliation by the Goblin at the Radio City Music Hall, where the mob boss was watching the Rockettes perform. Peter Parker, meanwhile, was at the Daily Bugle when Robbie Robertson told him that a riot was going on at the Music Hall. He found the Goblin attacking and changed to Spider-Man. During the fight, Goblin tried to fly off with Silvermane but Spidey jumped onto the glider, causing it to dive toward the floor. (Amazing Spider-Man #179) As the three of them fell, Goblin managed to use a "sonic toad" to disorient Spider-Man. He grabbed the wall crawler and flew away, leaving Silvermane to hit the floor. His goons managed to get him to a doctor in time. (Amazing Spider-Man #180)

Silvermane managed to survive and later threatened Peter Parker, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson at the Bugle, warning them to stop printing their crime stories. Before Silvermane and his goons left, Peter managed to flick a spider tracer onto a goon's coat. The three men agree to print the truth anyway. Peter changed to Spider-Man and followed the spider tracer's signal. He arrived at Silvermane's HQ before he did, waiting for him in his office chair. He easily beat Manfredi's thugs and chased down the crimelord, then dangled him out a window. Spidey made it clear that the Bugle staff was not to be threatened and took back the camera that had been taken from him. After he left, Silvermane swore that no one talked to him like that and lived.

Jameson was still ranting about the threats made against him when Peter returned to the Bugle. He told Peter that he was going to increase the pressure on the Maggia, to spite Silvermane. Peter left, realizing that Jameson was risking violence by ratcheting up the rhetoric. He decided to visit Robbie in the hospital and then go pay a visit to Silvermane as Spider-Man. Silvermane, however, was already attending a meeting with the vigilante called Rapier, to lure him into a trap. The swashbuckling hero defeated Silvermane's henchmen and then confronted the mob boss, revealing himself as his old friend, Dominic Tyrone. Rapier blasted Manfredi with his electrified sword and told him that he planned to destroy him, bit by bit. Spidey arrived and refused to allow Rapier to kill the criminal and they have a sword fight. Silvermane uses the distraction to find his gun and manages to shoot Tyrone in the back. Rapier fell but managed to get up and leave, despite the pain. The police arrived and Silvermane was taken away in an ambulance. (Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #2)

Silvermane was still in a critical condition when he next met Spider-Man. The wall crawler had encountered the duo called Cloak and Dagger killing drug dealers. He tried to stop them but they managed to escape, but not without letting it slip that they intended to kill Manfredi. Spidey later got the address for Silvermane's home from the Kingpin and arrived just as Cloak and Dagger did. He tried to stop them, but the Maggia boss was seemingly killed by Dagger. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #69)

Spidey escaped from Silvermane's enraged goons after Cloak and Dagger teleported away. Little did any of them know, but Manfredi was soon resurrected in a cyborg body. He went looking for the duo that killed him and found them in the subway. Dagger managed to knock him out, but Spidey convinced them not to kill him. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #70)

As Silvermane's body lay in suspended animation in the morgue, the Kingpin decided to make him a personal assassin. Kingpin hired Answer to steal the body and then had him put a collar on the cyborg as a control system. Spider-Man later found the resurrected mob boss and was beaten senseless by the creature. Kingpin was unsatisfied with Silvermane's performance, thinking the cyborg lacked subtlety and drew too much attention. He orders the scientists to have the cyborg stop the attack on Spider-Man and return to HQ. However, the cyborg wasn't responding. (Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #94)

The cyborg went on a rampage across the city, seemingly seeking something out. Answer surmised that when Dagger killed Silvermane, she absorbed his life essence. This formed a link between them and now that MAnfredi was alive again, he sought out his former life energies. Indeed, Silvermane followed Dagger's energy across the city via the sewers, smashing through streets and concrete walls to get to her. It was only after she would disappear into Cloak's dark dimension that he stood frozen, waiting to feel the light again. He eventually followed her to the water front, where she and Cloak were dealing goons hired by the Rose.

Everyone was looking for Dagger, from Spider-Man and the Answer to Black Cat. Silvermane grabbed Dagger and Cloack tried to pull her away, as were the Rose's thugs. (He had seen how the "corpse" managed to hold off the vigilantes, so he wanted him for himself. He saw that Dagger seemed to be at the center of it all and ordered his goons to get her.) They all failed, as the Answer swooped in and carried Dagger away to the Kingpin. Cloak went to follow him, but Silvermane followed him into the dark dimension. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #95)

Answer delivered Dagger to Kingpin, hoping that her light energy might cure Fisk's ailing wife. Just then, Silvermane barged in. Soon an all out brawl between Spider-Man, Black Cat, Kingpin, Cloak, the Answer and Silvermane breaks out. Silvermane eventually manages to transfer his energy back to Dagger, reviving her and giving him his mind back. He fled. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #96)

Silvermane was quickly taken out of the gang war that raged between the Kingpin and the Rose. Many lesser mob bosses were tempted to seize power in the chaos, but Manfredi was taken out by the Jack O'Lantern, an agent of the Kingpin. (Amazing Spider-Man #284)

Silvermane later targeted Peter Parker and Mary Jane while they were riding a horse drawn carriage. Several cyborgs attacked them and Peter was thrown clear, allowing him to change to Spider-Man. The cyborgs threatened Mary Jane, until Spidey defeated them. A man at the controls meanwhile, allowed the female cyborg to continue to vex Spidey and complimented the Tinkerer for the quality of his designs. The female cyborg defeated Spider-Man and delivered him to the man at the controls, Silvermane. (Web of Spider-Man #79)

Peter had just been a target of Silvermane to draw out Spider-Man, for the purpose of draining his blood for the crime lord's own usage. Silvermane was recording the procedure the whole time, to show to the other bosses. Mary Jane, meanwhile, was worried about her husband and asked the Black Cat to look for him. Together, Cat and Spidey managed to defeat Silvermane. (Web of Spider-Man #80)

By this time, Silvermane had been reduced to nothing more than a head being kept alive by machines. he hired Hydro-Man, Beetle and Speed Demon to capture the cyborg vigilante Dethlok. Manfredi also set up a meeting with Caesar Cicero to bring about bringing the Maggia under the old man's control. He also created a female version of the Scorpion, Scorpia, as an enforcer. Meanwhile, Silvermane and Cicero planted bombs on the bridges and tunnels out of Manhattan, for an unknown future plan. (Spider-Man: The Power of Terror #1)

As Silvermane made his move to control the rival Maggia families, several of the families refused to join him. This led to bloodshed, which was deal with by Daredevil and the Punisher. Spider-Man was kept busy by Boomerang. Meanwhile, Scorpia and Hydro-Man were sent after Dethlok to bring him to Silvermane. Beetle joined them as they fought Dethlok, but he was followed by Spider-Man. They all fight and Silvermane contacts them via a video feed, telling them his plan. He wants to take over Dethlok's body and if the cyborg refused, Silvermane's men would blow up the bridges and tunnels. Dethlok was willing to turn himself over, and Spider-Man preferred to go after Manfredi. (Spider-Man: The Power of Terror #2)

As Dethlok and Spidey fought over whether or not to cooperate with Silvermane, the Maggia boss blew up the Holland Tunnel. Dethlok then surrendered and went to Silvermane and Spidey tagged him with a spider tracer. While the Avengers dealt with the attack on the Holland Tunnel, Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Punisher discovered Silvermane's hideout. The boss had hired Mainframe to put Manfredi's mind into Dethlok's body, and he accomplished this goal. By that time, Dethlok had managed to discover information about the bombs. So Silvermane and Dethlok were sharing the same body, and the old man gained the trust of the vigilantes by shooting Scorpia. (Spider-Man: The Power of Terror #3)

The heroes soon figured out that Silvermane had taken over Dethlok but the criminal escaped. He, Mainframe and Cicero arrived at a government facility that had A.I.M. technology and giant metal fighting suits. Spider-Man and Daredevil showed up soon after, as did Scorpia, who wanted payback. Punisher then showed up and everyone fought. Dethlok regained control of his body and everyone escaped before the facility's reactor blew up. Mainframe and Cicero were captured and Silvermane escaped but went back to his life support machines. (Spider-Man: The Power of Terror #4)

Next time, Silvermane was at a meeting of organized crime figures, including Hammerhead, Tombstone, Gavin Thorpe, Caesar Cicero, the Rose (Jacob Conover) and the Slug. The meeting was called by General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, from the nation of Madripoor. Their mutual enemy was Don Fortunato, who had gained control over the New York Maggia. Tombstone led the attempted hit on Fortunato, but he was defeated by Spider-Man (Ben Reilly). (Spider-Man #73)

At some point, Wilson Fisk had been deposed as the Kingpin of Crime and when he made his return to New York, a gang war started. Fisk sent two assassins to kill Silvermane but they only managed to wound him. Amid the violence, the lower gang lords were called to meeting by Fortunato. During the meeting, held on Fortunato's yacht, the boat was nearly sunk by a grenade launcher fired by a man hired by Norman Osborn, who also wanted a portion of the organized crime pie. The grenade only damaged the boat, rattling the assembled mobsters and prompting them to blame Fisk for the attack. This had been Osborn's plan as the angry gangsters were more determined than ever to kill the Kingpin. (Spider-Man: Made Men)

Silvermane was most recently seen at a Chicago summit of the Maggia organized by the Grim Reaper. The Avengers, alerted to the meeting by the Vision, fought against Silvermane and his associates; in the ensuing skirmish, Silvermane was apprehended. (Avengers (Vol. 3) #31)

Silvermane met his end after a battle with the Owl's gang. He was picked up by a magnet and dropped into a trash compactor. Manfredi seemed to appear some months later, along with other dead members of the Maggia. He led them against Mr. Negative, who had declared war on the Karnelii and Maggia crime groups after using "Devil's Breath" to wipe many of them out. It was found out that Silvermane was still dead and the man leading the Maggia was a robot controlled by Mysterio, who had been hired by a Maggia member to impersonate their old boss. (Amazing Spider-Man #618)

Manfredi had, of course, survived his brush with death in the junk yard. Well, his head did anyway as it popped off when his body was crushed by the compactor. The next day, the head was found by the son of the woman that owned the scrap yard and he took it home to build a robot. Silvio was still alive, as the battery to his suit was encased in his head-plate. Silvio tried to contact his old cronies by dialing a phone with his tongue and even tried to kill the kid, but never succeeded. Eventually he bonded with the boy and his mother, even telling them how to deal with the local thugs that tried to shake them down for protection money. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3)

He was happy with the kid and his mom, until the Shocker arrived at the junkyard. (Shocker had been betrayed by Boomerang and was left in the trunk of a car. Boomerang pushed him off a bridge and after the car was found, it was taken to the scrap yard.) Shocker recognized the head of Silvername and was aware that the person who controlled the head of Silvio Manfredi controlled a good portion of the Maggia. Shocker grabbed the head and ran off. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5)

Shocker took the head back to his apartment, which the gangster was less than impressed with. He was angry that he was missing lasagne night at the junk yard and when Shocker said at least he had a body, the old man's head bit his nose. (The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #8)

"King's Ransom"

"Silk"

Silvermane arrived in an abandoned office building to meet with Cindy Moon, who was there to interview him about his daughter, Saya Isshi. (Silk (vol. 3) #3) Years ago, Silvio Manfredi went on a business trip to Japan and met with the CEO of Fujinet, Matsuko Isshi. They had a fling and Saya was the result. Her mother made sure that her daughter excelled in everything but she was especially adept at robotics. Silvername didn't meet his daughter until she was sixteen years old and by then was already in a cyborg form. He came back to Japan to get updated technology from Matsuko but Saya had no interest in meeting him. He came back to her after she graduated from university and demanded that she come with him to New York City. She was put into an internship, working for the mafia. He told her that one day she'd be running the family business, any one she wanted. Saya went back to Japan, despite her father's wishes but she returned after one of Silvermane's "deaths." She didn't know that her father was still alive and he wanted to keep it that way. Even though Moon was a journalist, he told her all of this to keep her away from Saya. He ordered his goons to break her fingers but she escaped. (Silk (vol. 3) #4)

Image Gallery

Appearances

Cover Date	Appearance Information
Jun 1969	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #73
Jul 1969	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #74
Aug 1969	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #75
Apr 1975	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #120
May 1975	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #121
Jun 1975	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #122
Jul 1975	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #123
Feb 1978	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #177
Mar 1978	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #178
Apr 1978	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #179
May 1978	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #180
Year 1980	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) Annual #2
Aug 1982	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #69
	Silvermane 'dies'
Sep 1982	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #70
	Silvermane gains cyborg body
Aug 1984	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #93
Sep 1984	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #94
Oct 1984	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #95
Nov 1984	App: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #96
Jan 1987	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #284
Sep 1991	App: Web of Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #80
Dec 1991	App: Deathlok (Vol. 2) #6
Jan 1992	App: Deathlok (Vol. 2) #7
Aug 1992	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #307
Sep 1992	App: Daredevil (Vol.1) #308
Jan 1995	App: Spider-Man: Power of Terror #1
Feb 1995	App: Spider-Man: Power of Terror #2
Mar 1995	App: Spider-Man: Power of Terror #3
Apr 1995	App: Spider-Man: Power of Terror #4
Oct 1996	App: Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #73
Nov 1996	App: Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #74
Aug 1998	App: Spider-Man: Made Men
Aug 1998	App: Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #94
Nov 2007	App: New Warriors (Vol. 4) #4
Aug 2000	App: Avengers (Vol. 3) #31
Mar 2010	FB: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #618
	Shown killed by a car crusher
Nov 2013	FB: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3
Dec 2013	App: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #4
	Head turns up at Junkyard
Jan 2014	App: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5

Thanks To

 The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

 Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.