The Shocker is a malleable villain in terms of his personality. He's trying to Big Bad in Jersey City right now in Ms. Marvel. Superior Foes of Spider-Man played him as a fraidy-cat and the butt of all the jokes. At times, he's a frustrated career man, wondering where things went wrong. Other times he's completely terrified of Spider-Man, or out for revenge because he's tired of being terrified of Spider-Man. Sometimes he's muscle-for-hire because it pays the bills.
But he's always aware of the reality of his situation (Part of it, at least. He can't always understand why Spider-Man won't just let him win). Coward Shocker knew what everyone thought of him, but he didn't care. He was just trying to make some money so he could buy a nice house someplace. Having a reputation as a tough guy or a badass wasn't going to make that happen.
Zeb Wells wrote a story in Peter Parker: Spider-Man where Herman teams up with Hydro-Man (this was back when JMS was still writing Amazing Spider-Man). Hydro-Man wants to kill Spider-Man for "respect", but Shocker doesn't give a crap about that. Respect doesn't pay the bills. He has the team-up because he wants to pull a big bank job, get that retirement score, and if Spider-Man shows up and they kill him, fine, whatever.
In that story, he also wonders if coming up with those gauntlets was the worst move he ever made. He had to design a suit to protect himself, which made him less "safecracker", more "super-villain". That's when he starts getting tangled up with super-heroes, instead of cops, and everything went down the tubes.
Also in that story, the two have been working for Hammer Industries where they get salaries and benefits, and Hammer would get a cut of their "extralegal activities" money. When that ends, Shocker's left wondering how he became essentially an office drone. Taking a paycheck from somebody else. He recognizes he lost sight of what he wanted, and immediately begins trying to fix that.
Shocker's a character who knows what he wants, and can recognize what isn't necessary to get it. He doesn't get locked in an endless cycle of revenge. If he decides today he's picking a fight with Spider-Man, then sure, he'll go do that, whether it's for money or just because he's sick and tired of Spider-Man. But he doesn't keep trying to "get" Spidey, only to fail and be thrown in jail, only to break out and try again. He'll reassess, set a different goal, or decide a different approach, and go from there.
His current plan, to actually try to be a World-Threatening (or at least city-threatening) super-villain may seem a little out of his league, but even there, he was realistic about it. He couldn't pull it off in New York City. There are hundreds of super-heroes that would show up, to say nothing of how many super-villain might get cheesed off if Shocker's plans interrupt their nefarious schemes. So he chose a smaller, quieter location. It doesn't really matter if he's "only" the Big Bad of Jersey City, or if his new arch-foe is a teenager (albeit one who's pals with Iron Man and Captain Marvel), just so long as he is a Big Bad, and finally gets an arch-foe of his own. The goals are being achieved, the rest is just details.
Other villains might scoff, but it's the goal he set for himself. Does this mean the Shocker's real gift is not worrying about what other people think of him? (This is where we make the obligatory joke about that being a necessity, given his costume).
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2 comments:
There is a bit of charm to the ideaof a blue-collar villain who knows his or her own limitations.
The Shocker would have worked with the Rogues if he was a DC character.
He really would. The older I get, the more fond I am of the villains just trying to make a buck. The Rhino, god bless him, is usually just trying to make some money. Running over Spidey is just a perk.
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