History

A few short years before he was bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker was the biggest nerd of Midtown High. Or at least until Charlie Weiderman transferred in.

The son of an abusive father, Charlie quickly became the preferred target of school bullies as he was even more awkward, clumsier, and even geekier than Peter. Despite his better nature, Peter found himself accepted by his former tormentors when he joined in the teasing and bullying to "fit in".

Ultimately, guilt drove Peter to befriend Charlie and even visited him in the hospital after an ill attempt to recreate Captain America's super-solider formula that an impatient Charlie ingested failed. Finally after months of being constantly humiliated, Charlie had enough and tried to pull a knife on his tormentors.

Only the hasty intervention of Peter saved Charlie from getting into trouble with the school authorities. Peter hastily claimed the knife belonged to his Uncle Ben and fabricated a story that he was simply going to use the shop facilities to sharpen the blade as a surprise. With his history of being a good student and with his Uncle Ben backing up his lie, Peter was let off with a warning rather than expulsion.

Shortly afterwards, all of Charlie's tormentors had their tires slashed and they vengefully pursued him. Fleeing to Peter's home for sanctuary, Uncle Ben defended Charlie from being beaten by the angry teenagers and almost casually repulsed their clumsy attacks. Once they left, an angry Ben Parker demanded to know if Charlie had indeed slashed their tires. Charlie lied, proclaiming his innocence. Unfortunately Ben knew the truth and told him never to come back and told Peter to never associate with Charlie Weiderman again.

Charlie's father would get a new job and Charlie would be transferred yet again even though Peter would never forget him. Years passed and Peter Parker would go on to assume the identity of the Amazing Spider-Man when Charlie looked him up again.

As an adult, Charlie had become a scientist and developed promising research on a synthetic skinsuit that could be applied directly to soldiers' bodies that would protect them from all manner of harm. Desperate to acquire a grant from industrialist Tony Stark (aka the Invincible Iron Man), Charlie approached Peter to bounce some ideas off of him and get a letter of reference. Not seeing the harm in the matter, Peter agreed out of his lingering friendship with Charlie.

Stark was interested in Charlie's concept and although he had some concerns about some of the methodology, the mention of Peter Parker's involvement (whom Stark knew as his fellow Avenger Spider-Man) relieved his worries. Charlie perpetuated this by lying about Peter's involvement in the project and was a part of Charlie's research team.

Early trials of the skinsuit however were problematic and Charlie grew impatient with the results and tried cutting corners when Peter was contacted by Stark's secretary who wanted to schedule an appointment for them to give a progress report on the synthetic skinsuit. Peter was enraged to discover that Charlie had lied and had been dodging Stark's calls because he had run into problems with the process and demanded that Charlie confess to Stark or he would.

Desperate to finish before he was exposed, Charlie tried to rush through another experimental trial when it exploded in his face; exposing him to dozens of volatile chemicals, grafting the liquid vibranium to his body, and destroying the entire laboratory as well.

When several firefighters found him in the exploded remains of his lab, Charlie panicked at the thought that they would reveal what he had done and lashed out, triggering a secondary explosion and inadvertently killing two rescue workers and injuring several more although Charlie was surprised to discover that he was completely unharmed.

Running to Peter for help, Charlie demanded money from him for scientific supplies to remove the skinsuit. When Peter tried to refuse, an enraged Charlie ordered him to do so or he would kill him and his family as well.

An increasingly delusional Charlie began using his newfound abilities to strike out at those who bullied him long ago and murdered two former classmates. When Peter confronted him as Spider-Man, Charlie immediately blamed Peter for tattling to the Webbed Wonder and was able to fight Spider-Man to a standstill. Vengefully, Charlie proceeded to destroy Peter's apartment and planned to kill Aunt May and Mary Jane next. Unable to stop Charlie physically, Spider-Man was forced to use equipment at Stark International to immobilize Charlie by solidifying the vibranium and turning him into a living statue.

Only with extreme intervention were the medics even able to allow Charlie to survive in his immobilized state. A horrified Spider-Man could only watch as his former high school friend was carted away and later learned that unable to locate Peter or his wife and aunt, decided to torch his aunt's old home, destroying all of her belongings and leaving the Parkers homeless.

Eventually with the help of Harry Osborn, a cure was found for Charlie which allowed them to remove his synthetic skinsuit. This process was later used to help cure Harry's former brother-in-law, the Molten Man.

However Charlie's current condition and status remains unrevealed.

Personal Data

Characteristics

• Height: 5'7"
• Weight: 140 lbs.; 173 lbs. (with skinsuit)
• Eye Color: Blue
• Hair: Blonde; later Bald (with skinsuit)

Status

• Identity: Known to authorities
• Place of Birth: Queens, New York
• Citizenship: U.S.A.
• Education: College graduate
• Occupation: Military Scientist, Inventor
• Known Relatives: Father (deceased), Mother (presumed deceased)

Powers and Abilities

Previously, Charlie Weiderman was covered head to foot in a synthetic metal alloy that contained Vibranium which has the unique property to absorb sound and kinetic energy. This skinsuit rendered him virtually invulnerable to all manner of conventional forms of harm. He was not only fireproof but the Vibranium enabled him to absorb the kinetic energy from impacts, physical blows, and explosions. He could even survive being buried under tons of debris and simply dig his way out and ordinary methods simply could not penetrate his near-invulnerable skin.

In addition, he possessed superhuman strength and could easily lift an automobile weighing several tons and bend metal bars with ease. The unknown combination of chemicals that he was exposed to seemed to affect his mental stability but also increased his strength and the madder he became, his strength further increased as well. The upper limits of his strength were never fully determined.

Charlie also possessed remarkable control over the oscillation of the Vibranium in his skinsuit. He claimed to be able to vibrate at over a million oscillations per second and could easily slough off Spider-Man's webbing. At a high enough frequency, he could shatter lead, split diamonds, or thrust his arm through a human body with ease.

Charlie may have possessed other untapped powers and abilities but he did not have the opportunity to explore the full range of his skinsuit's properties. Although it was said that Charlie's skinsuit was subsequently removed; it is unknown if he has sustained any further effects of his prolonged exposure to it.