The Swarm

The Swarm
The comic book history of The Swarm, enemy of Black Widow and others from Marvel Comics.

When an INTERPOL agent is found stung to death at the docks after protecting a briefcase, all while costumed superheroes Ghost Rider, Black Widow, and…somebody else…fight off giant mechanical insects, there’s only one explanation: Nazi bees.

NOT THE BEES

After World War II, and this is historical, it’s estimated that nearly 10,000 Nazi officers and collaborators escaped to South America. The Swarm was one of them…except he wasn’t the swarm yet. He was Fritz Von Meyer, world expert on poisons and toxins. Content to breed killer bees in peace, this seemingly oxymoronic lifestyle was interrupted when Von Meyer found a massive hive one day of bees that appeared not only peaceful, not just curious, but smart. He deduced that it must be because of a meteorite that landed in the area recently, so he arrived at the conclusion that really only a Nazi would think is reasonable after they discovered peaceful, intelligent life: bombard them with massive doses of radiation so that he could reawaken their killer instinct and control them. 

"Only to find that I had erred!" Yeah, no kidding. Image copyright Marvel Comics.

Surprise: mutant bees did not care for that, and they stung him through his suit, his stupid Nazi haircut, and brain. He was consumed by the super-intelligent radioactive bees and, because reasons, became one with their swarm. Their queen recognized his superior intellect as it became enmeshed with the hive mind and the bee hive mind submitted. Fritz Von Meyer no longer existed, at least not in the form that was currently being hunted by INTERPOL to stand trial for his war crimes. He was now both leader and one with the Swarm. 

Long live the Qu– oh. Well, that didn't last long.

The swarm, then, was a Nazi completely made out of bees, who controlled them through their queen. The problem? INTERPOL was still watching through all of this ridiculousness, and realized that if they controlled the queen, they stopped the Nazi bee swarm, so they grabbed her and fled to a massive population center, specifically LA.

“Invincible” except to punches. Image copyright Marvel Comics.

That went about as well as you would think, because the Swarm followed, killed the INTERPOL agent, and then captured the Champions, a West Coast super-hero team consisting of Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Iceman, Hercules, and others, to help him break the queen’s protective barrier. Out of pity for the queen, they did, and the Swarm was restored to full power…which was great for the Nazi bee-keeper…until it wasn’t so great. You see, the queen was the key to his power, and even though she was growing, adding pounds per second and becoming a…dare I say…bee-hemoth…the Swarm was presented with a particular unforeseen weakness: The queen was out there flying around. Even though she was a massive bee…the good guys had Hercules.

And yes, it’s the real Hercules…or as related as Marvel Thor is to the Norse mythology Thor. Hercules is a hero pulled from 13th century BC Greece to right wrongs and bring justice to the world because those were definitely mythological Hercules’s motivations. 

Anywho, one toss of the queen bee into the harbor by Hercules, and the worker bee suit had a choice – keep listening to Von Nazi or go save their queen. Biology won out, though the bees did neither– they didn’t keep listening to Von Meyer, but their queen drowned, so the Swarm, the Nazi scientist, was reduced to a bleached skeleton in a cloak and the heroes saved the day…and just left millions of super-intelligent radioactive waste covered bees roaming downtown LA.

Punching something to death is a weird way to show you bear it no malice. Image copyright Marvel Comics.

I mean, why did the Swarm even need the queen? He was able to cover downtown LA in vicious bees how much more power do you need? You’re already holding cities hostage. Though, I guess not overreaching for power has never really been an option for Nazis. Like no Nazi has ever been “hey, I’m fulfilled as a person, that’s enough power for me.” No, they’re like, “betray our nearest ally, open up a two-front conflict and get involved in a land war in Russia in the winter? Yes please.”

To Bee or not to Bee

It turned out that he didn't actually need the queen. Because, somehow, the Swarm reformed. Though he didn't reform, he was still a vicious Nazi bee swarm, and, because Von Meyer's consciousness was spread out amongst, like, a million bees, he survived.

He actually looks way cooler that way. Image copyright Marvel Comics.

His primary antagonist was Spider-man, and he went on to fight him a lot, but he was eventually defeated when Spider-man decided that these were bees, coated himself in pesticide, and that was that.

Holy Comic Book Sources, Batman!

Want more of the most ridiculous villains in comic book history?

Disclaimer: The Swarm and every other character mentioned in this post are owned by DC Comics and all images are reproduced for educational and historical purposes. "Best of the Worst" (the blog and podcast) and Nextpod are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any publisher or media company.

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