Background

Herman Schultz was a career criminal who, after several prison terms for robbery, built a battle suit that sent out shock waves to quickly open safes as well as give himself a one-up on the authorities. During his first outing as the self-styled "Shocker" he ran into and defeated Spider-Man, who became Schultz's nemesis.

Schultz was usually involved in theft or extortion; a typical day in the life of the Shocker would find him knocking over armored cars or trying to hawk items he previously stole. On one particularly ambitious day, the Shocker held New York City for ransom when he blacked out portions of the city to spell out his criminal moniker, then threatened to black out the entire city unless he was paid 1 million dollars. On another he terrified a stockbroker into playing the market, for substantial monetary gain. He stole a priceless tablet from Captain George Stacy after the tablet had been taken back from the Kingpin. Shocker had left the tablet with his "exotic dancer" girlfriend after he was defeated by Spider-Man. Shocker had a stripper girlfriend back in the day. Who knew?

The Shocker has been a member of the Masters of Evil and has fought Spider-Man many times. He has proved to be one of Spider-Man's more difficult opponents. It has been rumored that the Shocker is about to update his equipment, which may make him an even more formidable Spidey opponent.

The Shocker has had severe confidence problems in the past but he appears to be back to his original cocky, arrogant self. He recently had Spider-Man completely at his mercy but let him go as the hit against Gwen Stacy's cousin, Paul Stacy, was called off. The Shocker's brief period of shaky confidence appears to be a thing of the past. A good thing for him, as no one wants a self conscious hit man. He has been hired as a professional killer by everyone from Wilson Fisk to the Owl to Norman Osborn.

For those who consider the Shocker a second-rate villain, you might want to consider this win/loss chart compiled by Tim.

Amazing Spider-Man #46 - Shocker defeats Spidey, Spidey later defeats Shocker.

Amazing Spider-Man #72 - Their first battle ends in a draw, Spidey later defeats Shocker.

Amazing Spider-Man #151 - Shocker defeats Spider-Man.

Amazing Spider-Man #152 - Spidey is saved from Shocker's assault by two police officers, in round 2 Spidey defeats Shocker.

Web of Spider-Man #10 - Shocker defeats Spidey. Spider-Man is saved by Dominic Fortune.

Amazing Spider-Man #335 - Spidey defeats Shocker.

Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #3 - Shocker defeats Spidey. Spider-Man is saved by a Scourge imposter.

Amazing Spider-Man #364 - Shocker escapes Spider-Man, Spider-Man defeats Shocker.

Total score is 5 victories, 2 draws, and 5 defeats - a 50% success rate. I guess that's not too shabby against Marvel's greatest super-hero.

While Shocker is no push over, he still tends to prefer to work in teams than alone. After working with the Masters of Evil, he joined the Sinister Seven (when he and other bad guys tried to kill Kaine) and later, the Sinister Twelve. Shocker also took part in the Secret War, defending Latveria (home of Dr Doom) from Nick Fury and other vigilantes. Shocker survived an attack by the Punisher while he was attending Stilt Man's funeral. He and Hydro-Man joined to work on one last heist that would set them up for life, but his partner's lust for revenge on Spider-Man proved to be their downfall. (Unlike many of Spidey's foes, he considers himself a professional and isnt interested in blind revenge schemes. Despite seeing a psychotherapist, he is one of the more mentally stable of Spider-Man's enemies.) He later re-teamed with Hydro-Man with a reformed Sinister Syndicate.

Lately, he has worked as a hired gun. He caused a subway to be derailed under the East River in order to kill the passengers. The riders were made up of jurors for a trial that threatened to convict the Shocker's employer. Naturally, Peter Parker was a passenger on the train and managed to defeat Shocker, but not before the battle damaged the tunnel and threatened to flood it with river water. Peter later used the vibro-shock gauntlets to blast open the blockage in the tunnel, but Schultz escaped.

Shocker next worked for Doctor Octopus after Ock wanted to study the newborn child of Norman Osborn and Lily Hollister. Spider-Man quickly defeated Schultz and Tombstone, who had followed Menace (Lily) on her glider to a restaurant where Peter, Harry, MJ and Carlie Cooper were eating. After dodging a supervillain smorgasboard across NYC with the infant, Spider-Man was tricked by the Chameleon into thinking the child was dead. This sent the webspinner into a rage, hunting down anyone that he even suspected of being a part of Ock's plan. After taking out the support beam at a waterfront warehouse used as a hideout by Sandman, the Enforcers and Shocker, the bad guys were dumped into New York harbor. Schultz pleaded with Spider-Man to save him, as the vibration and the water would kill him. Spidey only agreed after he learned the location where Chameleon was hiding.

Shocker later showed up during Spider-Island, when the Jackal and the Queen introduced a swarm of bedbugs into New York, infecting average citizens with a virus that gave them spider powers. Schultz was in the middle of a particularly gruesome stage of the mutation, having acquired four additional arms and four more insect eyes. He was robbing a bank to pay the Mad Thinker to turn him back to normal. He and the rest of Manhattan were changed back thanks to Spider-Man and Anti-Venom.

Soon after, Shocker started working for Zebediah Killgrave (aka, Purple Man) and his Villains for Hire. Killgrave was using his network of super criminals to become the next leader of organized crime. Schultz played his part by breaking into a municipal power station and deactivating three of New York's power grids. After a certain area of New York lost power, the other Villains (Avalanche, Head Hunter, Death Hunter and Scourge) robbed an armored car carrying evidence boxes. The robbery was interrupted by other villains (Bombshell, Crossfire and Tiger Shark) who were working for Photon.

As the fight at the armored car continued, the object that both sides were looking for ($8 million worth of adamantium iso-chips) were grabbed by Speed Demon. Afterward, Head Hunter and Shocker met up with Tiger Shark and Bombshell to find out who their boss was and to try and persuade them to trade sides. Tiger Shark was unimpressed and tossed Shocker out a glass window, calling him "Spider-Man's punching bag."

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.