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Attributes

Height: 6'0"

Weight: Unknown

Eyes: Kind of

Hair: None

Features: He's made of friggin' bees!

Summary

Created By: Unknown

Real Name: Fritz Von Meyer

Current Aliases: None

Former Aliases: None

Dual Identity: Known to the public

Current Occupation: None

Former Occupation: Apiculturist

Citizenship: Expatriate Nazi

Legal Status: No criminal record

Place of Birth: Unknown

Marital Status: Unknown

Known Relatives: None

Known Confidants: None

Known Allies: None

Major Enemies: The Champions, Spider-Man

Usual Bases: New York

Former Bases: South America, Los Angeles

Current Groups: None

Former Groups: None

Education: Unknown

Powers & Paraphenalia

Strength Level: Unknown.

Powers: Von Meyer's body is composed totally of bees which obey his every order.

Abilities: Being a living creature who is in turn is made of thousands of living creatures, Swarm can alter his body to change shape and mass. He can fly (though according to the law of physics, he can't), and his body is unaffected by blows or bullets.

Equipment: None.

Weapons: None.

Limitations: Swarm is vulnerable to insecticides.

Background

When exposed to the device's rays, the bees indeed were no longer passive, but neither under Von Meyer's control. Instead, they attacked his body, stinging through his protective garb. As he felt his life fleeting, he reached out and seized the queen bee. With her in Von Meyer's power, the swarm would be his to control... except Von Meyer had become something different: an aggregate man, an embodiment of the bees, called Swarm! Their relationship is a symbiotic one - through him, the bees create and think, while through them he lives to conquer.

While hiding out in South America, von Meyer's psychic connection to his bees was severed by the psyionic blast created by a battle between New York's super heroes and the entity known as Onslaught. He traveled to New York to find the source of the blast, but instead found a device that he believed could let him control every bee on the planet. (That may not sound impressive, but considering how much of earth's bio-mass is insect life, he could have quite a bit of power.)

The Institute of Seismoharmonic Studies was soon covered in a hive, which drew the attention of Ben Reilly, who was Spider-Man at the time. After helping some people that had been effected by the enormous swarm of bees that arrived in New York, Spidey arrived at the hive. He quickly found that the bees remembered him (or Peter, as it were) and were afraid of him. They let him enter the research institute and the scientists inside helped Ben disrupt the bees ability to fly. They created a psyonic pulse that "injured" some psychically inclined people, but in the end, the scientists publically thanked Spider-Man, much to the irritation of J. Jonah Jameson.

Swarm recently allied himself with the Chameleon to attack Mary Jane where she was practicing for a play. Peter became a target after he revealed his ID on TV due to the Superhuman Registration Act. After the sprinkler system got rid of the bees, von Meyer's skeleton was easily KO'ed by a stage hand.

Von Meyer was kidnapped by Alyosha Kravinoff and used as prey to be hunted. He escaped after Kraven battled the Punisher.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

Character Appearances