Humbug (comics)

Humbug
Cover art for Heroes for Hire (vol. 3) #11. Art by Clayton Henry.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Web of Spider-Man #19 (October, 1986)
Created by	David Michelinie Marc Silvestri
In-story information
Alter ego	Buck Mitty
Team affiliations	Heroes for Hire Empire State University
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, agility, and senses. Ability to communicate with all insectoids on a planetary scale. Formerly used audio tapes to communicate with insects

Superhuman strength, speed, agility, and senses.

Buck Mitty, known as Humbug, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Humbug was originally a super-villain but later became a super-hero and a member of the Heroes for Hire.

Buck Mitty was the senior entomology professor at Empire State University until his funding was cut off. Desperate to prove the value of the insect world, as well as to gain enough wealth to continue his research, Mitty designed the Humbug costume to achieve his goals, by whatever means necessary. Humbug intended to begin his career by stealing a shipment of black pearls, but a group of criminals beat him to the punch, and he fled when Spider-Man showed up to take them out. He next targeted an armored car government cash transfer. While he overpowered the guards and blew open the car, he had no way to transport the large shipment, as he had previously blown out one of the tires, to prevent them from escaping. At this time, Spider-Man came on the scene and, after a short struggle, turned Humbug's sonics back on himself, destroying his equipment. The cops then took him away. Mitty's sentence was commuted to time served, and he was released from prison. He renewed his awesome entomological onslaught, now dedicated to punishing ESU for their betrayal. He first tried to steal some rare paintings from their art department to finance his research, but found that the art department had been relocated, when he blasted into the women's locker room. Embarrassed, he fled the scene.

Regrouping, he broke into the physics building, to steal some of the super-conductive ceramics. The noise of his assault drew Spider-Man, who again turned Humbug's power back on him, this time blasting him out through a window. Spider-Man's web saved Mitty from going splat, but Humbug then distracted him by blowing up some cop cars. Spider-Man tracked Humbug to his old entomology lab, where he took a woman hostage. Spider-Man turned the tables on him, by grabbing a jar containing some of his specimens: "Let the girl go, Humbug! Or these roaches die screaming!" Humbug surrendered, appalled at Spider-Man's cruelty, and was sent back to jail.