Vermin (character)

The character's first appearance was in Captain America #272 (August 1982).^[2] He was created by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck.^[3]

He became an antagonist for Spider-Man as well in Marvel Team-Up #128 (April 1983), fighting both Captain America and Spider-Man.^[4] These initial stories established Vermin as a tragic figure mutated by Baron Zemo's experiments.

Vermin gained prominence during the 1987 storyline "Kraven's Last Hunt", appearing across multiple Spider-Man titles.^[3] The character was further explored in "The Child Within" arc in The Spectacular Spider-Man #178-184 (1991-1992), which delved into his traumatic backstory and temporary reversion to human form under Ashley Kafka's care.^[5]

Vermin appeared in the "Hunted" arc in The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #16-23 (2019), where he was captured by Arcade and gained the ability to clone himself.

Edward Whelan suffered severe physical and sexual abuse as a child from his father.^[6] As an adult, he is a geneticist working for Helmut Zemo and Primus, who later experiment on him and transform him into a cannibalistic, humanoid rat. Vermin is defeated by Captain America and turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D.^[7] He escapes S.H.I.E.L.D., however, and returns to the service of Zola and Zemo.^[8]

Some time later, Vermin kidnaps women off the streets into the sewers, and devours them. He is defeated and captured by Kraven the Hunter disguised as Spider-Man; Kraven seeks to prove himself superior to Spider-Man by defeating Vermin alone when Spider-Man needed Captain America to help him. He is forced by Kraven to battle the real Spider-Man, then allowed to escape; he is finally captured and turned over to the police by Spider-Man.^[9] During a breakout at the Vault prison, Vermin assists Venom in hunting down prison warden Truman Marsh. Under Venom's orders, Vermin later teams with Powderkeg and Mentallo; they temporarily defeat Iron Man and Hank Pym. Mentallo's powers are used to neutralize the break out.^[10]

Vermin eventually escapes the asylum, and attacks his parents at their home in Scarsdale. He is captured by Spider-Man and returned to psychiatric care. Whelan returns to his human form after being treated by Ashley Kafka, which causes him to only transform into Vermin for a few hours at a time.^[6]

Whelan and Kafka are kidnapped by a group of other Zemo mutants, who want Whelan to become Vermin again and lead them in their quest for revenge. Instead, Whelan persuades them to surrender themselves for psychiatric treatment so that they can be cured as he was. However, Zemo uses a mind-control device to take control of the mutants and revert Whelan to Vermin, intending to use them as subjects for further experiments. His will strengthened by his psychiatric care, Whelan partially reverts to human form and attacks Zemo. Kafka convinces him to not kill Zemo, and by letting go of his hate Whelan allows "Vermin" to finally die. No longer confined to psychiatric institutions, he submits to trial for his crimes as Vermin, with Matt Murdock agreeing to be his lawyer for the case.^[11]

Whelan later relapses and becomes Vermin again.^[12] He is incarcerated in the Big House, an experimental prison whose inmates are shrunken via Pym Particles to reduce the chance of them escaping. An escape attempt is thwarted by She-Hulk.^[13]

In All-New, All-Different Marvel, Vermin appears as a member of Maker's New Revengers.^[14]

During the Hunted storyline, Vermin is captured by Lizard and Taskmaster, who hand him over to Arcade. After securing Vermin in a cave, Arcade injects him with a serum that gives him the ability to clone himself. Vermin overwhelms Spider-Man and nearly kills him until he is saved by Kraven the Hunter.^[15][16]

Edward Whelan appears as an orderly at Ravencroft under the remedial care of Ashley Kafka.^[17][18] The institute is attacked by Spidercide, who rewires Whelan's brain chemistry to make him become Vermin again.^[19][20]

Vermin's strength was enhanced by the experimental mutagenic process designed by Arnim Zola, and forced upon him. He resembles a humanoid rat and possesses enhanced strength, durability, senses, and agility. Vermin has the ability to control rats and dogs within a two-mile (3 km) radius of himself.^[21] After being subjected to augmentative gene-therapy administered by Arcade, Vermin gained the ability to clone himself through accelerated mitosis.^[15]

In 2021, Comic Book Resources (CBR) ranked Vermin 5th in their "Marvel: 10 Characters Baron Zemo Created In The Comics" list.^[22]

• Vermin was originally meant to appear in Spider-Man (1995).^{[citation needed]}
• Vermin appears as a boss in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012),^[26] voiced by Steve Blum.^{[citation needed]} This version is an ordinary rat who was transformed into a humanoid form by Oscorp scientists as part of their experiments with "cross-species".