Anton Miguel Rodriguez Antonio "
Anton"
Miguel Rodriguez is the first character to use the Tarantula codename. He was a revolutionary terrorist in the small fictional South American republic of Delvadia, and was expelled from his small organization after murdering a guard for no reason during a robbery. Anton then went over to the side of the repressive fascist-dictatorship government, where the Tarantula identity was created for him to serve as a government operative and his country's counterpart of a patriotic symbol. After alienating his masters, Anton embarks on a criminal career in the United States. Anton is hired by the
Brand Corporation to silence an informer, but is again thwarted by Spider-Man. The Brand Corporation then orders him to kill Spider-Man. In an attempt to bestow him with spider-powers, Anton is injected with a mutagenic serum and placed in an electrolyte bath.
Will o' the Wisp disrupts the mutagenic process, causing him to transform into a spider-like creature. Horrified, Anton leaps off the building, begging for the police officers gathered below to kill him. Hit by a hail of gunfire, Anton strikes the street below and dies. During the
Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy storyline, Anton is among the supervillains who are "reanimated" in cloned bodies (with their souls intact) via
Jackal's technology. In the "
Hunted" storyline, Anton is among the animal-themed characters who are captured and forced to participate in
Kraven the Hunter's Great Hunt as hunting targets. He is grouped with several other captives as the
Savage Six.
Luis Alvarez Luis Alvarez is the second character to use the Tarantula codename. He is a special government operative and a former captain in the Delvadian militia, but not given to terrorist activities. Acting more as a death squad/government enforcer, Alvarez is chosen by Delvadian government officials to be the second Tarantula, and undergoes a mutagenic treatment to increase his physical abilities. He is sent to the United States by the Delvadian government to eliminate political refugees from Delvadia, and to kill Spider-Man for what happened to his predecessor, but Spider-Man and
Captain America defeat him. Working as a mercenary, Alvarez teams up with the
Chameleon to eliminate Spider-Man and nearly kills
Flash Thompson, but this plan fails and he is defeated by Spider-Man and the
Black Cat. Eventually, Alvarez is caught and murdered by the
Jury.
Third version An unnamed character is the third individual to use the Tarantula codename. A patron at the Bar With No Name, he and several other villains get into a brawl with Spider-Man and
Kraven the Hunter. The Tarantula later fights the
Runaways in
Van Nuys, and is defeated by
Nico Minoru. Tarantula resurfaces as an ally of the Black Cat, and as one of the villains taking advantage of a gang war in the Third Precinct. Tarantula is among the supervillains fought by
Old Man Logan for
Mysterio's location.
Miss Sinister telepathically takes information from Tarantula, then kills him.
Jacinda Rodriguez Jacinda Rodriguez is the fourth character to use the Tarantula codename and the daughter of Anton Rodriguez. She and Marie Batroc are hired by the East Winds to go after
Agent X,
Taskmaster, and
Outlaw. However, Taskmaster surprises Tarantula and Batroc and shoots them down. Tarantula is later seen as an operative of Delvadia alongside Devil-Spider, assisting Spider-Man and
Mockingbird in confronting El Facóquero (a.k.a. Warthog), Delvadia's drug lord and
Norman Osborn's body double. During the "
Venom War" storyline, Tarantula joins the
Wild Pack and assists them in fighting the Zombiotes as the
Lasher symbiote's host.
Maria Vasquez Maria Vasquez is the fifth character to use the Tarantula codename and a member of the
Heroes for Hire. Maria acts alongside the Heroes for Hire as the Superhuman Registration Act's enforcers for
Iron Man. While the Heroes for Hire investigate a black-market operation, a hit gets put out on the entire team; Maria experiences this when visiting the gravesite of her sister Rosa Vasquez, who was killed in the
destruction of Stamford, Connecticut. After her father is killed by ninjas, Maria killed the ninjas herself and personally confronts
Ricadonna but was also unable to avenge her father as desired. The Heroes for Hire are paid to put a stop to a dangerous group of thieves who had been using advanced exoskeletons to aid in robberies regardless of collateral damage or death left behind; the group's investigation resulted in Maria,
Misty Knight, the Black Cat and
Colleen Wing stopping the
Grim Reaper and
Man-Ape with the
Statue of Liberty's destruction. The Heroes for Hire are hired by
S.H.I.E.L.D. to capture
Moon-Boy and
Devil Dinosaur at the
Savage Land for study before getting recruited into something else, resulting in Maria's confrontation with
Scorpion. She gets tortured due to
Humbug turning on the Heroes for Hire for the
Brood queen.
Kaine Kaine, a clone of Peter Parker, used the Tarantula alias during the "
Spider-Island" storyline. ==Powers and abilities==