How the Lizard lost his arm in the original Spider-Man comic book run, explained

When you think about iconic Spider-Man villains, chances are The Lizard is one of the first to pop into your mind (aside from a few heavy hitters like The Green Goblin, Venom, and Doctor Octopus, of course). Doctor Curtis Connors' popularity has allowed him to appear in numerous comic books, video games, and animated series over the years. Recently, he stole the spotlight in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 by acting as one of the game's best bosses. Furthermore, he's one of the few supporting characters who has appeared in every single live-action Spider-Man movie saga. That's impressive when you consider not even Uncle Ben has that honor (yet).

At this point, we all know what's the deal with Dr. Connors. When he lost his right arm, he developed a fascination for lizards and their ability to regrow new limbs. But in an attempt to transfer that same ability to humans, he turned himself into a big green giant monster with many teeth. However, a detail that's a little more unknown is how he lost his arm in the first place.

The character first made an appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (1963), establishing himself as one of Spider-Man's earliest nemesis. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko brought the supervillain to life with a compelling reason behind the absence of his right arm. So it's time to break it down as we examine the true origin of this classic comic book character!

Doctor Connors lost his arm in the war

Readers are first introduced to the Lizard on the very first page of The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (1963) when a group of hunters inadvertently invade his swamp in the Everglades. After a very close encounter, the hunters manage to escape alive and spread the news about the existence of the giant monster. These reports eventually make their way all the way to New York and, of course, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Since Peter Parker knew the Daily Bugle would want pictures of the mysterious reptilian monster, he convinced J. Jonah. Jameson to sponsor a trip to the Everglades to photograph the creature. While the plan worked to perfection, it had the unfortunate side effect of Jameson also traveling with Peter. It's on the plane that readers first learn about Doctor Curtis Connors through a newspaper article that presents him as a reptile expert.

Once they arrive, Spider-Man makes his way to the swamp only to get into a dreadful encounter with The Lizard. The wall-crawler quickly loses the battle and is brutally tossed into the air far away from the action scene. So without ideas left, he makes his way to Connors' house in hopes that the doctor could shine some light as to how to defeat the Lizard.

Much to Spidey's surprise, only Martha Connors is there. When the both of them have a talk, it's finally revealed that Doctor Connors acted as a surgeon who lost his arm during the war. His attempts to regain what was lost ultimately led him to create an experimental serum created out of Lizard DNA. So after just one successful test on a small rabbit, Connors was foolishly quick to drink the serum. In turn, he evolved into the nightmarish creature we all love to hate.

The Lizard's evil plan in The Amazing Spider-Man is comic-book-accurate

Remember how the Lizard's plan in the first The Amazing Spider-Man movie was to turn people into huge reptilians just like him? Well, turns out that is exactly his plan in his first comic book appearance as well. Connors' goes on to explain that since Spider-Man is barely even able to hold up a fight against him, then an army of Lizards would be nothing but unstoppable.

His plan involved recreating more of the serum that gave him powers and releasing it on the waters of the Everglade swamp. That would've turned thousands of reptilians - including snakes, and crocodiles - into giant monsters. Fortunately, our friendly neighborhood was able to use his wits to create an antidote and administer it to Dr. Connors just in time before terror struck the Nation as a whole. Of course, this wouldn't go on to last forever, but it was enough to get him out of the picture for a brief moment.

Ever since this first appearance, Spider-Man and The Lizard have crossed paths more times than we can count. And there's no doubt this iconic duo will keep surprising us for the better for many more years to come!