Montana (character)

Montana (Jackson W. Brice) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is depicted as the leader of the Enforcers, a team of assassins usually employed by other villains such as the Big Man, the Green Goblin, and the Kingpin, which often places them in conflict with the superheroes Spider-Man and Daredevil.

Montana has been adapted from the comics into numerous forms of media, most notably adopting the Shocker persona in both The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series (voiced by Jeff Bennett) and the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming (portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green).

Publication history
Montana first appeared alongside the other Enforcers in The Amazing Spider-Man #10 (March 1964), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The character subsequently appears in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964), #19 (December 1964), The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), Marvel Team-Up #39-40 (November–December 1975), The Spectacular Spider-Man #19-20 (June–July 1978), Dazzler #7-8 (October–September 1981), Marvel Team-Up #138 (February 1984), Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons #1 (1996), Civil War: War Crimes #1 (February 2007), Daredevil #99-100 (September–October 2007), #102 (January 2008), and The Amazing Spider-Man #562-563 (August 2008).

Montana appeared as part of the "Enforcers" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #4.

Fictional character biography
Jackson Brice was born in Bozeman, Montana. Along with Fancy Dan (Daniel Brito) and Ox (Raymond Bloch), he was one of the founding members of the Enforcers. He is highly proficient in use of the lariat.

Montana, Fancy Dan and Ox make their first appearance under the employ of the Big Man (Frederick Foswell). During this time, they have their first run-in with their longtime nemesis Spider-Man. During their first fight against the web-slinger, Montana's lasso skills initially prove successful but Spider-Man defeats the trio.

Over the next couple of years, Montana and the team would be employed by Lightmaster in one of his many schemes, again bringing them into conflict with Spider-Man, with similar results. They would then lend their services to Tech-Master in his revenge plot against Harry S. Osgood, only to be defeated by Dazzler. Montana and the team would also go up against She-Hulk at one point.

Following the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Montana, Ox (Ronald Bloch) and Fancy Dan reunite to work for Mister Fear, which pits them directly against Daredevil. After Mister Fear's arrest, the Enforcers are taken in by the Hood's organization.

Following the events of the 2008 "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" storyline, the Enforcers are patrons at the Bar With No Name. They take bets with a person calling himself "The Bookie", over whether Spider-Man will show up to battle "Basher", an unknown villain who claimed to have fought Spider-Man. Spider-Man shows up, but is revealed to be Screwball in disguise when the real web-head shows up. The Enforcers decide to get revenge on The Bookie, capturing him. The Bookie's father calls Spider-Man for assistance, and he agrees to help. Spider-Man defeats Fancy Dan and Montana.

In the story arc "Kill To Be You", Montana is the right-hand man of the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), and shows contempt toward the Hobgoblin (Phil Urich). When Spider-Man and the Black Cat come to steal back the Reverbium, Montana falls out a window to his death while Hobgoblin saves Kingpin. Hobgoblin cruelly joked that "he'll be missed by everyone – except the pavement".

During the 2016-2017 "Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy" storyline, Montana is among the cloned villains by Miles Warren's company New U Technologies. He is involved in a fight with the other cloned supervillains until it is broken up by the clone of the Prowler.

Other versions

 * In the future timeline of the 1999 Earth X miniseries, Montana had been mutated and developed the ability to change his hands into lassos. He and his fellow Enforcers were hired as heavies to protect President Norman Osborn. However, this protection proved to be ineffectual when the Skull came to New York to take over America. He took control of Montana and the Enforcers and murdered Osborn. Montana's fate following the defeat of the Skull remains unknown.
 * In Spider-Man Noir, Montana and the other Enforcers serve as muscle for a crime boss called the "Goblin".
 * The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Montana is Montana Bale, an employee of the Kingpin of Crime in New York along with Fancy Dan (Dan Crenshaw) and Ox (Bruno Sanchez).

Television

 * Montana, referred to as the "Cowboy", appears in the Spider-Man episode "Blueprint for Crime", voiced by Bernard Cowan.
 * Montana appears as the Shocker in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Jeff Bennett. He is the leader of the Enforcers and the owner of the Big Sky Billiard Room, a bar frequented by New York City's criminals. The character was chosen to act as the show's incarnation of the Shocker because producer Greg Weisman felt he was more interesting and threatening than Herman Schultz, the Shocker's alter ego in the comics. Montana's Shocker costume is similar to the source material with added goggles and larger gauntlets. Initially hired by Tombstone to lead the Enforcers in killing Spider-Man, Montana steals a shockwave-generating battlesuit from Tricorp to become the "Shocker", only to be defeated by Spider-Man. Following this, Montana breaks out of prison and joins the Sinister Six to overwhelm Spider-Man, but the web-slinger's black suit takes control of his body to defeat them. By the second season, Montana has left the Sinister Six to rejoin the Enforcers. After his teammates receive their own battlesuits and dub themselves the "New Enforcers", they are hired by Tombstone to rob the Federal Gold Repository, but Spider-Man intervenes while Hammerhead secretly sabotages their escape to usurp Tombstone, resulting in their apprehension and incarceration in the Vault.
 * Montana appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Nightmare on Christmas", voiced by Troy Baker.

Film
Jackson Brice appears as the Shocker in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green. This version is a member of Adrian Toomes' criminal enterprise and wields a modified version of Crossbones' vibration-emitting gauntlet. After being fired by Toomes for attracting Spider-Man's attention, Brice threatens to expose the operation to Toomes' family. While trying to intimidate him, Toomes inadvertently kills him before passing the gauntlet and Shocker mantle to Herman Schultz.

Merchandise
The Spectacular Spider-Man's incarnation of Shocker received an action figure in Hasbro's "Spider Charged" series in 2009.