Hybrid (Scott Washington)

Hybrid (real name Scott Washington) is a fictional anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Scott Washington first appeared in The New Warriors #21 (March 1992) by writer Fabian Nicieza and penciller Mark Bagley. The symbiote first appeared in the back-up stories in the Venom: Along Came A Spider (1996) miniseries by writer Evan Skolnick and penciller Patrick Zircher.

Publication history

Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and penciller Mark Bagley, the Guardsman Scott Washington appears in The New Warriors #21 (March 1992), #25-26 and #36. In 1996, as Hybrid, he is the main character in the back-up stories in two miniseries Venom: Along Came a Spider and Venom: The Hunted, all written by Evan Skolnick.

In 2007, he is mentioned in Civil War: Battle Damage Report #1. Hybrid is also mentioned at the conclusion of the first issue of Carnage U.S.A. (2011), along with Venom, Anti-Venom, Toxin, and his sister Scorn, as being the next option to stop Carnage's rampage in the Mid-west after the Avengers are defeated.^[1][2]

He has an entry in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5 - 'Gorgon to Jury' (2006) and an entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC vol. 05 - 'Guardsmen to Jackal (Warren)' (2008).

Fictional character biography

Deadpool as Hybrid in Deadpool vs. Carnage #3. Art by Salvador Espin.

Scott Washington was one of the Guardsmen involved in guarding and transporting Justice, who had been arrested and sentenced to the Vault for killing his father.^[3]

Hybrid is the amalgamation of four of the Life Foundation Symbiotes - whose hosts were killed by Scream - into a single symbiote entity. The fused symbiote then sought out Scott Washington, an African-American man who was a Guardsman at the Vault (the prison for supervillains) lab facility. While guarding the symbiotes, he realized that they were not evil, not a threat, and the experiments were causing them terrible pain, so he let them go.^[4] When his superiors discovered that Scott had released the aliens he was supposed to guard he was fired. He returned to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the gang-torn neighborhood in which he grew up. Following a basketball court scuffle with members of the Eazy X gang, Scott and his brother, Derek, were shot, Derek was killed while Scott became crippled, losing the use of his legs.^[5]

The four symbiotes afterwards located Scott and bonded with him, which resulted in Scott regaining the ability to walk,^[5] and more since Scott has a lot of anger, so often the symbiotes hold him back from acts of violence, not the other way around. Since his symbiote was originally four different entities, Scott has to contend with four different voices / personalities in his head besides his own. As Hybrid, Scott got revenge on the Eazy Xs, the gang that had crippled him.^[6] He began to get a lot of press attention, and while most of the publicity was positive, it drew the attention of The Jury. He was captured by these self-appointed guardians of justice, who would have executed him just for being a symbiote, but he was rescued by the New Warriors. Scott was a former co-worker of Curtis Elkins (Sentry) and other members of The Jury. Justice offered him membership in the group, but Scott declined, citing more important work to do in his home neighborhood.^[7]

Scott Washington was considered as a "potential recruit" for the Initiative program.^[8]

Eddie Brock hunted down and murdered Washington, as part of his goal to eliminate the "evil" of the symbiotes from Earth.^[9]

The four symbiotes that made up Hybrid survived and, with assistance from a clandestine military group, are separated and turned over to the United States Government. Later, with Venom and Toxin missing, the group decides to use Hybrid to contain Carnage's rampage in the Midwest during the 2012 Carnage U.S.A. miniseries. The separated symbiotes are assigned to four different military soldiers, each given a different role in apprehending Carnage. Teaming up with Scorn, the newest symbiote host from Carnage's first limited series, they are sent into a town Carnage has taken over, with orders to kill their "brother" if necessary. With help from Venom and the Avengers, the team succeeds in capturing Cletus Kasady and the Carnage symbiote.^[10]

After Carnage goes on a yet another murder spree, he ambushes the Mercury Team in their own home base and dismembers them, although the symbiotes survive. He does the same to Deadpool, who is hunting him. The hostless symbiotes revive Deadpool and turn him into the new Hybrid.^[11] After using the symbiotes to defeat Carnage and Shriek, Deadpool gives them to the dog owned by the Mercury Team, and instructs it to bring the symbiotes to "the governmental bigwigs who know how to take care of 'em".^[12]

Powers and abilities

Like Spider-Man and Venom, Hybrid has wall-crawling and web-slinging abilities, he can form his symbiote into pseudopodia or tendrils creating snares and bladed weapons. The symbiote also has camouflage abilities and can blend in with its surroundings. It can mimic clothing. Hybrid has a border-line warning sense and can "see" through his symbiote. He possesses some degree of superhuman strength, can detach a piece of his symbiote to send messages to his friends and allies, and can shape his symbiote to form a membrane that allows him to glide through the air. Hybrid's suit can also absorb chemicals, such as Spider-Man's synthetic webbing.

Like most of his other symbiote counterparts such as Venom and Carnage, Hybrid has superhuman strength. When Hybrid bonded to Scott Washington, he regained his ability to walk, which he had lost during a gang fight.

After the death of Washington and being forcibly separated, the symbiotes became catatonic, and no longer retain their sentience.

In other media

Video games

• Hybrid appears as a boss and later an unlockable character in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.^[13]

References

External links

• Hybrid (Scott Washington) at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Hybrid (Scott Washington) at the Comic Book DB