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MADAME MONSTROSITY

Real Name: Melodia Stillwell

Identity/Class: Human mutate, technology user, citizen of the United States

Occupation: Geneticist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Humanimals (Camille, Hogsworth, Mr. Bobo, Mr. Cricket, Mr. Kripke, Mr. Muttman, Mr. Rooster, Polly, Squeakerton, Tabby/Tabitha Briggs), Inner Demons, Mister Negative, formerly Boy-Spider (Boyd Briggs), Hellifino (Eli Hartman), Christina Xu

Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Thor), High Evolutionary (Herbert Edgar Wyndham), Spider-Boy (Bailey Briggs), Toy Soldier

Known Relatives: Farley Stillwell (son, deceased), Harlan Stillwell (son, deceased), Jeremy Stillwell (husband), Shannon Stillwell (daughter)

Aliases: The Monstrosity, Madame M

Base of Operations: High Evolutionary's hidden lair;
    formerly Stillwell Farms, Westchester County, New York

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man VI#31 (August, 2023)

Powers/Abilities: Melodia Stillwell originally possessed no known superhuman abilities. A gifted but not brilliant geneticist and inventor, she developed gene-splicer technology that could create human-animal hybrids. All her creations got special tags on the back of their necks, making them instantly recognizable to Stillwell. She also created an interactive, voice-activated computer interface that could alert her to any relevant news from the outside world. As the Monstrosity, Stillwell incorporated aspects of at least seven different animals into her genetic make-up, resulting in a massive, dragon-like appearance. As the Monstrosity, she has super strength and can generate energy blasts from her mouth.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 120 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (graying)

History:

(Spider-Boy II#5/2 (fb) - BTS) - Melodia grew up with a fascination for the work of Herbert Edgar Wyndham, a pioneer in the field of evolution. She idolized the unhinged scientist who would become the High Evolutionary, considering him both a visionary and her greatest inspiration.

(Spider-Boy II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Melodia met and fell in love with fellow scientist Jeremy Stillwell. They married and took up residence at the Stillwell estate in Westchester County, New York. There, they built a lab where they began to conduct their genetic experiments.

(Spider-Boy II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Over time, Jeremy and Melodia started a family. Their children Harlan, Farley and Shannon all grew up to become scientists in their own right. But Melodia was fiercely competitive and strict, reminding her offspring they were not allowed to use any of her scientific discoveries without her permission.

(Spider-Boy II#6 (fb) - BTS) - Melodia Stillwell developed the gene splicer to combine DNA from different creatures into a new hybrid lifeform. Her first human test subject was her own husband Jeremy who allowed himself to be turned into a human-owl hybrid. However, when they attempted to reverse the procedure it led to Stillwell's mind getting stuck in the owl's body with the bird of prey gaining control of Jeremy's body. The man of science became a feral, vermin-eating creature.

(Spider-Boy II#18 (fb) - BTS) - Stillwell worked tirelessly to find a way to return her husband to normal. This led to the creation of other human-animal hybrids.

(Amazing Spider-Man VI#31 (fb) - BTS) - Over the years, Melodia Stillwell's scientific discoveries were used without her permission. When she found out, she made sure these projects resulted in dismal failures, which led to the creation of the Rhino, the Lizard and Morbius, the Living Vampire (see comments).

(Amazing Spider-Man VI#31 (fb) - BTS) - When her sons Harlan and Farley Stillwell used her technology to create the Scorpion and the Human Fly, Melodia had no qualms about killing them as punishment.

(Spider-Boy II#6 (fb) ) - Madame Monstrosity produced an orientation video for all of the people who got turned into humanimals. In the video, cartoon versions of herself and Jeremy Stillwell lied to the newly created humanimals, claiming they had to work on the farm to earn enough money to afford the procedure to reverse their transformation.

(Spider-Boy II#18 (fb) - BTS) - Mister Negative learned of Madame Monstrosity's services and arranged a meeting to discuss a business proposition.

(Spider-Boy II#18 (fb) ) - Madame Monstrosity met with Mister Negative who wanted her to turn his Inner Demons into unstoppable and undying foot soldiers. On the spot, Melodia came up with ways to combine the DNA of earthworms, starfish and salamanders to create the human-animal hybrids Negative needed. She agreed to augment his men and accepted his payment: a number of women and children kidnapped from a local F.E.A.S.T. shelter. Among them were Eli Hartman, Tabitha Briggs and Bailey Briggs. Mister Negative also handed Stillwell keys to a number of lockboxes that contained his personal fortune, asking her to store them for safekeeping.

(Spider-Boy II#18 (fb) - BTS) - Madame Monstrosity went to work, transforming Mister Negative's men, including Mr. Krupke, into human-animal hybrids. Tabitha Briggs was spliced with her tabby cat and would become her personal assistant.

(Spider-Boy I#1 (fb) ) - Madame Monstrosity used the gene splicer on Bailey Briggs, turning the boy into a human-spider hybrid. The scared child cried for his mother during the transformation process, but the sadistic Stillwell told him he could think of her as his mother now. After the transformation, Bailey was returned to his test-tube cell where he was comforted by his friend Eli Hartman who made him laugh with some animal jokes. Monstrosity was inspired when she heard Bailey tell the joke: "What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino... Hellifino!" She decided to splice those two animals with Eli, thanking Bailey for putting the idea in her head as she had Hartman hauled away to her lab.

(Spider-Boy I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Madame Monstrosity transformed Eli Hartman into the giant rhino-elephant hybrid Hellifino. However, she was most impressed by Bailey Briggs who was somehow capable of shifting back to his human form at will.

(Spider-Boy II#5/2 (fb) - BTS) - Hoping to impress the High Evolutionary with her advancements in the creation of human-animal hybrids, Melodia wrote to the High Evolutionary and invited him to the Farm to see Bailey Briggs. Calling him a multiform, arachno-human hybrid that could evolve and devolve at will, she hoped to pique the Evolutionary's interest.

(Spider-Boy II#5/2 (fb) ) - When the High Evolutionary arrived at Stillwell Farm, Melodia was shocked when Bailey Briggs was missing. She did her best to dazzle the Evolutionary with her gene-splicing techniques, even fusing a local plumber with a crab to demonstrate the process. But the Evolutionary left disappointed and disgusted: he felt Stillwell wasn't creating higher forms of life; she was merely slapping together curiosities.

(Spider-Boy II#1 (fb) - BTS) - As a result of being cut and erased from the web of destiny and life, Madame Monstrosity and everyone else in existence forgot about Spider-Boy.

(Amazing Spider-Man VI#31) - Melodia Stillwell awoke one morning, surrounded by her Humanimal staff who brought her breakfast in bed and today's Daily Bugle. Perturbed by the fact Mr. Rooster's crowing woke her up too early, she ordered her assistant Polly to prepare him for dissection. She was then stunned to see Spider-Boy on the front page of the Daily Bugle, instantly recognizing him as one of her creations, but she had no memory of him. Immediately suspecting foul play, she angrily called her daughter, Dr. Shannon Stillwell, suspecting she might have used her gene-splicing tech without informing her first. Shannon denied any involvement, having no wish to meet the same fate as her siblings. Intrigued by the existence of Spider-Boy, Madame Monstrosity decided she wanted him for herself.

(Spider-Boy II#1) - Monstrosity spent weeks looking for the best way to track down Spider-Boy, even considering creating a bloodhound hybrid to sniff him out. She was then alerted by her lab computer that Spider-Boy was going to be the guest of honor at a New York bowling alley. She decided to send out Hellifino to confront him, outfitting her subject with a two-way video camera necklace from which she could monitor his mission.

(Spider-Boy II#1 - BTS) - Madame Monstrosity watched Hellifino fight Spider-Boy and received confirmation he was one of her creations when the tag on the back of his neck was exposed. However, she still couldn't remember anything about him and wanted Hellifino to bring him back to the farm. Spider-Boy smashed his foe's camera, preventing Madame Monstrosity from seeing that Hellifino let him escape. Monstrosity even bought Hellifino's lie that his opponent turned into a bunch of spiders to get away. Impressed by her own self-perceived brilliance, she told him to return home.

(Spider-Boy II#3) - Madame Monstrosity watched footage of people reacting with horror to Spider-Boy in his monster form, which made her think of a way to completely destroy his public reputation.

(Spider-Boy II#4/2 (fb) - BTS) - After spotting the tag on Spider-Boy's neck, Monstrosity discovered she actually had some of his DNA in her deep freeze storage area, but the name Bailey Briggs had been mysteriously erased.

(Spider-Boy II#4/2  (fb) ) - Madame Monstrosity created Boy-Spider from the leftover genetic material of Bailey and the spider he was spliced with. The barely sentient, fiercely loyal creature was outfitted with a makeshift Spider-Boy outfit created by the colorblind Mr. Mutt.

(Spider-Boy II#4) - Madame Monstrosity took Mutt and her personal assistant Tabby with her to the city where she let Boy-Spider run amok. After the young creature returned from his rampage, he was all worked up and could only be calmed down by Tabby, whom Monstrosity had now identified as Bailey Briggs' mother Tabitha.

(Spider-Boy II#5) - Eager to learn all she could about Bailey Briggs, Monstrosity subjected his counterpart Boy-Spider to a memory probe that showed, among other things, how Bailey's off-the-cuff joke led to the creation of Hellifino. Learning the details of his origin story, Hellifino was ready to kill both Boy-Spider and Spider-Boy. Monstrosity had other plans; she sent Hellifino to stalk and capture Bailey's friend Christina Xu. This led to a fight with Spider-Boy that ended with the man-elephant bringing both his foe and Christina to Stillwell Farm.

(Spider-Boy II#5 - BTS) - Spider-Boy and Christina were locked up inside Monstrosity's laboratory. The humanimals gathered to watch Madame Monstrosity experiment on her new subjects.

(Spider-Boy II#5) - Christina Xu pleaded with Monstrosity not to hurt her friend, wondering what the boy had ever done to her. Grimly flashing back to the humiliation she suffered when he had disappeared during the High Evolutionary's visit, Stillwell calmly replied Bailey had done nothing. "When I needed him most, he wasn't there for me. Much in the same way he won't be there for you, Christina Xu." Moments later, Monstrosity's lab assistant Mr. Cricket placed Christina in the gene splicer along with a pigeon. Madame Monstrosity happily activated the device, assuring her she'd soon fit right in with the rest of her freaks.

(Spider-Boy II#6) - Madame Monstrosity took great pleasure in shocking Spider-Boy by showing him that Christina had now become a human-pigeon hybrid. She took the newly created humanimal to show her the introductory video she had shot years earlier.

(Spider-Boy II#6 - BTS) - Spider-Boy managed to break free, defeating the humanimals guarding the lab.

(Spider-Boy II#6) - Madame Monstrosity showed up with Hellifino, Boy-Spider and Tabby to stop Bailey. Her ace in the hole was the reveal that Tabby was the boy's mother, though she could not remember any of this. Not willing to risk hurting his mother, Bailey surrendered and was subjected to Monstrosity's experiments for the rest of the day.

(Spider-Boy II#6 - BTS) - Christina Xu was assigned to work the fields at Stillwell Farms. Eager to escape, she learned she could communicate with other pigeons. She managed to slip them a note and told the birds to get help in the city.

(Spider-Boy II#6) - After a long day of torturous experimentation on Spider-Boy, Madame Monstrosity retired for the night. Before turning in, she went to say good night to her husband Jeremy, still trapped in the body of the owl whose mind inhabited Jeremy's body. Melodia assured her lover she was getting closer to finding a way to change him back.

(Spider-Boy II#7) - The next day, Madame Monstrosity was ready to continue her interrogation, threatening to hit Spider-Boy with a shock baton if he refused to tell her how his "forget me" powers work. But Bailey was on to her, correctly assuming the truth: he was the only humanimal who could change his form and she had forgotten how to do it. When he mocked her, she hit him with the baton, which triggered his spider-sense and showed him she would soon be in a world of trouble. Monstrosity ignored his warnings and left him alone. On her way out of the lab, she ran into Tabby and Boy-Spider. Her feline aide wondered if Spider-Boy really was her son and asked if Monstrosity could make them all remember. Stillwell replied that she would probably learn something new after dissecting him.

(Spider-Boy II#7 - BTS) - The pigeons delivered Christina Xu's note to Spider-Man who gathered the Avengers, Miles Morales and Bailey's ally Toy Soldier. The heroes made their way to Stillwell Farms on a Quinjet.

(Spider-Boy II#7) - Madame Monstrosity was furious she was interrupted by superheroes. She sent her small army of armed humanimals against them, but the human-animal hybrids proved no match for the heroes. Madame Monstrosity decided to activate doomsday scenario omega. Stepping into her gene splicer with seven animals, she turned herself into the gigantic Monstrosity. She easily held off the heroes, but briefly halted her rampage when Spider-Boy showed up with her husband Jeremy on his arm. Spider-Boy hoped to stop her by exposing the truth about Stillwell not knowing how to turn the humanimals back to normal, but she couldn't care less: in her new form she was now unstoppable. Before she could destroy her opponents, Monstrosity was teleported away by the High Evolutionary who had taken an interest in her new, unique genetic structure. Arriving in the Evolutionary's hidden lair, she felt honored to be working with her mentor. To her horror, Monstrosity learned he hadn't summoned her to work with him; she had become his unwilling test subject.

(Spider-Boy II#8 - BTS) - Madame Monstrosity was included in Puzzle Man's top ten Spider-Boy villains crossword puzzle.

Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Paco Medina.

Madame Monstrosity might be the greatest classic Silver Age villain that never was. From the alliterative codename to the over- the-top, cartoony villainy... She's just a campy delight. Smart but not brilliant and comically cruel, she nevertheless has great pathos: despite all her accomplishments, she is unable to help her husband. It'll be interesting to see if she ever returns from the High Evolutionary's laboratory; there's still a lot for her to do.



Profile by Norvo

CLARIFICATIONS:
Madame Monstrosity should not be confused with

Images: (without ads)
Spider-Boy II#5, p4, pan3 (main)
Spider-Boy II#6, p15, pan5 (young)
Amazing Spider-Man VI#31, p70, pan5 (close up)
Spider-Boy II#4, p20, pans3&4 (that's on me)
Spider-Boy II#4, p20, pans3&4 (good night Jeremy)
Spider-Boy II#7, p22, pan4 (captured by the Evolutionary)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man VI#31 (August, 2023) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Nick Lowe (editor)
Spider-Boy II#1 (January, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#3 (March, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#4 (April, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Ty Templeton (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#5 (May, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#6 (June, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina, Walden Wong, Julian Shaw (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#7 (July, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#8 (August, 2024) - Dan Slott (writer), Jason Loo (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)
Spider-Boy II#18 (June, 2025) - Dan Slott (writer), Paco Medina (pencils & inks), Ellie Pyle (editor)

First Posted: 10/02/2026
Last Updated: 10/02/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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