Mister Negative is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Spider-Man, the Punisher, Shang-Chi, and Cloak & Dagger. The character was created by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez, and first appeared in "Swing Shift", a story in Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (May 2007). The name "Mister Negative" is a reference to photographic negative, as the colors of his skin, hair, and costume are inverted when he transforms into his alter ego.
Originally a Chinese gangster and human trafficker, whose real name was never revealed, the man who would become Mr. Negative was captured by crime boss Silvermane to serve as a test subject, alongside the future Cloak & Dagger, for an experimental procedure involving a synthetic drug created by Simon Marshall. The experiment gave the character control over both the Darkforce and Lightforce, and led to the creation of two polar opposite personalities: Mister Positive, posing as a benevolent and kind philanthropist named Martin Li, who would go on to found the F.E.A.S.T. Project as a means to help homeless people; and the ruthless crime lord Mister Negative, who leads the Inner Demons gang in an attempt to take over New York's criminal underworld. Originally, the character was depicted as suffering from dissociative identity disorder, with one personality not maintaining the other's memories, but both personas were later shown to be fully aware of each other's existence. As Mister Negative, his powers include healing, mind-controlling others through "corruption", and charging regular weapons with his energy.
Since his conception, the character has been adapted into several forms of media outside of comics, including animated series and video games.
Publication history
Created by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez, Mister Negative first appeared in "Swing Shift", a story in Free Comic Book Day: The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2007), which was set in the immediate aftermath of the "Spider-Man: One More Day" storyline. Mister Negative then appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #546 (Jan. 2008), the first issue of the follow-up storyline "Brand New Day".
Fictional character biography
Martin Li is introduced with the backstory of a Chinese immigrant from Fujian province who attempted to travel to America to be with his wife. His mode of transportation, the Golden Mountain, was a slave ship operated by the Snakehead gang as a way to sell Fujian captives as overseas slaves in Kenya. During a storm, the ship's crew evacuated, leaving the captives alone to make a break for the New York shores. Li was the only survivor and spent the following years building a large fortune and dedicating himself to helping those less fortunate.
The story is later revealed to be partially false, though only the Mister Negative persona appears aware of it. It is revealed that Mister Negative was actually one of the crew members of the Golden Mountain. When the ship nearly crashed onto the New York shores, he stole the identity of one of the deceased Fujian slaves (the real Martin Li) who was heading to America for the aforementioned reasons. This gang member was eventually captured by the Maggia Don Silvermane and experimented on with a synthetic drug created by Maggia chemist Simon Marshall that could be more potent than heroin. He escaped with the help of two other experimental inmates and soon developed two personalities, the kind-hearted Martin Li and the villainous Mister Negative, the latter of the two developing the ability to generate a black electrical energy that could be used to heal, control others, or charge objects with his touch. The Mister Negative side dedicated himself to becoming Chinatown's Kingpin of Crime while the Martin Li side attempts to run the F.E.A.S.T. center with humility.
Martin Li opens and operates a soup kitchen in Chinatown: the F.E.A.S.T. Project (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training), where Peter Parker's Aunt May volunteers. Neither Peter nor May are aware of Li's dual identity as a Chinatown crime boss under the Mister Negative name. Despite being a crime lord, Li is a seemingly kind and generous man. The F.E.A.S.T. Project has displayed healing powers for people of various illnesses, although the cause of this healing has yet to be revealed.