Curtis Connors (Earth-21399)

"All this time I thought would be the next Albert Einstein - that I would finally change the world like I know Richard would've wanted. But as it turns out... Einstein never tried to invent the atom bomb. It just kinda worked out that way."

- Dr. Connors

Early Days of OsCorp
Doctor Curtis Connors was one of the leading scientific minds of his day and the best friend of Richard Parker. Both had dreams of changing the world through science - a dream shared by OsCorp founder Norman Osborn, who hired them both to be his head researchers.

Richard and Connors' pet project was Project Moreau, which aimed to take the special abilities of various animals and translate them into solutions to societal problems. Unfortunately, once the military started outsourcing its advanced weapons research to the private sector, Norman started seeing dollar signs and the chance to gain prestige, so he suggested that Project Moreau focus on weapons development - something Richard and Connors vehemently disagreed with.

Eventually, Richard and Connors discovered that Norman ignored their considerations and fast-tracked OsCorp's weapons development sector. Connors was furious and got into an altercation with Norman and the testers, which resulted in a laboratory accident that destroyed Connors' right arm. Richard later resigned from OsCorp in protest, taking his research with him.

Horizon Labs
After Richard Parker's death, Connors left OsCorp in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement and cash settlement. Connors later used the money to found his own R&D company, Horizon Labs, in the hopes of preserving Richard's legacy.

Horizon Labs was a relatively small startup, with each main scientist undertaking a different project. Connors' focus was replicating the regenerative abilities of reptiles as a treatment for amputees, plus a side project that carried on Richard Parker's work with spiders. One such spider would later escape its cage to bite Richard Parker's son, who was taking a high-school field trip to Horizon Labs.

Becoming the Lizard
Unfortunately, Horizon Labs soon started facing problems in the form of an ethics investigation filed by Norman Osborn himself against the startup. In truth, Osborn saw Connors' continuance of Richard Parker's work and wanted to gain control of it for unknown purposes. The authorities who arrived confiscated numerous pieces of equipment - among them the population of genetically enhanced spiders and Doctor Connors' notes on the reptile formula.

Unbeknownst to anyone already present, Connors managed to preserve a sample of the formula by hiding it in his office's safe. It was then that Connors realized that the serum was never properly tested, but all the lab mice were already confiscated. Out of sheer frustration, Connors injected himself with the serum, believing it wouldn't work anyway.

To his shock, Connors woke up the next morning to find his arm fully restored. At first, he and his family celebrated the breakthrough, only for Connors' delight to turn to horror as his skin began to turn scaly while at work. Excusing himself outside, Connors ultimately transformed into an monstrous reptilian creature and scurried away into the sewers.

Horizon Labs' Dissolution
Shortly after Connors' disappearance, a full ethics complaint was filed against Horizon Labs, citing falsified embezzlement allegations against Connors. As a result, investor confidence in Horizon Labs plummeted to the point where the company was liquidated and its employees were merged into OsCorp, among them an engineering researcher named Otto Octavius.

When the Lizard heard about this, he became furious and went on a rampage in one of OsCorp's storage houses in Brooklyn, drawing the attention of Spider-Man.

Powers

 * Reptilian Transformation
 * Superhuman Strength
 * Superhuman Speed
 * Superhuman Agility
 * Superhuman Durability
 * Regeneration
 * Wall-Crawling
 * Claws
 * Prehensile Tail

Abilities

 * Gifted Intellect

Weaknesses

 * Cold-Blooded: The Lizard requires external heat sources to regulate his internal body temperatures. This leaves him vulnerable to extreme cold temperatures, which render his movements sluggish and inhibit his ability to regenerate.
 * Personality Changes: The longer Doctor Connors remains in his Lizard form, the more he is driven to act out on his basest impulses - the need for food, the desire for a mate, and his utter hatred of Norman Osborn.