Spymaster is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history Spymaster is a supervillain and recurring foe to Iron Man. He is a master of industrial espionage. His identity has changed several times over the years. The first appearance of the character is in Iron Man #33 (Jan 1971), and he was created by Allyn Brodsky, Don Heck, and Stan Lee. Fictional character biography Original Spymaster The original Spymaster was a costumed freelance industrial spy, saboteur, and assassin with advanced weaponry. He was a master of espionage, and died without revealing his true identity, although it is known that he was once a boxer. He and his team of assistants, the Espionage Elite, were hired by the criminal organization the Zodiac to infiltrate Stark Industries and steal all of company owner and genius inventor Tony Stark's secrets. His efforts were stopped by Stark's alter-ego, the armored superhero Iron Man. However, he was assigned by the Zodiac to capture Daredevil but failed at that as well. Spymaster aided Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius in an attempt to steal the Zodiac Key from Stark. The Spymaster was transported to the other-dimensional realm of the Brotherhood of the Ankh, but returned to Earth and escaped. Spymaster was assigned by renegade S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to assassinate Tony Stark, but failed. He was employed by Madame Masque to steal a prototype energizer link, and abducted Bethany Cabe. Spymaster came into conflict with Iron Man several more times, and on one occasion with the masked hero Daredevil. At one point Spymaster apparently succeeded in assassinating Tony Stark, but in reality it was a Life Model Decoy. He also succeeded in stealing many of Stark's Iron Man designs, giving them over to Stark's rival Justin Hammer, sparking the Armor Wars event. Stark believes that Spymaster may have found out his secret identity, but that Spymaster kept it to himself. The first Spymaster last appeared after coming into conflict with fellow Iron Man villain the Ghost, who has technology enabling him to become intangible. After Spymaster attempted to assassinate the Ghost in Los Angeles under orders from Roxxon, Iron Man arrived, causing the two villains to attempt an escape. The Ghost offered Spymaster one of his intangibility devices, and Spymaster used the device to pass through a wall. The Ghost removed the device from Spymaster's chest while he was still phasing halfway through a