Anthropomorphic reptile with scales, a 6'6" prehensile tail, claws, and fangs; formerly right arm missing in human form.
Human mutated by the Connors Formula derived from reptilian cells to regenerate his left arm, but gained the transformation of the Lizard.
Not... a monster. I'm Curtisss Connorsss. And I will never let the monstersss win again.
Dr. Curtis " Curt" Connors was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida. He attended Medical school graduating with twin doctorates in biology and biochemistry. It was in college he met Martha and together they had a son Billy.
He became a gifted surgeon who enlisted in the U.S. Army. He performed emergency battlefield surgery on wounded soldiers. However, his right arm was terribly injured in a wartime blast, resulting in its amputation. After returning to civilian life, Doc Connors devoted his life to creating a serum to regenerate lost limbs. Using DNA from reptiles, who naturally re-grew lost limbs, Connors created a serum he was sure would work.
Using himself as the first test subject, Connors injected himself with a dose of his formula and was ecstatic when his arm began to regenerate. However, the reptilian DNA his serum was based on mixed with, and altered, his own DNA, and turned him into a vicious creature known as The Lizard. While Connors was eventually "cured" by Spider-Man and returned to his human appearance.
Another attempt to develop this serum for safe use again resulted in Connors transforming into the Lizard, but on this occasion, he was saved thanks to his former colleague Professor Charles Xavier and his first team of X-Men.
When Spider-Man's Aunt May became sick due to radiation from a blood transfusion from him, he went to Doc Connors for help. He stole a vial of her blood and brought it to him. He told him that ISO-36 was a way to cure her. As they prepare for its arrival, Dr. Connors was told that it was stolen and Spider-Man went track it down. Spidey recovered it and took it to Doc Connors for testing it successfully on his own blood, he reasons it may be a cure for Aunt May. Connors phoned the hospital to approve the serum Spider-Man was delivering.
Spider-Man brought a piece of the Rhino's hide to Doc Connors for analysis. Together they create a reformulated webbing which burned through the Rhino's hide, and he was captured.
Connors, however, reacted to the chemicals used on the Rhino and turned into The Lizard again. The Lizard then framed Spider-Man for a jewelry robbery, but finds him in front of the public, showing The Lizard can climb too clearing his name but spraining his arm in the process.  The Lizard went to Dr. Connors' lab to find a formula to transform reptiles into his personal army. Since his reptilian brain cannot understand Doc Connors notes, he wrecks the lab waking Mrs. Connors and Billy up and goes to find Dr. Connor himself, not knowing they are one and the same. Spidey found him on a train to Philadelphia with a large reptile collection onboard. The Lizard commanded a train car filled with reptiles to attack. Spidey forced him into a freezer car, where he was weakened by the cold. Spidey then wrapped him in a web cocoon to prevent his death and works in Doc Connors' lab to create an antidote before The Lizard thaws.
Later, Billy was kidnapped by the Maggia, along with his mother, to compel Doc Connors to decipher the Lifeline Tablet's secret code. After being moved into the Galby Building, they both were rescued by Spider-Man. Billy and his mother were brought to a safe place by Spider-Man, who vowed to find Lizard and change him back to human form.
When Spider-Man grew four extra arms, Connors allowed him to stay at his Southampton home where he had a spare lab. He agreed to meet him there. When he arrived however he found Spidey unconscious by the stairs and Morbius was about to feast on him. Doc Connors dodged Morbius' attack but is panicked and transformed into the Lizard. However, during the fight the Lizard was knocked into an electrical panel, and Morbius manages to bite him, but Spidey fought him off before he can get away. To Spidey's surprise, something in Morbius's bite has caused the Lizard to partially revert back to Doc Connors. The effect was temporary, however, as Connors maintains his mind but struggled to keep the Lizard from taking control. The two decided to work together to try to find a cure for themselves, and deduce that something in Morbius's blood could possibly cure them. During the fight, Connors manages to extract some of Morbius's blood and injects himself with it. Surprisingly, it causes him to change back to his human form. Spider-Man was able to recover the blood and cure his Six Arm affliction.
When Spider-Man was caught on camera by Spencer Smythe he went to Doc Connors lab to create a synthetic mask based on his own face to try and reverse any potential compromise the camera has caused his secret identity.
Doc Connors asked Spider-Man to travel to the Savage Land to track down Dr. Vincent Stegron, who has gone there to reproduce Connor's experiments on Dinosaurs. Stegron succeeded in duplicating the Connors Formula in dinosaurs and has transformed him into a humanoid Dinosaur. He returned to New York. Doc Connors and Spidey worked together to find a way to reverse Stegron's mutation, Stegron and his army of Dinosaurs attack the city.
While investigating the Man-Thing for the Daily Bugle in Florida, Peter Parker contacted Doc Connors for help. He, however, became the Lizard again. Working with the Man-Thing, he was able to return his friend to normal.
When Peter Parker was not sure if he was the original Peter Parker or just the clone with the memories of the original, he went to Doc Connors to perform a test. However when the results arrived he tore them up not wanting to know the results.
When Spider-Man was drained of energy by the Kingpin's Vita-Drain Device he went to Doc Connors uses his Enervator device to restore him. The recharge also caused a small explosion which catches Connors, however, he appeared all right. However, the measure was temporary, and so Connors equips Spider-Man with a device that would reverse the effects of the Vita-Drain. Spidey thanked the Doc for his help, but when he left the Doc felt woozy.
Curt told Martha that he is feeling the after-effects of the explosion of a generator which saved Spider-Man's life. Stegron returned and kidnapped Billy and then leaves instructions for Curt to follow else he will kill Billy. While at the Connors home, Curt talks his wife out of calling the police and realizes that he is turning into the Lizard once more, and fights off the change. However his will was not strong enough, and he became the Lizard again. Spidey went to Doc Connors for help with Stegron only to find he has become the Lizard once more. The Lizard escapes and hunted down Stegron who had reanimated a group of Dinosaurs. The two battled while Spidey incapacitated the Lizard with a chemically treated webbing which restored the Lizard back to his human form. Now cured Doc Connors reversed the effects of the device returning the dinosaurs to bone.
When Spider-Man was attached to a bomb with J Jonah Jameson they went to Doc Connors for help, however, the police spot Spider-Man and Jameson entering through a window and burst into Connor's lab to investigate just as Connors was examining the device.
Doc Connor tried to use the Enervator to help remove the Lizard condition that was in his system and tested it on an Iguana. Unfortunately, the Iguana became mutated and turned into a creature with the memories of the Lizard. The Iguana then fought Spider-Man and the Lizard until both he and the Lizard fought Spider-Man together. He was defeated when Spider-Man used a portable Enervator to increase his power while decreasing the Lizards. With his power over increased it seemed as if the Iguana exploded, but in reality, he was transformed back into his original form.
In one of his classes, Doc Connors noticed Peter Parker acting strange even snapping at him. Soon after Peter turns into Spider-Lizard but Connors creates an antidote and saves him.
Moonstone broke into Curt Connors lab to seal the Enervator. But it was returned by Spider-Man.
Spider-Man took some shrapnel to DOC Connors at his lab is E.S.U. so he can analyze it. Morris Sloan then walked into the lab while Curt and Spider-Man are there with the recently marked first-year final papers and Spidey managed to see that he has got an A on the test.
The Lizard was abducted from prison by the omnipotent being known as the Beyonder to fight the so-called Secret Wars on Battleworld, after which he returned to Earth.  When he was returned to Earth, Spider-Man came to Doc Connors to help with his new Black Costume, he took a sample to study.
Curt Connors became the Lizard again to rescue his wife and son from the Owl.
Spider-Man came to Doc Connors to help cure Harry Osborn who had been poisoned.
The Lizard was summoned again by a ritual, more ferocious the ever. It was revealed that Calypso used her voodoo magic to take control of the Lizard for her own purposes. The creature tried to fight the mind control, but failed. Calypso sent him after Spider-Man, but he failed to kill him. The Lizard disappeared before the police arrived.
The Lizard traveled to the Connors' apartment during Billy's birthday party. Claiming he can maintain his Curt Connors consciousness with extreme concentration, the Lizard scratched Billy's face with his claw. Spidey attacks, allowing the Lizard persona to take over again, but Billy's presence scares the Lizard off, Spidey tags him with a spider-tracer. As Spidey pursues, Billy follows on his new skateboard, then into the sewer, carrying a knife with which to kill the Lizard. Arriving at Connors' lair, Spidey's spider-sense tells him that Ock's equipment is booby-trapped, even as the Lizard explains he scratched Billy to get a DNA sample. When Spidey tries to warn him of the booby-trap, the Lizard persona takes over. Their battle collapses a ceiling onto Spidey. Spidey frees himself, but the Lizard is already in his machine. Spidey uses a spider-tracer to jam the frequency, which restores Connors, apparently cured of his Lizard condition. Seeing his dad, Billy drops the knife and tells him he loves him.
"Cowboy" Dave Hopkins acted as prosecution in the trial of Curt Connors. Several witnesses come forward in defense of Connors, including his own son, Spider-Man, and his alter-ego Peter Parker. At the end of the trial, however, Connors surrenders himself to the court by waiving his right to trial by jury. He suggests that he be locked up, but that he be given a laboratory in prison from which to work. He suggests that he can better pay back his debt to society by using his scientific genius to positively contribute rather than surrender to banal incarceration. The court agrees, Connors says goodbye to his wife and son, and he is taken away by the guards.
Calypso returned to take control of the Lizard but was killed, and the Lizard escaped from prison. After this escape, the Lizard fell into a quicksand pit during a battle with Spider-Man and the bounty hunter Warrant and was believed to have died.
A short time later, a new Lizard creature fought against Spider-Man and Peter Parker on the rooftop of the New York University Medical Center. The creature then tracked back Doc Connors to Florida, attacking him in his West Palm Beach home. Connors eventually transformed into Lizard and, helped by Spider-Man, managed to defeat the reptilian creature.
The Lizard went peacefully to jail after killing a scientist who won what could have been his research grant but was freed by Norman Osborn to join the Sinister Twelve, but was defeated by combined forces of Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. After the disbanding of the twelve, the Lizard disappeared from the public.
A new version of the Sinister Six, including the Lizard, appeared during Civil War, but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers. Since the Lizard was never a member of the original Sinister Six, the circumstances of his involvement with this recent group of villains has yet to be revealed.
Curt Connors took a look at "The Rock of Life" which caused a mysterious disease and caused many people to become furious, including Man-Wolf, Vermin, himself, Black Cat, Puma and others. The Black Cat had the hardest time controlling her anger, almost killing the Lizard in a fury. It was soon discovered that the rock was brought to New York by Stegron to regress all of humanity. Spider-Man, who had been able to show the most resistance to the rock, stopped him. During this time Billy was transformed into a mini-Lizard.
A young student named Melati Kusuma lost both her legs in a car accident. She secured an internship under Doc Connors' supervision the day she applied. Connors knew that she was interested in the Connors Formula, and promised her they would work to make it safe, forcing her to swear she would not do anything reckless. Eager to regain her legs, she worked efficiently and earn Connors' trust, and eventually gain access to the Formula stole it and modified it so that it would work on her and would merely grant her the regenerative properties Dr. Connors desired or at least allow her to keep her mind. As she knew perfecting the formula would take too long, she decided to make it good enough, and if the mutation was unexpected, she was fine with it. After she joined the Initiative as "Komodo".
After Lizard's last appearance, he was able to kill Connors' son Billy. That killed Curt's consciousness and made a new creature of Lizard, the Shed. It possesses Connors' intellect and new powers. Spider-Man tried to defeat him but he failed.
After using Connors' serum, which made him immune to Shed's new psychic powers, Spider-Man showed Shed pictures of Billy and "put pictures in his head". Shed started to feel ashamed, and he understood that there was much more to learn and understand for him. He ran off to an unknown place where he continues to capture some humans to call them his "pets."
After most of the Spider-Man villains were hired to capture Lily Hollister's and Norman Osborn's newborn son, the Lizard was the second (after Chameleon) to get the child. Connors took the newborn to his "nest" where he did tests on it to see if the infant was a special new species. Soon after, Spider-man showed up to the nest along with Doctor Octopus whom the Lizard took control of to fight Spider-Man.
Doc Ock was subdued and Spidey went to get the child from the Lizard who informed Peter that the boy was a useless new species and was not actually Norman Osborn's son. Doctor Octopus arrived again and battled the Lizard for taking control of his mind. Spider-Man left the scene with the infant at hand.
NO! I mustn't tell him! No one can ever know. The cure worked. My brain--my mind's been restored. And I know why I'm here... For the choices I've made. For Martha. For Billy. My name is Curt Connors. And this is my prison. My penance. My hell. And I deserve it.
After Morbius worked with Horizon Labs in a cure for the spider-virus during the massive infection in New York, he started searching for a cure for himself and his friend, Curt Connors. He finally developed a successful cure which Spider-Man injected in the Lizard, turning him back to human form, but keeping his reptilian-mind, although he pretended he was totally cured to start creating a serum to turn back to the Lizard physically.
After testing the serum in many Horizon employees, Curt injected himself with it, soon before being discovered by Carlie Cooper, Curt escaped until Spider-Man managed to take him out of Horizon, when his transformation was fully completed, into a new and stronger form of the Lizard. Using a cure developed by Morbius, Spider-Man managed to defeat the Lizard, but not to revert him to his human state. The Lizard was finally captured and put into custody in the Raft, where he realized his human consciousness took over his reptilian body, stating that was the punishment he deserved.
While in his own cell, Connors told Doctor Octopus, who was dying, that the cure worked and that he was trapped in the Lizard's body, unaware it was Spider-Man inside Doctor Octopus's body. When "Octavius" asked Connors to join him in a breakout made by Hydro-Man, Scorpion and the Trapster, he declined with a snort, which prompted the Trapster to call him a "mindless beast." When Morbius managed to escape his cell, the Lizard pointed out that he still had nowhere to go.
Curt escaped his cell after the security systems of the Raft were shot down by Spider-Slayer during a break out. While Spider-Man went after Spider-Slayer, J. Jonah Jameson was confronted by Scorpion, but was stopped by Connors. He revealed to Jameson that he had retained his human intelligence while they escaped, which Jameson acknowledged.
While imprisoned at the Andry Correction Facility, Connors was visited by the Jackal. He wanted Connors to join him, but he declined. To convince him to change his mind, he called the people who were accompanying him and, to Connors' surprise, they were his wife and son, alive and well. Connors then accepted to do his bidding. Jackal later had Rhino free Connors and a depowered Electro from the Andry Correction Facility. Lizard began to work with Jackal on a procedure that would repower Electro.
While escaping from New U Technologies, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman of Earth-65 quickly incapacitated Lizard. When Doctor Octopus pulled a switch which activated the Carrion Virus in all of the clones and caused them to start rapidly decaying, Lizard saw that Martha and Billy were affected. During the ensuing battle, Lizard escaped with Martha and Billy as he vowed to find a way to keep them from dying. In the sewers of San Francisco, Lizard saved Martha and Billy from the Carrion Virus by injecting them with the Lizard Formula, turning his wife and son into Lizards like him.
As part of an effort to return to his old life, the Lizard approached the Empire State University and signed over a dozen of his patents as an incentive so that they would let him become a member of the faculty staff again. After being given this second chance, Connors and E.S.U. developed a surgically embedded, Adamantium-encased inhibitor chip which enabled him to return to his human form and control his transformations into the Lizard. The chip would additionally paralyze him if he became aggressive while in his reptilian form. After Peter Parker's academic credentials were revoked for plagiarism, since he had completed his studies while Doctor Octopus was in possession of his body and had used his own work as a basis for Parker's thesis, Connors vouched for Peter, and convinced the faculty to give him another chance and join his class.
Lizard Physiology: While transformed into The Lizard, Connors possesses a variety of superhuman attributes.
Superhuman Strength: Connors himself has the normal physical strength of a human male of his age, height, and build that engages in little regular exercise. While transformed, he possesses sufficient superhuman strength to lift about 12 tons. His physical strength has extended into the muscles of his legs allowing him to leap about 18 feet into the air.
Superhuman Speed: While transformed, Connors can run and move at speeds greater than that of the finest human athlete and can reach a top speed of about 45 miles per hour.
Superhuman Stamina: While transformed, Connors' advanced musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of an ordinary human. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to impair him.
Superhuman Durability: While transformed, Connors' scaly skin and superhumanly enhanced bodily tissues provide him much greater resistance to physical injury than an ordinary human. He can withstand great impact forces, falls from great heights, and small caliber bullets without sustaining injury.
Superhuman Agility: In his transformed state, Connors' agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
Superhuman Reflexes: Connors' reflexes are similarly enhanced while transformed and are superior to those of the finest human athlete.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite The Lizard's physical durability, he can sustain physical injury. However, if injured, his body is able to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. While transformed, Connors' healing powers are developed to the point where he can fully regenerate missing limbs, just like many known reptile species.
Tail: While transformed, Connors has a long, reptilian-like tail that he can use to help balance himself or as an offensive weapon. He is capable of whipping his tail at speeds of at least 70 miles per hour. Considering his strength and physical toughness, he can generate enough force to shatter concrete. Like some geckos, The Lizard can detach his tail and grow a new one.
Fangs & Claws: While transformed, Connors' fingers and toes are each tipped with razor sharp claws that, combined with his natural strength, are able to cut most conventional materials including flesh, bone, wood, stone, and some types of metals. His mouth is also filled with rows of razor sharp teeth that he can use as offensive weapons in close combat situations.
Wall Crawling: As the Lizard, Connors has the same adhesive properties that a gecko has, which allows him to scale walls. This was demonstrated in his first appearance when fighting Spider-Man.
Psionics: As The Lizard, Connors can telepathically communicate and control all forms of reptilian life within a two-mile distance. After his transformation into the shed, Connors has the ability to activate the "lizard part" in a human brain, causing them to act on basic reptile instincts.
Genius Intelligence: Connors has a genius-level intellect and is a world renowned herpetologist.
Lizard's strength and agility are reduced when exposed to intense cold for more than a few minutes. High levels of stress can cause Dr. Connors to transform into the Lizard.
Inhibitor Chip: An Adamantium-encased inhibitor chip surgically grafted into Connors' neck. It allowed him to control his transformation into the Lizard. The chip also acted as a fail-safe which paralyzed Connors if he became aggressive while in his reptilian form and until he reverted to his human form.
The Lizard was one of the characters featured in Series A of the Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970's.