Prowler (Aaron Davis) Powers, Enemies, & History | Marvel (2024)

The Prowler makes a career out of being the world’s best thief.

Comics

The Many Connections of ‘Gang War’

Learn more about the who’s who—and how they know each other—in Marvel Comics crossover event ‘Gang War.’

Games

'Marvel's Spider-Man 2' Explained: Who Is Aaron Davis?

Read on for everything you need to know about Aaron Davis AKA The Prowler before playing 'Marvel's Spider-Man 2'!

Comics

Inside the Two Generations of ‘Gang War’

This event isn’t just about Marvel crime families—but actual families too! Learn more about the super-powered parents and kids in Marvel Comics’ next big crossover.

Comics

A History of the Iron Spider Suit

As Miles Morales suits up in Iron Spider armor for 'Carnage Reigns,' rediscover the origin of the costume, as well as all the heroes and villains who have worn it.

Aaron Davis is known as the Prowler, a world-class criminal and the most dangerous thief in America.

Cat Burglar

In Reality-1610, thief Aaron Davis exposes his brother, Jefferson, to organized crime by tricking him into attending a meeting with Turk, a subordinate of Wilson Fisk. Together, they live a life of crime and end up in jail. Jefferson leaves his life of crime when he marries nurse Rio Morales while Aaron becomes a cat burglar known as the Prowler.

Prowler gets hired by Phillip Roxxon to burglarize a closed Oscorp facility and unknowingly leaves with Dr. Markus’ specimen 42, an Oz-enhanced spider. His nephew, 13-year-old Miles, wins a lottery that enables him to enroll at the Brooklyn Visions Academy, a charter school; while telling his uncle the news, Miles gets bitten by the enhanced spider and gains spider-like powers, making him the next Spider-Man.

High-Tech Weaponry

Aaron is a highly-skilled thief, having grown up as one to survive. He also becomes an adept hand-to-hand combatant. Without superhuman powers, he uses technology made by the Tinkerer to aid him in his criminal pursuits. He starts with the Getaway Jacket, which electrocutes anyone nearby him, allowing for a quick getaway. He eventually acquires an electric suit, a wingsuit that propels projectiles at high speeds, and electric gauntlets that fire powerful blasts.

Criminal Competition

Mexican kingpin Maximus Gargan, AKA Scorpion, is Prowler’s gangster rival out of Mexico City. When Prowler demands money from him without delivering a package, the Scorpion pays him a visit in America, seeking revenge. In a hostile takeover, Gargan claims territory and becomes the kingpin of New York.

Family Ties

When Aaron is young, he and his brother Jefferson engage in criminal activity to survive. He saves Jefferson’s life but they both eventually end up in jail. While Jefferson reforms his life of crime, Aaron continues as the Prowler, a cat burglar, which causes friction between the brothers. This conflict and his criminal life makes Jefferson restrict his son Miles’ time with his uncle.

Despite his brother’s restrictions, Aaron grows close with Miles. They spend time together watching martial arts movies. Aaron later has an unintentional hand in helping Miles become Spider-Man and when he finds out about his alter ego, uses him to take out his criminal competition, the Scorpion. Though, in trying to control Miles, it results in a blood feud that ends in a deadly battle where Aaron dies.

Universe, Other Aliases, Place of Origin, Known Relatives, Group Affiliation

Criminal Career

Prowler left New York for Mexico City to face his rival, the Scorpion, who owed him money. With his getaway jacket from the Tinkerer, he defends himself from Scorpion’s cronies. After collecting his bounty from Scorpion, the cops got in his way, his jacket failed him, and they took him into custody.

Upon his return to New York, he attacked the Tinkerer for selling him bad merchandise and questioned him about the new Spider-Man in the papers. Tinkerer revealed that Osborn created a genetically-altered spider that created the now deceased Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man. Connecting the dots, he realized the new Spider-Man was his nephew, Miles, and to protect his identity, he killed Tinkerer with a shot to the head. With Tinkerer’s tech available for the taking, he added a wingsuit, an electric suit and gauntlets to his collection.

Aaron confronted Miles at school about his secret extra-curriculars. Though, campus security kicked Aaron off school grounds and later, he encountered the Scorpion back at Tinkerer’s warehouse. Using his new wingsuit, Prowler attacked Scorpion by firing off wing shards that had no effect on him. As such, he fled Scorpion’s clutches.

As Uncle Aaron, he convinced Miles to meet him and revealed his identity as the Prowler. He explained how the spider that bit Miles was a stowaway and proceeded to test Miles’ abilities. He then bribed Miles to train him or else he’d reveal his identity to his father who was outspoken in his dislike for super-powered people. Still Miles refused but then Prowler used Miles’ desire to take down bad guys and convinced him to help him with the Scorpion, with the sole intent of removing his competition. Miles still refused to work for him and a fight ensued between the pair, during which Prowler’s gauntlet equipment malfunctioned, causing his death. Miles blamed himself and Jefferson blamed Spider-Man for his brother’s death, reaffirming Miles’ feelings that he couldn’t tell his parents he was Spider-Man.

After the Multiverse was destroyed and reformed, Aaron was restored to life and, just like Miles and his family, he was relocated to Earth-616 as if he had never died. No longer the Prowler, he took on the moniker Iron Spider with armor to match, and formed his own Sinister Six team. They carried out a heist to steal a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. When Miles discovered Iron Spider's plan, he unmasked him but Aaron knocked him out.

The Sinister Six successfully carried out their heist despite Miles attempt to stop them. Miles assembled the Champions to take down his uncle’s team, at which point Miles implored his uncle to be and do better. The battle ended with Iron Spider's apparent death but he returned to Miles a couple weeks later and indicated that he had given up his criminal activities. He even turned down Lonnie Lincoln, AKA Tombstone’s invitation to join a team he was building.

Upon hearing that Miles had been kidnapped by the Assessor, Aaron commissioned designer Ceres Goldstein to create a Prowler suit but had no means to pay for it, so he worked for her instead. He approached Jefferson and together they infiltrated the Assessor’s hideout where he kept Miles, and after a battle with the Assessor’s minion Quantum, they escaped with a tortured Miles in tow.

Working for a new player on the board, Ultimatum, Aaron as Prowler attempted to assassinate Don Cardelino, who had killed many people. But Miles, not wanting to see his uncle kill someone, intervened. They fought about it until their brawl caused such a commotion, it alerted Cardelino’s men who fired at the pair. This failure left Aaron with a bounty on his head. Goldstein negotiated on his behalf and Ultimatum allowed him to live, but with the caveat that Aaron belong to him. Aaron joined Miles at the hospital where his sister-in-law, Rio, had just given birth to her and Jefferson’s daughter, Billie Morales.

Ultimatum turned out to be Earth-616’s Miles Morales, a member of a crime family who sought to send Aaron, Miles and their family back to their universe where they belonged. Ultimatum’s plan led to Aaron and Miles going up against Ultimatum’s cronies, Earth-1610’s Green Goblin and his Goblinoids. Aaron sacrificed himself in the battle by overloading his suit. Doing so sent Ultimatum and Green Goblin to Earth-1610, but Aaron was nowhere to be found.

Aaron found himself on Earth-9375 where an evil clone of Miles’ known as Selim had taken over and created an empire. Aaron was soon captured and experimented on. Selim had subdermal transmitters grafted onto Aaron’s back and tapped into his unique dimensional signature to create a shield barrier around his empire. He was hooked up to this shield for decades until Miles and his clone brother Shift made their way to Earth-9375 and with the help of rebels there, liberated Aaron. One of Miles’ allies, Johnetta, attempted to remove the transmitters and deactivated the ones she couldn’t. Soon, Selim attacked the rebels, and Miles went to fight him off. Recovered enough, Aaron joined the battle. Selim was defeated thanks to rebel leader Ganke Lee of that world who made a sacrifice play. Afterward, Johnette used the shield’s residual energy to send Aaron, Miles, and Shift home.