Gustav Fiers (Michael Massee)

"Now that Spider-Man is gone, the city will never be the same"

―Mr. Fiers at Ravencroft

Gustav Fiers
Name:	Gustav Fiers
Alias(es):	"Man in the Shadows" "The Gentleman"
Affiliation:	Oscorp Industries
Portrayed by:	Michael Massee
First appeared:	The Amazing Spider-Man
Last appeared:	The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Appears in:	2 Film

Gustav Fiers is an associate of Harry Osborn and Oscorp Industries. He currently works for him. He is the overarching antagonist of The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Fiers first appeared in a post-credit scene in the first film in which he was credited as The Man in Shadows, but was identified at the end of the second film.

History

The Amazing Spider-Man

Gustav Fiers is a mysterious man with ties to Oscorp.

Fiers visited Curt Connors after he was incarcerated in Beloit Psychiatric Asylum, following his bio-attack over New York City as the Lizard. He questioned Connors as to whether he'd told Peter Parker the truth about his father. Connors told him to leave Peter alone, causing Fiers to simply disappear.

The Amazing Spider Man 2

Mr. Fiers visited Harry Osborn in his prison cell at Ravencroft Institute. They began to talk about building a team, and Harry requested it be a small one. He suggested that they begin with Aleksei Sytsevich. Fiers later walked in to a level in Oscorp Tower, being greeted by the computer, and walked past the Doctor Octopus, Vulture, and Rhino suits.

Trivia

• At the time of the release of The Amazing Spider-Man, the man's identity was a secret, so he was simply credited as "Man in the shadows". His identity was later revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where he was also credited as "Gustav Fiers (The Gentleman)".
• In the novel Spider-Man: Gathering of the Sinister Six, Gustav Fiers was a businessman who gathered the Sinister Six in order to have revenge on Spider-Man, as his parents Richard and Mary Parker had thwarted one of his plans years back.
• Marc Webb has stated that the character who would become Gustav Fiers was originally conceived as Electro.
• It is rumored that the man who tried to kill Peter's parents on their plane was Gustav Fiers. However, if this is true, then it's unknown how Fiers survived the plane crash, as the Parker couple didn't.
• Interestingly, in both movies he appears, his face is never shown, only the silhouette of his body is seen and he visits someone who is incarcerated.
• Since The Amazing Spider-Man series was cancelled and Michael Massee passed away in 2016, audiences will never see his face ever nor discover his true motives.
  • Indeed, given Massee's passing in 2016, it's completely unknown what would have been made with Gustav Fiers in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which was to be released in 2018. However, it's likely that had the film been filmed, the role would have been recast or written out.
• It was presumed that Fiers would be the main antagonist in the Sinister Six film as it was going to be apparently a redemption story. However, all The Amazing Spider-Man spin-offs and sequels were cancelled after Marvel and Sony made a deal to integrate Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Garfield's Peter Parker made no reference to the Gentleman or Harry Osborn's Sinister Six team in the 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home (aside from his battle with Rhino, which he confirmed to have won), hinting that, for whatever reason, Fiers and Harry didn't proceed with their plans to set up a supervillain team.