Quote:I've got the TPB of a little mini-series, "The Deadly Foes of Spider-Man". Herman is the first guy we see in that comic - and I mean Herman, not the Shocker, since he spends almost the entire story out-of-costume. As it opens, he's in prison...and pretty much suffering from a nervous breakdown. Lost his edge, scared of death.
Again, all of this is from Herman's P.O.V., and again, he can handle being beaten up and sent to jail, but not being laughted at. Most of this is Herman projecting rather than Peter's motivations, but there is a grain of truth in there that Peter does sometimes become a bit cruel in his humor. Since the people he's making fun of are criminals in the act of commiting crimes, they are sort of asking for it as they are asking for a punch in the nose, but Herman can't handle the mockery as well as he handles the violence.
But...after that, he takes down two prison guards (with a mop, no less) and busts Boomerang out. He'd received instructions to do that from the Beetle, but he didn't have the nerve to go through with it...until those guards insulted him ("Herman Schultz, the shocking mop-jockey" ... "So I'm nothing, huh? Could a nothing pull off a caper like this?").
His final appearance in the series...is when he takes his leave from an ad-hoc villain team - after freezing up in their first real combat situation. He admits it, and quits - but he's got the misfortune to run into Spider-Man while trying to leave the city in a taxi. Spidey yanks him out, but Herman doesn't respond. ("Come on, at least threaten me or something. You're making this too easy!" He's---he's mocking me! I almost killed him any number of times...and he's mocking me...I've fallen so low...)
And then Herman completely snaps, throws off his classic-disguise trenchcoat - he's got his suit underneath...
...and yes, he kicked Spidey's ass.
-- Acyl