Darren Shipman is a minor antagonist in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. He was a wealthy businessman whose father was a music producer.
History[]
Darren established himself as a rich businessman in New York City. His father was a producer and helped to establish the careers of several musicians in the city during his life. Darren inherited his father's money and developed an interest in becoming a doner for the Manhattan Museum of Contemporary Art. He set about gaining a connection with the museum by developing a relationship with the museum's curator, Angela,
He arranged to meet Angela to verify how secure the museum was, wanting to ensure his donations would be safe. However, the museum was hacked and suffered a security problem that Miles Morales, as Spider-Man, helped fix. However, criminals escaped with several of the exhibits. Darren admitted this theft caused him to lose faith in the museum project and he removed his promise to provide funding.
However, as revealed in "Hard Bop", Darren had secretly setup the theft himself. He formed an agreement with criminal Louis, promising him and his gang payment to steal the exhibits for him. He was especially obsessed with Charlie Parker's saxophone. He met with the gang, only to learn Spider-Man had captured Louis and had lost the saxophone. Outraged, Darren berated the criminals and claimed his promised payment was cancelled. At that moment, Spider-Man arrived and confronted the group, beating up the criminals.
Spider-Man then confronted Darren, who lied that the vigilante had got it wrong and that he was actually trying to get the exhibits back. Unconvinced, Spider-Man chased Darren, who fled in his car. After fighting off some more criminals, Spider-Man eventually stopped Darren's car and webbed him up on a building. Darren explained he stole the exhibits because, in his eyes, they belonged to his father given his hand in helping the musicians succeed. Unconvinced, Spider-Man insisted they were the community's to have, not his, and that the community's music was for everyone, regardless of who helped make it. The police then arrived and arrested Darren.
Characteristics[]
Darren was a Caucasian male with a circle beard. He tended to wear a suit and smart shoes. Darren could present himself as a businessman who was interested in the preservation of musical history. However, this hid his true image as a selfish man who believed his family's inheritance usurped the community and had no qualms associating himself with criminals to get what he wanted.