The Rhino was initially Aleksei Sytsevich, a poor immigrant from Russia who was desperate to pay for the rest of his family to come to the United States. With little education and no real skills, the only paying jobs he could get were using his impressive strength and musculature as an enforcer for various criminal organizations. One day, he was contacted by some Eastern Bloc agents, who offered him a vast sum of money for participating in an incredible experiment. Sytsevich agreed, and was subjected to intensive chemical and radioactive treatment, which bonded a super-strong polymer to his skin and greatly augmented his strength and speed. He was given the code name "Rhino," and was sent to work as a super-assassin.
Rhino's first job was to capture Colonel John Jameson for his military secrets. Spider-Man defeated the Rhino, leading to the super-villain's arrest. After escaping from prison, Rhino has taken on many other jobs over the years, and although he still hates Spider-Man and would love to crush him, he is professional enough not to let personal feelings distract him from a paying job.
Physically, he is one of Spider-Man's strongest foes with his favored attack being ramming into a target with a sustained charge. He is also not very bright, and thus not too difficult for the wall-crawler to beat.
The Rhino has often tangled with The Incredible Hulk as well. He was significantly outmatched by the Hulk in terms of brute force, but the level of superhuman strength he does have, coupled with his invulnerability, has always made him a good adversary.
As of now he has been attacked by the Punisher and was left in less than good condition. He, later, showed up for the wake of the dead super villain Stilt-Man, tussling with Armadillo, causing a brawl to break out that was stopped by Spider-Man. The wake was later bombed by the Punisher, who also posed as the bartender and poisoned the villains. Most of the attendees, the Rhino included, survived, and were treated for third-degree burns, in addition to having their stomachs pumped.
Rhino has apparently survived the explosion, though, as he's seen humiliating Deadpool by shrinking him via Pym Particles, gluing his head to a key-chain (the same thing Deadpool had done to him during a previous encounter), then made him ride a urinal cake. The Rhino was satisfied by what he had done and the two parted ways... only to have Deadpool turn around and defeat the villain while still small.
Recently, Rhino has been robbing banks with two accomplices, which caught the attention of the Punisher. In their hideout, the Punisher kills the accomplice and fired a rocket launcher to Rhino, but Spider-Man saved him. They are both incapacitated with a tranquillizer dart fired by Alyosha Kravinoff and then put them into zoo of animal-themed super humans along with Vulture and Tiger Shark. The Punisher then defeated Kraven and after recalling the time that he killed some innocent people, he let Rhino go. Afterwards, Rhino gave a donation to the widow of his accomplice who were killed by the Punisher because he felt sorry about it.
Rhino then reformed giving up his costume and getting married and working as a security guard. However, Mr. Negative's agent, Doctor Trauma, created a new Rhino with a mechanical armor. The new Rhino wanting to prove himself as the best attempted to attack Aleksei. Spider-man intervened and was able to convince Aleksei not to take back his identity as Rhino and let him handle this mess.
Current Form:
The Rhino (Gamma Enhanced)
Former Versions:
The Rhino (Original)
The Rhino (Mutated)
Aleksei Sytsevich
