Looting

Looting, also referred to as sacking, ransacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging, is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as war,natural disaster, or rioting. The term is also used in a broader sense to describe egregious instances of theft and embezzlement, such as the "plundering" of private or public assets by governments. Looting is loosely distinguished from scavenging in terms of objects taken: scavenging implies taking of essential items such as food, water, shelter, or other material needed for survival while looting implies items not necessary for survival such as luxury goods, art work, precious metals or other assorted items of value to the looters. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as loot, plunder, spoils, or pillage.

Looting by type

War looting

Looting by a victorious army during war has been common practice throughout recorded history. For foot soldiers, it was viewed as a way to supplement their often meagre income and was part of the celebration of victory. On higher levels, the proud exhibition of loot was an integral part of the typical Roman triumph, and Genghis Khan was not unusual in proclaiming that the greatest happiness was "to vanquish your enemies... to rob them of their wealth..."

Looter (comics)

The Looter is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the Spider-Man comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #36 (May 1966), and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The character subsequently appears in Marvel Team-Up #33-34 (May–June 1975), Defenders #63-64 (September–October 1978), Spectacular Spider-Man #41 (April 1980), Web of Spider-Man #39 (June 1988), The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #26 (1992), Amazing Scarlet Spider #1 (November 1995), Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1 (November 1995), Web of Scarlet Spider #2 (December 1995), The Sensational Spider-Man #8 (September 1996), Untold Tales of Spider-Man (October 1997), Sensational Spider-Man #27 (May 1998), Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #6 (November 2004), Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #5 (April 2006), Spider-Man Family #7 (April 2008), and The Amazing Spider-Man #645 (December 2010).

The Looter received an entry in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #6 (2006) #6.