Background

Spike Spiegel

Nothing is known about Spike’s origins prior to adulthood. Though some context clues throughout the series imply he was originally an orphan on Mars living in the slums as a thug and thief after his late grandmother’s & parent’s death. Spike Spiegel is a bounty hunter on the spaceship, The Bebop owned by former inter-solar system police officer friend Jet Black. He’s traveled to multiple Planets and Moons all across the Solar System and has fought against some of the most well known terrorists,killers and criminals in the world all to earn himself a living wage day by day. Even meeting more allies in the form of Faye Valentine, who acts like your standard pushy self entitled woman most of the time when she isn’t lending a hand to Spike and the Bebop and Edward, the computer nerd of the Bebop who helps keep track of the next criminals for the Bounty. He’s kept his high physical performance in shooting & hand-to-hand combat thanks to having been part of another criminal organization previously known as the Red Dragon Syndicate. He was their top strongest fighter next to his old partner and crime Vicious he had a pretty good long run in the syndicate killing people and taking names however all that changed when he had an encounter with Julia who was previously Vicious’s girlfriend until having an affair with Spike. This created a wedge in between Spike and Vicious’s friendship leading into the two becoming enemies, due to Spike’s interest in Julia he attempted to leave the syndicate and settle down with her even faking his own death however Julia stood Spike up to not ever get killed by the syndicate herself or fearing she would betray her one day.

As you can guess old habits die hard, during his career as a bounty hunter Spike stumbled upon his old friend Vicious again after finding out he was still alive. Vicious being the new head of the Dragon Syndicate now put his full time and devotion into killing Spike once and for all as they keep meeting time and time again. Nearing the climax of the series Spike finds out about Julia’s whereabouts and tries to meet her again initially being bittersweet turned a whole lot worse as it turns out Vicious sent hitman after Spike and Julia after Vicious caught wind of Julia’s location as well killing Spike’s longtime lover in the process. Now to find out if he was “really alive” and to settle the score wit Vicious once for all he left the Bebop after bidding his farewells to everyone he went head first into the Red Dragon Syndicate and raced to the top floor destroying lots of debris and killing some guards in the process, thanks to some help from the late Shin he finally met Vicious for one final fight and in the end he won the battle ending the series off in the of the most iconic moments in anime history. Whether or not he lived or died was left to be ambiguous and Mr.Watanabe stating it was up to interpretation on if Spike lived or died.

Equipment

Throwing Knife

A small knife that Spike keeps in his pocket at approximately 18cm long, its size makes it easy for Spike to hide it and use it when his enemies least expect it.

Jericho 941

Spike’s signature gun that he always pulls out at convenient times, his Jericho 941 is a customized variant with mounted grips and a frame mounted laser sight on the right side. It's strange we never see him use that part of the weapon, it’s worth noting Spike’s Jericho has much more firepower compared to the standard issue being capable of reducing large wooden crates to dust.

Ruger P85

Spike kept this one in the fridge on the Bebop for safe-keeping. He uses this gun when facing off against Vicious for the first time in the Church when Faye was being held captive. It’s just as potent & deadly as his customized Jericho.

Beretta 92FS

He obtained this from Annie, a weapons smuggler. Spike used this one alongside his Ruger 85 in the Church as well, surprisingly he only ever used this weapon twice, one of them being in the final confrontation against Vicious.

Janitor’s Broom

A standard sweeping Broom, Spike uses it as a weapon against a soldier of the Mars Army and veteran of the Titan War, Elektra Ovirowa. Despite initially being a one time weapon it shows up several times to be picked up and utilized in Cowboy Bebop:Serenade of Reminiscence.

The Sabre

A standard Epee or Sabre, Spike uses this not only for a convenient way of making kebabs but he also uses it to guard himself against enemies, most notably the alien blob creature.

Thompson Contender

Spike uses this firearm with a customized bullet made from a rare mineral gem to negate eternal youth & regenerative abilities. Despite the firearm not appearing exactly like a Contender the functions and appearance are modeled after its capabilities.

Mossberg 500 Cruiser

Handed to him by Annie, Spike uses this shotgun while facing some of the Red Dragon Syndicate Hitmen that Vicious sent to kill him and Julia.

Heckler & Koch MP5A3

While Spike was in the Red Dragon Syndicate this was a standard firearm for any crime member within the group which would originally include Spike.

Steyr TMP

Yet again this was another standard firearm for any crime member within the Red Dragon Syndicate which would include Spike.

Heckler & Koch G3

Once again another standard firearm for any crime member within the Red Dragon Syndicate including Spike.

M79 Grenade Launcher

You might as well get the picture by now; it's a standard firearm for any crime member within the Red Dragon Syndicate including Spike.

Sunglasses

While they may look like goofy looking sunglasses, these actually come with a neat feature being capable of detecting heat signatures nearby as well as feature multi-purpose/universal communication devices with sensors to detect nearby bounties.

Gas Bombs

Standard Gas Bombs that Spike uses when he wants to gain some space away from his opponents and conveniently has a gas mask for when he’s prepared to let these babies fly.

The Net Gun

As seen here, it is a basic net attached to a launcher great for catching enemies not so good for speedy small alien blobs.

M240 Flamethrower

As you can guess it’s a standard flamethrower, besides using it for armed combat Spike has used this to roast his Kebabs and attempt to light his cigarette before it unfortunately incinerated to ash.

Plastic Explosive Charges

Convenient explosive weapons in his trenchcoat he has 2 of these on hand, he used these during the last episode as he blew up the escalator and a hallway to stop the Red Dragon guards in their tracks from pursuing him.

M67 Grenades

The most powerful weapons he has in his pockets and he has 8 of these on hand,These Grenades are far more lethal than a normal M67; they're destructive enough to blow up entire large rooms and lobbies.

Cybernetic Eye

Spike’s right eye is a fake eye, having previously lost his real eye in an accident. This fake eye is cybernetic and helps give Spike more precise perception of the world to superhuman levels.

The Swordfish II

The most powerful weapon in his arsenal. Remodeled off of an old spaceship primarily made for travel, it's been massively modified to fit Spike’s capabilities; and has specific gloves for piloting it. Built in with a nuclear fusion aerospike motor it has the highest performance of any civilian machine, its firing range is 1,000km. This is Spike’s signature ride for transportation when chasing after criminals during high-speed get-aways. Built in with machine guns, missiles, plasma cannon, and electrical bolts. The Swordfish II can even shift its plasma cannon nozzle 360 degrees.

Skills

Sleight of Hand

Spike’s got pretty slippery fingers.

Enhanced Senses

Spike’s got superhuman senses.

Notices Vincent has “a keen eye for detail”.
Can tell he was being followed by the thugs in rags.
Stated as having the skills and acuity of a Jackal by Scorpion who could perform hundreds of calculations in only a fraction of a second and Spike having superhuman acuity is also mentioned in the Cowboy Bebop characters collections guide. This overall makes sense since Jackals have keen eyes sharp enough to see in the dark and have good agility plus hearing for detecting their prey.
In “Cool Mode” he can auto dodge/counter any attack that comes towards him as well as boost his power and speed in the process.
Spike can slow down his initial perception making everything appear in slow-motion to get multiple clear shots at once via an ability referred to as “Bullet Time”.
Spike can tell Maria is not pregnant.
Could tell Faye was cheating during casino games despite dozens of people also watching her. The Cowboy Bebop Guides highlight this even more by stating Faye has “expert level” sleight of hand.

Vehicular Mastery

Spike is quite the expert when he’s behind the wheel.

Marksmanship

Spike’s very “on the mark” with his shots.

Martial Arts Mastery

To the surprise of no one Spike’s got good hands in physical combat.

Spike naturally excels at hand to hand combat.
Is stated to be a master martial artist point blank.
Self-taught in Jeet Kune Do style to the point he’s a perfect copy of Bruce Lee’s own movements.
Jeet Kune Do requires Spike to know styles from Wing Chun, Taekwondo, Boxing, and Jiujutsu. Makes sense since he mixes in Taekwondo with his Kung Fu training and fights and Jeet Kune Do can be mashed with different martial arts principles.
Spike iconically utilizes it to redirect his opponent’s own strength against them through fluid motion ultimately controlling the flow of the fight hence his saying “Be like Water” and disarming his opponents of their weapons.
Spike’s training scenes throughout the series is mixed with Kung Fu too, he purely learned it to show his respect for Bruce Lee himself and he's trained to the point he’s considered a maniac at it with their existing hundreds of styles in Kung Fu or primarily recognized as (Gung Fu).
Spike being self taught is evident as his version seems customized; his fundamental way of throwing resembles a bit of Aikido, his super high kicks replicate Savate (French Boxing).
Beat Jose Gonzalez, a boxer
Beat Ronald McCarthy who visibly uses moves found in Shotokan Karate as well as Okinawan Karate

Ronald was an old partner of Jet during his time as a ISS Police Officer which includes the SWAT Team (these guys were revealed as being Ronald’s old partners) this would mean Ronald knows Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Boxing and Judo

Professional martial artists have commented that Spike's movements and tricks are so advanced that only a handful of fighters in the world can perform what he does and actually do well in a fight and said during his fight with Vincent there is Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai and Boxing.
Vincent was drafted into the Mars army and was part of the special operations forces so he has gone through standard military combat training and knows several martial arts styles considering Cowboy Bebop takes place in a futuristic advanced setting I don't doubt he knows more than only fighting styles taught per nation his skills are shown during his second confrontation with Spike.

To be precise an in-depth analysis via experienced fighters explain that Vincent performs Lop sao, a Spinning Back fist, The Cymbal Punch, A Shoulder Throw and a Left Hook these techniques are found in Wing Chun, Karate, Judo and Boxing. Vincent even states in their first confrontation he purposely missed Spike’s vital points and Spike notes Vincent has a keen eye for detail.

Keeps pace with Vicious even until the very end

Vicious fought in a war on Saturn meaning he has experienced standard military combat training and most likely knows several martial arts styles this was shown accurately in his fights against Spike where his sword skills even eclipses the natural disadvantage of “Sword VS Gun” having killed an entire syndicate with just his swordsmanship skills even being able to kill without leaving a sound. Vicious owned a standard military tactical hunting knife so he should know Eskirama and Kali. He’s Intuitive enough to his surroundings to know when a scorpion was near Gren despite the scorpion not being seeable prior and it's definitely worth noting in order to accurately depict Vicious's fighting style, Vicious's actor in the Cowboy Bebop Live Action series, Alex Hassal trained with the well known +20 year experienced Taekwondo expert practitioner Mark Trotter and the well known +27 year experienced black belt mixed martial artist Allen Poppleton who's also had 8 years of military experience in the New Zealand Territorial Force Army.

Weapon Mastery

Spike’s pretty good with weapons.

Spike is very skilled with Nunchaku which are one of the most complicated and dangerous weapons in the world to master.
The way he uses his broom resembles the fighting style known as “the way of staff” AKA known as Bo.
Owns a Sabre and is a master of Jeet Kune Do which would require Spike to master Fencing.

Analytical Thinking

Spike is a very tactical thinker.

Resistances

High Pain Tolerance: Survives getting shattered, getting shot and falling out of a train window several stories and fights Vincent in peak condition despite being shot before the fight begins.
Air/Heat Manipulation: Flew through the vacuum of space and survived for more than 40 seconds despite the fact a human existing in space for only 15 seconds would have their lungs rupture from holding their breath, the body would swell up and all the liquid in the body would vaporize/boil and loose consciousness
Explosion Manipulation: Has survived getting blasted by explosives a lot of times throughout the series.
Enhanced Senses: Vicious is self aware enough to know when danger’s near him like when a scorpion came even though the scorpion was not seen beforehand Spike was still able to slip a grenade behind without him realizing.
Analytical Thinking: Consistently keeps pace with experienced tactical thinkers like Vicious and Vincent and is stated to “adapt” to any circumstance.

Feats

Durability

Scaling

The Bebop Crew

Self-explanatory as to why Spike scales to any feat the Bebop gang performs, Edward is a child and the tech wizard of the group and not a front line physical combat type of person. Faye prefers Spike to get his hands dirty in bounty hunting missions and while Faye was subdued by Vicious while Spike wasn’t. Lastly Spike and Jet are no slouches of each other since they’ve always kept up with each other chasing down and fighting the bad guys,they always got each other’s back and there are times when they needed each other.

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV

Played chess against ChessMaster Hex for one week straight

No signs of fatigue from both parties reminder that Ed is a little girl and Hex is narratively your physically standard very old man

Survives being sent flying by a meteor’s impact that destroys multiple city blocks at once

(Inapplicable) The crater itself gets huge numbers (10.5 Kilotons of TNT - 1.262 Megatons of TNT)

Faye Valentine

Jet Black

Please note The Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide #4 states that Udai pulls the trigger before Jet blocks this bullet with his arm

The Criminals

The following are the iconic criminals that have been shown throughout the series, Spike scales to them by virtue of either dominating/defeating them or fighting against them and holding his own for a very considerable amount of time.

Asimov Solensan

Asimov perceives these bullets differently to the point “they’re in another world” by comparison makes sense since Red Eye is directly stated to give Asimov superhuman dynamic visual acuity and reaction speed

Vincent Volaju

Tongpu “Mad Pierrot”

However taking into account we established Spike’s Jericho is far greater than a normal one alongside any other standard pistol and using max recorded muzzle velocity for both (Mach 17.79 - 23.57)

Vicious

Was one of the top 2 strongest members & became the leader of the Red Dragon Syndicate which is the largest syndicate on Mars
Survives being in the blast radius of this massive explosion (0.0155 Tons of TNT)
Disappears in a single frame’s worth against Spike (303.69m/s)
Reacts to a bullet (7.97 - 39.27m/s) or (Mach 1.29)
(Debatable) Outspeeds an explosion at close range (Mach 7.86 - 163)

The Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide #3 doesn’t note Vicious moving before the explosion goes off so I don’t think this feat should be discredited

Survives being in the blast radius from one of Spike’s grenades

Miscellaneous

The following are characters that despite serving little relevance to the series overall, have performed feats or own that Spike scales too by virtue of either defeating those superior to them, having faced them himself and holding his own or having access to similar weaponry.

Jet Fuel Tank explodes part of a spaceship (96 Tons of TNT - 9.647 Kilotons of TNT)

Missiles have 3x less energy than Jet fuel tanks meaning the missiles can dish out 30.49 Tons of TNT - 3.215 Kilotons of TNT

Weaknesses

Despite being a laid back person at first, this is quick to change when anyone mention Spike’s past leading into him getting easily angered however his chilled personality has also been against him at times since he’s more likely to run into surprise attacks when he least expects it, this also prevents him from planning ahead which leads to him risking his life in most bounty missions or forgetting to even take out the trash which also almost lead to his demise. Spike prefers to be lazy and move on his own accord sometimes making him appear a bit selfish but at the sametime put his own life first ahead of the one’s he cares for. Alongside his emotional internal turmoil with himself from when he looks at the mirror and is reminded of his cybernetic eye. This prevents him from moving on from his past making him feel the same from the start to end.