I’ve always been a fan of the web slinging hero from Manhattan, but the thing that really makes the adventures of Peter Parker terrific is his rogue’s gallery. Spider-Man has gone up against a long and diverse list of evil doers, and hasn’t always come up on top. I’ve rated my favourite Spider-Haters based off of three factors: their general power level, how original their creation was, and how linked to Spider-Man they are. My list contains only villains who mainly tango with Spider-Man, so others like the Juggernaut or Kingpin didn’t make the list.
Number five on the list is Dr. Curtis Connors, known as the Lizard. A gifted surgeon serving in the U.S. Army, he lost an arm to an explosion and was sent home. Connors began experimenting with the DNA of animals around his Florida home, particularly alligators, in an attempt to re-grow his arm. His experimental serum did indeed re-grow his arm, but it imbued him with many other characteristics of his subjects. His first tussle with Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 marked the first time Parker left Manhattan in costume. The Lizard is a brutally powerful foe who can use his counterparts’ work for his evil plans. A polished and updated version of the Lizard was shown in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
Coming in at number four is Flint Marko, who terrorizes civilians as the Sandman. While fleeing police for theft and general bad-guyiness Marko is exposed to irradiated sand and gains the ability to transform his body into a similar substance at will. He is also able to make constructs out of his sand, like turning his sand hands into hammers. While not completely intertwined with Parker’s life, Sandman has been a staple of Spider-Man’s A-list rogue’s gallery for decades. A very creative foe who knows how to use his powers extremely well, the Sandman was a high point of the fiasco that was Spiderman 3 (2007).
Perhaps Spider-Man’s best known villain comes in a number three. Norman Osborn was a magnate of industry and world renowned scientist before he tried to become the king of New York City’s underworld. In his first appearance he was stopped by Spider-Man, but not caught. Over his next few appearances Norman began to experiment with supersoldier-esque formulae to gain an advantage, eventually becoming mutated and insane. The Goblin reigned supreme among the web crawler’s foes for a long time before eventually falling. Through government sanctioned rehabilitation, Osborn once again gained political power and even became the director of H.A.M.M.E.R., a replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Of course, he was totally evil and becomes the evil Goblin King in the end. Some people just can’t change. The Goblin is responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy, and many other allies and friends of Spider-Man.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004) still reigns as my personal favourite super hero movie. One of the parts that make it great is its antagonist, Doctor Otto Octavious. During an experiment gone wrong, the good doctor had four mechanical arms fused to his body, and with a powerful AI on board the arms began calling the shots. While just trying to finish his experiment, Octavious assumed the identity of Doctor Octopus and began terrorizing the city. Eventually Octavious, realising the error in his ways, sacrifices himself to stop his experiment. A genius level intellect combined with incredible power, Doc Ock in his many forms is my second favourite Spider-Man villain.
Venom is the absolute powerhouse of the Spider-Man rouge’s gallery. His origin was a many step process over a few years. During a cross-over event, Marvel decided to change the colour of Spider-Man’s costume to increase action figure sales. To tie it in to the series and make him able to go toe to toe with larger opponents the costume became an alien symbiote that bonded with Peter Parker, granting him even more power. Eventually this got a little boring and the writers needed to spice thing up again. The suit began altering Parker’s personality, making him short tempered and brutal. It reached a point where Peter realized he needed to rid himself of the suit. The symbiote sought out a new host, and found Eddie Brock, a disgruntled former journalist with anger issues. When Brock bonded with the symbiote he gained spider-like abilities gained from Parker’s DNA and became a new life form. This new creature assumed the name Venom and quickly became one of Spider-Man’s deadlier foes. The mass destructive abilities of Venom, as well as his ruthless nature, make him my favourite one of Spidey’s rouges.
Honourable mentions go out to Carnage, Kraven the Hunter and Electro. Carnage is a symbiote similar to Venom, except that instead of bonding with a disgruntled ex-journalist, it bonds with a serial killer named Cleatus Cassidy. In Carnage’s first appearance it took a team up by Venom and Spider-Man to stop him. Kraven is a former big game hunter who decides to hunt the world’s most dangerous prey: Spider-Man. During the storyline Kraven’s Last Hunt, he actually puts Spidey into a death like state and dons the tights to prove he is a Spider-Man. Last up is Max Dillon, a former electrical engineer who gains control over electricity. Electro never caught my eye until The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), where he was played by Jamie Foxx.
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