Spider-Man Villains

Spidey fans, new and old, we all have our favourite heroes and villains in the Spider-Man universe, but what about those one off villains who are so ridiculous they are just laughable? There are definitely some names that come to the top of my head when I think of the best and worst villains, I think now is as good a time as any to talk about them all. So “face front true believers”, as the great Stan Lee would say, in this article we are going to be ranking Spider-Man villains from best to worst.

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Venom

Image by Marvel comics

The best Spider-man villain is, without a doubt, Venom. Venom is far from Spider-Man’s first supervillain foe, but since first appearing in an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man in 1988 has become an icon. When the Venom symbiote first came into contact with Spider-Man, it gained all of Spider-Man’s power, though this sentient slime must find a living host to use these abilities. As well as the regular Spidey powers, enhanced strength, stamina and agility to name a few, Venom has also has the ability to shape shift often giving itself spikes to use in battle. Who would’ve thought black goo from another planet could be this awesome! 

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Kraven The Hunter

Image by Marvel comics

In a very close 2nd place, the one and only Kraven The Hunter. Kraven has had a well deserved rise in popularity recently due to the popularity of Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 and the anticipated Kraven The Hunter movie set to release later this year. Kraven gets his powers from consuming a potion made from unnamed jungle herbs, though without it he is already a master hunter and expert at martial arts, making him already a worthy foe for Spider-Man. Kraven’s one and only purpose in the comics is to defeat Spider-Man and prove himself to be the greatest hunter in the world, a task which he has almost succeeded in many times – though Spider-Man always seems to get lucky just in the nick of time.

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Electro

Image by Marvel comics

It feels weird to put my favourite Spider-Man villain at number 3, but the fact is, he’s just not quite as good as the 2 above. My first introduction to Electro was in Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro on the PlayStation 1. His quips were as good as Peter’s whilst the 2 would fight to the death, thank god for respawn, and the comic book battles are just as fun to read. Like many others, Electro gained his powers in a freak accident. When Maxwell Dilion was repairing a power line, Lightning struck and caused him to turn into a living electrical capacitor(?). That’s right, Electro can store electricity from anything around him allowing him to supercharge, in a few circumstances, becoming near impossible for spiderman to beat. Electro fights his enemies by firing lightning bolts out of his finger tips like a laser, or even by manipulating magnetic fields to throw large metal structures their way. All this being said, Electro does have one serious weakness though… water. Spidey could easily defeat him by giving him a sponge bath if he really wanted to, though neither of them would look so cool in that scenario!

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Doctor Octopus 

Image by Marvel comics

Doctor Otto Octavius, one of the brightest minds of Marvel comics. If only this Legend remained good, maybe then I would have been able to put him at the top of a different list about heroes! After a lab accident, Doctor Otto Octavius finds his mechanical harness, resembling the tentacles of an octopus, permanently fused to his body. After this Doctor Octopus was born. Though Doc Ock does not possess any superpowers himself, his mechanical arms give him superhuman strength and allow him to move more freely and rapidly. Since Doctor Octopus has no superpowers, he has the same weakness you and I have – with his mechanical arms are the only thing protecting him, with these arms disabled Doctor Octopus is effectively useless other than his knowledge of science. In spite of this, it would be wrong to put the leader of the Sinister Six any lower. This man has been single-handedly responsible for a lot of chaos brought upon New York City.

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Green Goblin

Image by Marvel comics

Marvel’s Answer to the Joker, the Green Goblin. Spoiler alert, marvel loves a mad scientist, Norman Osborn is definitely one of the fan favourites! After being exposed to a performance enhancing formula, later referred to as the goblin formula, Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin gaining superhuman strength, increased speed, reflexes, endurance, and an increased healing rate similar to Wolverines. As a brilliant engineer, Norman Osborn went on to create gadgets which would later be used by everyone else who dons the Green Goblin persona, including the goblin glider and pumpkin bombs which represent a jack-o’-lantern. The Green goblin has a very iconic laugh and, much like the Joker, is referred to as a prankster – if you can call exploding people pumpkin bombs a prank. Though I find Green Goblin fundamentally a great character, his need for destruction is a bit much sometimes.

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Mysterio

Image by Marvel comics

Is a stunt man, a special effects master and illusionist, a worthy foe for Spider-Man? The answer is of course… absolutely. Though Quentin Beck has no superhuman abilities, the suit he wears as Mysterio is far from ordinary. Both Mysterio’s boots and gloves nozzles that he uses to release a smoke screen to mask his movements and even can deploy other gases into those smoke screens, such as hallucinogens. Using these smoke screens, hallucinogens and a holographic projector, Mysterio effectively bends his opponents reality – Often Mysterio has used this to make himself appear to be giant, whilst masking his real whereabouts, appearing to be a colossal threat for Spider-Man and the entire city! Just like all the other villains above, Mysterio is seen as one of the greatest Spider-Man villains of all time, but since he is really just a magician I would not place him above any of those – a very talented magician mind you.

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Kingpin

Image by Marvel comics

This is going to be objectively the most unpopular opinion I could share with you, but for me… Kingpin is the middle man in this list. Kingpin might be a staple within Spider-Man comics, but we need to compare some facts here. Kingpin, a.k.a Wilson fisk, has no superpowers. His abilities are described as incredible strength and more durable than the average human… Spider-Man is no average human. So how could he be a threat for the wall crawler? Simple put, he wouldn’t be if Spider-Man lacked morals. If Spider-Man stopped pulling his punches, Kingpin would end up in a total mess on the floor. However, due to Spideys morality, Kingpin has often been a huge threat to the city. Kingpin is by no means a terrible character, in fact he is far from it. He has a fascinating backstory, every issue he is in is full of action, I even find myself occasionally terrified of this character. All he really is is a jacked up mafia boss. Ranking him any higher just doesn’t feel right when compared to the other villains above – although Kingpin is definitely deserving of a mention when discussing the best characters.

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Sandman

Image by Marvel comics

Now, don’t get mad Spidey fans. My only reason for ranking Sandman so low is that he is not exactly always a villain. Though Sandman is and always will be one of the greatest characters in the Spider-Man comics, he kind of has a tendency to switch sides (often mid battle), which sort of makes him a terrible villain! When Flint Marko escapes from prison, he finds himself at a nuclear test site where his particles unfortunately merge with the sand he stands upon creating Sandman. As Sandman, Marko has the ability to shape shift, super human strength and can even fly by allowing the wind to carry him. Using his shape shifting and strength to smash his enemies, Sandman has proven time and time again he is one of the greatest supervillains alive, however he is let down by his conscience. Spider-Man has often in comics and even movies appealed to Marko’s good side causing him to help Spider-Man and attempt to be a better person – he’s actually a super loveable person at heart.

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Lizard

Image by Marvel comics

What’s this, a giant lizard man? Spidey just can’t seem to catch a break. Well, here is the thing about this one, just like Sandman lizard is not exactly always a villain for Spider-Man – when in his human form at least. Doctor Connors is a gifted scientist who unfortunately lost his arm from his time at war. When he returned to city life, Connors became obsessed with reptilian limb regeneration and used himself as a test subject for his formula to grow back his arm. Though the formula amazingly grew back Doctor Connors arm, this is Spiderman, there are always consequences. The formula ended up creating a different personality within Connors which could take over his entire body and transform into a 6 foot tall lizard. Lizard has superhuman strength, the ability to telepathically control all other lizards, regeneration and way too many more abilities to list. With Lizard somewhat remaining smart, thanks to Connors being a genius, he has often tried to replace mankind with more lizard people. Doctor Connors more often than not, has no recollection of these events and remains an ally to Peter Parker and Spider-Man helping wherever he can.

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Hobgoblin

Image by Marvel comics

We all know comic books tend to copy traits of characters from different franchises, but copying yourself? That is sort of what Marvel did when creating these next two villains on this list. Hobgoblin was literally introduced to replace Green Goblin as Spider-Man’s archenemy, as a way to avoid bringing incarnations of the Green Goblin back from the dead. Though very similar, all portrayals of Hobgoblin have had some very unique set of abilities. Ned Leeds as Hobgoblin, did not originally have the healing abilities or superhuman strength that the Green Goblin possesses, though he later gained them, instead Ned uses chaos magic to manipulate time, elements and even reality itself. Roderick Kingsley, the second Hobgoblin, could not use magic but did use cybernetics to create literal finger guns and some other useful gadgets! Despite all of these awesome abilities, Hobgoblin still feels like a copy for the most part which I just cannot get past. Though the next two villains are significantly worse than all of the above.

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Grey Goblin

Image by Marvel comics

As I promised above, here is another wannabe. Almost every attribute of the Grey Goblin is the same as that of Green Goblins, including superhuman strength, increased stamina and a high intellect, though there is a reason behind this – the same reason why this character is the second worst character of all time. Gabriel Stacy, the man behind the Grey Goblin mask, was originally introduced as one of the biological twins of Gwen Stacy and, wait for it…. Norman Osborn. This story had fans everywhere outraged. Not only was Norman Osborn old enough to be Gwen Stacy’s father, but the thought of Gwen having relations with this creepy dude is kinda a hard thought to grasp. Later, Marvel revealed the ‘true origin’ of Gabriel Stacy revealing that the twins were in fact clones made by a corrupt A.I. version of Harry Osborn – let’s be honest, this was just Marvel’s attempt to fix the weird situation they had created. Though on paper Grey Goblin is a great concept, I find the villain kind of unnecessary and even 20 years after the character was first created, I cannot get past the original backstory. Though I am ranking Grey Goblin as the second worst villain, he would be the worst if this final one wasn’t so ridiculous.

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Slyde

Image by Marvel comics

And so here it is. The WORST Spider-Man villain… Slyde. As his name suggests, Slyde is a slippery fella. After being fired from his job as a chemical engineer, Jalome Beacher turns to crime, using his knowledge to create a suit covered in a non-stick chemical allowing him to be impossible to grasp and extremely manoeuvrable. Slyde would use his slipperiness to skate away from cops and of course Spider-Man at a top speed of, wait for it… 30 mph. That makes him about 3 mph faster than Usain Bolt and about 8 mph slower than the slowest car ever made, the Peel P50. All this being said, there is great joy to be had in this slippery supervillain, I would love to see him appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for comedic effect.

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Conclusion

Spider-Man has a large range of villains, some great, some terrible. I wish I could have ranked more villains in this article since there are so many to choose from but for the sake of our readers’ precious time, I decided it was best to list the more notable ones. Although this concludes the list for the best and worst villains, let us know your thoughts on these villains and this article on either the contact us page or over at the Nerdy Nook Instagram!

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