Now that Spider-Man has found himself with No Way Home, it is an excellent time to look back at the villains that have threatened to bring New York City to its knees. While some of these villains remained only an issue to our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, others have posed threats to the entire world. No matter their scale, each of their ambitions has brought them to exchange blows with the web-head. In many cases, these villains have not only pushed Spidey’s abilities to the limits but also forced him to test the limits of his scientific understanding.
Since Marvel first introduced Spider-Man to their comics in 1962, they established him as a friendly, neighborhood presence. While other entities like the Avengers deal with global and universal threats, Spidey usually dealt only with the local threats to the city. So, while these villains did not threaten to snap away half of the universe, they usually managed to hit close to home for Peter Parker.
Additionally, since Spider-Man is such a local hero, his personal life as Peter Parker is a large part of who he is. Unfortunately, many of his foes directly threatened Parker’s life and the ones that he cared about. The worst ones even learned his secret identity, using that knowledge to their advantage. Despite the great personal threat, sometimes the villains that learned Parker’s identity also learned to respect him, beginning their road to redemption.
Presenting the top ten villains who have gone toe to toe with Spider-Man
10. The Vulture
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe welcomed Spider-Man home in 2017’s Homecoming, they brought one of his oldest foes to the big screen. First appearing on the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #2 in 1963, only the Chameleon beats him out for the title of Spider-Man’s oldest villain. Unless, you want to consider his average age, for Adrian Toomes traditionally has been an elderly man. While some media, like the PlayStation 4 game, have defined Toomes’ age as hovering around seventy-five, it is not often specified how young the aerial there is. On the other hand, audiences know that Michael Keaton was sixty-four when he terrorized New York with his flight suit.
Nearly all versions of the Vulture required a mechanical marvel that was his flight suit harness. Since the Vulture was only a man without his technology, he could not fly nor had any powers without this suit. Once inside the winged flight suit, the Vulture could soar high above New York City. While he mostly kept to using his anti-gravity flight suit, he also would use plasma pistols and grenades to combat the police and heroes around the city.
While the MCU’s vulture has faded away into obscurity, keeping Spider-Man’s secret identity to himself, Adrian Toomes from the comics never ceased squawking. Infuriated with his defeat, the Vulture planned or revenge by becoming a founding member of the Sinister Six. He happily joined up with Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and Sandman in a bid for vengeance.
9. Sandman
Often, Spider-Man fought villains that seemed near impossible to defeat. Such was the case when he encountered the malleable villain, the Sandman. While the name of the man who gained power over sand was William Barker, Sam Raimi’s movies introduced Flint Marko who became that universe’s Sandman. However, William Barker had a habit of using either Flint Marko as an alias. Both versions had a criminal past, having enjoyed an extensive career or thievery and incarceration.
The exact source of Sandman’s powers has varied depending on the whims of the writer in the comics. In most of these versions, he became an inmate of Ryker’s Island, which he escaped from for one reason or another. While his original origin told that he gained his powers when he hid in a site where a nuclear bomb detonated, others showed that he hid in a radioactive waste-ridden cave. On the other hand, Flint Marko from Spider-Man 3 gained his powers when he stumbled into an experimental particle accelerator.
No matter the source of his powers, the results remained all the same. Flint gained dominance over the particles of dirt from the ground. In most cases, these particles appeared like sand, giving him his name. In exchange for this immense power, Flint lost his human body. Instead, he now exists as a sentient mass of sand in human form. While he could manipulate this sand to closely resemble his human form, he could not return to his human body.
8. Mysterio
When it comes to illusions, no man excels more than the master of holographic technology, Quentin Beck. In the comics, Beck perfected his craft as he pursued his love of special effects. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he mastered his technical expertise to create realistic illusions. As he worked as a special effects wizard and stuntman, he struggled with achieving the fame that he desperately craved. Seeing the fame of Spider-Man, Beck decided to use his knowledge to become one of the greatest super-villains around.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Beck began as a specialist in Stark Industries’ holographic illusions division. While he was a brilliant engineer, he lost his position in the company due to his mental instability. Following Tony Stark’s death, Beck saw his chance to stage himself as an interdimensional hero. So, he used his understanding of holograms to craft the story of Mysterio, who was fighting against the threat of the elementals. Eventually, he gained full control over weaponized Starktech drones by tricking Spider-Man.
Despite his origin and full ambitions, one thing has remained true about Quentin Beck, nothing about his criminal career is reality. The man relies fully on illusions, tricking the eyes and senses. So, none can ever believe a thing that Mysterio shows them.
7. Electro
Few characters differed between their comics incarnation and movie appearance as much as Maxwell Dillon, Electro. Aside from their obvious difference in skin color, the two characters differed in how they became a villain. In the comics, Maxwell’s mother pushed him into becoming a lineman instead of an electrical engineer. He later lost the happy life he dreamed of when his wife left him because of his career. In a freak lightning storm, a fortunate bolt struck the lineman while he still was connected to the power lines. So, as his body mutated thanks to the power surging through him, Electro was born.
The Maxwell Dillon, who often went by the name Max, which appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 achieved his dream of becoming an electrical engineer. Despite having a stable job at Oscorp, the man felt invisible to the world. Compounding on this feeling, his coworkers left him all alone to deal with faulty cables. With no one to back him up, Dillon was helpless as the cables shocked him, leading to his fall into a vat of genetically altered electric eels. This event fundamentally changed Max, converting him into a being of living energy.
After his transformation, Electro became obsessed with gaining more power. So, his criminal career went into overdrive. Since he had become an entity of near pure energy, he posed a great threat to Spider-Man. Thus, Spider-Man often employed his scientific understanding to craft special equipment to help him overcome this villain’s shocking powers.
6. Carnage
As comic readers in the 1990s fell in love with the symbiote, Venom, Marvel moved to expand on his concept. Rather than have Venom move from host to host on a consistent basis, which happened later anyway, they opted to create a new villain with a new set of characters. So, in 1990, they introduced the psychopathic serial killer, Cletus Kassidy. Even before Kassidy gained any powers, he terrorized society, leading up to eleven consecutive life sentences. However, his menace amplified exponentially once he became host to the newest symbiote on Earth, Carnage.
In the comics, Eddie Brock served time in Ryker’s Island as Kassidy’s cellmate. As they served time, Kassidy annoyed Brock with his worldview that anyone could become a murderer. While Brock intended to leave Kassidy as a footnote in his life as Venom broke him out of prison, neither he nor his symbiote was aware that Venom had left behind his spawn. This new symbiote quickly latched onto Kassidy and bonded with him on a level never seen before. For, Kassidy and his symbiote became nearly the same individual, with the symbiote merging with the madman’s blood.
Unlike the comics, the Kassidy from Sony’s films never was a cellmate of Brock’s. Instead, Eddie covered multiple stories on the homicidal murderer as Kassidy only desired to talk to him. Kassidy became infatuated with Brock and his career, but he also was an emotionally manipulative psychopath, playing the part of the victim. One day, egged Brock into attacking him by suggesting that they were similar, which allowed him to bite Brock. From this bite, Kassidy released Venom’s spawn, Carnage, which bonded with him.
5. Prowler
After Peter Parker had decades as the only Spider-Man on the block, Marvel introduced a new Spider-Man in 2011. Miles Morales was the child of a police officer, Jefferson Davis, and Rio Morales. Unbeknownst to Miles, his uncle, Aaron Davis, had a long and sordid criminal past. So, his parents disapproved of any interaction between the two. Still, Aaron’s cool and suave demeanor made him an easy family member for Miles to go to when he felt overwhelmed with life.
Unfortunately for Miles Morales, Aaron had become a career criminal while his father reformed to become a celebrated officer of the law. In a world filled with superheroes, Aaron donned a mask himself and became the Prowler. He continued to steal to help increase his arsenal, joining with the likes of the Tinkerer. When Miles gained the powers of Spider-Man, the Prowler took advantage of his nephew to use him against his enemies, like the Scorpion. When he later directly attacked Miles, his virbro-shock gauntlets exploded and nearly killed him. Before he passed out, he hinted that he and Miles were very much the same.
The Prowler’s story remained mostly the same when he appeared as the Kingpin’s hitman in Into the Spider-Verse. Due to his unwillingness to rehabilitate, Miles’s parents disapproved of any interactions between their son and Aaron. Still, the two had a close bond where Aaron adored his nephew. Thus, he refused the orders to exterminate Spider-Man once he discovered his nephew under the mask. This defiance led to his death, where he died in Miles’s arms.
4. The Lizard
Not every Spider-Man foe chooses to become a villainous force. In the case of Curtis Connors, he never dreamed of hurting a fly as he dedicated his life’s work to unlock the secrets of lizard regeneration. In his youth, Dr. Connors served in the U.S. Army, performing emergency battlefield surgeries. He sadly lost his right arm during this time, so he returned to civilian life as a wounded but respected veteran. Still, he dreamed of regaining full use of his right arm.
Fascinated by many lizards’ ability to fully regenerate limbs, he delved into decoding their genomes so that he could give the same ability to humans. Eventually, he believed he found the correct serum that would give this gift to humans. So, he hastily decided to use himself as the first test subject for this serum.
While the serum restored his right arm, its side effects soon became apparent. As Connors developed scales and claws, his altered state also affected his temperament. Thus, the gifted doctor became a savage beast as his reptilian mind took over. While his perception became warped, the Lizard still had full access to Connor’s scientific knowledge, so it attempted to create a world filled with lizard-people like himself.
In many ways, Curt Connor’s movie counterpart closely followed his comic backstory. Dr. Connors had worked closely with Richard Parker to unlock the key to genetic splicing. However, his decision to inject himself stemmed from a desire not to subject unknowing veterans to an untested formula. His rampage as the Lizard caused the death of Captain George Stacy.
3. Venom
As comic readers first railed against the introduction of Spider-Man’s change of clothes during the Secret Wars, Marvel moved to restore the web crawler’s red and blues. So, they expanded on the symbiote that bonded with Peter Parker to become his black suit. As they revealed that this alien entity bonded with hosts and heightened their senses of aggression, Spider-Man found that he was spiraling out of control. So, he gave up the immense boost in power that the suit provided to him and removed the suit by using its sound sensitivity against it.
As Spider-Man removed the symbiote suit at Our Lady of Saints Church’s bell tower, a disgraced reporter, Eddie Brock, prayed for forgiveness down below. Eddie had gone to great lengths in a bid to become a famous reporter. When Spider-Man debunked his stories, especially an expose on the Sin-Eater, as fabrications, Brock’s career fell into ruins. This disgruntled man became the next being to host the Venom Symbiote, where the two merged over their shared hatred of Spider-Man.
Since the symbiote had previously bonded to Spider-Man, Venom kept all the powers and abilities of the hero. Unlike Parker, Brock did not restrain the symbiote nor fight against its violent urges. However, as often as the two served as Parker’s worst enemies, they also worked with him to defend the city against a common foe.
While the original movie version of Venom deserves no mentions, the latest version has earned the love of fans across the world. Unlike the comics, this Venom has no direct connections to Spider-Man, since he exists in a web-less universe. However, he still bonded with Eddie Brock over their shared status as losers.
2. Doctor Octopus
Peter Parker’s most dangerous foes are those that are as brilliant as he is. Doctor Otto Octavius rose from the depths of poverty to become one of the world’s most respected scientists. After graduating at the top of his class from MIT, Otto pursued a career in atomic energy. To safely handle the unstable substances around his lab, Otto developed a harness that gave him control over four mechanical arms. Eventually, tragedy struck as his experiments blew up in his face, damaging his brain and bonding him with his arms.
As the bitterness of his life took over, Otto turned began using his arms to help him steal the equipment he would need to continue researching. His new criminal career led him to battle against Spider-Man time after time. Despite rarely getting the upper hand against the webhead, Otto held onto a superiority complex, where he believed he was the most brilliant scientist.
Eventually, Otto gained the chance to take over Spider-Man’s body, granting him a second chance at a normal life. Still believing that he was the superior mind, he reimagined Spider-Man as the Superior Spider-Man. He also built a suit that harnessed four spider-legs, like the tentacle arms he used as Doc Ock. His time as Spider-Man finally taught him that he was not as superior as he believed, so he eventually returned to his original, dying body.
Otto’s origins in the movies remain close to his comic counterpart. Otto worked as a researcher for Oscorp, where he wished to harness the power of the sun in his hand. Unfortunately, his experiment exploded in his face, killing his wife, and bonding him with his tentacled harness.
1. Green Goblin
As Joker is to Batman, the Green Goblin stands as the ultimate evil to Spider-Man. Norman Osborn allowed his ambition to rule his life, eliminating all obstacles that prevented him from making Oscorp the most influential company in the city. While he would claim to do this all in the name of securing prosperity for his son, he often neglected Harry as he built up Oscorp.
As he gained full control of Oscorp, Norman Osborn gained full access to a formula that one of his former partners, Mendel Stromm, created. Hoping to improve on this superhuman formula, he studied Stromm’s notes and the concoction himself. One day, this formula exploded in Norman’s face, granting him unimaginable power, but creating an insane maniac.
As Norman’s mental condition deteriorated, he became the Green Goblin, who first sought to control New York’s underworld. This criminal tracked down Spider-Man and became the first to discover Peter Parker’s identity. Even though Spider-Man initially defeated him, he resurfaced to traumatize Parker as he threw his current girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, from the George Washington Bridge. For years, readers believed that she perished when Spider-Man tried to save her, for the sudden stop from his web snapped her neck.
The Green Goblin remains the ultimate menace to Peter Parker in the films. The original Spider-Man movies showed Osborn’s slow descent into madness, as he used his superhuman powers to serve his ambitions. His son, Harry Osborn, who hated Spider-Man for the death of his father, later followed his father’s legacy.
Who is your favorite Spider-Man villain?
Today, we have shared with you our picks for the top ten Spider-Man villains from both the comics and the movies. However, there are still hundreds of excellent villains that have taken on our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. So, we would like to hear from you. What were your favorite villains? Let us know in the comments below.
Do you have old and used Spider-Man toys?
If you have a collection of old and used toys, you can turn those toys into cash. There is no reason to let those old toys collect dust. Contact us today to sell your Spider-Man toy collection.
Made in collaboration with:
Chris Ingledue
Contact: email
Bio: I am the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. My vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day, I work in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year. I scour the internet, like when we had the Sears Catalog of yesteryear, for the next great treasure. Then, I await the arrival of the postman as if he were Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. Every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!