List of Spider-Man enemies

Depiction of the many Spider-Man villains in a dream sequence of Spider-Man in The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #32. Art by Sean Chen. (Use cursor on the character's face to identify the character's name. Click to learn more about the character. Note: Better designed for PC. )

Spider-Man is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Universe debuting in the anthology comic book series issue Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comics published by Marvel Comics. After his debut he would get his own comic book entitled The Amazing Spider-Man. The comic book series would introduce many of what would become his major supervillain adversaries. Spider-Man would then be popular enough for more Spider-Man comic spinoffs (The Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, Web of Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Spider-Man etc.) which potentially introduced more recurring antagonists of the web-slinger.

As with Spider-Man, the theme behind the villains' powers originate with scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology and also tend to have animal-themed costumes or powers (Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Lizard, Rhino, Scorpion, Jackal and Black Cat). There also consists supervillains with the powers of the elements (Sandman, Electro, Molten Man and Hydro-Man), some that are horror-themed (the Goblins, Morbius, the Symbiotes and Morlun) and some that are crime lords (Kingpin, Hammerhead and Silvermane).^[1] His rogue also consisted of some that are masters of trickery and deception such as the Chameleon and Mysterio.^[2] These villains oftentimes form teams such as the Sinister Six and the Sinister Syndicate to oppose the superhero.

The rogues gallery of Spider-Man has garnered many positive reviews and has been considered as one of the greatest rogues gallery of all time by many alongside Batman's rogues gallery and Flash's rogues gallery.

Major supervillain foes

Common foes

Most of what would be the A-list supervillains of Spider-Man would be introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man comic book starting with the Chameleon.^[3] The early villains would be introduced in the 1960s in the Silver Age of Comic Books.^[3] Originally created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.^[3] John Romita, Sr. would soon replace Ditko starting with the Rhino and continue through the early Bronze Age of Comic Books.^[4] Around the 1970s other writers would then replace both Stan and John in creating new villains such as the Hobgoblin and Venom in 1980s and Carnage in the 1990s from the Bronze Age to the Modern Age of Comics.^[5][6][7]

Note: Alter ego characters who are the most high profile in the supervillain alias but others have shared that supervillain name are in bold. In chronological order.

Other major threats

The majority of the characters listed were first introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man. The oldest depicted character in the list is the Tinkerer. First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man in the 1960s. The latest appearing character is Mister Negative. He first appeared after "One More Day" around the Modern Age of Comic Books.^[51][67] Tombstone was one of the first major threats as a villain to appear in a Spider-Man comic book outside of The Amazing Spider-Man. Instead he first appeared in Web of Spider-Man. Phil Urich was another character first appearing in Web of Spider-Man before Tombstone but he wasn't depicted as a villain yet. Instead he was depicted as a heroic Green Goblin until turing into a villainous Hobgoblin.^[51] Tombstone and Phil Urich appeared in Web of Spider-Man in the 1990s. Beetle and Boomerang are one of the few major threats that didn't start out in a Spider-Man comic book but intead in a anthology series in the Silver Age of Comic Books. Abner Jenkin's Beetle first appeared in Strange Tales and Boomerang first appeared in Tales to Astonish. The first Jack O'Lantern is first appeared in a comic book starring Machine Man in the 1980s before becoming a Spider-Man antagonist.
Note: In alphabetical order.

Reformed supervillain / anti-hero opponents

Almost all the characters listed first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man with the exception of Kaine and Humbug first appearing in Web of Spider-Man. The Prowler is the oldest character appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man in the 1960s in the Silver Age. Many other anti-heroes were introduced in the 1970s in between the Silver Age and the Bronze Age while Humbug was introduced in the 1980s right around the start of the Modern Age. Kaine is the youngest debuted character while Cardiac is the second youngest. Both Kaine and Cardiac appeared around the 1990s.

Non-supervillain enemies

The Burglar and Flash Thompson both appeared in the first comic book starring Spider-Man appearing in the anthology series Amazing Fantasy. The certain comic book story inspired a comic book series entitled The Amazing Spider-Man which J. Jonah Jameson would appear in the first issue. All three of the characters listed appeared in the 1960s around the Silver Age of Comics.

Other foes

Cover of The Spectacular Spider-Man #246 (May 1997) depicting Spider-Man's more weaker foes (Spot, Gibbon, the second Kangaroo and the third Grizzly) teaming up to try to defeat Spider-Man. Art by Luke Ross.

Majority of the characters first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man. The Living Brain is the oldest in that category appearing in a The Amazing Spider-Man issue in the 1960s around the Silver Age of Comic Books while the third Kraven the Hunter appeared last around the Modern Age of Comic Books. Spot and the second Kraven the Hunter first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man, while Stegron and White Rabbit first appeared in Marvel Team Up. Characters who didn't start out in a comic book starring Spider-Man includes Swarm in Champions, Vermin in Captain America etc.
Note: In alphabetical order. Alter ego characters who are the most high profile in the supervillain alias but others have shared that supervillain name are in bold. These characters have appeared in at least five issues/adaptions in Spider-Man comic books and/or media.

Lesser foes

• Answer (Aaron Nicholson)^[68]
• Basilisk (Basil Elks)^[53]
• Black Fox (Raul Chalmbers)^[117]
• Chance (Nicholas Powell)^[118]
• Coldheart (Kateri Deseronto)^[119]
• Cyclone (André Gerard)^[53]

Delilah

Delilah first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #414 by Tom DeFalco and Mark Bagley.^[53] The Rose's confidante as well as his chief enforcer, Delilah helped battle to maintain control of part of the New York crime scene against the threat of the Black Tarantula.^[120][121]

During her career, she had a role in the rebirth of two of Spider-Man's old foes during the Rose's efforts to gain extra muscle: she was the one who threw the switch of the electric chair which gave Electro his powers back, and helped set up the theft of Doctor Octopus' corpse for re-animation from the Hand.^{[122][123][124]}

Finisher

The Finisher is a one time character in the comic books in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. Karl Fiers is an assassin employed by Albert Malik (who was impersonating the Red Skull at this time) to kill Richard and Mary Parker. Years after succeeding in his mission, he comes face to face with the now grown-up son of the Parkers, a hero who works under the alias Spider-Man. Spider-Man kills the Finisher in self-defense after a fight between the two.^[125]

In the Sinister Six trilogy of novels by Adam Troy Castro, the Finisher is revealed to have an elder brother, Gustav Fiers, known as the Gentleman, who was responsible for revealing the Parkers' treachery to the Albert Malik. Seeking revenge for the Parkers' defeat of his plans and for Spider-Man's role in his brother's death, the Gentleman recruits the Sinister Six as part of a complex plan to destroy the world economy, but Spider-Man is able to defeat the scheme.^{[126][127][128]}

Hypno-Hustler

Hypno-Hustler first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #24 by Bill Mantlo and Frank Springer. Antoin Delsoin is the lead singer of the Mercy Killers going by the name of Hypno-Hustler. He and his band were scheduled to perform at a nightclub called "Beyond Forever." When the club's manager catches Hypno-Hustler robbing his safe, Hypno-Hustler ends up using his hypnotic equipment on the manager. When it came to perform, Hypno-Hustler and his band end up using their hypnotizing equipment on the audience in a plan to rob them as well.^[129]

The Hypno-Hustler can perform hypnosis with the aid of his guitar, and when teamed with his backup band, The Mercy Killers, can perform mass hypnosis. His boots can emit knockout gas on demand, and have retractable knives in the soles.^[129]

The Hypno-Hustler has received negative reviews as a supervillain. Sometimes being ranked as one of the worst supervillains in comic books due to its outdated 1970s camp factor. ShortList ranked Hypno-Hustler as the second worst supervillain of all time. Meanwhile, heavy.com listed him as one of the 20 worst supervillains.^[130][131] CraveOnline put Hypno-Hustler at number three of the five Spider-Man villains you will never see in theaters describing him as "a recurring joke in the Marvel Universe for decades".^[132] Tony Wilson of Dorkly referenced him as one of Spider-Man's "Dumbest Forgotten Villains" in his "Today in Nerd History" sketch comedy video.^[133]

Mindworm

First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #138 by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru.^[53] William Turner was a superhuman mutant with limited telepathic powers. He had an over sized cranium and was extremely intelligent.^[77]

Eventually, Mindworm attempted to reform but his problems were too difficult for him to control and he allowed himself to be killed by common street thugs to end his great suffering in The Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #22 (February 2005).^[134]

Spidercide

Spidercide was a major antagonist in the Maximum Clonage story arc. He first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #222 by Tom DeFalco and Sal Buscema.^[77] He is depicted as an evil foil of Spider-Man and Ben Reilly. He is one of the clones created by Jackal just like Ben Reilly and Kaine. This time being a clone to Ben Reilly.^[88]

He was designed as a red herring that was introduced to make him seem to be the real Peter Parker and that Spidercide was the original Parker but only to discover later discover that the Peter Parker they had been reading for years was actually a clone.^[88]

He is eventually granted the unique ability to turn into other materials and shapes much like the symbiotes. He was killed off in Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage: Omega #404 by being thrown off in the Daily Bugle.^[88][135]

Typeface

Typeface first appeared in Peter Parker: Spider-Man vol. 2 #23 (November 2000) by Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham.^[136][137]

What little is known about Typeface's past is seen in flashback. In his civilian life as Gordon Thomas, he fights in an unknown war for the US Army in which he loses his brother Joey. Upon his return to America, Gordon's wife leaves him and takes their son with her.^[138]

Feeling outcast, Gordon becomes a signsmith. He is happy for a time until a man named George Finch buys the company he is working for, Ace Signs, and Gordon is laid off. Gordon starts to hate everything that went wrong in his life and decides to become a super-villain, calling himself Typeface. He uses a grease pencil to write letters on his face, including a large, red "R" on his forehead, for "retribution". He begins committing vandalism throughout the city, and while attacking local thugs, he catches the attention of Spider-Man. Typeface uses his giant letters as weapons and manages to defeat the webslinger. After successfully escaping and returning to his apartment, he replaces the "R" letter on his head with an "A" for "Annihilation".^[136]

Thomas later seeks revenge against George Finch, but is stopped by Spider-Man. Typeface wants to kill Spider-Man for intervening, but when he sees the webslinger being attacked by the Spider-Hybrid, he has a flashback to the words his brother Joey once gave him: "Just live, man." Typeface decides to help Spider-Man defeat the Spider-Hybrid, and renounces his desire to kill Finch. However, Finch decides to exact revenge on Typeface for humiliating him, and finds the bombs Thomas would have used to kill him. Finch sets them off and demolishes an entire building, killing himself, and for a time it was believed that Typeface died in the explosion.^[138] When the police arrive, they declare Typeface responsible for the explosion.^[139]

Having survived the explosion, Typeface becomes a vigilante. He wages war against a gang called the "Penny-Ante Brigade." After taking out the gang (and another vigilante, Spellcheck, inspired by Typeface), Typeface mimics Spider-Man's note to police, left when he apprehends criminals: "Compliments from your friendly neighborhood Typeface."^[140]

Typeface would return out of the Spider-Man comic books and in the Civil War story arc until Civil War: Front Line #10 and #11 revealed the character's demise.^[69]

Group villains

Note: The common leader of the group is in bold.

Archenemies

Unlike well known rivalries in comics book depictions where heroes always still have more than one enemy but usually one archenemy (e.g., Joker to Batman in DC Comics, Red Skull to Captain America, Doctor Doom to the Fantastic Four and the Brotherhood of Mutants to the X-Men in Marvel Comics etc.), Spider-Man is cited to have more than one archenemy and it can be debated or disputed as to which one is worse:^[146]

1. ^ Doctor Octopus is regarded as one of Spider-Man's worst enemies and archenemy. He has been cited as the man Peter might have become if he hadn't been raised with a sense of responsibility.^{[13][15][147]} He is infamous for defeating him the first time in battle and for almost marrying Peter's Aunt May. He is the core leader of the Sinister Six and has also referred himself as the "Master Planner". ("If This Be My Destiny...!")^[15][148] Later depictions revealed him in Peter Parker's body where he was the titular character for a while.^[147]
2. ^ Norman Osborn using the Green Goblin alias is also commonly described as Spider-Man's archenemy.^{[146][149][150]} Mostly after he is responsible for setting up the death of Spider-Man's girlfriend in one of the most famous Spider-Man stories of all time which helped end the Silver Age of Comic Books and begin the Bronze Age of Comic Books.^[146] He was thought to be dead after that but writers help bring him back from the 1990s and he returned to plague Spider-Man once more in the comic books (such as being involved of the killing of Aunt May) and other heroes (such as the Avengers^[49]). He is also an enemy of Spider-Man sometimes just as Norman and not just only as the Green Goblin.^[151]
3. ^ Another character commonly described as archenemy is Venom. Eddie Brock as Venom is commonly described as the mirror version or the evil version of Spider-Man in many ways.^[6][8][146] Venom's goals are usually depicted as ruining Spider-Man's life and messing with Spider-Man's head.^[62] He is one of the few villains depicted as unbeatable to Spider-Man without exploiting his weaknesses.^[152] Venom is also one of the most popular Spider-Man villains.^[153] This popularity has led him to be an established iconic character of his own with own comic book stories.^[6][154]

In other media

Reception

Reaction to Spider-Man's rogues gallery has been overwhelmingly positive with many journalists citing it as one of the greatest comic book rogues galleries of all time,^{[156][157][158]} with Batman's rogues gallery being its most rivaled contender.^[159][160] Although editors such Hollywood Reporter's Graeme McMillan felt that only Flash's rogues gallery can compete with Spider-Man's rogues.^[157] Kyle Schmidlin of What Culture! described the superhero's rogues gallery as "one of the most colorful in comics" explaining that Batman could only be debated as having a great number of enemies as good as Spider-Man.^[161] IGN staff editors, Joshua Yehl and Jesse Schedeen, described the Spider-Man villains as "one of the most iconic and well-balanced in comics". They opined that the scope of their schemes, how cool cool their powers are, and how dramatically they have affected Spider-Man's life is what makes the Spider-Man villains so great.^[1] Newsarama ranked Spider-Man's rogues gallery as number one out ten as the greatest rogues gallery of all time.^[160]

Themes

George Marston of Newsarama explaining why he felt that Spider-Man rogues gallery was the best was the thematic elements that the villains of Spider-Man manifested.^[160] He explained that just like the superhero they have the same concept of science gone wrong. They are "like him, great men with great minds, great power, and great determination." But instead they fail to use their powers responsibly. Separating the thin line between being a hero from being a villain.^[160]

Notes

1. ^ The Chameleon is the first member of Spider-Man's rogues gallery in publication date. (Excluding the Burglar).^[8] He is also well known to be related to Kraven the Hunter and Kraven to him. That revealed relationship helped evolve him as a major villain compared to his original depiction of being just a solo villain in the original issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.^{[162][163][164]}
2. ^ Besides being most notable as a Spider-Man supervillain. He has also been depicted as a Fantastic Four antagonist in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comics books (mostly due to being introduced as the original Frightful Four^[165]) along with being on the heroic side (being a Avengers member^[166]) until being introduced as a tragic supervillain in the Spider-Man comics once again.^[167]
3. ^ The character is also known as the member of the Frightful Four battling the Fantastic Four.^[26] He is also the first major Marvel villain to be written in publication history as battling Daredevil.^[168][169] Even being the founder and leader of the supervillain team that oppose him, the Emissaries of Evil.^[170]
4. ^ Just like Electro. He has crossed over and been a major antagonist of Daredevil in a few issues. He is well known on crossing into Daredevil's territory and affecting him as an antagonist by making him insane (just like what he is usually depicted to be doing to Spider-Man) when Mysterio believes Spider-Man is a clone at one point in certain issues.^[28]
5. ^ Kraven the Hunter has been a recurring villain since his introduction as a Spider-Man villain. But what makes him stand out as one of the great Spider-Man villains along with being one of the memorable issues about the fictional villain in the Spider-Man comics is the critically acclaimed storyline, "Kraven's Last Hunt".^{[8][36][164][171]}
6. ^ Not counting any other character in the mainstream Marvel Universe with that name. Only outside of the mainstream Spider-Man comics or in other media is there other Spider-Man villains (that isn't named Mac Gargan) that are antagonists of Spider-Man.^{[172][173][174]} Gargan is cited to be the fourth who is called that in the comic books but is the most iconic villain with that name.^[32]
7. ^ The villain has crossed over with battling other heroes (especially Hulk^[50]) even though the fictional character is usually written off in Spider-Man comics.^[42] He is a major character in the storyline titled "Flowers for Rhino" (Spider-Man's Tangled Web). An homage to Flowers for Algernon.^[175]
8. ^ Despite first appearing in Spider-Man comic books, the Kingpin is more notable of being a Daredevil adversary. The character that represents the opposite of what Daredevil stands for. Despite this he is a major antagonist of both superheroes in the Marvel comic books just as recurringly.^[8][48] He also is a major recurring villain in the rest of the Marvel Universe crossing over as major antagonists to superheroes/antiheroes (such as the Punisher) in certain comic books of the many based universes of Marvel. (PunisherMAX. etc.)^[176]
9. ^ "The Six Arms Saga" is the name of the storyline that debuted Morbius.^[52]
10. ^ Miles Warren's technical first appearance was revealed to be in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965) created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko before being revealed as the Jackal.^[177]
11. ^ Although she is listed with the supervillains as she sometimes is depicted in certain portrayals. The Black Cat is more regarded as a anti-heroine than fully supervillain. A character that struggles in between deciding good and bad...and the major femme fatale romantic interest for Spider-Man. Her key role of deciding between crime and having complicated relationships of Spider-Man makes her sometimes labeled as part with the rest of the major rogues gallery of Spider-Man. Nonetheless she has been a staple supporting Spider-Man character during her debut.^[1]
12. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #299 is the first appearance of Eddie Brock as Venom. The alien costume debuted from The Amazing Spider-Man #252 and the symbiote bonded to Spider-Man in Secret Wars #8.^[6] Venom's creators are determined by pre-alien costume by not counting the creators/designers of the alien costume, David Michelinie or Mike Zeck, or the Marvel Comics fan who originally though of the concept for the creators.^{[6][178][179]}
13. ^ Cletus Kasady first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man 344.^[7] Carnage is a major character in the popular storyline "Maximum Carnage".^[180]
14. ^ Despite standing out as his own independent character now. The Punisher was originally introduced as an antagonist of Spider-Man.^[54]

See also

• Savage Six: Antagonists of Spider-Girl and Flash Thompson's Venom similar to the Sinister Six.^[181][182]
• The Superior Foes of Spider-Man: A comic book series starring Spider-Man villains.^[183]
• Janice Lincoln: The third Beetle who would then be featured as one of the Sinister Six on The Superior Foes of Spider-Man.^[183]

References

External links

• Category: Spider-Man Villains at Marvel.com
• Spider-Man Villains at Marvel Database
• Top 10 Greatest Spider-Man Villains by WatchMojo.com
• 50 Greatest Spider-Man's Villains by GamesRadar. April 14, 2014