By Ben Morse
Every week, a secret cabal of Marvel staffers gathers to discuss the best of the best when it comes to the House of Ideas. This week in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #549, Spider-Man adds two new names to his lists of friends and/or foes with Jackpot and Menace, so the Cabal decided to pick the 10 baddest brutes the Wall Crawler has ever faced. Read on to learn their identities, their crimes and where you can read more about them on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
10. THE BURGLAR
First Appearance: AMAZING FANTASY v1 #15 (1962)
Why He Makes The List: You all know the story: young Peter Parker let a burglar run past him, considering it "not his job" to do something, and later that same lowlife shot and killed the boy's beloved Uncle Ben, teaching him a valuable lesson about great power and great responsibility. While Spider-Man has faced a vast assortment of exotic and dangerous enemies over the years, perhaps none have cut him as deeply as this common burglar.
Vilest Villainy: It doesn't get much worse than shooting an elderly
man in cold blood. But then considering that this horrible, cowardly act led to the creation of Spider-Man, perhaps the Burglar actually committed a good deed...?
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING FANTASY v1 #15, the Burglar's first appearance.
9. THE LIZARD
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #6 (1963)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Dr. Curt Connors has long served as a friend, mentor and confidante to Peter Parker, giving him the guidance of an experienced adult when necessary. However, Connors' alter ego, the Lizard, presents Spider-Man with the agonizing dilemma of needing to corral a foe who can't be reasoned with while at the same time not harming a valued comrade.
Vilest Villainy: Under the control of the voodoo priestess Calypso, the Lizard unleashes his most violent campaign ever. Initially attacking
criminals, Lizard ends up massacring pedestrians and scores of other innocent bystanders before Spider-Man can bring him back under control. (SPIDER-MAN v1 #1-5—1990)
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #44, the Lizard stalks Spider-Man on his home turf of New York City for the first time.
8. THE HOBGOBLIN
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #238 (1983)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Just as Spider-Man began to get comfortable with the usual assortment of Vultures, Scorpions and Rhinos comprising his rogues gallery, along came the Hobgoblin to turn his world upside down. A far cry from the gimmick-laden villains Spidey had grown accustomed to encountering, and more committed to crime over personal vendettas, Hobby represented a new, darker, more dangerous threat in a new era of Spider-Man's career.
Vilest Villainy: Roderick Kingsley cemented his initial rise to power as the Hobgoblin in large part by relying on deception and manipulation, keeping his
enemies guessing as to his true identity. In one instance, he framed Peter Parker's friend Flash Thompson and had him thrown in jail as the Hobgoblin, but in a more tragic turn, he brainwashed Ned Leeds, husband of Peter's first love, Betty Brant, into thinking
himself the Hobgoblin, resulting in Ned's death at the hands of the Foreigner. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #249-251—1984)
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #1, in a possible future, Spider-Man's daughter runs afoul of the Hobogoblin.
7. DOCTOR OCTOPUS
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #3 (1963)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: For Peter Parker, Otto Octavius represents his journey to becoming Spider-Man gone horribly wrong. Like Peter, the man who would be Dr. Octopus grew up as an outcast, fascinated by science and eventually gaining fantastic abilities as a result, but without the support and example of a loving family, Doc Ock went down the road Spidey must constantly steer himself away from.
Vilest Villainy: During a particularly wild rampage in New York City,
Doc Ock found himself in combat with Spider-Man once more and rather than engage his foe directly, lashed out with his tentacles, hurling debris at innocent bystanders. Captain George Stacy, heroic police chief and father of Peter Parker's girlfriend Gwen, put himself in the line of fire in order to save the life of a young boy at the expense of his own, making the Spidey-Ock feud more personal than ever.
Spotlight Comic: SPIDER-MAN/DOCTOR OCTOPUS: YEAR ONE #1 reveals the origin of Doctor Octopus told from his own perspective.
6. THE KINGPIN
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #50 (1967)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Though his chief rivalry through the years has been with Daredevil, Wilson Fisk considers New York City the base of his vast crime empire as the Kingpin, meaning he and Spider-Man inevitably clash time and again. As a proud resident of the Big Apple, Peter Parker takes deep and personal offense at the Kingpin's ongoing attempts to corrupt the streets he loves.
Vilest Villainy: In the wake of Civil War, the Kingpin becomes the first to take full advantage of Peter Parker revealing his secret identity to the world. For no reason other than because Spider-Man has proven an on-again, off-again nuisance to him
over the years, from behind bars, Kingpin ordered a sniper to target Peter and his family, with his elderly Aunt May eventually taking the bullet, sending her into a coma. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #538-539—2007)
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #51, Spider-Man's first confrontation with the Kingpin concludes
5. KRAVEN
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #15 (1964)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Sergei Kravinoff began his lengthy war with Spider-Man stalking his prey with professional precision, but numerous defeats at the Wall Crawler's hands snapped Kraven the Hunter into a downward spiral that made him more desperate with each encounter between the two. By the end, Kraven saw his trials against Spider-Man not as coincidence or misfortune, but destiny. His utter belief in his mission coupled with the deadly skills at his disposal made Kraven one of Spidey's deadliest foes.
Vilest Villainy: Kraven succeeds where no other foe of Spider-Man ever has, defeating the Wall Crawler in gruesome and extreme fashion by drugging him and then burying him alive. As Peter Parker rots beneath the ground, the Hunter dons his own black Spider-Man costume and savagely beats Vermin, determined to prove
himself his rival's superior. When the true Spider-Man returns, Kraven denies him revenge by taking his own life. (WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #31-32, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #293-294, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN v1 #131-132—1987)
Spotlight Comic: WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #32, as Peter Parker lies buried alive, Kraven assumes his role as Spider-Man
4. THE GREEN GOBLIN II
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #31 (1965)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Harry Osborn's transformation into the Green Goblin represented not just another tragedy in the life of Peter Parker, but shattered his ability to trust those around him. If his best friend could become his greatest enemy, who
wouldn't turn against him? While Harry never reached quite the vicious heights of his father Norman—the original Goblin—his closer personal connection to Peter Parker made his feud with Spider-Man all the more difficult for our hero.
Vilest Villainy: Shortly before he met his apparent demise, Harry as the Green Goblin, set into motion a chain of events that seemingly brought
Peter Parker's long-thought-dead parents back into his life, only for him to discover months later their actual status as robots programmed to turn on him upon learning his secret identity. Trailing the Chameleon back to the mastermind behind the scheme, Spider-Man dropped to his knees in devastation upon discovering a looped video tape of Harry laughing at him. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #389—1994)
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #136, Harry becomes the new Green Goblin
3. VENOM
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #300 (1988)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: It's not necessarily his potent abilities or knack for extreme violence that make Venom so terrifying, it's the way he takes everything Spider-Man stands for and perverts it in the most disgusting of ways, a true dark mirror of the heroic Wall Crawler in every way. Where Peter Parker lives by the coda of "with great power comes great responsibility," Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote see their own power as a means to dispense their brand of "justice" and take revenge without any regard for the consequences. Venom's most frightening quality will always be that he truly believes he's the good guy.
Vilest Villainy: Though he has violated it countless times, Venom
still prides himself on a twisted sense of morality, believing he does not allow "innocents" to come to any harm, even as a result of his war with Spider-Man. Never did Eddie Brock prove his vows more hollow than in his first escape from the super villain interment center the Vault, where he used the camouflage function of his living costume to trick Hugh Taylor into seeing him as a fallen Guardsmen, and then suffocating the young guard. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #315—1989)
Spotlight Comic: VENOM VS CARNAGE #1, Eddie Brock clashes with his murderous "offspring," Carnage
2. J. JONAH JAMESON
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #1 (1963)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Does J. Jonah Jameson see himself as a villain? Certainly not, but then few villains ever do. Still, in the Marvel Universe as a whole, JJJ actually represents a sort of hero of the common man, a bastion of journalistic integrity who has opposed tyranny and persecution—but in Spider-Man's world, there can be do doubt: Jonah is a villain. Time and again, JJJ has defied his own considerable intelligence and regard for his fellow man in favor of his unending desire to see Spider-Man brought down for reasons he doesn't even fully understand. Spidey brings out the worst in Jonah, and that leads to one ugly individual.
Vilest Villainy: In his insatiable quest to bring Spider-Man down, Jameson has inadvertently bankrolled and created many super villains over the years, but none that he feels more directly responsible for than the Scorpion. JJJ hired private investigator Mac Gargan to learn the secret connection between Spidey and Peter Parker, but when that failed, Jameson paid Gargan to undergo the experimental
treatment that endowed him with the abilities of a scorpion—and drove him insane. Every life Gargan has ended or ruined can be traced back to Jameson. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #20—1965)
Spotlight Comic: SPIDER-MAN'S TANGLED WEB #20, the life of J. Jonah Jameson, "Behind the Mustache"
1. THE GREEN GOBLIN
First Appearance: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #14 (1964)
Find Out His Deal… Here
Why He Makes The List: Norman Osborn made things personal from the minute he learned Spider-Man's mask hid the face of his son Harry' best friend, Peter Parker, and nobody has caused more tragedy in Spidey's life since. While many other villains seek power, money and revenge for past defeats when they go against Spider-Man, more often than not for Norman, it comes down to simply wanting to make Peter's life hell because he can and because, frankly, he just doesn't like him. In another world, Norman could have been the father Peter never knew, and in some ways before he became the Green Goblin full time he did serve that function, but instead he serves as the eternal evil in Spider-Man's life that simply won't die.
Vilest Villainy: For all the grief and pain both physical and mental
Norman Osborn has caused Peter Parker over the years, no single deed comes close in terms of devastating his nemesis to the Goblin's murder of Gwen Stacy, love of Spider-Man's life. When Norman hurled Gwen from a bridge high above New York City, he tossed away the final vestiges of Peter Parker's innocence, hurting him as much if not more than that nameless burglar had years before. (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #121—1973)
Spotlight Comic: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN v1 #39, the Goblin's identity revealed
So what do you think? Who would you pick as your Top 10 Spider-Man villains? Sound off in the forums now!
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Here's my favorites. The Green Goblin, The Green Goblin 2, The Lizard, Doctor Octopus, Carnage, Demogoblin, The Scorpion, Hobgoblin, Mysterio and Electro.
Carnage could've been on this list too. I feel that the lizard is underrated a bit. I love his character.
Impressive list. Though I find it a shame that Mysterio (Quentin Beck) didn't make the list. The same man that convinced the wallcrawler he wasn't that tall, fooled the public Spider Man commited a sorrowful crime, fooled him that his most minacious enemies were closing in on him but it was a illusion with senior citizens resulting him in hitting one, etc. He's made it his life goal to po ...
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Impressive list. Though I find it a shame that Mysterio (Quentin Beck) didn't make the list. The same man that convinced the wallcrawler he wasn't that tall, fooled the public Spider Man commited a sorrowful crime, fooled him that his most minacious enemies were closing in on him but it was a illusion with senior citizens resulting him in hitting one, etc. He's made it his life goal to po Spider Man, and hard to deny he hasn't succeeded.
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green goblin #1?noooooooooooo electro gots to be in therei don't know naything abotu kraven and kingpin so don't care atleast put mysterio in there!!!!1mysterio is one of the top 3 for me!it should go by:kingpin 10# green goblin 9# scropion 8#,lizard 7#,hobogoblin 6#,GREEN GOBLIN 5#,rhino 4#,carnage 3#,venom #2,MYSTERIO 1#!!!!!!!!!!
it should have been venom!