Top Ten Worst Spider-Man Villains

When a comic book has been on the shelf for as long as Spider-Man then you can expect there to be a very large rogue’s gallery full of all levels of villainy from creative designs (Green Goblin) to the downright unoriginal crap (Green Goblin version 2-5 and that doesn’t even include Hobgoblins and Demogoblins). So when we found out that Spider-Man 3 would see a reported four villains in use, we thought about what villains we’d like to see in the movies. Greats such as Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Rhino, and the Lizard, to say nothing of Carnage and Venom, were all thrown about as the top villains on the wish list. But then we got to thinking about which characters would translate poorly onto the screen, and the Top Ten Worst Spider-Man Villains was born.

 

There are four basic Spider-Man villain archetypes based on their origins. These include the radiation/chemical-based villains such as Sandman, Vermin, Hydro-Man and Lizard. They are the most common Spider-Man villain, and are one of the most unique features of his Rogue’s Gallery. Next, you have your technology-based villains, such as Rhino, Scorcher, Shocker, and Lightmaster. Then you have your demon/magic based villains which were mostly a phase that Spidey writers went through during the late 80’s, early 90’s such as Carrion, Demogoblin, Shriek, and Calypso. Lastly, you have the host of mob and gangster hitmen that have no superpowers but are just smart fighters, usually with guns. Kraven is the most notorious of this group, but Schemer, Bullseye, Rose, and Trapster all fall into this category too.

 

That should pretty much set the stage for our Top Ten list here. We decided only on villains that had at least two or more appearances at different times in Spidey’s life. Villains like Commanda, a girl with a ‘magic’ tiara, were certainly deserving of being on the list but have only been in two issues. So the list here represents only those villains that were deemed worthy enough to use again, we can only fathom why. We also shied away from those villains that were only stupid in their blatant copying of an already established villain, i.e. Quicksand (a Sandman copy) or Eel (a poor-man’s Electro).

 

 

10. The Vulture –

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #2

 

Powers: Superhuman level strength, vitality, and athleticism while wearing an electronic harness that also gives him flight.

 

Why He’s On This List: What is there to say about this once renowned rogue? Adrian Toomes was a member of the Sinister Six, a villain who had achieved the highest levels of infamy in the Spider-Man world. Yet he was still just an old, cranky guy in an electronic bird suit. The suit certainly wasn’t very practical with its stuffy neck warmer and ‘anti-graviton’ flying mechanism, the wings weren’t enough?

 

Yes, he’s one of the first, but is that really enough to see him on the big screen? He’ll always be just an old man, we’re talking late sixties here, in a giant green bird suit.

  

9. Swarm –

First Appearance: The Champions #14

 

Powers: His body is now made up of thousands of bees that he controls telepathically. He can ‘shoot’ bees out at will.

 

Why He’s On This List: Swarm is a Nazi scientist covered in BEES! KILLER BEES! Get a large fan or some insecticide and the guy’s down for the count.

 

 

 

 

8. Boomerang –

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #81

 

Powers: He has a great throwing arm developed as a pitcher for baseball. He employs a large arsenal of gimmick boomerangs such as ‘gasarangs’, ‘razorangs’, and ‘bladerangs’.

 

Why He’s On This List: Fred Myers gave up a career as a professional baseball player to become an evil mobster because he thought it was profitable. But rather than make the logical leap and use baseballs, he decided on boomerangs, and with his Batman’s mixed-bag of boomerangs he’s naturally pretty gimmicky.

 

His superpower is that he’s good at throwing things, which puts him on par with softball superstar Jennie Finch.

 

7. Doppleganger –

First Appearance: Infinity War #1

 

Powers: Same as Spider-Man but has four extra arms.

 

Why He’s On This List: He’s a mentally retarded Spider-Man that does ‘evil’ things because that’s what evil clones do.

 

Created by Magus, himself an evil clone of Warlock, Doppleganger is most noted for his following Carnage around like a lost puppy and drooling a constant river down his chin. As far as carbon copies go, this guy takes the cake for the least thought out. He drools and punches, and that’s about it.

  

 
6. Black Fox –

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #255

 

Powers: None, he’s a really good jewel thief.

 

Why He’s On This List: He’s a 60 plus old man who’s looking for his last great jewel heist. Somehow, he convinces Spider-Man, or other heroes, to let him go so that he can escape capture and try again later. It took NINE APPEARANCES for Spider-Man to figure out the gag and throw him in jail. What moron thought comic readers needed eight more stories of the Black Fox before everyone wised up?

   
5. Mysterio –

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #13

 

Powers: Master illusionist and hypnotist who employs a wide range of special effects gizmos and trickery.

 

Why He’s On This List: He’s a man with a fishbowl on his head! Another member of the Sinister Six that really wasn’t all that sinister. After quitting his job as a Hollywood special effects director, Quentin Beck decided to emulate and then fight Spider-Man. Like the Boomerang, he evidently wasn’t satisfied with the large sums of money he was making and thought a life of opposing Spider-Man was more fulfilling.

 

This is one of those characters whose greatest weakness is his appearance. You really just can’t take a fishbowl head seriously. That and every time he was involved, you wouldn’t know it until he stupidly decided to reveal himself at the climax of the story. He never learned that if he would just let Spider-Man die THEN gloat that he might have won.

  

 4. Rocket Racer –

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #172

 

Powers: Has a flying skateboard.

 

Why He’s On This List: Sometimes hero, usually villain, this guy decided that robbing banks would be easier if he had a flying skateboard, which he made himself. Why he never worked that hard on buying a gun, or building a laser beam for his skateboard, is up in the air.

 

His character is already on the big screen in Back to the Future 2:

 

Data: “Hey, McFly, you bojo! Those boards don't work on water!”

Whitey: “Unless you've got POWER!”

  

3. Ringer –

First Appearance: Defenders #51

 

Powers: Like Boomerang, simply has an assortment of gimmick ‘rings’ such as explosive rings, freezing rings, or constricting rings.

 

Why He’s On This List: Also like Boomerang, he’s got ornamental rings all over his costume. A boomerang is at least designed for some kind of offensive attack. Hola Hoops are for young girls and old hippies, neither is very frightening.

  

2. Stiltman –

First Appearance: Daredevil #8

 

Powers: His suit extends his legs so that he is on mechanical stilts. They are evidently ‘web’ proof so Spidey can’t just lasso him down.

 

Why He’s On This List: Out of all the overtly appropriate named villains, this one takes the cake for ‘What the hell were they thinking?’ Was Unicycleman too busy? He’s got long legs. How does that even help in robbing a bank or winning a fight? He gains altitude, he loses altitude, he gains altitude, he loses altitude. If you aren’t careful he might spit on you from his high advantage.

 

  

 

1. Stegron -

First Appearance: Marvel Team-up #19

 

Powers: He’s a walking lizard-man (yes like the real ‘Lizard’) but he also controls dinosaurs.

 

Why He’s On This List: He’s one of the many Spider-Man villains who have a horrible speech impediment that causes him to drag out his ‘sss’ to absurd degrees. But unlike the others, he’s a villain that rides around on dinosaurs and shakes a stick at the heroes. The most frustrating part is that he seems to ‘die’ at the end of every story with him in it, but then he always pops back up to give the world more ‘dinossssaursssss’.