The Rogues Gallery: Spider-Man

Part 1 of the my Rogues Gallery series, the greatest villains of Spider-Man
On
January 22, 2010
THE ROGUES GALLERY PART I

The villains of Spider-Man




Its been said over and over again, a hero is only as good as his villains. With that thought in mind when I decided to do an article on my favorites villains in comics. It quickly became apparent that a couple of characters rogues gallery would dominate the list Spider-Man was one of them. With that thought in mind I decided I would do a series of articles instead with each one focusing on a different characters set of villains. That way I could also include as many villains from one character as possible and not just the best ones.

This article has since become a virtual list of who's who for Spidey's baddies, I decided to do it alphabetically instead of doing it in a "top whatever" way since that would just have people bitching about why so and so isn't #1 and why whatshisname is only #4 and whatnot. I'm pretty sure you'll get the feel of who I like and don't like the most as you read on anyways. So without any further stalling read on with the warning that this is a long one featuring a staggering 46 villains so sit back get comfortable and venture on.

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The Beetle




Real Name: Abner Ronald Jenkins

First Appearance: August 1964's Strange Tales #123

About: The Beetle is a armored villain who sought fame, glory and of course riches. Although cool to look at he was never very effective and failed at every turn. In a attempt to defeat Spider-Man once and for all The Beetle formed and even lead The Sinister Syndicate, a group of villains that included the likes of Boomerang, Speed Demon, Rhino and Hydro-Man. Once again he failed. Sick of being the loser he was he joined The Thunderbolts a team of villains disguised as heroes, he was Mach-1, eventually he decided that he liked being a hero more then a villain and became one of the good guys on a permanent basis.

Threat Level: D

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Big Wheel




Real Name: Jackson Weele

First Appearance: 1978's Amazing Spider-Man #182

About: Now here's a crappy low level villain if there ever was one. Simply put Big Wheel is a giant metal wheel that has spikes, guns, arms and runs over things. Sounds great huh? Jackson Weele is a crooked businessman who was blackmailed by fellow Spider-Man "villain" Rocket Racer, and attempted to gain vengeance on the kid by running him over in a giant wheel or something. Spider-Man saved the other would be crappy villain and Big Wheel flew into The Hudson River. Somehow Big Wheel has shown up more then once and every now and then pops up to terrorize skaters everywhere and to be a general non-threat to anybody.

Threat Level: F

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The Black Cat




Real Name: Felicia Hardy

First Appearance: July 1979's Amazing Spider-Man #194

Sure The Black Cat isn't a villain anymore but she still started out as one, albeit still wasn't even close to the criminals later in the list, she was more so in it for the rush and some fun. Still she was quite a thorn in the side of Spider-Man for some time using her female charms on 'ol Pete to always tease him and get away with whatever crime she was committing, eventually though she started to fall for Spidey as well, thus ending her reign as a villain. Still though even now despite the fact that she is one of the good guys she still has moments were she'll bend the law to get that certain something that she couldn't otherwise obtain.

Threat Level: F, Formally C.

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Black Tarantula




Real Name: Carlos LaMuerto

First Appearance: Jan 1997's Amazing Spider-Man #419

About: For over 700 years the title of Black Tarantula has been handed down from father to son and is now currently held by Carlos LaMuerto, the leader of a Brazilian crime syndicate. Once he discovered that his ex-wife went to New York with their son Black Tarantula followed, once there he decided to expand his crime empire. Once in New York Black Tarantula fought Spider-Man a couple of times and unlike most of Spider-Man's villains he usually came out on top, spearing the heroes life due to his sense of honor. Eventually he was defeated and is put in prison only to be released due to good behavior and prison over crowding. For the most part since his release from prison The Black Tarantula has keep his nose clean.

Threat Level: C

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Boomerang




Real Name: Fred Myers

First Appearance: July 1966's Tales To Astonish #81

About: With a name like Boomerang you'd figure that this villain is from Australia and wouldn't you know it, he is! Boomerang is an assassin for hire which has caused him to come into battle with Spider-Man several times. Although hes not a joke like Big Wheel hes still on the lower end of the loser spectrum. While usually just a goon for hire Boomerang has been known to attempt to gain vengeance on Spider-Man by joining teams such as The Sinister Syndicate but ultimately always fails in any attempt to defeat the webhead.

Threat Level: D

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The Burglar




Real Name: Dennis Carradine

First Appearance: Aug 1962's Amazing Fantasy Vol. 1 #15

While not one of the most evil people Spidey has come up against or having any powers at all The Burglar has affected Spider-Man's life more than any other villain that Spider-Man has come up against. The Burglar killed Peter's beloved Uncle Ben, thus instilling his Uncle's famous words of "With great power comes great responsibility" in him forever and essentially creating your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Threat Level: F

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Carnage



Cletus Kassidy as Carnage


Real Name: Cletus Kassidy

First Appearance: Mar1992s, Amazing Spider-Man #360

In the early 1990's Venom was all the rage in Spider-Man comics, so Carnage was created as an even more evil symboite to feed off of Venom's popularity and for a time, it worked. The Carnage symboite, which was a offspring of Venom, bonded to serial killer and all around nut job Cletus Kassidy. Carnage went on killing sprees that almost always was stopped by an uneasy alliance from Spider-Man and Venom. The worst act of them all came at the height of Carnage's popularity in the fourteen part "Maximum Carnage" storyline where he teamed up with other villain's Shreik, Carrion, Demogoblin and Doppleganger to have perhaps the biggest and most prominent killing spree in Marvel history requiring not only Spider-Man and Venom to team up but to also get help from other heroes including The Black Cat, Captain America, Iron Fist, Deathlok and several others. The Carnage symboite has also attached itself to Spider-Clone Ben Riley during his time as Spider-Man to create Spider-Carnage and also The Silver Surfer creating Carnage-Cosmic.

Threat Level: A


Left - Carnage Cosmic, Right - Spider-Carnage


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The Chameleon




Real Name: Dmitri Smerdyakov

First Appearance: Mar 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #1

Just as his name might suggest, The Chameleon can change his looks to impersonate anyone he so chooses. The Chameleon is also the half-brother of Kraven The Hunter and one of few villain's to discover Spider-Man's secret identity of Peter Parker, albeit with help from Harry Osborne in the guise of The Green Goblin. After this discovery he went on to cause problems in Spider-Man's personal life as Peter Parker attacking his family on many occasions despite the fact that it usually ends embarrassingly bad for him since he once was beaten by Mary Jane with the aid of a baseball bat and even worse Aunt May with the aid of a plate of oatmeal-raisin cookies, and no that wasn't a joke, it actually happened. Despite the embarrassments though his worst act came when after discovering Spider-Man's true identity when he created two robots that were supposedly Peter's parents making him think that they were actually still alive.

Threat Level: C

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Doctor Octopus




Real Name: Otto Gunther Octavius

First Appearance: July 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #3

Dr. Octopus is easily one of the leading villains in Spider-Man's rouge gallery. Due to the dangerous experiments he often took part in he created four metal arms which in a lab accident were bonded to his body. When compared to Spider-Man's other rouges Dr. Octopus' genius is unrivaled he is also one of the best multi-taskers in the entire Marvel Universe with the mental capability to be able to use each of his metal arms to do four completely different things at once while using his own hands to yet again do something else.He also both formed and lead the original Sinister Six which pushed Spider-Man to his limits. Another time he beat Spider-Man's partner at the time The Black Cat near death putting her in critical condition after that Spider-Man beat Dr. Octopus to near death himself resulting in Dr. Octopus being afraid of Spider-Man and even spiders for years. The other defining moment of his villainy was murder Gwen Stacy's father Captain George Stacy.

Threat Level: A

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Electro




Real Name: Maxwell Dillon

First Appearance: Feb 1964s Amazing Spider-Man #9

Max Dillion was a lineman for an electric company when one day he was struck by lighting while repairing a power line, the lighting strike caused a change in Dillion's nervous system giving him electrical powers and causing him to take on the name Electro. As one of Spider-Man's villain's he can claim what no one else can. He was the first man to defeat Spider-Man. When Spider-Man first tried to touch Electro he was nearly killed due to the charged electricity within him. Another time after regaining his lost powers Electro defeated Spider-Man again and demanded he beg for his life, Spider-Man did so and Electro was more then satisfied and left Spider-Man to live. His most recent high profile crime came a few years ago when he caused a breach in the super villain prison known as The Raft allowing almost every villain imprisoned there to escape.

Threat Level: B

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The Enforcers




Real Names: Ox (Raymond Bloch), Montana (Jackson W. Brice) & Fancy Dan (Daniel Brito)

First Appearance: March 1964's Amazing Spider-Man #10

About: There have been a few other members of The Enforcers but I'm just doing the three mainstays here, Ox, Montana, and Fancy Dan. The Enforcers are a second bit team of super villains that usually cause trouble for both Spider-Man and Daredevil from time to time but never enough to be much more then a distraction. Ox as his name might suggest is the big bruiser of the group and although not the brains of the group is actually of average intelligence which is strange for a big strong guy, epically when he debuted in 1964. Fancy Dan is the fighter of the group being an expert on many forms of martial arts most notably Judo and Karate, he also has a great name. Montana is more of a southern gentleman type character who is an expert with the lasso. So although they are a fun little group of villains who show up every now and again they have never amounted to much of anything.

Threat Level: On there own D, together almost a C...almost.


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The Green Goblin




Real Name: Norman Virgil Osborn

First Appearance: July 1964s Amazing Spider-Man #14

About: When it comes to Spider-Mans villains The Green Goblin takes a back seat to no one. When Norman Osborn ingested "The Goblin Serum" he gained superhuman strength, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes, and healing factor most importantly though he also gained his psychosis. With the addition of his goblin glider, pumpkin bombs and other trademark weapons you have one of the most iconic comic book super villains ever. The Goblins worst acts make nearly every other Spider-Man villain seem tame. He was the architect behind the clone saga that caused Peter Parker to think that he was a clone of Ben Riley who was at the time believed to be the real Peter Parker. During this revelation The Goblin killed Ben Riley who was the closest Peter ever had to a real brother. After his own apparent death his legacy caused his son Harry who was the best friend of Peter Parker to go insane himself and take up the mantle as the second Green Goblin, his worst and most defining act of villainy though is of course the death of Peter's first love Gwen Stacy. Nearly every time you see The Green Goblin you know something epic is going to happen even more now then ever since he is basically in the same place that Iron Man was in before him and is pretty much running the entire Marvel Universe.

Threat Level: A

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The Green Goblin II




Real Name: Harry Osborn

First Appearance: Dec 1965s Amazing Spider-Man #31 as Harry Osborne, Sept 1974's Amazing Spider-Man #136 as Green Goblin II

About: As I said before a hero is only as good as his villains so what was Marvel to do now that they killed off Spider-Man's greatest villain. Well it was obvious, create a new Green Goblin! As for who that should be once again it had to be obvious the son of the first Green Goblin, Harry Osbourn. Much the Green Goblin himself the idea was just crazy enough to work and boy did it ever. Another Green Goblin should of been a horrible idea but its execution and Harry's turn from best friend to arch enemy was perfect. Another Green Goblin shouldn't work, a couple other Green Goblins after Harry proved that but Harry still made it work.

Threat Level: A

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Hammerhead




Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: Oct 1972s Amazing Spider-Man #113

About: On paper Hammerhead is a mostly lame villain. Hes a 1920's-30's style gangster with a baby blue pinstriped suit and a head made of adamantium that he uses to ram people with as though he were a common goat. But once again lame premise or not Hammerhead is a character who has worked time and time again for Spider-Man sure hes only a C grade Spider-Man villain who has never even had a definitive story, the closest being a couple issue story arch that just came out last year that revamped the character, but hes still a fun character that's nice to see pop up every now and again.

Threat Level: C

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The Hobgoblin




Real Name: Rodrick Kingsley

First Appearance: June 1980s Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 #43 as Rodrick Kingsley and Mar 1983s Amazing Spider-Man #238 as The Hobgoblin

About: Even though Norman Osborn was now "dead" the writers of Spider-Man were still longing to use The Green Goblin. A compromise was made and The Hobgoblin was created out of it. The Hobgoblin had stumbled on Norman Osborn's Green Goblin gear and stole his for his own changing the colors and name. The Hobgoblin was a instant hit with fans and for a short while became Spider-Mans primary enemy. Like what was done with The Green Goblin before him there was a mystery set up around the identity of who The Hobgoblin was and just like before it played out in Amazing Spider-Man for a very long time before the big reveal as Rodrick Kingsley. Also like The Green Goblin there have been many people to take up the guise as The Hobgoblin but once again its only the original that most people care about.

Threat Level: A

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Hydro-Man




Real Name: Morris "Morrie" Bench

First Appearance: Jan 1981s Amazing Spider-Man #212

About: Here's a guy who has all the potential in the world to be one of Marvels most powerful villains, I mean he can turn into and to a small extent control water for petes sake, but due to his own short sidedness, ego and obsession with taking out Spider-Man among other small beans things is little more then a second stringer above the likes of The Kangaroo and The Gibbon, but way out of the league of guys like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Venom or even The Vulture. Instead Hydro-Man seems content with his crappyness when he is just one big move from taking that next step. Alas though that seems like its out of Hydro-Man's reach as he has no sense of judgment and focuses solely on killing Spider-Man, and poorly at that.

Threat Level: C

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J. Johnah Jameson




Real Name: John Johnah Jameson

First Appearance: Mar 1963s Amazing Spider-Man #1

About: While not a villain in the typical sense I don't think that anyone can argue that J. Jonah Jameson is one of the top villains that Spider-Man has to go up against. Since Jameson is a popular public figure and considers himself a man of the people who would never do anything to hurt anyone or commit any crimes he cannot be arrested. So how is he a villain? Well how about the fact that he uses every single resource available to him to try to make New Yorkers hate Spider-Man, something that has worked quite well for several years. Whats more Jameson has was the man who paid to turn Mac Gargan into the Scorpion for no other reason then to destroy Spider-Man, he also commissioned a the first several Spider Slayer robots for the same reason. Still at the end of the day though Spider-Man takes Jameson's hate against him with stride because he knows that despite going about it the wrong way Jameson only means well. His rational is that if you were truly a hero then you wouldn't hide behind a mask and the real heroes were the normal people who put there lives on the line every day like police, firemen and astronauts like his son John. At the end of the day though Spidey always gets the last laugh on old Triple J since Jameson has Spider-Man on his payroll and doesn't know it.

Threat Level: A

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The Jackal




Real Name: Miles Warren

First Appearance: Dec 1965s Amazing Spider-Man #31 as Warren, Feb 1974s Amazing Spider-Man #129

About: Although not one of the most threatening villains Spider-Man has ever face The Jackal has caused him more grief then nearly any other. The Jackal is the villain who is was mostly behind the entire clone saga as it was him or cloned Peter in the first place. He was thought dead for years but returned in the '90s to be a thorn in Spider-Man's side in very big way revealing to Spider-Man that he was actually the clone he had created years earlier and that the Peter thought to be a clone, now going under the name of Ben Riley was in fact the real Peter Parker. The stress of the situation was more then Spider-Man had ever gone through before and made him eventually pass the role of Spider-Man on to Ben Riley since both believed only the really Peter Parker, which at that time was thought to be Ben, should be Spider-Man. The Jackal was eventually killed but his legacy lived on with the new Spider-Man. Eventually of course it was revealed that Ben was the clone all along and was then killed by the returning original Green Goblin, Norman Osbourne, who was revealed to be the mastermind behind the whole clone saga. God that storyline sucked! So yeah The Jackal, not so much a threat himself but lots and lots of grief, and lost Spidey fans, came with him.

Threat Level: C

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Kaine




Real Name: Kaine (Clone of Peter Parker)

First Appearance: Dec 1994s Web Of Spider-Man #119

About: Speaking of the Jackal and the very unfortunate clone saga that brings us to Kaine, well that and the fact that alphabetically with Spider-Man's villains Kaine is next in line after Jackal. ANYWAYS Kaine was the very first clone of Spider-Man as opposed to Ben Riley as most people thought. The Jackal however hated Kaine as he considered him a flawed and imperfect clone due to Kaine's quick degeneration process. Kaine's powers are also slightly different from Peters. Along with all of Peter's powers Kaine also has a much stronger spider-sense that actually gives him small glimpses into the near future. He is also much stronger then Peter. Kaine was also the man responsible for the death of Doctor Octopus, who since its is comics returned in fairly quick fashion.

Threat Level: C

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The Kingpin




Real Name: Wilson Fisk

First Appearance: July 1967s Amazing Spider-Man #50

About: The Kingpin is not only one of Spider-Man's top villains hes also one of Marvel's top villains epically when it comes to a lot of the street level heroes in Marvel such as The Punisher and of course his #1 adversary Daredevil. However The Kingpin has long been a sharp and painful thorn in the side of Spider-Man. Being The kingpin of crime Wilson Fisk has sent a lot of trouble Spider-Man's way in the form of other super villains that he sends to take out Spider-Man for him. Despite the fact that he holds the New York underworld under his thumb he is just as much a family man as he is a criminal mastermind. The Kingpin has also set up many other business to help New York and for charity. This was of course to keep people from making the connection that Wilson Fisk and The Kingpin are one and the same.

Threat Level: A

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Kraven The Hunter




Real Name: Sergei Kravinoff

First Appearance: Aug 1964s Amazing Spider-Man #15

About: After hunting every dangerous animal he could think of Kraven The Hunter got bored of hunting big game and wanted a new challenge. He got that challenge when he heard of Spider-Man and knew that if he could defeat him would be known as the worlds greatest hunter. Immediately Kraven left the plains of Africa and made his way to New York City where he picked up the trail of Spider-Man, eventually they fought and after thinking he had defeated the web slinger Spider-Man pulled out a victory. This would ultimately be Kraven's downfall nearly every time he faced off against Spider-Man as he constantly underestimated his foe. Eventually Kraven starts to lose his sanity and becomes obsessed with defeating Spider-Man thinking of only that. Eventually in the classic storyline Kraven's Last Hunt he accomplishes this goal and after thinking Spider-Man to be dead he buries him alive. After this Kraven dons Spider-Man's costume in a mad attempt to prove that he is better then Spider-Man at his own game after defeating a bunch of street thugs Kraven hunts down Vermin, another Spider-Man villain, and after defeating him cages him. Eventually Spider-Man comes to and after escaping his grave finds Kraven who no longer has any interest in fighting him claiming that he has nothing to prove to him. Instead he releases Vermin who since Kraven was wearing Spider-Man's costume thinks it was actually Spider-Man himself who attacked him. Kraven then leaves Spider-Man to fight Vermin and after deciding that he has done everything that ever wanted he picks up shot gun and turns it against himself ending his life knowing that he had soundly defeated Spider-Man.

Threat Level: A

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The Lizard




Real Name: Dr. Curtis "Curt" Connors

First Appearance: Nov 1963s Amazing Spider-Man #6

About: Of all of Spider-Man's villains, The Lizard is the most tragic, hell hes one of the most tragic villains out there anywhere. Dr. Curt Conners a brilliant scientist with only one arm works on an experiment with lizard DNA that would allow humans to regrow lost limbs. At first it seems to good to be true, but that's the thing about that when it seems to good to be true it usually is. The Lizard DNA caused Conners to transform into the vicious Lizard. Whenever faced with having to fight The Lizard Spider-Man is always torn of course he has to stop this monster but at the same time he doesn't want to hurt his good friend Curt Conners. Although The Lizard has pushed Spider-Man to his limits on numerous occasions Spider-Man has always come out on top finding some way to transform The Lizard back into Dr. Connors while hes at it.

Threat Level: B

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Mad Jack/Jack O'Lantern




Real Name: Daniel Berkhart and Maguire Beck

First Appearance: 1996's Spectacular Spider-Man #241

About: This one is a tricky one to write about since there have been at least four Jack O'Lantern's so I'll only write about my favorite incarnation, the third one better known as Mad Jack. The thing that makes Mad Jack stand out against the other Jack O'Lantern's or any other Spider-Man villain for that matter is the fact that Mad Jack is not one but two different people, Daniel Berkhart and Maguire Beck, think along the lines of Ghostface from Scream. Mad Jack first appeared after the return of Norman Osborn who hired Jack to force J. Jonah Jameson to sell him The Daily Bugle. Mad Jack lost his pizazz when Berkhart assumed the role of Mysterio after the original Mysterio Quentin Beck appeared to commit suicide and Maguire Beck became the sole Mad Jack. Although Mad Jack never amounted to much as a villain himself(s) I loved the idea of two people being one villain.

Threat Level: D

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Molten Man


Real Name: Mark Raxton

First Appearance: Sept 1965's Amazing Spider-Man #28

About: Mark Raxxton was a lab assistant who was accidentally coated with an experimental chemical which transformed him into The Molten Man. (Doesn't get much simpler then that right?) Eventually his body erupted into flame increasing both his power and his rage which caused him to fight with Spider-Man on more then one occasion. Eventually he regained control of his body and reverted himself back to his golden metal form. Although he had fought Spider-Man several times over the years Molten Man is a good guy at heart and has aided the web slinger just as often as they fought.

Threat Level: D

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Morbius




Real Name: Michael Morbius

First Appearance: Oct 1971s Amazing Spider-Man #101

About: Morbius is yet another tragic Spider-Man villain who's life has been ruined due to his own science. When he discovered that he was dying of a rare blood disease, Nobel Prize winning chemist Dr. Michael Morbuis tried to cure himself with a combination of that involved Vampire Bats and electric shock therapy. Although he was successful in curing himself of the blood disease he also was transformed into a living vampire and developed a craving for human blood. Despite trying to ignore the blood lust he failed time and again so decided to feed off the homeless and the not so innocent. Although he has worked on several cures for his blood lust it never lasts. During one confrontation with Spider-Man he bit the wall crawler causing him headaches and dizziness for weeks.

Threat Level: C, though it could be much higher if he gave into the blood lust.

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Morlun




Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: June 2001's Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #30

About: Morlun has the distinct honor of being the newest villain to be featured in this article debuting only in 2001, but despite this brief time he has really made quite a name for himself. I wasn't going to include him first since it would require a lot of confusing information about a crappy storyline but thought the hell with it so here you go. Morlun has roamed the world for millennia living off of the life force of others. Once stumbling upon Spider-Man he was able to see the great power that he processed and decided to feed on him, realizing his needs Spider-Man poisoned his own blood with radiation (Which was apparently harmless to him with the radioactive blood and all...which make you wonder how he poisoned his blood with radiation the first place right?) Morlun was weakened by this and Spider-Man was able to defeat him. In his second appearance however Spider-Man was the one weakened, in fact he was dying from unknown reasons. Morlun fought Spider-Man again and this time easily defeated the wall crawler even ripping out one of Spider-Man's eyes and eating it. Morlun continued his attack nearly killing Spider-Man. After being rushed to the hospital and being put on life support Morlun broke in where Mary Jane was watching over Spider-Man while trying to protect him Morlun broke her arm and in one final effort to save his wife's life Spider-Man's feral spider side emerged stingers popped out of Spideys arms while his teeth turned into razors he plunged the stingers into Morlun and bit his neck killing him. Spider-Man then died himself but was reborn as part of some crazy thing that just made no sense, as if any of this paragraph about Morlun made sense. If you want to know more about this near clone saga level bullshit look up the Spider-Man storyline called "The Other." All I have to say is thank God the "Brand New Day" storyline all but wiped this crap out of continuity. Hope you enjoyed this confusing as hell profile.

Threat Level: A, despite the confusion Morlun is still a very dangerous and powerful class A bad guy, he is after all the man who "killed" Spider-Man.

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Mysterio




Real Name: Quentin Beck

First Appearance: June 1964s Amazing Spider-Man #13

About: Yes! Mysterio! I LOVE Mysterio! In my opinion Mysterio has got to be not only one of Spider-Mans most underrated villains but one of the most underrated villains in all of comicdom. The guy made special effects for movies and brought that talent into his life of crime, I'm thinking that these days that ability makes him more relevant then ever. His awesomely original powers of illusion also makes him brilliant tactician. On top of that hes got one of the best costumes that have ever been seen in comics. Its a completely green skintight outfit with a grid on it, a nifty purple cape, fantastic eye buttons keeping it in place and of course the fish bowl! I love the fishbowl! You know what else makes Mysterio super under rated and awesome? His goal of evil much like everything else with Mysterio is truly original. He doesn't want to rob a bank, or even that age old conquer the world thing, no all Mysterio uses his powers for is to drive Spider-Man mad! That's it! He doesn't even want to kill Spider-Man just make him go insane, well not just Spider-Man he wants to drive Daredevil nuts too I guess but that's all the better! Hes also succeeded in his evil plot of insanity driving on multiple occasions with Spidey as well before Spider-Man realized he was being screwed with by Mysterio but still that gives Mysterio a higher success rate against Spider-Man then nearly all of his other villains! Everything about Mysterio is stupendous! Did I mention that I LOVE Mysterio? Because I do.

Threat Level: B, but I wish it was A.

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The Prowler




Real Name: Hobbie Brown

First Appearance: Nov 1969's Amazing Spider-Man #78

About: The Prowler's criminal career was as brief as it was unsuccessful. Desperate to provide for his new wife, Hobbie Brown created The Prowler costume and attempted a life of crime but he was easily defeated by Spider-Man who gave him a second chance if he promised to change his ways. He did. Since then The Prowler has become a hero often times helping Spider-Man who he considers a good friend and the man who changed his life for the better.

Threat Level: F, Formally D

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Rhino




Real Name: Aleksei Sytsevich

First Appearance: Oct 1966s Amazing Spider-Man #41

About: Ah the Rhino, a great big powerhouse lummox of a villain with the brain that leaves a lot to be desired. I love the Rhino. Weather hes facing off against people he conceivably has a chance against like Spider-Man or The Punisher, who he has somewhat befriended over the years knowing that unlike Spidey Frank Castle will kill him, or weather hes facing off against those he doesn't stand a chance against like The Hulk or does anyone remember that one panel fight he had against The Silver Surfer that one time? Yeah that didn't end well for him. Either way for a character who seems like he would have no where to go creatively has said nuts to the odds and has continued to grow as a character from that big stupid strong guy to a villain who has a conscience and may have no trouble robbing a bank but doesn't want any innocent bystanders to get hurt in the process. He has even talked The Punisher out of killing a few bum villains on at least one occasion.

Threat Level: C

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Rocket Racer




Real Name: Robert Farrell

First Appearance: Sept 1977's Amazing Spider-Man #172

About: Only mostly a villain Rocket Racer has had most of his run ins with the law as a small time bugler. Has his name would suggest he has a rocket powered skateboard, ok so the skateboard might not be suggested in the name but the rocket powered part is. Although still mostly a villain Rocket Racer unlike most villains has a very strong code of ethics and a deep respect for Spider-Man. Rocket Race might of been well ahead of his time had he debuted in the late '90s instead of the late '70s he could of been a lot more relevant but alas that was not the case. Not helping matters is the fact that he seemed to be the only person to think the Bat-nipples in Batman and Robin were a good idea and stole the idea for his redesigned costume. Awful.

Threat Level: D


Bonus Rocket Racer picture, now with 100% more costume nipples!


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The Sandman




Real Name: William Baker, but better known as Flint Marko

First Appearance: Sept 1963s Amazing Spider-Man #4

About: Flint Marko was little more then another two bit criminal until one day when fleeing the authorities. He hid on a beach which was a site for nuclear testing and once he came into contact with the irradiated sand Marko's body started to bond with the sand changing his molecular structure and giving him powers to turn into any type of sand. With his new found powers he dubbed himself The Sandman. The Sandman although a villain was one with a conscious unlike many other Spider-Man villains although he kicked his crimes up a notch he always tried to make sure that no one got hurt. Eventually his conscious got the best of him and he joined Spider-Man on occasion to battle other villains. Liking the idea of being a hero he decided to give up his villainous ways to the point of even becoming a reserve member of The Avengers. Eventually though all good things must come to an end as The Sandman returned to his evil ways turning on Spider-Man and claiming that he was never a good guy at all but was merely pretending. Once again up to his evil deeds The Sandman is once again a thorn in Spider-Mans side whats worse his stance on not hurting others has loosened up a bit, he'll still try to avoid it if possible but now has no trouble putting others in danger if it helps his own means.

Threat Level: B

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Scorpia




Real Name: Elaine Colls

First Appearance: Feb 1995's Spider-Man: The Power Of Terror #2

About: Scorpia hasn't had much of a criminal career as of yet. She appeared when The Scorpion briefly reformed, adopting a new Scorpion costume created for her by Silvermane who intended to make her his top assassin, however he betrayed Scopria and with The Scorpion returning to his criminal ways she went underground for years appearing only every now and then and mostly as a contract killer though she did join the very short lived Sinister Seven. With The Scorpion dropping away from that persona these days to move on up the villain ranks as the current host of the Venom symboite the door is wide open for Scopria to make a full fledged comeback as a much bigger threat then she had ever been before.

Threat Level: D

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Scorpion




Real Name: MacDonald "Mac" Gargan

First Appearance: Dec 1964s Amazing Spider-Man #19

About: Macdonald Gargan was nothing but a lowly street thug until he was hired by J. Jonah Jameson to go under an experiment to give him super human powers. In a mad quest to defeat Spider-Man Jameson selected a scorpion as the animal that the tests would be based on given that scorpions are a natural predator of spiders. The experiment was for the most part a success giving Gargan the proportionate strength and abilities of a scorpion but in a huge draw back the experiment also caused Gargan to go a little mad. After being defeated in his first encounter with Spider-Man The Scorpion swore vengeance on both the Wall Crawler and the man who turned him into the monster he now was J. Jonah Jameson. Over the years this has caused a lot of intense battles where Spider-Man has to repeatedly save Jameson's life who will in the end most likely just do an editorial about how it was all Spider-Man's fault and how he and The Scorpion were probably in cahoots from the beginning. In more recent years Mac Gargan has abandoned his Scorpion persona after bonding with the Venom symboite.

Threat Level: B as Scorpion, A as Venom or Venom/Scorpion combo


Mac Gargan wearing the Scorpion costume while still bonded to the Venom symboite


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The Shocker




Real Name: Herman Schultz

First Appearance: Mar 1967s Amazing Spider-Man #46

About: The Shocker has been around for a long time and has constantly been a thorn in Spider-Man's side ever since but has still never really hit it big. No big crimes and very few occasions where he was getting the better of Spider-Man in a fight. For the most part Spidey seems to relax a little more when fighting The Shocker dodging all of the shock waves from his gauntlets and cracking wise the entire time until he is able to get close enough to knock out The Shocker with a single punch. Despite this though The Shocker deserves a lot of credit for never giving up and always coming at Spider-Man full steam ahead whenever they meet up. Maybe one day The Shocker will shock the world (horrible joke very intended) and be the guy who brings Spider-Man to his knees.

Threat Level: C

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Shriek




Real Name: Frances Louise Barrison, but better known as Sandra Deel

First Appearance: May 1993's Spider-Man Unlimited #1

About: Shriek is pretty much a third string villain who people are aware of only because she played a major role in the maximum carnage storyline where she first appeared. She is crazy making her a perfect fit for Carnage and yeah that's about it for her greatest hits. Shriek could be alright given a decent storyline where she is the main villain. Her powers are that she can fly, tap into peoples minds making them to act violently and shoot psyonic energy from her hands. The tapping into peoples minds thing is easily the best thing about her but as a villain I don't know if she could ever be truly good due to the crappy insanity gimmick that only seems to work for The Joker.

Threat Level: D

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Spot




Real Name: Jonathan Ohnn

First Appearance: Dec 1984's Spectacular Spider-Man #97

About: As a former scientist for The Kingpin, Dr. Jonathan Ohann experimented on Cloak's (of Cloak and Dagger fame) dark dimension which provided him with the ability to teleport by opening portals in space. Donning a horrible costume and dubbing himself The Spot he started a life a crime but his crimes were easily foiled by Spider-Man and The Black Cat. Spot although a brilliant scientist was never that good a villain even to the point where he teamed up with fellow crap villains Kangaroo, Gibbon and The Grizzly to from the appropriately named Legion of Losers, though it was Spider-Man who dubbed them this. Once again Spot along with his new cohorts were easily defeated by Spider-Man. Spot much like Hydro-Man is a villain with loads of potential and really there is no reason he can't be, well maybe aside from the crappy costume.... and maybe a name change.

Threat Level: D

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Stegron




Real Name: Vincent Stegron

First Appearance: March 1974's Marvel Team-Up #19

About: Gotta love Marvel's line of thinking. Hey The Lizard is popular so lets make a new improved version of the same character but instead of merely making him a lizard lets make him a DINOSAUR! Yeah Kids love Dinosaurs, he'll be a hit! Well not so much. Stegron even has a similar origin to that of The Lizards. You see Vincent Stegron was obsessed with the experiments that Dr. Conners did that on himself that caused him to become the Lizard and recreated them only with Dinosaur DNA from the Savage Land instead of plain old Lizard DNA. Shockingly (not really) Stegron never caught on despite his dinosaurness since he is mostly seen (and rightfully so) as a Lizard wannabe and why use a wannabe when the real deal is already part of Spidey's rogues gallery.

Threat Level: D

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Swarm




Real Name: Fritz Von Meyer

First Appearance: July 1977's Champions #14

About: Swarm is a Nazi scientist who's real name is Fritz Von Meyer, need I say more??? Ok so I'll say more but you have to admit that that was one hell of a lead off. I've always liked Swarm a lot even if he has never been that big of a villain. While studying killer bees (as if a Nazi would waste his time on any other type of bee) Fritz decided to try to control them via a psionic beam but was instead completely consumed by a maddened swarm but if there's one thing we've learned is that you just can't keep a good (bad) Nazi down and he somehow became the bees master in the process. Not content to just steal money Swarm has much grander plans like the Nazi that he is he has tried to conquer the world on several occasions but is always stopped by Spider-Man who thinks of brilliant tactics in fighting a swarm of bees like covering his costume in raid and putting the stuff in his webbing to disrupt Fritz's psychic link with bees. God I love fictional Nazis!!!

Threat Level: D

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Tarantula




Real Name: Anton Miguel Rodriguez

First Appearance: April 1967's Ghost Rider #2

About: The Tarantula was originally created by the South American republic of Delvadia to be a counterpart for Captain America. He has finger claws and spike toes on his shoes built into his costume which are more often then not poisonous and is a rather skilled hand to hand combatant. Soon enough things would sour between The Tarantula and Delvadia and he left to New York to begin a criminal career where he has run into Spider-Man several times. For the most part he worked as a goon for hire but was a pretty pathetic one losing to a host of heroes like Captain America, The Punisher and of course Spider-Man time and time again.

Threat Level: D

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The Tinkerer




Real Name: Phineas Mason

First Appearance: April 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #1

About: Tinkerer along with The Chameleon has the distinct honor of being in the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man. The Tinkerer was in the second story making him the second super villain Spider-Man would ever face. Despite this fact though The Tinkerer never caught on like all of the other early Spider-Man villains. Its understandable hes just your basic mad scientist who uses his inventions to try to defeat Spider-Man who always easily defeated him. Since he never had any real success taking on Spider-Man on his own he started to more or less become a mad scientist for hire, creating his crazy inventions for other super villains or even heroes its all the same to him if the price is right. More recently The Tinkerer has started to modify and increase the powers of other villains with his technology as well.

Threat Level: D

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Tombstone




Real Name: Lonnie Thompson Lincoln

First Appearance: March 1988s Web Of Spider-Man #36

About: Growing up in Harlem Lonnie Lincon was bullied non-stop due to being an albino. In response to this He eventually became a school bully himself, taking protection money. Joe "Robbie" Robertson at the time was a classmate of Lonnie's and worked for the school newspaper and was going to run a story on Lonnie's actions but once Lonnie found out he scared him into canceling it. After high school Lonnie took up a life a crime and became a hitman. He trained hard and became a expert hand to hand combatant and also filed his teeth down to sharp points which would catch his victims off guard and making it easier to kill them. Eventually, now known as Tombstone, he would get the attention of The Kingpin who would hire him to become his personal hitman. Once again Robbie found out about Tombstone and now as editor and chief of The Daily Bugle decided to do a story about him again after feeling guilty and partly responsible for the deaths of the people Tombstone had killed, maybe if he had stood up for himself and published the story in high school Tombstone would of been stopped or reformed then. Tombstone after finding this out framed and then attacked Robbie. Tombstone would of killed Robbie if not for the interference of Spider-Man who defeated him and sent him to prison. However Robbie had still been framed for crimes that Tombstone had committed and was sent to prison as well. There he continued to make life hell for Robbie until Tombstone eventually broke out only to be confronted by Spider-Man who he then proceeded to beat nearly to death until he was saved by Robbie returning the favor. After helping recapture Tombstone Robbie was given a full pardon. Since then Tombstone has popped up time and again to fight Spider-Man and has since even gained super human strength as well.

Threat Level: C

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align=center][Trapster[/align]



Real Name: Peter Petruski

First Appearance: Jan 1963's Strange Tales #104

About: Trapster is a guy who invented a crazy glue gun which rivals Spider-Mans own webbing. While usually a Fantastic Four villain he has tangled with Spider-Man his fair share of times, pitting his paste against Spidey's webbing. Originally he went under the name of Paste-Pot Pete and although he quickly changed his name to The Trapster the Paste-Pot Pete name has stuck to him (no pun intended) and has become a point of mockery brought up by Spidey pretty much every time they face off much to the chagrin of Trapster.

Threat Level: D

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Typeface




Real Name: Gordon Thomas

First Appearance: Nov 2000's Peter Parker: Spider-Man Vol. 2 #23

You know your a crappy villain when you make Big Wheel look like hes on par with The Green Goblin but that's just what the pathetic Typeface does. Spider-Man might have some of the best villains in comics but as you have seen in this article hes got some pretty lame ones as well but all of those lame villains take a backseat to this smuck. Basically he writes letters on his face and uses weapons shaped as letters to fight with. Watch out Spidey Typeface just threw a giant lower case "q" at you!

Threat Level: F

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Venom



Eddie Brock as Venom


Real Name: Edward "Eddie" Brock

First Appearance: Dec 1984s Secret Wars #8 (Alien Costume) May 1988s Amazing Spider-Man #300 (As Eddie Brock)

About: Easily the most popular of all of Spider-Man's modern day villains Venom is also easily the biggest threat to the web slinger. During the Secret Wars Spider-Man's costume had been damaged so he went to get a new one but on the way accidentally released an alien symboite which had been imprisoned. Despite the initial tingling of his spider sense after the symboite touched Spider-Man the warnings all went away. The symboite quickly creates the famed black costume, soon Spider-Man discovers that the symboite has powers of its own, such as enhancing his own strength, creating its own webbing and changing into other clothes. Eventually Spider-Man finds that the symboite feeds off his emotions making him very angry and dangerous. No longer wanting anything to do with the symboite he rejects it causing the symboite to harbor very bitter feelings towards Spider-Man an attribute it would share with its next host Eddie Brock who blamed Spider-Man for all the troubles in his own life. After Eddie Brock and the symboite bonded they declared themselves Venom. Now together all of Spider-Man's most personal secrets was learned by Brock such has his secret identity of Peter Parker. This and other knowledge would be used it to exploit Spider-Man time and again by Venom. Another advantage that Venom had over Spider-Man was his ability to override Spider-Mans spider sense so that Spider-Man would never know when Venom was about to attack him. Somewhere along the way Eddie Brock was separated from the symboite and put in prison, where he shared a cell with Cletus Cassidy. When the symboite returned to Brock they re-bonded and busted out of prison but in doing so the symboite left a piece of itself behind which boned with Cassidy to create Carnage. Venom's hate for Carnage was so strong that it caused him to put aside his differences with Spider-Man a number of times so that they could team up and defeat him. After being a threat to Spider-Man and his family for several years Eddie Brock who never desired to be a villain in the first place eventually used the symboite for good instead of evil, despite his hate for Spider-Man and the battles they were sure to have when ever they encountered one another. After a while Eddie Brock discovered that he had contracted cancer soon after which the symboite left Brock and offered itself and all of its knowledge to Mac Gargan, The Scorpion. Since joining with Gargan the symboite has once again regained its vicious streak and has pushed the already unstable mind of Gargan over the edge and has once again become a huge threat to not only Spider-Man but anyone who decided to get in his way.

Threat Level: A


Mac Gargan as Venom


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Vermin




Real Name: Edward Whelan

First Appearance: August 1982's Captain America #272

About: Edward Whelan was a brilliant genetics researcher who worked as an assistant to Armin Zola (Another Nazi!), but when Whelan objected to use humans as test subjects Zola's employer, Baron Zemo (Yet another Nazi!!!!) decided that Whelan would be the next test subject turning him into a cannibalistic rat-man who was dubbed Vermin, naturally. Vermin has for the most part not been that much of a threat he mostly keeps to himself in the sewers of New York however he will defend his territory at all costs. Once after burying Spider-Man alive, Kraven The Hunter, who had taken up Spider-Man's mantel decided to find a suitable foe to prove his superiority, hunted down and defeated Vermin. Soon after his defeat Kraven released Vermin who then nearly killed the real Spider-Man. Vermin's human personality was mostly lost in the experiment that created him and now although his humanity does briefly reappear from time to time he has more of a child like quality to his speech and how he feels about certain things.

Threat Level: D

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The Vulture




Real Name: Adrian Toomes

First Appearance: May 1963s Amazing Spider-Man #2

About: If your a fan or retro things and Spider-Man, which lets face it the odds are good if your reading a Spider-Man article on a website called Retrojunk, then you no doubt love the 1960's Spider-Man animated series, in which case you have heard one thing from The Vulture over and over again. "You can't beat a man with wings Spider-Man!" Although a fantastic line and great taunt he never much proved that in the series. In the comics he was always much more threatening, coming ever so close to defeating Spider-Man on several occasions and has been part of numerous different line ups of the Sinister Six. One of his defining moments came with the death of Nathan Lubensky who sacrificed his life protecting his fiancee Spider-Man's Aunt May from being kidnapped by The Vulture. People like to quickly dismiss The Vulture as nothing more then a lame villain who's just and old man with wings but there is much more to it then that. Sure hes an old man with wings but his suit also gives him superhuman strength along with the flight and he is also a brilliant engineer and inventor who's always packing plasma pistols and grenades. The Vulture might be old but he is far from a pushover.

Threat Level: B

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So that just about sums it up for another article the first in what is sure to be a series on super hero rogue galleries. I hope you liked it and if nothing else you have learned three things. #1 Spider-Mans rogues are awesome, #2 Spider-Man's rogues are very dangerous and deadly and #3 No matter how evil they are in the end they will all be webbed up and waiting for the boys in blue compliments of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.




So after finishing this thing I think I have realized why it takes me so long to do a new article, for the most part they all seem to be super long. I was only going to put about 20 villains in this thing but as I was going I thought to myself that it wouldn't hurt to put in a few of my personal favorites, then I decided to put in a few losers to show that not all of Spidey's villains are that threatening and after that well, if losers like Big Wheel and Typeface are in there I kinda have to put the third and fourth stringers like Boomerang and Swarm right? As for the next installment of the series don't expect it tomorrow or for the next month or three or even longer. I'll be working on it little by little all the time but won't be diving right into it for a while, I'm going to do at least one other article first to keep me from burning out on this subject. Either way I think we can all agree that this article has been a long one and I think that we all can rest now. Until next time folks!


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