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[guek]

There was a thread a month or so ago about Captain America's rogues gallery and it got me thinking, goddamn, Spider-man has one of the absolute best selection of villains in comics. Of course Batman and Flash are just as high up there in terms of iconic and memorable villains but that's a list for another thread.

Peter Parker has had many adversaries but it is generally agreed that among them, the three most influential villains in the colorful history of Spider-man are Doctor Octopus, Normon Osborne, and Venom.

Doctor Octopus
First introduced: The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Influential Moments:Most recently swapped bodies with Peter Parker, presumably killed him, and then ran amok as the Superior Spider-man. Doc Ock was one of Spidey's very first major villains, showing up as early as ASM #3. He was the original leader and former of the Sinister Six and first major supervillain Peter had to fight regularly. He even almost married Aunt May!
Powers and Abilities:Super-genius level atomic physicist, psychic control of four metal, prehensile, telescoping arms capable of lifting several tons individually. Octavius' intellect is his most formidable weapon and what makes him a true global threat.
Current Status: Dead

Spoiler

but he's been dead before

Norman Osborn
First introduced: The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964)
Created by: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Influential moments: Killed (and impregnated) his main squeeze, Emma Stone Gwen Stacy, kidnapped his wife Mary Jane on multiple occasions, helped engineer the clone saga *shudder*, and fathered Peter's long time friend, Harry Osborne who would eventually also take on the Goblin mantle.
Powers and Abilities:Strength on par with Spider-man (10+ tons), enhanced healing, genius level intellect in the field of chemistry, genetics, and robotics, sanity is questionable at best. He flies atop a rocket propelled glider and is armed with various weapons including lasers, gas, missiles, and pumpkin bombs.
Current Status: In hiding and newly sane for the first time in years

Venom
First introduced: The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984) as the alien costume
Created by: Randy Schueller (original idea), David Michelinie, Mike Zeck (alien costume design), Todd McFarlane (Venom's appearance)
Influential moments: Beat the living snot out of Black Cat, terrorized Peter and his wife Mary Jane, gave birth to Carnage and various other symbiotes, Prominent hosts include Eddie Brock, Mac Gargan (The Scorpion), and Flash Thompson.
Powers and Abilities:Greatly enhanced strength (varies by writer but always notably much stronger than Spider-man), super-human agility, active camouflage, shape shifting, bullet absorption, organic webbing, prehensile tendrils. Vulnerable to fire and sonics.
Current Status: Bumming around the galaxy as Agent Venom (Flash Thompson)

But of course Spider-man has many other spectacular foes:

Kraven the Hunter_____________________Jackal______________________________Kingpin

Lizard_______________________________Mysterio_____________________________Vulture

Sandman____________________________Electro

and the rest!
Rhino
Harry Osborn
Chameleon
The Scorpion
Shocker
Smythe
Carnage
Hobgoblin
etc.


Who are your favorites and why?

 

[Cream]

Calender Man?

 

[NeOak]

Alfred Molina's Doc Octopus.

 

[Team Filler]

 

[DeathyBoy]

No question, it's Oliver Twist.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

PAARKER!

Gotta go with Venom.

 

[ratcliffja]

Gonna have to say it's a tie between Doc Ock and Harry Osborne. I love Harry's descent into madness and the overall design of Octavius.

 

[Zakalwe]

Venom is clearly the coolest.

 

[Swhalen]

Mysterio is my favorite spiderman villain.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Norman Osborn is also pretty terrifying. He's kinda like the Joker in his sanity levels, but goes past that because of his dual identity. Just as Peter's dual identity allows him this double life with so many downfalls, Osborn kinda benefits from his.

 

[iMerc]

MEPHISTO.

no other spiderman villain has influenced the direction spiderman comics would go thereafter (one could argue green goblin & the death of gwen stacy), nor has any other villian teased peter parker with a glimpse of a would be 'lovingly married life' with mj, and their daughter-to-be, only to take it all away in one of the most dramatic, infuriating canon-retcons in spiderman history.

this villain was so despicable that not only did he piss off peter parker to the core, but he also managed to piss off almost the entire readership of the spiderman comic line, too.

fucking mephisto.
he's a trans-dimentional demon who simultaneously exists as a red skinned, horned immortal in the marvel universe, and as the comic producing devil knows as 'joe quesada' in our reality.

 

[MrCunningham]

As funny as this .gif is, the 90's Spider-Man cartoon really did have the best origin story for Venom.At least in my opinion, anyway.


Also the Kingpin is pretty awesome when in the right hands. Though the Kingpin made the switch to being more of a Dare Devil villain.

 

[MrRudiMentary]

 

[MrCunningham]

Favorite scene in Spider-Man 2: The Evil Dead sequence.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Literally scene-for-scene how my dating life works. God bless.

 

[cacildo]

Not the lizard

 

[septicore]

While growing up, I've found Venom as my favorite but after watching the Spider-man 3 movie, I no longer want to think about Venom.

Also liked Carnage growing up but not as much as Venom. Was hoping for a Spider-man movie with just Venom and Carnage together against Spider-man but I don't think it will ever happen.

 

[iNvid02]

Ray mysterio, he's hilarious. Fucking domehead

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

While growing up, I've found Venom as my favorite but after watching the Spider-man 3 movie, I no longer want to think about Venom.

Also liked Carnage growing up but not as much as Venom. Was hoping for a Spider-man movie with just Venom and Carnage together against Spider-man but I don't think it will ever happen.

In an ideal world we'd have one film where Venom tries to kill Spidey, then begrudgingly a sequel where they team up to take down Carnage. Just like the 2000 video game!

 

[Bishop89]

both of them

 

[i_am_ben]

i liked the one with the spots in the Spiderman cartoon.

seemed like a cool super power.

 

[bud]

fox kids. :3

 

[MC Safety]

Big Wheel.

Because not only is he a big wheel, he drives around in a Big Wheel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Wheel_(comics)

Maybe the Rhino. I can imagine how being trapped in that suit would drive a man insane.

 

[ElFly]

Gaf you are all wrong

JJ Jameson is the greatest villain.

 

[tkscz]

This. First showing, he focused more on torturing Peter with mind games. Knowing who his loved ones were and making Peter paranoid on whether or not he would actually do anything. So awesome.

Spoiler

Yes, I know Norman did the same thing, but Norman only knew who Peter was, he didn't know EVERYTHING about his life.

 

[Slayven]

Black Tarantula. He is to Spiderman what Spiderman is to a normal human. Dude was a force of nature. Plus he was smart and pragmatic. Only reason he never killed Spiderman is because he saw Spiderman had honor and integrity.

 

[dan2026]

People misspelling 'Norman Osborn'...
Thats a pumpkin bombing!

Also the Green Goblin is, was and always will be Spider-man's greatest villain.
The self destructing madness, the ego, the personal connection. The fact that it is a middle aged man in a Halloween costume.

 

[Jarmel]

It's Norman and then Doc Ock (due to Superior).

 

[Kitbash]

Kraven's Last Hunt blew my mind as a kid. He killed Spider-Man! Kraven was no joke.

 

[Currygan]

totally agree with this. Molina's Octopus is deffo my favourite

 

[lazygecko]

The Spot

 

[voodooray]

Kraven's Last Hunt blew my mind as a kid. He killed Spider-Man! Kraven was no joke.

I loved this run. The story goes to some pretty dark places, and turned a pretty goofy enemy into a formidable and memorable opponent.

I remember it seemed thematically similar to the Killing Joke, and was interesting to read up on its development history over at the wiki. Small world it seems.

 

[neorej]

No villain comes close to the constant threat that J Jonah Jameson is.

 

[Slayven]

No villain comes close to the constant threat that J Jonah Jameson is.

Threat? Shit Parker and him are family now.

 

[The Elite]

No villain comes close to the constant threat that J Jonah Jameson is.

J.J. shaped the negative press around Spider-Man when Parker first started and much of it has stuck till this day.

He has probably caused Spider-Man more problems than a lot of other villains.

 

[Escape Goat]

Because kangaroos are awesome

 

[wackojackosnose]

I really like Morlun from the first JMS Amazing arc.

 

[duckroll]

I like Sandman a lot. He has cool powers, and honestly, I just have a ton of nostalgia for the Sandman boss fight in Spider-man vs Kingpin on Genesis.

 

[ElFly]

I like Sandman a lot. He has cool powers, and honestly, I just have a ton of nostalgia for the Sandman boss fight in Spider-man vs Kingpin on Genesis.

Man, I played that game, but that's the wrong boss to Nostalgia about.

Lizard was much more impressive, with that giant level for you to search for him.

 

[duckroll]

Man, I played that game, but that's the wrong boss to Nostalgia about.

Lizard was much more impressive, with that giant level for you to search for him.

The fire hydrant says NOPE. I dunno, it's just a personal thing, as a kid I was so impressed with that gimmick.

 

[Slayven]

J.J. shaped the negative press around Spider-Man when Parker first started and much of it has stuck till this day.

He has probably caused Spider-Man more problems than a lot of other villains.

Nah, 8/10 regular people like Spiderman and the cops love him.

I like Sandman a lot. He has cool powers, and honestly, I just have a ton of nostalgia for the Sandman boss fight in Spider-man vs Kingpin on Genesis.

Love elemental villians.

 

[Luigi87]

Mysterio is my favorite spiderman villain.

Right here.

Edit: Elaborating, I always liked Quentin Beck's original back story of being a failed special effects artist and using that to become a super villain.

 

[User 479360]

Venom, then Carnage, I guess

 

[munchie64]

Can't get past the Green Goblin in my eyes. So many fantastic stories came from him, both old and new.

Although... there was that... weird post Clone Saga period.

 

[Mighty Chin]

Gaf you are all wrong



JJ Jameson is the greatest villain.

Truth

 

[Broken Joystick]

Marc Webb

jk

I always liked Doc Oct, but I think Venom is probably my fave.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Marc Webb Alex Kurtzmann and Roberto Orci

FTFY.


Webb is just a puppet... tangled in... strings.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

Venom, both because I like the design and because he has the potential to be a lot more than he is. I'd say the reason why Venom isn't the clear winner is because no writer has been able to utilise Venom to his full potential.

 

[Slayven]

Venom, both because I like the design and because he has the potential to be a lot more than he is. I'd say the reason why Venom isn't the clear winner is because no writer has been able to utilise Venom to his full potential.

I think he run his course with Lethal Protector phase. Antivenom was dope though

 

[sammex]

The symbiotes are my favourite. Basically evil/crazy versions of Spiderman.