You can’t be a superhero without a supervillain; otherwise, you’d always be punching down. That’s not heroic, is it? If the mighty Thor spent all his time hitting bicycle thieves with his magic hammer he’s not going to look like the good guy. He’s certainly not being challenged. So a good superhero needs a supervillain. And a great superhero needs a lot of them.
Spider-Man is a great superhero, and he’s got more supervillains than practically anyone else. He fights intergalactic slime monsters and mad scientists with sci-fi weapons and bank robbers with nifty gimmicks. He also fights animal people. Lots and lots and lots of animal people. And after a whole bunch of feature films, dating all the way back to the late 1970s, a ton of those bad guys have made their way to the silver screen, often more than once. Sometimes they even get their own films, whether Spider-Man shows up or not.
With “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” adding a score of new villains into Spidey’s motion picture rogues’ gallery, the time seemed right to explore his many movie supervillains and figure out what makes some of them great, what makes others stink out loud, and what makes so many of them just okay. We’re not including any of the Spider-Man television shows, even the official spinoffs of the films (sorry, “Spider-Noir”), and we’re not including any supervillain who shows up so briefly that they don’t make any impression (sorry, Typeface), or any standard, run-of-the-mill criminal who couldn’t hold his own against Spidey in a fight (sorry, bicycle thieves).
We will, however, include all the movies about Spider-Man’s famous villains that Sony Pictures tried to weave into a mini-shared universe. It wasn’t a successful experiment but it was a surprisingly long-lasting one, and it may be the only chance we get to see some of his villains on the big screen. Maybe ever.
Welcome to our long, long list of every Spider-Man movie villain, ranked from worst to best!
Note: The following contains spoilers for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day“
41. Knull
Did you ever wonder who created all those gooey alien symbiotes? No? Well, we meet him anyway in “Venom: The Last Dance.” Kind of. As played by Andy Serkis, this “Final Fantasy” reject spends the entire film trapped in prison, and the only thing that can free him is a MacGuffin called a Codex. So he uses his godlike powers to create teleportation portals for his minions to travel through. Knull doesn’t travel through them. Oh no. He lets his minions travel through teleportation portals, so they can help him eventually leave the room. He never does. He’s got no character, an arbitrary motivation and a storyline that makes no sense. It doesn’t get worse than that.
40. Calypso
In the comics, Calypso is a voodoo priestess who sacrificed her own sister to gain superpowers. In “Kraven the Hunter,” she’s a lawyer whose grandmother could see the future a little, and who sometimes resurrects Kraven with a magic potion she didn’t make herself. At one point, she says she’s good with a bow and arrow, which pays off a couple minutes later and never comes up again. She spends most of the film slightly helping Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) track people down, even though Kraven’s whole thing is he can literally track anyone down. Calypso was played by Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose, but there’s nothing she can do to elevate this material. There probably isn’t an actor in the world who could sell a line like, “My grandmother died on that trip, and I never saw her again.”
39. Morbius
Michael Morbius is a vampire. Vampires are cool. Michael Morbius is not cool. That’s partly because “Morbius” is one of the most dramatically inert superhero movies of the last ten years, and partly because he’s played by an uninterested Jared Leto. Sony’s weird attempt to turn Spider-Man’s villains into its own mini shared universe of antiheroes was ill-conceived from the jump, but a tragic and haunted figure like Morbius could probably have carried his own movie. To pull that off, the film would have needed a decent script, a convincing lead and exciting direction. Instead, we got “Morbius.”
38. Rhino II
You can see Alessandro Nivola trying to turn his version of the Rhino into an interesting character. It makes sense: Nivola is an interesting actor, and casting him as one of the biggest hulking Marvel characters this side of the Hulk is an eccentric choice. But the script for “Kraven the Hunter” never gives him any motivation to take over the Kravinoff crime syndicate, except that Kraven’s father was rude to him once. (Decades ago!) This apparently inspired him to hire a mad scientist to transform him into a Rhino man. But being a Rhino man is uncomfortable, so he spends most of the movie not being a Rhino man, and instead carrying around a cute little backpack full of his “not being a Rhino man” medicine. When he finally transforms he looks like the above. Poor guy.
37. Foreigner
In “Kraven the Hunter,” Christopher Abbott plays an assassin called the Foreigner, who can hypnotize people if he’s right in front of them — but only for three seconds. Also all he can do is make them stand still. That’s not a great superpower, since it would be more effective for him to shoot somebody from literally any other distance. Come to think of it, that’s also Foreigner’s weakness: getting shot from more than a couple feet away. He’s more effective than you’d think, given his skill set, but his motivation is generic and his death is comical. Oh, and why is he called the Foreigner? Because nobody knows his origin. Which doesn’t necessarily make him a “foreigner,” but whatever. It’s not like anything else about this guy makes sense.
36. Riot
Riz Ahmed seems to be having an okay time in “Venom” playing Carlton Drake, a diet, caffeine-free Lex Luthor-type, whose corporation wants to do bad things with alien symbiotes. Eventually he bonds with a symbiote named Riot, and they try to bring all the other symbiotes back to Earth. Venom and Eddie Brock try to stop him, which they do. Riot’s a functional but perfunctory bad guy, and the first “Venom” solo movie isn’t interested in him. Fortunately, Tom Hardy’s weirdo performance as Eddie Brock and his extraterrestrial other half is interesting enough to carry the movie. But Venom’s nemesis is so forgettable that most of this film’s audience has probably long since forgotten Riot’s name.
35. Lucien
Say what you will about “Morbius” — we just said it sucked, we stand by it, and we’ll say it again if we need to — but Matt Smith has charisma. The film doesn’t give him anything to do with that charisma, but he squeaks it in wherever he can. Smith plays Milo, a wealthy man with a debilitating illness that starts to wane after he turns into a vampire. So Milo decides to make up for lost time by murdering people. Never mind why. Apparently he was always a jerk and no one noticed. Milo is based on a comic book supervillain named Hunger. He likes to dance to terrible music while getting dressed. Other than that there’s not much to know about him. Thank goodness for Matt Smith.
34. Chameleon
“Kraven the Hunter” has moments when it almost works, and those are the parts where director J.C. Chandor abandons the vigilante superhero concept — which makes no sense with Kraven anyway — and treats the film like an organized crime story with supervillains. Enter Fred Hechinger as Dmitri, the mild-mannered member of the Kravinoff family who just wants to be an artist, impeccably mimicking the voices of Ozzie Osbourne and Tony Bennett. Eventually he’s abused, kidnapped and traumatized so much that he gives up on his innocent dreams and becomes as bad as everyone else. So he pays a mad scientist to make him the Chameleon. Now he can mimic people’s faces as well. On paper, that’s cool. “Kraven” doesn’t commit to the bit though. Worse, the filmmakers decided to make Chameleon so short that he can’t convincingly impersonate any other character, which ruins the whole concept.
33. Ezekiel Sims
“Madame Web” is not a good movie, but it’s not an unwatchable movie. Unlike “Morbius” and “Kraven” it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it can be enjoyed as good old-fashioned camp. The villain, Ezekiel Sims, is played by Tahar Rahim as an evil version of Spider-Man. He chases the film’s teenaged leads all over New York like a spider-themed slasher villain, and when director S.J. Clarkson focuses on that aspect of the character he’s relatively intimidating. But his motive is laughably vague, his character is completely undeveloped and he’s eventually defeated with fireworks like a Looney Tunes villain. Let’s just say as Spider-Man villains go he’s hardly the worst, but that’s not saying much.
32. Green Goblin III
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” tried to stuff too many characters, too many subplots and way too much foreshadowing into a single film, so every part of the movie suffered. No character suffered more than Harry Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin, played by Dane DeHaan. We find out Harry and Peter Parker have always been best friends – something the first movie never mentioned – and there’s nowhere near enough screen time to sell us on the idea that their connection is deep enough to mean anything. When Harry asks Spider-Man if he can use his super-powered blood to research a cure for a deadly hereditary disease that will one day kill him, Spidey doesn’t say yes right away, so Harry instantly becomes a supervillain. It never tracks. Ever. But at least he killed one of the main characters. You can criticize the third Green Goblin all you want, but you can’t say he didn’t get results.
31. Doctor Crawdaddy
Doctor Crawdaddy is a joke villain but he’s a funny joke. As voiced by Aaron LaPlante, this mad scientist kidnaps Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham, which prevents our cartoon superhero from eating a hot dog. Shenanigans ensue. The villain was introduced in a short film produced in conjunction with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and it’s only a couple minutes long, so Doctor Crawdaddy can’t make a particularly big impression. But he’s whimsical and he gets the job done. In the end, Spider-Ham never eats his hot dog. Check and mate, superhero.
30. Scorpion II
There’s not much you can say about the second cinematic version of the Scorpion, introduced in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” as one of the Kingpin’s villainous henchmen. He’s a Scorpion man. He has cool Scorpion technology, including a bunch of cybernetic legs, and the Oscar-winning filmmakers animated the heck out of him. He holds his own against a team of Spider-Persons and even destroys Peni Parker’s mecha, although the spider who lived inside of it miraculously survives. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of in the villain department. He’s just not much of a character.
29. Tombstone I & II
Another one of Kingpin’s animated henchmen, Tombstone, is an old-fashioned mobster with super strength and a keen fashion sense. In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” he’s played by Marvin Jones III, and in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” he’s played in live-action by (checks notes) Marvin Jones III. So what the heck, let’s lump them in together since they’re basically the same guy. Like Scorpion, Tombstone doesn’t have much of a character in the Spider-Man movies — especially compared to the comic book version — but he’s a competent bad guy who could give any version of Spider-Man a run for his money.
28. Sea Devil
The first supervillain who menaced Spider-Man on the big screen wasn’t the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus or any of the other recognizable bad guys in his formidable rogues gallery. It was actually Sea Devil, an anthropomorphic marlin with inexplicable tubes jutting out of his nipples, who could vomit torpedoes and grow to the size of a kaiju. In the 1978 theatrical release “Supaidāman,” a spinoff of the officially-licensed Japanese live-action television series, Sea Devil works for Professor Monster (who barely appears, and doesn’t qualify for a ranking of his own). He waves his monster arms around a lot and sometimes blows up tanker ships. Eventually Spider-Man kills him with a giant robot. This premise would eventually inspire a show called “Super Sentai Series” — which would later get recycled for American audiences as “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” The more you know!
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27. The Hand
There are a lot of minor villains who turn up in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and some of them appear so briefly it makes no sense to rank them. (Sorry, Tarantula.) It seems like The Hand, a cabal of deadly ninjas, will be just another cameo but they return in the third act to give Spidey a hard time, while mind-controlled by the film’s main telepathic antagonist. Like a lot of the Spider-Man villains in the middle of this list, they don’t have a lot of character but they’re good at their jobs. If it wasn’t for Spider-Man coming to a major psychological catharsis in the knick of time, they probably could have kicked his ass. Also it’s just fun to watch Spider-Man fight ninjas, dang it.
26. Green Goblin IV
The Green Goblin is considered one of Spider-Man’s greatest nemeses. Even the underwhelming version from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” made an honest, if ineffectual go of it. In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” he’s downgraded to one of Kingpin’s many superpowered underlings. He does, however, get a major power upgrade. “Into the Spider-Verse” turns Green Goblin into a gigantic flying dragon man, who seems like he could probably hold his own against the Hulk. He may not have much of a character, but he’s a real threat. For that, he deserves some credit.
25. Scorpion I
Mac Gargan, played by Michael Mando, was introduced in “Spider-Man: Homecoming” as a career criminal who was destined to become one of the hero’s most famous supervillains. We just had to wait nine years to see that. Scorpion finally donned his power suit in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and, like many characters in that film, he spends a good chunk of the movie psychically controlled by the film’s actual antagonist. But Mando brings some respectability to this character: a blue collar confidence that makes Scorpion stand out amongst the other mid-range Spidey villains without a lot of screen time. And his power armor is, admittedly, pretty cool.
24. Electro
Electro is one of Spider-Man’s most recognizable supervillains. He is not, however, one of his most interesting supervillains. It makes sense that “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” would try to do something different with this electricity-themed bad guy: turning him into psychologically fragile Spider-Man fanboy. That could’ve been an interesting idea, but it just never clicks. Electro gets a ton of screen time but not a lot to do, at least in relation to the rest of the film. Jamie Foxx does what he can to add drama to an otherwise underwhelming bad guy. Even with his return in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the filmmakers struggle to juice him up much. Electro has got too much screen presence to rank any lower, but he’s too unremarkable to rank any higher.
23. The Lizard
“The Amazing Spider-Man” tried to retell Spider-Man’s origin story, which had been told at length in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” just nine years prior. To avoid feeling too repetitive the film made a lot of changes, none of which made the iconic story any better. The reboot emphasized Peter’s deceased birth parents, explaining that the Lizard was their co-worker who now takes Peter under his wing after Peter plagiarizes his father’s work (which he’s never taken to task for). When he becomes a green monster and tries to turn everyone in New York into other green monsters, it’s too silly to have any pathos. But Rhys Ifans is a sympathetic performer and he almost makes it work. Almost.
22. Shocker I & II
The Shocker is one of Spider-Man’s most consistent villains, always popping up somewhere, ready to shock someone with his nifty power gauntlets. But like many Spidey villains, he’s just an ordinary criminal with a cool gimmick. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” has an interesting take on the character, whose role in the Vulture’s gang is so menial that anyone could do it — all they have to do is pick up the glove. Logan Marshall-Green plays the first Shocker. When he gets cocky and dies, Vulture tosses his weapon to Bokeem Woodbine and says he’s the new Shocker. Woodbine is marginally better at it, but the point is that anyone could be this particular Spidey villain if they had the right gear. That’s a novel approach which sets this villain apart from the rest.
21. Kraven the Hunter
As we’ve mentioned before, repeatedly, “Kraven the Hunter” is a really bad movie. But the character was probably salvageable. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the world’s greatest tracker, who also has animal-themed superpowers, and who defies his gangster father and becomes an anti-hero, murdering anyone who reminds him too much of his dad. Eventually he kills his dad and then realizes he’s become everything he always hated, which might have set him on a path towards facing off against Spider-Man and giving the hero a serious challenge. Obviously, that’s not going to happen anytime soon, but it could have worked. All you had to do was forget his solo film ever existed. Which audiences already did. On opening weekend.
20. Rhino I
Paul Giamatti is one of the most respected actors actors in the world and he’s never looked happier than he does in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” His version of the Rhino is introduced in an early high-speed car chase before returning in the very last scene, suddenly piloting a huge rhino-themed mech suit, cackling and preening like a diva. He doesn’t get to do much compared to the other, much worse live-action version of the Rhino, but he’s a million times more entertaining. It’s a shame we never got to see more of him.
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19. The Tinkerer
This may seem like a high ranking for a supervillain who most people don’t remember, but the Tinkerer is actually one of Spider-Man’s most successful bad guys. Michael Chernus plays a brilliant weapons manufacturer, who also plans a high-octane mid-air heist on an Avengers jet. He never has to leave the comfort of his desk. He lets Vulture do all the heavy lifting, literally and figuratively. He’s not a cunning puppetmaster. He just knows what he’s good at: making awesome gadgets and solving complex problems. He’s probably directly responsible for making half of Spider-Man’s villains in the MCU, if not more. On top of that, he seems to completely get away with his crimes, while the Vulture ends up in prison. Smart guy, that Tinkerer. He’s an underrated villain.
18. Prowler I
The MCU’s take on Spider-Man’s villains as a bunch of down to earth, working class everymen was a refreshing change of pace, and the Prowler is one of the best examples. Donald Glover plays him like an extremely normal, reasonable guy. He tries to buy superweapons from Vulture’s gang, but gives up when it becomes clear Spider-Man is in the mix. He even rats them out because he realizes their deadly high-tech gizmos are bad for the neighborhood. When we see Prowler again in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” he’s stuck in another dimension, patiently waiting to be sent home, handling an extremely bizarre situation like a champ. You have to appreciate a guy like the Prowler. He’s not that bad. He’s just not technically “good.”
17. Shriek
There’s only big budget superhero blockbuster about two queer polycules fighting each other, and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is it. Hopefully the trend will one day continue, but until then we have this very fun flick, with villains who love each other but get ripped apart by jealousy. Naomie Harris plays Shriek, a homicidal villain with super-screaming powers, which is a problem for her boyfriend’s other partner, Carnage, because loud noises are the symbiote’s weakness. The sniping between the trio eventually becomes their undoing. But before that, Harris plays Shriek with malevolent and emotional glee, and does her part to make this sloppy sequel the most entertaining and fascinating installment of Sony’s live-action Spidey Villain-Verse.
16. Vulture II
We’re not going to pretend that the second version of the Vulture, featured in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” is a complex character. He does, however, look totally awesome. He hails from an alternate reality where everything is inspired by the Italian Renaissance and made of parchment paper, which makes him look entirely out of place in Gwen Stacy’s universe. He swoops around with incredible speed, revealing wild weaponry and using Hammerspace – a literal pocket dimension where you can keep all your stuff, no matter how big it is – to repair his wings mid-fight. He’s voiced by Jorma Taccone and he completely kicks ass.
15. Venom I
“Spider-Man 3” is a lot fun but it has serious storytelling problems. One of the biggest is Venom, who can’t appear until after Spidey goes through a complete character arc with the alien symbiote. Eddie Brock, played by an entertainingly despicable Topher Grace, doesn’t become Venom until the third act, so we don’t get to see much of him. That’s disappointing, but director Sam Raimi’s take on Venom as the anti-Spider-Man and the anti-Peter Parker makes sense. It’s no wonder audiences wanted to see more of him, but the film wrote itself into a corner and that was that. “Spider-Man 3” gets a raw deal from most critics but it’s more interesting — and incidentally, more financially successful — than most modern superhero movies, and its version of Venom was kinda nifty.
14. Prowler III
The third version of The Prowler is Schrödinger’s villain, revealed at the end of “Spider-Man: Across the Universe” but mostly a mystery until “Beyond the Spider-Verse” comes out in (allegedly) 2027. He has the potential to be Spider-Man’s greatest nemesis, or a misunderstood bad guy, or even a total dud (although given how excellent the first time films were, that seems unlikely). But he’s a powerful concept and he makes the ending of “Across the Spider-Verse” mean more than most other Spidey films. When Miles Morales tries to come home from an alternate dimension, he accidentally ends up in a dimension where nobody ever became Spider-Man, because that particular radioactive spider was sent to a reality which already had one. So that Miles, also voiced by Shameik Moore, became the Prowler instead, which throws the heroic version of Miles into a serious identity crisis. Was this the life he was supposed to lead? We’ll find out eventually, but until then the potential is too tantalizing to ignore.
13. Doctor Octopus II
A few minutes after Spider-Man re-examines his personal biases after assuming a scientist had to be a man, the audience of “Into the Spider-Verse” finds themselves in the same position. The seemingly quirky creator of Kingpin’s multiverse machine, voiced by Kathryn Hahn, reveals she’s this reality’s Doctor Octopus. And, unlike the “Spider-Man 2” version, she’s got her s**t together and comfortable with her villainy. She’s terribly complex, but that’s part of her appeal. She’s happy with who she is, completely capable as a superscientist and as a violent threat. She’s pretty funny too. The second Doctor Octopus is the whole package.
12. Carnage
When an alien symbiote attaches to a human host it usually brings out the worst in them. Carnage is what happens when a symbiote attaches to an unrepentant mass murderer, played by Woody Harrelson as a comic book version of Mickey Knox from “Natural Born Killers.” His wig isn’t convincing, but his air of menace sure is. Harrelson even manages to imbue the character with a bit of tragedy. Maybe Carnage wasn’t destined to be a total monster. Maybe he deserved a little sympathy. Either way, he pays the price for his misdeeds, and for bringing a third partner into a romantic relationship without having a conversation about it with his girlfriend first. Venom doesn’t win the day because he’s stronger; he wins because his polycule has better communication, and that’s a lesson we can all learn from.
11. Sandman
Lots of actors play superheroes and supervillains, but few look as much like their comic book counterparts as Thomas Haden Church, who practically leaps off the page as Sandman in “Spider-Man 3.” Raimi’s underrated film imagines Sandman as a tragic figure who turned to crime to take care of his daughter, and turns into living sand in one of the most haunting villain origin scenes ever filmed. Church plays Sandman like a genuinely remorseful guy, trapped in a perpetual cycle of recidivism; there’s real pathos in that. The decision to retroactively make Sandman the guy who actually killed Spider-Man’s uncle is extremely forced — no one can deny it — but it does add gravitas to the character. It also gives Peter an opportunity to come to terms with Ben’s tragic death and overcome his long-gestating anger.
10. Green Goblin II
The second Green Goblin isn’t the best villain in Spidey’s rogues’ gallery, but he’s the one who earns the most sympathy. We spend so much time with Harry Osborn in the three Sam Raimi movies, and he undergoes such an emotional rollercoaster, that his downfall is genuinely powerful. He could have been a good guy, but his father’s emotional abuse, and Peter’s rueful decision to honor the original Goblin’s final wishes and never tell Harry his father was a supervillain, leads to his transformation into the Green Goblin. But he’s quickly defeated, gets amnesia and starts screwing with Peter in more soap operatic ways. That whole storyline gets way out of hand. He could have been the best Spider-Man villain. But at least he cracks the top ten.
9. Jean Grey
The decision to make Spider-Man’s antagonist in “Brand New Day” a superhero, from a side of the Marvel Universe that rarely interacts with Spidey, is a real novelty. So much so that “Brand New Day” tries to make Jean Grey’s identity a major revelation, even though there’s really nobody else it could be. (Maybe Shadow King, but he’s an X-Men villain too.) But casting Jean Grey in this light calls attention to the fact that many supervillains are heroes in their own mind, often responding to traumatic events that mirror the hero’s, except they usually don’t have a positive mentor or parent to guide them. That’s what “Brand New Day” is about, and Jean Grey’s emotional arc resonates as a result. It also makes it hard to think of her as a “bad guy,” but that’s the point. Sadie Sink plays her brilliantly, and “Brand New Day” brings out intriguing aspects of the character, previously unexplored in the official X-Men films.
8. Mysterio
Uncle Ben is dead, Tony Stark is dead and Happy Hogan isn’t cutting it. So Mysterio takes advantage of Peter Parker’s subconscious need for a father figure in “Spider-Man: Far from Home,” impersonating a superhero from another dimension and convincing Peter he’s a perfect role model. Then, of course, the rug gets pulled, he steals Tony Stark’s greatest weapon (which Tony really shouldn’t have given to a teenager in the first place; that part never made sense) and betrays Spider-Man in heartbreaking fashion. Even in his defeat, Mysterio has the last laugh, revealing the hero’s secret identity to the world in his final moments, and framing Spider-Man for his crimes and his murder. Well played, Mysterio. Well played.
7. Prowler II
Every Spider-Man’s origin story involves a tragic death. Poor Miles Morales has to deal with two of them. After Spider-Man dies, Miles blames himself. Then it turns out one of his father’s murderers, Prowler, voiced by Mahershala Ali, is Miles’ uncle, who he thought was a good person. Few Spider-Man villains have had such a profound emotional impact, while also serving as a truly great villain in their own right. Prowler is one of the best. And he has the most intimidating theme music of any Spider-Man villain; that can’t be argued.
6. The Spot
Spider-Man is a story about a regular guy who gets powers, overcomes adversity, finds his moral compass and does great things. The Spot is a regular guy who gets powers, can’t overcome his adversity, loses his moral compass and almost becomes a forgettable villain of the week. But when Spider-Man mocks him, The Spot decides to make something of himself, and be the greatest villain the superhero has ever known. He gets pretty close. With an unusual and visually-exciting power set, and a scheme that could kill everyone in the multiverse, The Spot turns the everyman concept endemic to this franchise on its head. That he’s voiced by Jason Schwartzman, as unassuming an actor as you could possibly cast, only makes his fearsome qualities eerier.
5. Vulture I
The first solo MCU Spidey movie, “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” isn’t just about the hero; it’s about the collateral damage billionaires inflict on people without means. Tony Stark dangles the carrot of fame and acceptance in front of Peter before pulling it away. And then there’s Adrian Toomes, played by Michael Keaton, who earned a lucrative contract from the government to clean up alien tech after the Chitauri invasion of “The Avengers,” but then gets screwed over and turns to crime to make up for the lost income. He’s a very cool bad guy with a very cool flying suit, but the best thing about him is that he’s got such a convincing motive that it actually affects Spider-Man’s morality and convinces him to stay small-time and look out for all the people that Tony Stark — for all his big ideas and good intentions — doesn’t really think about.
4. Venom II
There was a time when making a Venom movie without Spider-Man was unthinkable, but after three movies (and one-and-a-half good ones) it’s almost hard to imagine him in Spider-Man’s world anymore. Tom Hardy plays a reporter who made bad ethical choices and tries to redeem himself, while bonding with an alien symbiote with gross appetites. Along the way they develop a beautiful, whimsical queer romance, so it’s impossible not to root for them. Tom Hardy plays both characters and he’s absolutely hilarious, using the “Venom” movies as an excuse to cut loose as an actor and make bizarre choices that wouldn’t make sense in any other context. If he actually met Spider-Man, he’d rank even higher. But knowing that the Venom symbiote has a weird crush on Spidey adds a freaky element to their dynamic, whether they ever share the screen or not.
3. Kingpin
Kingpin is usually considered one of Daredevil’s arch-nemeses, but he’s got a thing going with Spider-Man on the side. In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” this wealthy, impossibly strong supervillain builds a machine that can open a door to alternate realities, which could destroy the multiverse. That’s pretty terrible. But he’s doing it to reconnect with his wife and son, who died running away from him in terror after seeing him fight Spider-Man. This solidifies the personal stakes between the hero and villain, and makes Kingpin’s motivations incredibly understandable. And the fact that he can’t let go of a tragic loss strikes a powerful contrast between the two as well. As voiced by Liev Schreiber, the “Into the Spider-Verse” version of the Kingpin is one of the most formidable and nuanced Marvel villains to hit the screen.
2. Doctor Octopus I
Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” introduced Doctor Octopus as a genuinely decent man who loses his mind after his ambition causes a laboratory accident that kills his beloved wife. His fragile mental state leaves him open to influence from his own artificially-intelligent cybernetic limbs, which push him to lean into his dangerous, world-threatening work and abandon his humanity. Doctor Octopus is a great character with a powerful story all his own, and his iconic arms are a miraculous visual effect, perfectly incorporated into Alfred Molina’s performance. It’s Molina who instills a powerful humanity into Dr. Otto Octavius, and reveals a remarkable number of shades to a villain who might otherwise have been yet another generic bad guy. Instead, he’s one of cinema’s greatest supervillains in any franchise.
1. Green Goblin I
The first live-action version of the Green Goblin has a goofy “Power Rangers” costume (although, as we mentioned when we discussed Sea-Devil, that’s actually kind of appropriate). Take away the early 2000s aesthetic and you’re left with one of the great movie supervillains: a father torn between two sons, one biological and disappointing, the other a powerful surrogate that’s literally his enemy. That Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man also gives the Green Goblin a Randian ideology, which flies in the face of Spidey’s perpetual selflessness, only makes their conflict more meaningful. When Willem Dafoe returned in “No Way Home,” he plumbed the psychological depths of Norman Osborn. Then, right as the character was finding his soul again, he murders Aunt May, making his claim to the title of Spider-Man’s greatest nemesis almost impossible to dispute.
