Wednesday, June 27, 2012

My Top 30 Spider-Man Villains Part 3 #10-1

With twenty of my top thirty Spider-Man villains behind us its time to dive headfirst into the top 10. We probably have some of the most popular Spider-Man villains represented in the top ten as they should be the real question is the order. Well that might just surprise you.Well enough of the stalling already lets just get right to it.

#10 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. They wanted Norman back but this was back during a time when a new character didn't return from the dead every month so a compromise was made and The Hobgoblin was born. 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-Man's 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 of Rodrick Kingsley. Also like The Green Goblin there have been many people to take up the guise as The Hobgoblin but once again like The Green Goblin at the end of the day its only the original that truly matters.


#09 The Kingpin



Real Name: Wilson Fisk

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

About: Like the name should suggest 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 if anyone threatens or hurts his family he makes sure to use all of his many resources to make sure that person learns their lesson one way or another. 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.


#08 The 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 the scorpion is 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 had abandoned the Scorpion persona in favor of bonding with the Venom symboite but after a few years of this the symbiote was stripped of him and he once again became The Scorpion only this time with a major upgrade.


#07 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 threats 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 him the warnings 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 to exploit Spider-Man time and again by Venom. Another advantage that Venom had over Spider-Man was his ability to override Spider-Man's 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 escaped 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. After joining with Gargan the symboite once again regained its vicious streak and has pushed the already unstable mind of Gargan over the edge and again become a huge threat to not only Spider-Man but anyone who decided to get in his way. After the symboite was separated from Gargan it was once again put to use for good with Flash Thompson who is the current host. Gargan and Flash are all good and all but its Eddie Brock who is easily the best host of the symboite to date and after several years apart from each other I continue to count down the days until they are once again together, hey it has to happen sooner or later right?


#06 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 bettered Spider-Man in every conceivable way. But of course this is comics and the dead never stay dead forever. After other family members picked up the mantle of Kraven The Hunter the true Kraven was recently brought back to life.


#05 J. Jonah Jameson



Real Name: John Johnah Jameson

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

About: While not a villain in the traditional 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.


#04 The Green Goblin 



Real Name: Norman Virgil Osborn

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

About: When it comes to Spider-Man's 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 Green Goblin's 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 rose to power in the Marvel Universe becoming not only Spider-Man's greatest enemy but one of the biggest threats to every hero in The Marvel Universe.


#03 Electro



Real Name: Maxwell Dillon

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

About: 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. another one of his most high profile crimes came when he caused a breach in the super villain prison known as The Raft allowing almost every villain imprisoned there to escape. Although a constant threat I find that Electro is often times forgotten when talking about Spider-Man's greatest villains. Not only has he defeated Spider-Man before but he has done it more then once most villains can't even claim one victory over Spider-Man let alone multiple victories.



#02 Doctor Octupus 



Real Name: Otto Gunther Octavius

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

About: Doctor 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 to conduct his experiments from a distance but after a lab accident they were bonded to his body. When compared to Spider-Man's other rouges Dr. Octopus' genius is unrivaled and ranks up there with any of the most brilliant minds in the Marvel Universe including the likes of Mr. Fantastic & Iron Man. 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 for another task. 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. The biggest defining moment of his villainy however was murder Gwen Stacy's father Police Captain George Stacy.


#01 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-Man's most under rated villains but one of the most underrated villain's 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 with 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! He's 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.



So there you are my top thirty Spider-Man villains. Not every one of Spidey's villains are home runs though some of them are just plain awful and since I just did the top thirty Spider-Man villains then keep an eye out in the next few days for the top five worse Spider-Man villains. We're gonna have some real stinkers on that one. Until then though let me know what you think of my top thirty villains with a comment below.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

My Top 30 Spider-Man Villains Part 2 #20-11

With part one of my Top 30 Spider-Man villains in the books its time to move on to part two with #20-11. We really start to get into some of the real classic Spidey villains this time around so lets just get down to it with #20.


#20 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 worked for the school newspaper and was going to run a story on Lonnie's bullying 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 assassin. 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.After finding this out Tombstone framed and then attacked Robbie. He 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 Tombstone continued to make life hell for Robbie until he 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 gained super human strength as well.

#19 The Chemeleon

 

Real Name: Dmitri Smerdyakov

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

About: 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. Recently The Chameleon has really upped his game and has become a bigger threat then ever, there are no worries about Aunt May beating him in combat any more.


#18 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 rarely ever enough to be any real threat. Although always ready to fight Spider-Man, The Shock is more of a career criminal who would rather not come into contact with Spider-Man at and all just get that big score. 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.


#17 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 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. Recently The Rhino has grown more of a mean streak again when coming into contact with Spider-Man and other heroes but we have still seen no real evidence that he would hurt any bystanders.


#16 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 (or plasma if you watched the 1990's Spider-Man animated series. 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 headaches and dizziness for weeks.


#15 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 was another Spider-Man villain 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 again a thorn in Spider-Man's 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.


#14 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 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 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 guns and grenades. The Vulture might be old but he is far from a pushover.


#13 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: A hero is only as good as his villains so what was Marvel to do when they killed off Norman Osborn, A.K.A. The Green Goblin, 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 done perfectly.


#12 Carnage



Real Name: Cletus Kassidy

First Appearance: Mar1992s, Amazing Spider-Man #360

About: 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 had to be 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, Cloak & Dagger, 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.


#11 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 he's one of the most tragic villains out there anywhere. Dr. Curt Connors is a brilliant scientist with only one arm worked on an experiment with lizard DNA that would allow humans to regrow lost limbs. At first it seems to good to be true, unfortunately the lizard DNA caused Conners to transform into the vicious Lizard. Whenever faced with having to fight The Lizard Spider-Man is always torn, 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. Recently The Lizard has become a much more horrific character. After Connors transforms again The Lizard kills and eats Connors son Billy in effect killing any presence of Connors in The Lizard. The Lizard then sheds his skin and has a new more dangerous form then ever before. He is now much smarter then he ever. Despite this though after defeating The Lizard this time around some of Connors emotions and personality were passed on back to The Lizard.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

My Top 30 Spider-Man Villains Part 1 #30-21


When it comes so a super heroes its pretty much split down the middle on who people think has the best rogues gallery, you either think its Spider-Man or Batman as for who has the third best rogues gallery? Well that's up in the air, its all about Spider-Man and Batman.

Although I do love me some Batman my favorite super hero has always been Spider-Man and with that I always tend to land on the side of Spider-Man when the who has the best rogues gallery arguement comes up.

Either way I figured to celebrate the awesomeness and depth of Spider-Man's rogue gallery I would do a count down of top 30 Spider-Man villains. The fact that 30 are being named puts him above most other heroes rogues gallery, seriously how man other heroes out there have enough villains that you can name 30 of them? Well ok Batman. Despite the fact that I am only naming 30 I had to wittle the list down from over 50 villains that I could think of but lets face it if I made a top 50 list there would be some real losers on there as well.

Honorable Mention, The Burglar:



Real Name: Unknown

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

About: There isn't much to this guy but I feel I have to put him on this list somewhere even if it is only a honorable mention. 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 he 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 creating your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

#30 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.


#29 The Trapster:


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-Man's own webbing. While usually a Fantastic Four villain he has tangled with Spider-Man his fair share, 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.




#28 Kaine:



Real Name: Kaine (Clone of Peter Parker)

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

About: One of the few good things that the unfortunate clone saga brought us was Kaine. 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 pretty much returned from the dead half a year or so later. These days Kaine has completely reformed though and is the new Scarlet Spider.
 

#27 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 (Nazi!), but when Whelan objected to use humans as test subjects Zola's employer, Baron Zemo (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 things.



#26 The Spot:


Real Name: Jonathan Ohnn

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

About: As a former scientist for The Kingpin, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn 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 unlike the rest of those characters in The Legion Of Losers is the one with the most potential and has recently really stepped up his game in the last few years.


#25 Swarm:



Real Name: Fritz Von Meyer

First Appearance: July 1977's Champions #14

About: Swarm is a Nazi (Yes another 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 sort of non-killer bee) Fritz decided to try to control them via a psychic  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 (comics everyone!) 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!!!

#24 Mister Negative:


Real Name: Martin Li

First Appearance: Jan 2008s Amazing Spider-Man #546

About:The newest villain on my list. Of all of the new villains that came out of Brand New Day Mister Negative is the best. Mister negative is a mob boss with some neat powers, he can heal with his touch which is different for a villain but he also has mental control over others, super human strength and of course change his appearance to give himself the look of a negative photo. In one of the better cover ups for a mob boss Mister Negative runs a homeless shelter helping those on the streets in need and even cured a dying Eddie Brock of his cancer while giving him the power to become Anti-Venom at the same time which would be something that would come back to bite him in the backside more then once. Of all of the villains that were introduced in the Brand New Day storyline Mister Negative has the feel of a classic Spider-Man villain more then any of the others and that alone is reason enough o include him on my list.


 

#23 The Jackel:



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 since 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 the person who was thought to be the 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 real 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 Osbourn, 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. Oh yeah and it turns out he wasn't killed off with him returning yet again during last years Spider Island in which he infected everyone in New York with Peter's spider powers.


#22 Hydroman:




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.

#21 Hammerhead:


Real Name: Unknown

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

About: On paper Hammerhead is a mostly lame villain. He's 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 billy goat or a lamer version of The Rhino. 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 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 always fun to see pop up every now and again.



Well that will do it for part one of this three part series on My Top 30 Spider-Man Villain's be sure to come back again in the next few days for Part 2 which will feature #20-11 and feature a lot more of Spider-Man's bigger villains.