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.


1 comment:

  1. Sandman is my ALL TIME favourite villain! I really really hope to see a live action version of him again... one that gets enough screentime this time around though.

    Also dig Shocker as well, if only because he always kicked my ass whenever I played him in the SM games on PS1 and PS2 lol

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