PopHorror Let's Get Scared
hEveryone that knows me knows that I love Spider-Man. I honestly think that I am the biggest Spidey fan in the world, and I am basically Peter Parker as I am exactly like him and have his rotten luck most of the time. While some people may argue that Batman has the greatest rogues gallery in the world of comic books, I think that Spider-Man’s takes the crown as he has so many awesome and unique villains that have stood the test of time. A lot of them are pretty creepy and terrifying if you think about it, so I decided to put together a list of his top ten scariest villains.
10. The Jackal
On the surface, Miles Warren appears to be your average run of the mill college professor. In reality though, he is anything but. He taught classes where Peter Parker and his then girlfriend (and real true love in my opinion) Gwen Stacy were attending back in the day, and he became obsessed and infatuated with Gwen. After Gwen died, he really lost his marbles and blamed Spidey for her death and became the masked villain The Jackal, who swore revenge on Spider-Man. He ended up cloning both Peter and Gwen, and he has caused all sorts of headaches for Spidey over the years.
I have always thought that The Jackal was incredibly creepy because of his obsession for Gwen (and Peter, to an extent), especially when he seemingly came back to life in the 1990s during The Clone Saga. There is just something totally unsettling about him thanks to the fact that he is so demented and has mastered the art of cloning, leading to some truly terrifying creations over the years due to his knowledge of genetics and the like.
9. The Doppelganger
Imagine a mindless Spider-Man with six arms (complete with claws), razor sharp teeth, and who exists mainly just to kill others. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Trust me, it is. Doppelganger showed up during the Infinity War and is essentially an evil version of Spidey. He stuck around for a while and even became part of Carnage’s warped “family” during the Maximum Carnage story arc back in the 90s and killed countless people during their rampage across the city. Just take a nice long look at this guy and tell me he doesn’t scream “Nightmare Fuel.”
8. Demogoblin
Demogoblin was a demon that merged with Jason Macendale when he was the Hobgoblin after he reached out to a powerful supernatural force in order to gain more power. The two eventually split up, but Demogoblin hung around for a while and was another character to join Carnage’s “family” that went around killing anyone they came across. He was a weird religious fanatic and was obsessed with killing anyone that he considered to be a sinner (which was just about everyone he encountered).
He’s creepy in general, but they whole warped religion thing made him even more terrifying as he basically became what Malachai from Children of the Corn would be if he gained superpowers. He eventually died in a somewhat heroic fashion as he perished saving a young girl he deemed “innocent,” but before then he did some truly horrifying things and killed a great number of people.
7. Sin-Eater
Stan Carter was a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and a police officer that was mentally unstable. His mental state took an even worse turn after his partner was killed and he became obsessed with riding the world of anyone he thought were sinners. He went on a murderous rampage, killing off many people (including Jean DeWolff, the police captain and friend of Spidey’s that he once had a romantic relationship with).
While he didn’t quite have superpowers like some of Spider-Man’s other villains, he proved to be a formidable foe and gave the webslinger a lot of problems during his reign of terror. He’s just a creepy dude in general, and I think that the whole Death of Jean DeWolff story arc that he starred in was one of the darkest and most disturbing Spider-Man storylines of all time.
6. The Lizard
Curt Connors was a scientist who had lost his arm and decided to regenerate it by experimenting with reptiles. It worked, but it also made him turn into a horrifying lizard creature against his will as a result. I have always thought that he was scary, but I think that during the “Torment” storyline back in the 90s he was nothing short of absolutely terrifying as he was somewhat mindless and controlled by the villainess Calypso and went on a bloody rampage where he killed anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. He was equally terrifying in the story arc where he ended up killing his long-suffering son Billy. I think he is a great character and that he would be an awesome horror movie villain due to his origin and the fact that he changes into a scary, murderous creature.
5. Vermin
Vermin was once a man named Edward Whelan who was subjected to a cruel experiment that turned him into a creature that is half human and half rat. He’s a dangerous, terrifying guy that can control rats to do his bidding, and he has also been known to eat some unlucky people alive over the years. He plays a crucial role in the pitch-dark Kraven’s Last Hunt story arc and was also featured in the disturbing and depressing The Child Within storyline that took place in the 1990s. This is one guy that you don’t want to run across in a dark alley, because if his army of rats don’t devour you, he certainly will.
4. The Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is Spidey’s big bad in my opinion, and over the years he has managed to hurt our favorite web swinger in ways that no one else has been able to accomplish. He is totally out of his mind and is just an overall scary guy for a lot of reasons. His appearance is extremely creepy, and the fact that he flies around throwing pumpkin bombs while cackling at the top of his lungs is the thing of nightmares. He’s been a thorn in Spidey’s side for a very long time, and he’s just one of those scary guys that refuses to go away no matter how many times he’s been defeated.
He’s my favorite villain of all time, and I think that he is as awesome as he is terrifying. The only thing scarier than the Green Goblin is Norman Osborn-the person behind the mask-as he is quite possibly the most demented and evil person to ever appear in a comic book.
3. Venom
While he’s a beloved antihero now, when he first showed up Venom was completely horrifying. He lived only to kill Spider-Man, and he came close to doing so on several occasions. Not only did he constantly attack Spidey physically, but he also tormented him mentally as well as he focused on terrorizing Mary Jane to the point that just the sight of the black costume freaked her out for years. While Eddie Brock may have twisted sense of right and wrong and tried not to hurt people he deemed “innocent” he also was known to kill those that didn’t deserve it if they got in his way.
He’s a scary guy and the fact that he used to run around threatening to eat Spidey’s brains on the time made him even more terrifying. He’s since mellowed considerably, but there are still times when he doesn’t have an issue with attacking Spider-Man when he feels the need to do so.
2. The Thousand
Carl King was a guy that Peter Parker went to high school with that ruthlessly bullied him to the point that he made the stuff that Flash Thompson do to him seem minor in comparison. He ate the spider that bit Peter and gave him his powers and gained his own disgusting powers as a result. He ended up calling himself The Thousand as his body was made up of thousands of spiders, and he is without a doubt one of the creepiest villains Spidey has ever faced during his career.
Ultimately, he only made one appearance back int the day, but he was so terrifying that he left a lasting impact on Spider-Man and all the readers of the comic, and it would be cool to see him return one day.
And the #1 Scariest Spider-Man Villain is….
Carnage
Cletus Kasady was a demented serial killer serving several life sentences who was cell mates with Eddie Brock for a while. When Eddie’s symbiote gave birth, Cletus took the offspring and became Carnage, Spidey’s scariest villain. He lives just to kill people, has no conscience, and is just a totally and completely evil guy in general. He is beyond demented and is so powerful as that even Spidey and Venom had trouble defeating him when they teamed up to do so on several occasions. If you want to see him as his most frightening, check out the Absolute Carnage and Carnage U.S.A comics as they are pure nightmare fuel.
There you have it, my Top Ten Scariest Spider-Man Villains. Please feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below.
Honorable Mentions:
- Morlun – He actually killed Spider-Man (briefly) once!
- The Lobo Brothers – A pair of gangsters who just happen to also be werewolves.
- Carrion – Basically a living corpse that kills anything he touches.
- Freak – A junkie who injected himself with one of the experiments that Curt Connors was working on because he thought they were drugs. What happened next is the thing of nightmares.
- Styx – A demented individual who rots and decays anything he touches.
- Banjo – A mutated little kid who lives out in the middle of the woods. He only appeared once back in 1989, but he was as creepy as they come.
