The Live-Action Spider-Man movie Villains Ranked

    

A hero is only as good as his villain, and Spider-Man has had no shortage of iconic foes. When it comes to his theatrical adversaries, my feelings vary. Some are better then others, so for the fun of it, let’s see how his gallery of theatrical adversary’s stack-up. So, based on my own personal feelings, here’s how I’d rank all of Spider-Man’s live-action movie villains.

 

#12 The Shocker from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” 

Despite ranking at rock bottom on my list, this film actually makes great use of the Shocker as a small B-Villain. Most fans hate when multiple villains are crammed into one film, but this worked very well, as Shocker was never one of the high-bar villains from the comics, and wasn’t treated any differently in this movie. In fact, he was just an interchangeable henchman that never reached the same A-Villain status of the Vulture, and that little bit of extra evil always adds some nice flavor to a superhero film, even though the character himself is really nothing too special.

 

#11 The Rhino from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” 

In both the comics and the cartoon show, the Rhino was primarily a physical threat, with less character and motivations to explore then other rouges. With Paul Giamatti over acting the hell out of this performance in the movie, I really didn't want to see him as a main villain. Thankfully, that is not the case, the Rhino barely has more than a cameo, which is both merciful, and kind of a nice touch. I always pictured the Spider-Man universe as one where villains can spike-up randomly from anywhere, some minor and some major. By giving the Rhino this little role, it made Spider-Man’s universe feel much larger, and it's just great to know that not every super-villain has to be a main threat. Although, the Rhino's re-design from muscle suite to robot is still pretty silly, and the character just can’t leave any kind of positive impression.

 

#10 Harry Osborn/ The Other Green Goblin from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” 

Next is Peter Parkers best friend Harry Osborn, played by Dane DeHaan. After his father passes, Harry becomes a new Green Goblin of sorts, which is fine, as I prefer that to a strait forward rehash of the same Green Goblin from the first movie. While we don’t get the build-up lasting over several films like we did in the original trilogy, this still worked okay for me. I bought the friendship between both Harry and Peter, and I felt the right level of sympathy for the guy before he went bad. Having said that, his limited screen time doesn't leave a big impression, and his Goblin design is ridiculous. Honestly, we’ve seen these Green Goblin’s in two previous movies already, so I'm kind of done with them ... lets move on.    

 

#9 The Lizard from “The Amazing Spider-Man” and "Spider-Man: Far From Home"

Here’s a little detail I really liked … back in the original movie, it seemed all too coincidental that a super-villain was born at the exact same time as Spider-Man. In this movie, Peter is directly responsible for the creation of The Lizard monster that terrorizes the city. It’s great, because all other villains just come to life out of the blue, and it makes our hero’s responsibility to take him down all the more personal. Unfortunately, while the origin of The Lizard is really good, the villain himself, well ... sucks! This has got to be one of the most boring and forgettable foes from Spider-Man’s theatrical rouges gallery. 

His design isn’t that cool, he doesn’t have any quotable lines and his evil plan to mutate all the people of New York into Lizard monsters is downright silly. Heck, for as hammy as The Green Goblin was in the original, he was at least fun to watch, and had a decent rivalry with our hero. I feel nothing between Spider-Man and The Lizard, which makes their confrontations underwhelming. Rhys Ifans is at least very credible in the role of the Lizards human from, but his efforts just feel wasted. Actually, the whole character is wasted potential. In both the TV show and the comics, this guy was kind of like The Wolf Man, in other words a good person with an uncontrollable and mindless monster living inside him. This could have been a tragic villain, one that we felt sympathy for. I suppose there’s a pinch of humanity to the character, but he still comes off as just a generic villain of the week.

 

#8 Venom from “Spider-Man 3” 

After Peter abandons the alien costume, it soon latches itself to another host that comes in the form of a guy named Eddie Brock. Together they form a new villain called Venom, who has all of Spider-Man’s abilities, and can even sneak around his spider senses. Now, of all the villains from Spider-Man’s rogue gallery, Venom is probably the most iconic and beloved by fans … thus, many were annoyed that he was only in the film for 10 minutes before he got killed off. Obviously, the film should have ended with a cliffhanger of Eddie Brock becoming Venom, so he could be the main villain of his own movie, but I’m also whiling to go with a little bit of this character if he’s done well. For me, the problem with Venom is that the build-up to him was pathetic. His human form of Eddie Brock is about as annoying, whiny, and obnoxious as they get. Perhaps if Eddie Brock was either more tragic or more threatening, it would have been awesome to see him become Venom, but instead we’re stuck with this silly chump taking the role of Spider-Man’s most lethal adversary. 

Heck, even when he becomes Venom, he still acts like this whiny looser, and it’s nothing like how the character from the source material should behave. Venom from both the comics and the TV show always spoke in third person, referring to himself as “We” or “Us”, because he was both the combination of both Eddie Brock and the alien costume, and both wanted vengeance against our hero. Just to pore more salt on the wound, this movie never once addresses that his name is Venom, what’s up with that? Now with all that said, I was still very happy to see Venom in a theatrical Spider-Man film. The effects for his monster face looked fantastic, and it still felt like something of a dream come true to see Spider-Man battling his most famous adversary in live action. I even like how this movie touched-up on his design. Venom from the comics and the TV show was tailor-made to look like Spider-Man’s darker opposite, so I never liked that he was always three times the size of our hero. This movie actually made Venom the exact same height and build of Spider-Man, which made him look and feel more like his evil twin, and I thought that was a nice touch. 

 

#7 Harry Osborn/ The Second Green Goblin from the original “Spider-Man” trilogy 

Easily, the most layered journey Spider-Man has ever had with an enemy comes in the form of his best friend Harry Osborn, who’s the son of his arch foe The Green Goblin. Blaming Peter for the death of his father, Harry takes the mantel as the New Goblin, and is dead-set on revenge. While both his story, and relation with Peter works, he unfortunately doesn’t rank much higher, as I just never found him as exciting as an adversary to Spider-Man. It’s great when he reforms, and aids our hero in battle, but if he were only a more menacing villain, I would have absolutely ranked him higher.     

 

#6 Electro from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and "Spider-Man: Far From Home"

Of all the villains from Spider-Man’s rouges gallery, Electro would probably be the last one I’d choose as the main villain for a feature film. I never found him that interesting to begin with, and he just had the dumbest looking costume. So, I had no expectations for him in this movie, and just hoped he could entertain me on some level. 

In this regard, Electro actually surpassed my expectations. I loved his re-design, with transparent blue skin, and Jamie Foxx did a fine job supplying the character with menace. I surprisingly loved his dub-step theme, which should be stupid, but I honestly think it works. No other Spider-Man villain from the movies had their own music score, and I thought this track gave the character more of a presence. I especially love how the music builds whenever the action heats up between him and our hero. Once again, the special effects of his lighting powers, and how he becomes one with electricity is fantastic. Unfortunately, Electro still doesn’t qualify as a good villain, in fact, he feels tacked on, like he’s just there so the movie can have a super villain. His transition from fan boy to bad guy wasn’t handled very smoothly, and the script has no idea what to do with him as a player. Once he gets his electrical powers, he’s immediately knocked out, held prisoner by some cartoony mad doctor, and then freed to fight in the finale. So, as I predicted, Electro wasn't a very good villain, but credit where it's due, he was far more entertaining to watch then he had any right to be.

 

#5 The Sandman from “Spider-Man 3” and "Spider-Man: Far From Home"

Oh boy, talk about a great villain undermined by a messy script. Right off the bat, one major issue I have with The Sandman is that he’s suddenly responsible for Uncle Ben’s death. I find that this revelation completely spoils one of the most important dramatic aspects of Spider-Man’s character arc, as initially, our hero was tragically responsible for his Uncles demise. I understand that Spider-Man needed to be vengeful in order for the films theme of vengeance to apply, but I feel there were other ways for the Sandman to stir his anger, without falling back on Uncle Ben’s death. Also, the Sandman is given a second back-story in which he’s something of a “John Q”, who’s committing crimes in order to save his sick doubter. This concept had a lot of great potential, but it only works as a set-up for a good character motivation. 

We unfortunately get to a point in the movie where the Sandman just wants to kill Spider-Man, and the issue of his sick doubter is never really resolved. We don’t even know if she died or if she was saved, and it’s literally an issue that’s just left floating in the wind. Still, with all that said … the one thing consistent about the Sandman is that he’s very entertaining to watch as a super villain. His sand-based power of shape shifting and morphing his body lead to some very creative designs, as well as terrific action set pieces. I admittedly didn’t care for the giant sand monster effect, but I loved when his sand powers were in-snick with his human form. I especially love that one effect in which Spider-Man sweeps out his legs, and the rest of the body just collapses ... that was awesome! While his backstory was very rocky, I still can’t deny either the on-screen excitement of the character, or the solid casting of Thomas Haden Church in the role.

 

#4 Mysterio from “Spider-Man: Far From Home” 

One thing I love about this new Spider-Man series is the consistency with the villains. Instead of victims of random Science Projects, these foes are regular blue-collar workers who all drew the short stick in their careers, and are now adapting to the larger-than-life comic-book world around them to accomplish their goals. For this venture it comes in the form of Mysterio, who’s using some of Tony Starks technology to parade himself as a new hero. It makes for a fitting parallel to Spider-Man, who’s trying to honor the legacy of Iron Man without replacing him, whereas Mysterio really is trying to be the next Iron Man saving the world from high-level threats. Jake Gyllenhaal is effectively charismatic in the role, and his relation with Peter Parker works. Despite being a facade, you get the sense he has a reserved sense of respect for the web-head, and the two have an engaging dynamic. While I’ve personally never been the biggest fan of the Mysterio character from the comics, it was still exciting to see his classic design on screen, and his story arc was fitting for the character, just presented on a larger scale.

 

#3 The Green Goblin from “Spider-Man” and "Spider-Man: Far From Home"

Kicking off my top three is an adversary who’s only motivation is killing or corrupting our hero. Now most Spider-Man villains, or heck super-villains in general have some kind of ulterior motive that the hero keeps foiling, but The Green Goblin really has no other motivations to speak of. While this doesn’t make him a deep or interesting character, his strait forward plan of defeating Spider-Man dose add to the simplicity of the film. Now obviously The Green Goblin is a mostly stupid, and very cliché villain. His costume is silly, his hammy personality goes way over the top, and every attempt at being scary comes off as unintentionally funny at times ... but none of that matters because Willem Dafoe is freaking amazing in the role. 

Every time Willem Dafoe is on screen, he is clearly having the time of his life, and that always makes for a fun villain. He was also very passionate about this role, as he wasn’t the directors first chose for the part, but Willem Dafoe really pushed for it. He also did the majority of the stunts and fighting, because he didn’t think a stunt man could convey the same level of menace, and I just admire an actor for getting so invested in his character. While the performance is anything but subtle, he’s still consistently entertaining to watch. Plus, he has a decent rivalry with our hero, nothing deep mind you, but it’s genuinely exciting when the two characters clash. My only real complaint is that the Green Goblin from the comics and cartoon show is very expressive, but that’s not the case with this film as he’s wearing a mask with a permanent grin.

 

#2 The Vulture from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” 

I was initially skeptical about The Vulture as a villain, because the concept of an old man flying around in a bird costume always came off as silly to me, and I couldn’t imagine it working for a second in a live action film. Much to my surprise, not only did The Vulture surpass my low expectations, but he also added something to the film that was very refreshing and unique. Whenever he flies off into the night, he doesn’t really act like a super-villain, he doesn’t have any evil goals, he thankfully isn’t another victim of a science experiment, he’s just a normal guy trying to make ends meet, and by scavenging weapons, he makes some coin to provide for his family. 

That was such a welcome concept for a villain, and while it didn’t excuse his actions, it did make me identify, and even sympathies with him on some level. The Vulture costume itself was a terrific upgrade from the comics, but it still kept the same feel of the character. There were also some striking visuals, especially seeing him perched on the roof of a building like a predator ready to swoop down and strike at his prey. Of course, I initially found it amusing that Michael Keaton, the most famous actor to play Batman would be casted as a Spider-Man villain, but I was not prepared for his performance. Needless to say, Michael Keaton knocked my socks off. He was menacing, intimidating, but also kind of witty, and theatrical. This is one case in which the villain didn’t need to rely on a cool costume design to come off as exciting, because every second Michael Keaton was on screen, he just owned the spotlight. I loved his energy, I loved how he just threw himself into this performance, and very naturally he fit the role.

 

#1 Doctor Octopus from “Spider-Man 2” and "Spider-Man: Far From Home" 

Even though “Spider-Man 2” feels less like a typical superhero movie and more like a drama, it’s still not without some great-A comic book material. Case in point, the villain Doctor Octopus is one of my all-time favorite super villains I’ve ever seen in a movie. Granted, he was already my favorite of Spider-Man’s foes, and it was great to see him brought to life on screen, but the movie makes all the right decisions with how to make an interesting character. Unlike the Green Goblin, this guy isn’t evil just for the sake of being evil. He’s fueled with rage after the death of his wife and the failure of his experiments, and because of this, the Doctor finds himself dominated by an evil influence to continue his work. 

I like that the doctors project is part of his dream to accomplish something meaningful, and it’s not just a dooms day device for the hero to destroy. Alfred Molina nails the role of Doctor Octopus in every respect, he looks the part, and channels the duality of the villain with perfection. With his four mechanical arms, and dark sarcasm, he definitely comes off as both a menacing and dominate threat, but we still feel just the right amount of sympathy for him too. One of his best moments is the hospital scene, in which his monstrous side really takes over, and the poor doctors feel the extent of his wrath. This scene was shot like a horror movie, and echoes back to the directors earlier “Evil Dead” movies. I also love the practical effects of his mechanical arms, as in many shots those arms are real props, and the CGI is only used when needed. Even the relationship between the hero and the villain was handled perfectly. I liked how the doctor was Peters professional mentor, which gave them just enough of a connection before they slip into their costumes. It’s everything I want in a great villain and more, landing him as my favorite of all Spider-Mans live-action foes.

Thanks for reading my post ranking the Spider-Man villains … and continue to enjoy the characters you love.