<imagemap> File:Villainarena.jpg|Depiction of the many Spider-Man villains in a dream sequence of Spider-Man in The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #32. Art by Sean Chen. |right|frame
rect 3 99 33 165 Morbius rect 0 55 43 98 Hydro-Man rect 34 99 43 128 Chameleon rect 55 50 70 75 Will o' the Wisp rect 63 90 96 180 Kingpin rect 40 40 99 55 Carnage rect 83 70 108 93 Swarm rect 103 80 125 115 Lizard rect 158 203 122 152 Vermin rect 167 150 130 100 Sandman rect 147 95 130 73 Scarecrow rect 110 74 140 20 Scorpion rect 160 80 180 110 Tarantula rect 227 40 160 0 Vulture rect 170 150 210 120 Kraven the Hunter rect 200 100 230 120 Hobgoblin rect 190 203 230 160 Green Goblin rect 230 150 250 120 Venom rect 255 100 270 120 Molten Man rect 255 200 280 135 Electro rect 350 230 287 180 Hammerhead rect 350 150 287 89 Rhino rect 260 100 280 70 Mysterio rect 220 100 250 36 Doctor Octopus </imagemap> Spider-Man is a superhero created by Marvel Comics who debuted in the anthology comic book series issue Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) during the Silver Age of Comics. After his debut, he received his own comic book entitled The Amazing Spider-Man. This comic introduced many of what would become his major supervillain adversaries. Spider-Man then became popular enough for more Spider-Man comic spinoffs (The Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, Web of Spider-Man, ' etc.) which introduced more recurring enemies of the web-slinger, across their various incarnations.
As with Spider-Man, most of his villains' powers originate from scientific accidents or the misuse of scientific technology. They can be classified into multiple categories, such as animal-themed villains (Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Black Cat, Lizard, Rhino, Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter, Jackal, Beetle, Kangaroo, Tarantula, and Puma), villains with powers over the elements (Sandman, Electro, Molten Man, and Hydro-Man), horror-themed villains (the Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin, Morbius, Morlun, and the Symbiotes), crime lords (the Kingpin, Tombstone, Hammerhead, Silvermane, and Mister Negative), inventors (the Shocker, the Tinkerer, Spencer Smythe, and Alistair Smythe), and masters of trickery and illusion (the Chameleon and Mysterio). There are, however, numerous villains that don't fit into any specific category, such as Mephisto, who originated as a Silver Surfer villain. The villains oftentimes form teams such as the Sinister Six to oppose the web-slinger.
Spider-Man is notable for having numerous villains that redeemed themselves and became antiheroes, such as Black Cat, the Prowler, Morbius, Kraven, Sandman and Silver Sable. Also, unlike most superheroes, Spider-Man doesn't have one particular archenemy, but rather three: the Norman Osborn version of the Green Goblin, the Otto Octavius version of Doctor Octopus, and the Eddie Brock version of Venom, the latter two of whom have been similarly redeemed and depicted as antiheroes; since the late 2000s, the demon Mephisto has additionally been depicted as an overarching archenemy/prominent adversary of all incarnations of Spider-Man.
The rogues gallery of Spider-Man has garnered critical acclaim and has been considered one of the greatest rogues galleries of all time.
The majority of supervillains depicted in Spider-Man comics first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, while some first appeared in spinoff comics such as The Spectacular Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up and other titles.
Most of the supervillains of Spider-Man would be introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man comic book starting with the Chameleon. The early villains would be introduced in the 1960s during the Silver Age of Comic Books, and created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. John Romita Sr. replaced Ditko starting with the Rhino. Gerry Conway later replaced Stan Lee and helped create new adversaries for the web-slinger and also helped pave the way for the Bronze Age of Comic Books with the death of Spider-Man's long-time romantic interest, Gwen Stacy. Many collaborators would soon take over The Amazing Spider-Man title. One of the more popular examples included Todd McFarlane's Venom in the Modern Age of Comic Books.
Note: Alter ego characters who are the most high profile in the supervillain alias but have shared that alias with others are in bold. Alter egos listed having N/A use their real name as supervillain name. All the villains are listed in the chronological order of their debut in comics. Characters of the central rogues gallery are in bold.
Note: In chronological order
Note: In chronological order
Note: In chronological order
Miles Morales is a superhero and the third predominant Spider-Man to appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, created in 2011 by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli, along with input by Marvel's then-editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.
He debuted in . Originally from the alternate Ultimate Marvel Universe Earth-1610 before being transported to the main Marvel Universe Earth-616.
After his debut Miles appeared in multiple ongoing series including Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and where he faced numerous villains that were either previous Peter Parker: Ultimate Spider-Man villains, or Ultimate Universe versions of Main Universe Spider-Man villains. Following his introduction to the main Marvel Universe he appeared in Spider-Man (2016) and , which introduced new recurring enemies.
Note: In chronological order
Note: In chronological order
Note: In chronological order
Unlike most superheroes, who have a particular villain or villainous group among their adversaries with whom they have come into conflict the most (e.g., the Joker to Batman, and Lex Luthor to Superman in DC Comics; or Doctor Doom to the Fantastic Four, and the Brotherhood of Mutants to the X-Men in Marvel Comics etc.), Spider-Man is often regarded as having three archenemies, and it can be debated as to which one is the worst:
Reaction to Spider-Man's rogues gallery has been overwhelmingly positive with many journalists citing it as one of the greatest comic book rogues galleries of all time, with Batman's rogues gallery being its most rivaled contender. However, editors such as The Hollywood Reporters Graeme McMillan felt that only the Flash's rogues gallery can compete with Spider-Man's rogues. Kyle Schmidlin of What Culture! described the superhero's rogues gallery as "one of the most colorful in comics" explaining that Batman could only be debated as having a great number of enemies as good as Spider-Man. IGN staff editors, Joshua Yehl and Jesse Schedeen, described the Spider-Man villains as "one of the most iconic and well-balanced in comics". They opined that the scope of their schemes, how cool their powers are, and how dramatically they have affected Spider-Man's life is what makes the Spider-Man villains so great. Newsarama ranked Spider-Man's rogues gallery as number one out of ten as the greatest rogues gallery of all time.
George Marston of Newsarama said that the reason he felt that Spider-Man's rogues gallery was the best was the thematic elements that the villains manifested. He explained that just like the superhero they have the same concept of science gone wrong. They are "like him, great men with great minds, great power, and great determination." But instead they fail to use their powers responsibly, symbolizing the thin line between being a hero and being a villain. Alex Wyse of Comic Book Resources felt that a good villain is supposed to challenge the ideals of the hero. For Spider-Man that idea was the famous quote "With great power comes great responsibility", where the superhero is pitted against an antithesis of the hero's motto like the concept of using superpowers for their personal gain.
A viral Internet meme called "Me and the Boys", centering on images of Spider-Man foes from the 1960s Spider-Man animated series that showcases the four supervillains â the Green Goblin, Electro, Vulture and a photoshopped addition of Rhino â along with other Spider-Man foes in some variations, emerged in 2019. The meme image parodied and represented a group of friends bonding, hanging out, or engaging in various shenanigans. It originated from Reddit and, later, Twitter. It was placed as the 35th-best meme of 2019 by Thrillist.