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Spider-Man is a tier-one superhero, up with the likes of Batman and Superman in terms of popularity and name recognition. And, similarly to Batman (but not so much Superman because, despite a few interesting villains, Superman’s rogues’ gallery is a tad lacking all in all), his rogues’ gallery ranks among some of the best in all of comics. Having frequented movie theaters with various installments in three different franchises over the past twenty years, there have been ten different live-action portrayals of supervillains from the Spider-Man universe, and they’ve almost all been awesome. But who’s the best?
The Spider-Man Franchises
Spider-Man was first brought to the silver screen in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, which was released in 2002 (with Tobey Maguire playing the titular character and his secret identity, Peter Parker). Sam Raimi went on to direct Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007. The original trilogy was considerably successful, grossing a little over two and a half billion across the three films. (( “Spider-Man Franchise Box Office History.” The Numbers. March 16, 2021. )) A fourth entry in the Sam Raimi franchise was scrapped after Spider-Man 3 underwhelmed audiences and critics, and for a while, it was unclear when or if audiences would ever see Spider-Man again. That’s when The Amazing Spider-Man franchise surfaced.
After a five-year hiatus, the Spider-Man character got a new franchise reboot with The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb, with Andrew Garfield leading the charge as the new web-slinger. The 2012 film made nearly seven-hundred and sixty million dollars worldwide, garnering a sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. (( “Spider-Man Franchise Box Office History.” The Numbers. March 16, 2021. )). The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released in 2014 and made nearly fifty million dollars less than The Amazing Spider-Man. For all intents and purposes, it tanked any hopes of the franchise reaching the ever-so-coveted trilogy status. Two underwhelming finales for Spider-Man franchises, but the superhero still had one more trick up his sleeve.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe burst onto the scene with Iron Man in 2008 and has been packing movie theaters ever since. For a long time, the rights to Spider-Man’s likeness were owned by Sony, and the company sought to make Spider-Man films completely separate from the MCU. After the blunder that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony finally loosened up on that front. Spider-Man made his first appearance in the MCU in 2016 in Captain America: Civil War and got his first solo entry in the MCU in 2017 with Spider-Man: Homecoming. He’s now expected to be a mainstay in the MCU, and the 2019 Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, making a little over a billion dollars worldwide, certainly bodes well for the potential of future solo Spidey entries in the MCU.
The Rankings
Having established the roadmap for Spider-Man franchises’ trio to have breathed life over the past twenty-ish years, the only other thing to discuss before ranking the villains is the method used to rank said villains. To rank, each villain, a pretty basic system will be at play. The performances from each actor, the quality of the fight scenes and gadgets, and the antagonist’s arcs and motivations will be weighed evenly to determine which bad guy was the most villainous.
Dishonorable Mention:
Paul Giamatti makes a very insignificant turn as Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He’s literally only in the opening sequence and a closing cliff-hanger sequence. It’s weird. He really doesn’t make any sense as a would-be superhuman Russian street-thug, and that’s really all there is to it. Not good, but not substantial enough to warrant a spot (even a low spot).
Tenth Place: Venom
Topher Grace plays Eddie Brock and Venom in Spider-Man 3. His only real purpose in the film is to serve as a foil to Peter Parker and Spider-Man, and that’s fine in theory, but it’s ill-developed. The film attempts to have three villains, and there’s just not enough screen-time for all these characters to be fully fleshed out. Unfortunately, Venom really suffers from this the most.
Eddie Brock has a fling with Gwen Stacy, who just so happens to be Peter Parker’s lab partner. Additionally, he wants to be a photographer at the Daily Bugle like Peter. Peter Parker kills both of these dreams harshly due to his brasher behavior brought on by the symbiotic alien that has bonded with him. Later, by complete happenstance, this same symbiote bonds with Eddie, and he attempts to kill Peter. It’s really lazy and haphazard, and Topher Grace doesn’t really do anything to uplift this boring villain. Additionally, Venom’s efforts in the final fight of Spider-Man 3 are only okay, and the CGI in those scenes is spotty, so that’s why this character is the worst live-action Spider-Man villain.
Ninth Place: New Goblin
One of the biggest shortcomings of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy was its inability to really do much of anything with the Harry Osborn character. This isn’t by a lack of effort. The films tell us that Harry and Peter are close and have been best friends for a substantial amount of time, but it just never really comes across in the character interactions. James Franco’s performances as Harry Osborn in each installment feel flat, and, ultimately, that makes the falling out between Peter Parker and Harry Osborn feel relatively non-consequential.
This all results in Harry’s turn to villainy, as New Goblin in Spider-Man 3, being relatively uninteresting other than the use of Green Goblin’s old gadgets. A sizable role in the final fight scene of Spider-Man 3 is the only thing that keeps New Goblin out of last place.
Eighth Place: The Green Goblin (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Dane Dehaan plays Harry Osborn and the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and genuinely, he’s just meh. The performance is fine. It seems like he was trying to channel a similar character to the one he played in Chronicle (which is an interesting found-footage superhero flick, definitely recommend for those who haven’t seen it). The problem is his character was significantly different in that film.
Most often, the Spider-Man films have kind of cast Harry Osborn as a bit of a rich prick, and Dane Dehaan doesn’t really capture that aspect of the character all that well. He’s really more suited for a loner, too-smart-for-their-own-good types (like in Chronicle). On the positive side, though, his motivations for taking down Spider-Man are fairly decent as he’s deathly ill and believes Spidey’s DNA can help him. Unlike the other version of Harry Osborn, you do buy the Harry and Peter Parker friendship in this film. All this is taken into account, plus spotty CGI and a so-so boss fight net The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Green Goblin a number eight on this list.
Seventh Place: Electro
Jamie Foxx plays Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and gives a valiant effort. Does that stop this performance from being one of the worst villains? No, it does not. Prior to gaining superpowers, Electro is just a low-level employee at Oscorp named Max Dillon. For whatever reason, Max is a super-nerd with a really bad combover, and Jamie Foxx plays him as such, but it just comes off way too over-the-top and cartoony.
His eventual shift to Electro is really the only thing that keeps this villain out of an even lower seeding. Electro is really powerful in the film, and this makes for some decent action sequences. Additionally, Jamie Foxx drops the super quirky and on-the-nose acting for a more subdued performance. Still, this iteration of Electro isn’t very good.
Sixth Place: Sandman
Thomas Haden Church plays Flint Marco and Sandman in Spider-Man 3. His standout scene has to be the sort of reincarnation moment he gets. Watching as Sandman musters the strength to take on human form again after being “demolecularized” is pretty darn cool. His motives are also pretty strong.
He’s a bank robber, but he does it with the hope of paying for his daughter’s medication as she’s a chronically sick child. He doesn’t have any world-domination or other overly complicated end goal. This in unison with his sort of shape-shifting weaponry, as he uses his sand powers to make like sledgehammer fists and other intricate weaponry, make him the first legitimately good villain on the list…and we’ve still got five more entries to go.
Fifth Place: The Lizard
Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curt Connors and the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man. His character and the villainous persona he undertakes, the Lizard (not the most intuitive name), are actually rendered pretty well.
Connors lost an arm sometime in the past, which fuels his scientific endeavors, which involve him splicing human and animal DNA. In an effort to prove the efficacy of his work, he begins testing the formula he and Peter Parker have rendered on himself, ultimately succumbing to madness and trying to make all of New York a bunch of humanoid lizards like himself. Ifans’ performance isn’t the goldmine we’ll see from villains higher up on this list, but it’s consistent and effective. The Lizard also has some pretty badass fight sequences with Spider-Man and a sensible return to goodness at the end once cured. This places the Lizard comfortably in the middle of the pack.
Fourth Place: Doctor Octopus
The mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus make a strong case for the best weapons to have ever been at the disposal of a Spidey baddie. The scene with the mechanical arms wreaking utter havoc on the group of surgeons assigned to sever the conjoined extra limbs from Otto’s body is one of the best scenes from any super-hero film ever. Doc Ock also gets some potentially unfair brownie points for being the villain that brings about the legendary sequence of Spider-Man using his webbing to halt a derailed train.
Only a few things are holding the Spider-Man 2 villain back from a more illustrious placement. For instance, his motivations are just a rehash of Green Goblin’s motives in the first movie (they’re both really power-hungry individuals driven into madness and radicalized by a freak accident). Additionally, his redemption arc isn’t bad per se, but it is a tad predictable and uninspired as he sacrifices himself to halt the fusion machine he’s created.
Tack these slight negatives onto a performance from Alfred Molina that, while certainly not bad, isn’t as menacing or maniacal (and thus as memorable) as some of the other villains, and you’ve got the fourth place villain on this list. Even though he’s got some really awesome mechanical arms and good fight sequences, there are still other villains that are better. Really, this goes to show how tight this race gets at the top.
Third Place: Green Goblin
It’s really a testament to Willem Dafoe’s acting chops that his turn as Norman Osbourne and, more importantly, the Green Goblin come in this high on the ranking. The CGI for some of the bigger fights in Spider-Man does not really hold up (understandably so; the film came out in 2002, but still). The glider and the Green Goblin outfit are still really cool, but the sequences of him flying don’t look that good. That said, those are really the only faults to find in this villain.
Willem Dafoe knocks it out of the park in this role. He’s got a devilishly haunting, psychotic cackle that he does while carrying out his evil deeds. The scenes of Norman’s still-somewhat-sane personage hallucinating and being overruled by the completely unhinged Green Goblin persona are dastardly evil and creepy. These qualities, in unison with undeniably the best death of any live-action Spider-Man villain, resulting in a third-place ranking for the Green Goblin on this list.
Second Place: Mysterio
Spider-Man: Far From Home just so happens to be the newest Spidey film so, while it could seem like having Mysterio ranked this highly is an example of recency bias, a deeper dive into the villain’s role will dissuade you of any such notion. The holographic drones at Mysterio’s disposal aren’t themselves as interesting as Green Goblin’s glider or Doctor Octopus’s mechanical limbs, but what Mysterio is capable of doing with them unarguably supersedes anything the glider or mechanical limbs could accomplish.
After Peter discovers Mysterio’s illusory fight in Berlin, he has been tricking him is the most visually stimulating and intricately crafted fight sequence of any Spider-Man fight. That there are a decent handful of these illusion fights goes hand-in-hand, with Mysterio having the best fight sequences of any live-action villain. This, in addition to a deceptively charming and alluring performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, make for the second-best live-action villain on this list.
And The Winner Is…
Michael Keaton’s portrayal of the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming makes for the best live-action Spider-Man villain. He’s got the best balance of all the requisite criteria. Michael Keaton turns in a brilliant performance. There are a brashness and combativeness to the Vulture that is balanced with a great deal of levity and fatherliness, and this all comes to a head in the reveal scene where Peter’s crush turns out to be the daughter of the Vulture.
Additionally, the Vulture’s wings, while perhaps, slightly less cool than Mysterio’s illusions, certainly rival Doc Ock’s mechanical limbs and the Green Goblin’s glider. Lastly, the Vulture’s motivations stem from a fairly acquired animosity toward the Avengers. A Tony Stark initiative nearly caused the Vulture’s business and ability to provide for his family to fail (until he ventured into illegal acts, that is). All told, while the Vulture is the best live-action Spider-Man villain, the real winners are the fans, as good villains are consistently being produced from each subsequent film.