This is why I recommend stuff like the OG Ultimate Comics and adaptations of Spidey over his OG comic counterpart, despite the great stories that version has.
I don't even think it's that they don't let him grow. It'd that they undid their status quo. For awhile the marvel universe was naturally aging but by the 90s we had settled into the "status quo" going forward in marvel. The world the sliding timeline moved around. Mj and Peter being married was very much a part of that. And then they undone it. I don't particularly care about the mj marriage personally, but this would be like de-aging Peter or the o5 xmen or the ff4 IMO
Your comments on why Black Cat represents a threat to Peter Parker, as a temptation to leave his civilian identity behind, is a perfect encapsulation for why I think she NEEDS to be in the next MCU Spider-Man film/arc of films. With the least amount of ties to people as Peter Parker that he'll likely ever have, this is the ideal time narratively to put that temptation in front of him.
Perfect time to have someone newer on the Avengers also keep an eye on him and warn him about Felicia too: One miss Doreen Green Cat’s also a perfect distraction and counter to Hobgoblin if they wanted to go that route too.
@ABenAbides I don't think they'd mind implementing her in the same way they did with Black Widow. I think they're more hesitant to have a love interest with so much sexual tension in an MCU with such a young Peter. I know they're generally portrayed as being similar in age in the comics, but Disney is probably scared of making their audience uncomfortable with the optics.
@@Wingsaber Even Black Widow wasn't the same level of s*xual in the more recent films. I don't think they'll ever let any female ever go back to the way Black Widow was initially portrayed
The funniest part about the usual parade of Spidey fans complaining about the editors and authors is that it still proves capitalism is his greatest foe, both in and out of the comics.
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 His IP gets thrown around companies for money. The drive for comic sales can also pressure writers to make vapid, poorly calculated arcs instead of polishing pre-established worlds and storylines.
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 The character is not allowed to grow, change, and even die. He is a property of a corporation first, a literary character second. A truly satisfying narrative arc is impossible if the character is immortal and unchanging due to a company afraid to leave money on the table.
Another interpretation of Venom that I personally like is that he also represents who Peter could become if he abandoned his personal life and becomes fully dedicated to Spider-Man. Yes, he'd be doing what he thinks is good all the time but that can spiral into obsession & not having anyone ground him can lead to him crossing that line. The symbiote in the comics exhausted Peter because even while sleeping, the symbiote is out using his body to be Spider-Man. The symbiote, new to humans & how they think, believes it's doing what it hosts wants & believes only Spider-Man is what Peter needs & nothing else because it doesn't understand humanity
Another interpretation I like is that it's an allegory for substance abuse and addiction. When Peter puts on the symbiote, he's faster, stronger, doesn't feel pain and most importantly his repressed inner emotions and stress is brought out albeit in an unhealthy manner. He pushes concerned friends and family away and is prone to being more abrasive, irrational and impulsive. A more psychological take on it is how the symbiote can represent the shadow self. Pete was a 15 yr old boy thrust into the world of violence, crime and suffering. His life is a very difficult one, his loved ones keep getting hurt but he just powers through it. There's no healthy outlet for all the repressed emotions and stress. The symbiote helps him with that but because he has suppressed it for a long time, it all come pouring out at once. Learning to control your shadow self and incorporating it into your real self is integral in leading a healthy life.
Trick question! It's the one villain he will never defeat. The editors and writers at Marvel. It ain't just one or two we can point at directly either. It's the greatest league of bad guys ever known.
Don't forget Marvel's marketing - That's why the Clone Saga was stretched to two years months from the... 6 week, I think I've read?... event the writers conceived it as. The bureaucracy of Marvel, then.
Oh, the editorial team had it out for Spidey long before One More Day Remember how Aunt May didn't die, because she was actually a paid actor, who was actually a skrull pretending to be a paid actor, who only happened because of a reality warper interacting with stuff? Also, I think Aunt May might have been secretly Blind Al at this point in time as well Like, all the unveils for Stevil's run as pretending to be Captain America was already done by Aunt May, more than once, by the time Stevil hit the stage edit: I just realised I accidentally suggested that at one point in time Blind Al pretended to be Captain America for a story line. I'm not aware of this having been suggested to have actually happened. We only have one part where Blind Al pretended to be Aunt May
Great video! Stan Lee once said, Doctor octopus was the arch enemy to spider-man but green goblin was the arch enemy to Peter Parker, let that sink in.
Venom even being a contender is proof that adaptations have severely skewed mainstream perception of Spider-Man in a lame direction. Venom has had so many redemption arcs and media refuses to cover that, the movies succeed in showing him as an antihero but fail in showing that that was a genuine character journey Eddie and the Venom symbiote actually had to undergo.
If you're looking at the character as a whole, sure. Though I don't think it's unwarranted to include him in a conversation regarding Spidey's greatest villains when you consider he how much impact he had on, not only Spider-Man stories but, pop culture as whole during his time as a villain. He wasn't just a one and done villain either that changed course right after debuting. He was THE Spider-Man villain throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Whenever he appeared in a story you knew it was going to be an event that pushed Spider-Man to his limits. He also singlehandedly carried the whole dark rival/mirror villain trope on his back in that era and is still the only enduring example of it left over from then aside from maybe Shadow the Hedgehog. While he's got some solid stories later on you can't deny it's a mixed bag compared to his villain era which probably contributes to why it's stuck around in people's minds more prominently. Aside from Lethal Protector, Maximum Carnage, Agent Venom, or more recently King in Black, Venom's anti-hero era isn't as well handled imho.
The last Spider-Man cartoon had a season dedicated to the Maximum Venom arc and a hint of him becoming an anti-hero, but he instead gets killed off as a villain and the show got cancelled after that.
The anti hero stuff is stupid, its just so they can take a cool villain and make them a hero with all the same bad quality's people liked in them as a villain. Villian I want to kill people Anti hero I want to kill people but this time I will make sure they deserve it. A anti hero is a villain that is the main character. The Punisher is still a dardevil and spiderman villian inspire of him having his own comics
I totally agree that Jonah Jameson should be consider a Spider Man villain, or at least an antagonist. Not only he was involved in the origin of some of Spider Man rogues like Scorpion and the Spider Slayers, but, ever since his first apperance in Amazing Spider Man nº1, he plays a key role in Peter struggles as hero. The way he uses his newspaper to ruin Spider Man reputation not only cause the public distrust on Spider Man but also affects Peter on personal level. What drives Peter to be hero is the guilt he feels for what happen to his uncle. Every sacrifice he makes in his personal life to be hero causes him to let people down and makes question if being Spider Man is really the responsible thing. What's the point of being a hero if he keeps failing to be there for his friends? Jameson just makes things worse, turning the public against Spider Man and making have more self doubts. The story that shows how effective Jameson can be as threat to Spider Man is the iconic "Spider Man No More" (Amazing Spider Man 50). The moment when Peter decides to quit being Spider Man is right after he experience a bad day bc of his life as Spider Man and seen Jameson on TV, saying that "Spider Man is menace and only cares about fame!", and Peter starts to agree with Jameson, beliving that maybe he was being a hero for the wrong reasons. After all why should he continue being hero who is not respect by the public? This is what makes the ending of the story so impacfull with Peter not only realizing his mistakes and becoming Spider Man once again, but also confronting Jameson, telling in his face how he going to "fill the city with a army of Spider Man" (basically declaring that he will never give up).
I thought Jameson was gonna be the surprise reveal on who Spidey's greatest adversary is because he's been antagonizing him since the beginning of the 1st issue.
I mean when he provided that much evidence to support it what can you do really? Just accept the fact that Paste-Pot-Pete truly is Spider-Man's greatest adversary.
There’s an issue of Captain America when Falcon was still new wherein Sam decides to hunt down Spider-Man because he read the Daily Bugle. He ends up beating up Harry Osborn because he sees Spidey swing into their apartment. So I feel like that’s on Jonah too.
Doc ock being there more often doesnt change that goblin hits peter way harder with his antics. Killed his one true love, stole his aunt and his newborn baby, was responsible for the clone saga, and was the first to learn peters identity. Octavius best attack on peter is taking his role as Spider-Man which he gave back to peter because of...... the green goblin. Its so obviously the goblin and this video is clearly biased towards octavius which is fine but not a fair comparison when your best point is "well he's there more often".
The thing about Norman is that he is the antithesis of everything Peter stands for like Lex Luthor with Superman and Joker with Batman. Also even with the small appearances of Goblin, Norman still is responsible, directly or indirectly, for a lot of everything that screwed over Peter leading up to the Nick Spencer run. Norman doesn’t do a lot but he makes everything count and he’s the most thematically interesting.
@Mammothsaber-4457 it gets annoying when he gets away all the time. He also didn’t deserve a gold goblin comic and be redeemed in Zeb Wells’s run. He deserves to be tormented by Ghost Rider
Commenting for algorithm. Love the bit towards the end about Peter Parker being the “Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman”. It’s why I love him so much. It seems like the whole world is out to get him sometimes, but he still strives to do what he can to help others.
Honestly I would say Spider-Man's worst enemy is his lack of ability to offer reasonable explanations. So many times he has to be pulled away from something and just comes up with a poor excuse or stammers out a terrible apology when he could explain he was caught up in some incident or another that involuntarily caused him delay. Also, since the 2010s, I'm surprised Stark or someone hasn't been able to set up untraceable bank accounts that could be used for crowd-funding purposes. Spider-Man has more than enough people who could send him money to support himself full-time as Spider-Man. Same with other superheroes with secret identities such as Dare Devil. Like there is zero reason Pete needs to be struggling at this point, and it'd be more interesting to see him take on more adult responsibilities like raising kids and managing a marriage, among other things.
I agree with the analysis of what the *true* eternal adversary is, but going back to the individual people that make up Spidey's rogues, I think we can group both Doc Ock and Green Goblin together as his top villains but for different reasons. As far as I'm aware, Doc Ock doesn't know who Spider-Man's identity is except in the Superior run, so his villainous acts impact Spider-Man during his hero work. Of course some of Otto's plans do impact Peter personally but it's not his main goal to hurt *Peter*. While the Green Goblins (both Norman and Harry) do and have done major damage to Peter's life personally and on purpose because they know his identity. So Doc Ock is Spider-Man's arch nemesis, while the Goblins are Peter Parker's arch nemesis.
Current Oct remembers Peter is Spider-man. They keep teasing a return of superior spider-man (or his octopus based version, I forgot the exact name he went by) and Otto doing a redemption and restoring his character development he did as the superior spider man after peter got his body back.... And so far have delivered about as much as they have all the OMD reversals thry have teased.
Even though you didn’t put Vulture on this list, I would make an argument that he’s one of Spidey’s most reoccurring foes. He’s special for being the first villain that Peter had a rematch against. Heck, Vulture’s one of those villains that typically gets put out there to give Peter someone to fight for a bit. I wouldn’t say Vulture is one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains (unless we’re talking about the movies), but I do think he should be an honorable mention at least.
@@NotAFakeName1 Jackal has had a far larger impact on Peter’s life compared to Vulture. Jackal cloned Peter and Gwen, which spawned an entire dedicated part of the franchise on its own. The biggest impact Vulture had was killing one of Aunt May’s love interests, which led into my favorite Vulture story: Wings of Vengeance.
@@HubPie3 I know about the clone saga I just dont respect it very much Like jackals one of those characters where every time he appears the audience groans because he serves nothing but to remind the audience of some of spideys worst stories Also there's just no real sauce to him as a foil to Peter or a unique threat to spiderman he's just kinda a goon
Spiderman has always been my favorite superhero and after this video essay it's clear to me that it's because i relate to him so heavily. He's broke and empathetic and hasn't given up yet.
Spiderman's greatest foe is the burden of responsibility. It's why so many of his villains represent power without responsibility. It's also why when his villians redeem themselves its upon realizing they too have a responsibility. Example Venom upon realizing Caranage is their fault. Or Doc Oc realizing upon inheriting Peter's powers he also inherits his responsibilities. Or even Jameson upon learning Spidermans secrect realizing that he has done harm to someone who didn't deserve it then feels its his responsibility to try and undo the damage he's done.
I think parker industries in the comics was a step in the right direction in the sense of peter having a company and career. I dont think him trying to be like tony was good but just him having a business. Peter in the spiderman 2 game starting in a garage to build it up is what i want for peter in comics to be able to do. Have a family and a business that is big but is grounded in the sense of him still giving villians a second chance by working for him and helping out the communities
I also liked the idea of hobie brown helping him out with his spidey stuff since they should be on good terms it's cool when marvel remembers hobie exists in 616 not just spider punk loo
That’s exactly what I have in my headcanon; Peter rising above his money issues and relationship troubles to help multiple communities on a global scale. While at the same time, giving the redeemable villains in his rogues gallery a second chance.
I wonder how the Writers who originally planned for Peter to Retire after the Clone Saga, living with MJ and their Daughter in New Jersey while Ben took on the mantel full time feel now. Since it seems a bunch of those concepts are being picked back up again across Spider-Man media, such as a similar turn of events happening at the end of Insomniac's Spider-Man 2.
12:51 Shocker is Peter’s greatest mirror of they’re both just two trying to make it by and pay rent, even if the world constantly punishes them for it.
The main villain of Ultimate Spider-Man is absolutely Doc Ock. He appears at the start of every season, is responsible for creating a number of other villains, forms multiple different versions of the Sinister Six, creates Ben Reilly as a sleeper agent and is the main villain at the end of the show with him knowing Peter’s identity and threatening to kill everyone he cares about unless he gives up being Spider-Man.
Absolutely agree with your take on the real villian. Peter really would be able to chill and have good relationship with still living people he loves. If spider-man, he would be loved and just save people from robbers and muggers.
Everyone says Marvel editorial is his arch enemy, but I’d argue 2010’s Sony Pictures did just as much damage to the Spidey brand. Avi Arad is this evil incarnate.
People complaining about the writers and editors having bad things happen to the character: I'm going to read the "bad things happen to characters" genre. If anything bad happens to the characters I'm going to lose it.
@brody5409 which is why I was frustrated with across the spider verse because for years people want peter parker to suffer all the time to be “relatable” and he needs to lose people and suffer consequences but say Miguel is wrong about canon events even tho Miguel reflects those fans
There is a huge difference between being relatable and being the universe's punching bag Modern (spider-man) writers effectively proved they just hate spider-man being happy in any way, they just do anything in their power to not let this man be happy. Just go read Usm because Tasm's current run is, well...
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 sure, the ways they do it to spider-man feels shallow and uncreative makes me feel like the writers just follow a binary formula of Misery=Good Even if someone is a guy who keeps getting dragged down in life i won't imagine they would enjoy this writing where it represents them in such a shallow way.
@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 The way I interpret it at least, it's not so much that Miguel is wrong about spiderman needing to suffer because Canon events, it's more the philosophy that because someone is supposed to die, you shouldn't try to save them. Spiderman is supposed to try to save everyone. It won't always work, but he has to try every time. Where Miguel is wrong is saying that there are some people spiderman shouldn't even attempt to save.
You see if you were to ask me whose my favorite Spider-man character without hesitation i would say Venom/Eddie but if your asking my favourite villain I chose green goblin ( norman/harry) . Because from narrative perceptive Venom being a main villain for spider-man really only works for a short time or else it becomes repetitive . And in adaptations where he is strictly a pure villain it just doesn't work because it either makes him a mindless monster or alien invasion ( insomniac, ultimate cartoon , or 2017 ) . Alot of casual fans and writers of adaptations have this mindset that he's Peter's reverse flash but in actuality he's his shadow the hedgehog , vegta , kevin 11 , asuka , and goro akechi his hate for spider-man is just an outlet to release his hatred on someone he sees has a similar life to him but more successful, and he uses the excuse of the spider-man making him lose his job as the spark
That'd be an awesome idea for a vid ngl, especially since as far as i can remember Static's villains are pretty unique despite his parallels with Spidey (atleast in the comics, in the show tho Statics villains are still pretty unique but i can remember a few that are similar to other classic villains, heck i forget the guys name/the episode but i remember an episode of Static Shock having a guy that had powers that were essentially just Doc Ock's tentacles but without the insanity/multiple personalities), also i wonder how a fight between Electro and Static would go considering their powers, like would Static have the upper hand because he can just drain Electro or even overcharge him? Or would their powers be useless against eachother since they'd end up just transferring energy back and forth? Idk just an interesting question lol, i wish we'd get an official crossover between Spider-Man and Static someday, i mean hell Spider-Man has met Superman in a comic so theres not much stopping it besides the fact Static hasn't got the attention the character deserves in a while
Nah Paul will always be like one of the big Spidey Villains with how far the editors went to justify him being a part of this story for as long as he was...only way they could make it worse technically is doing it again but having the guy this happens with a second time actually sleep with MJ, if only to top what Paul did.
I'd like to make a point on the mcu spiderman. Having starks backing financially didn't ultimately help him, it actually put way more pressure and restrictions on him. Having starks rules, standards, and legacy to live up to tipped the balance of stress from financial into him needing to do way more as a hero and straining his personal life. And I think pairing spiderman and Ironman together worked well thematically. All of Tony's main villains, stane, hammer, AIM, were all people who wanted to use starks tech not just for capitalistic gains but war profiteering. All of Tony's external conflicts in his own movies were to keep his technology used for helping the world instead of being for profit. Ironman 3 caused him to spiral and skew his idea of what would help the world. Spiderman struggles under capitalism, while Ironman tries to insulate himself from it, and they work as a good pair because of that
Glad to see another Shocker fan! I love him because of the 90’s show like you showed in your video but also in Spider-man 2 enter electro he was a very competent first boss for the game
Spider-Man's greatest villain is his codependent relationship with Aunt May. He's never allowed to grow and mature. That said, I LOVED Michael Keaton's portrayal of Vulture. It took someone with Keaton's passion and chops to make the Vulture somewhat sympathetic in his goals. It's his METHODS that make him a villain.
I would have said Jameson if we're limiting to just people, since not only does he use his power irresponsibly to wrongfully defame Spiderman and even create new villains and criminals, but because of Spuderman's sense of responsibility, Jameson is **immune** to Spuderman's power. Of all of Spiderman's rogues, Jameson is the least directly threatening, sure, but is the only villain to consistently get away with what he does.
Green Goblin is obviously Spider-Man’s arch enemy #1 but I think the reason people keep bringing this question up is because the Spider-Man comics treat his enemies differently than Batman, Superman, Avengers, etc. They always kill them off and don’t use them again for a long time. Compare it to Joker where he’s synonymous with Batman and is constantly showing up in different stories so much that he’ll show up in two different stories at the same time. The Spider-Man series will always change the original character in a very different ways to where it’s not really the same character as when they first showed up. Superman will always have a new lex luthor story, Avengers will always rely on Doom, Thanos, Ultron etc. It’s cool and sad because Spider-Man’s villains always change and mature but we end up loosing the thing we originally loved.
I always believed it was Kraven the Hunter as a teen. Simply because he knew Spidey identity, but would only go after him when hes spiderman. Of course through the years and writers they retcon that knowledge.
Stan Lee himself said that Doc Ock is Spider-Man's greatest enemy and that Green Goblin is Peter Parker's greatest enemy. Which is actually true. Doc Ock is the most reoccuring enemy of Spider-Man and is responsible for a lot of Spidey's greatest "workplace" challenges, like trying to crush Spidey with rubble, organizing Sinister Six or other over-the-top plans. But he never cared about Peter, he just wanted to prove that idea of Ock is better than idea of Spidey. He never attacked Peter's loved ones because that's beneath him. Norman is the opposite, he does not care about Spidey, he hates Peter specifically because their worldviews are the opposite. Other villains are not even close.
My first exposure to Spider Man was the 90’s cartoon. If that was all I’d ever seen, I’d say it was Kingpin. Which is kind of funny because it seems like he’s not around that much anymore.
imo, the 4 biggest contenders are Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Scorpion & Venom. Green Goblin affects Spidey on an emotional level for multiple reasons, he was also directly responsible for the death of Gwen, a fact that Goblin has probably rubbed in more than once, plus in the first raimi movie, he proves to be quite intelligent and beats Peter to a bloody pulp. the greatest weakness that Goblin has is two fold, one is norman's morality due to seeing Peter as something of a son, and the fact that the Goblin's ego dictates that he monologues about how he's going to destroy everything the Peter holds dear, that includes killing his loved ones, the minute that happens, Spiderman gets pissed, the adrenaline starts pumping and he stops pulling his punches, that means someone is going to get their end kicked hard, and unfortunately, Goblin is going to need a proctologist, assuming he survives the pummeling he gets. Doc Ock: biggest strength is the intelligence, the arms definetly allow him to contend with spider-man evenly. the biggest weakness though is, depending on if we're talking raimiverse or comicverse, his hubris is his undoing, and out of most of the villians, Peter has a very strong tie to Otto, so much so that he considers him his hero in many ways and the reason Peter got into science in the first place. also, taking out the arms is relatively easy. Scorpion: poisonous tail that can spit acid (at least in the Animated series), because of the procedure done to him, he also has arachnid DNA which makes him difficult to detect with the Spider-sense, not impossible though. biggest weakness? comprimised mental state., and definetly, 100% a sadist who prefers to play with his food. Venom: okay, this is the big one, because of how long the symbiote bonded to Peter (at least in the comics), the symbiote gained a lot of information about the host and actually managed to permanently copy Peter's powers. it is also immune to the spider-sense, making it easy for the venom host to ambush Spidey, not to mention because it knows peter's identity, it is going to share that with the host it is bonded to an use that against him. Biggest weakness? sound waves (though venom has developed something of a resistance to that), i would also argue that seperating the symbiote from the host is another weakness, but also emotionally manipulating the host into rejection, and because the symbiote took peter rejecting it not very well, it has an intense hatred that can be exploited.
As a spider man fanboy I enjoyed this, honestly sometimes it feels like new York itself is spider mans worst enemy, like every other week someone is trying to frame spider man for something and people fall for it, or blame him for villains attacking to a point where in one comic people rooted for scorpion to beat him, seriously it feels like spider man is new York's fall guy when they can yell at no one else for the problems that go on and it makes me sad. as someone who's watched the movies, watched a few shows, played a few games, read a lot of comics from different eras, I enjoyed this and hope to see more Spidey content from u 🕷️
I think weirdly "new ways to die" proves green goblin as spideys greatest villains to me, because the second they see each other, they want to tear each other apart on sight. Goblin is also omnipresent in Peter's mind and the one to stress him out the most for long spans of times, that's a big bad. I also like Jonah as Spideys main Villan.
While I do consider THE CLONE SAGA to be a massive guilty pleasure if mine (I’m a humongous Ben Reilly & Kaine fan), I still FREAKING despise the Jackal with a passion! The Jackal is honestly my single most hated character in all of fiction because he’s both single-handedly responsible for detailing THE CLONE SAGA’s narrative and is so insufferably annoying!
Didn’t see the rant coming, but since my first ever Spidey comic was the first Marvel Masterwork edition, thank you public library, I completely agree that capitalism has been smacking Spidey around from the very beginning, before he even got his powers. I like to think a modern Spider-Man would have a very successful Patreon that cool New Yorkers happily fund.
I will definitely always argue in favor of Spidey's villains. They're some of the best in my opinion. Especially Venom. I have a soft spot for that one.
Kinda unrelated but in Spider man by Insomniac Spider man seems the most evil character. 😭Like literally every villain (besides Frisk) need help and instead of having a chat with them and trying to help he send them to jail which will help no one! I feel like Peter Parker would have tried to help them. The villains teamed up with the Octopus because he helped them! Yes, he wanted something back but even that is more than Peter has done. 😭 And the whole Mayor plotline makes 0 sense. The guy clearly cares more about his wallet than about his people! (Yeah, he does love his family but the villains don't know that). And Peter is like "It's bad that you are fighting with him using force" but force is often the only means you can use to fight corrupt politicians! I really wish Doctor won.
An interesting point about Vulture's actions effecting both himself and his family is that he clearly takes advantage of his earnings. (Reality Punch Studios, if they still go by that name, referred to him as a "class traitor".) Yes he's completely right about the rich like Stark not caring about working class guys, but once Toomes starts selling black market weapons he buys a nice big house with a big pool that only someone with a great deal of cash could afford. It can't be cheap. (We never see what Toomes' living situation was before he becomes the Vulture so we're left to make some assumptions.) So he starts to benefit from the same system that Stark did, only difference being that Toomes didn't get a warrant to sell to another country so he could go: "outta sight, outta mind" like Stark did. There was a great moral dilemma because Peter knew that Toomes had to be stopped to keep petty thugs from killing loads of people with alien tech, but by doing so he was condemning his family to potential homelessness and shame from his actions.
Little late to the party, but I had the privilege to meet Michael PapaJohn, who played as Uncle Ben's killer in the 2002 Spiderman movie. Really awesome dude. He also played college baseball at LSU. He told me he would get me a signed poster of the Spiderman movie, on the day it came out, but he ended up getting side tracked with making another movie. Still, once in a lifetime moment for me
definitely Doc Ock or Green Goblin are Spidey's greatest physical enemies, JJJ is a great psychological enemy, spreading hate about Spidey. I do think Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, Scorpion, Rhino, Electro, and Shocker are all worth mentioneing, haveing been consistent enough and part of the Sinister/Insideous Six.
I love this. I know Steve Ditko, a Libertarian, would disagree and would somehow insist that capitalism is good and perfect, but he's wrong. This take is great. Love it. Subbed.
Cool video! Your thoughts on peter's relationship to the economics of america is interesting! Spectacular spiderman even incoporated that type of anlysis in the first season. Steve ditko obviously wouldnt neccesarily agree with the whole spiderman vs evil capitlaism per se, ironic. I think one comic sums up the in-universe physical nemesis for Peter, Its written in the untold tales. A figure in a trench coat goes to a bar, a bar visited regularly by supervillains (Doc Ock is in the bar as well). This figure is told by kraven and the vulture on how much spiderman annoys them, how they hate him. Except...this figure says "Oh i wish i had that relationship with spiderman. he never goes into jokester mood with me." The villains ask him why HE has a different relationship. The figure says "Well after he foiled my plans, I sought to teach him a lesson he would never forget." Now the attention is all on him, the villains are intrigued...what did he do? The figure takes of his trench coat, showing its Norman Osborn, grinning as if he were a high school jock having locker room talk over how he hurt a woman (osborn in-canon is sexist), "I KILLED HIS GIRL. IT WAS A BLAST." Bar is dead silent. This is what seperates norman from the others. All of the other villains, while cruel, wouldnt exactly take the same amount of joy in killing gwen, nor would they neccesarily think of doing that. Kingpin shot aunt may when his hired gun tried to ice peter-it was a consequence not an intended act. Venom has a bizzare code of honor to cover his sociapthic tendacies. Doc Ock once saved spidey becuase he enjoyed the thrill, and when he killed peter again-he began to empahtize with peter's life and decided to one up his rival. He could have went after mary jane, aunt may, etc, but he didnt. Norman? He aboslutely took it so personal that he destroyed took a way a future from peter. He killed? his baby girl, he killed ben reily, he put flash into a coma. Why? Because Peter defied him and Norman does not tolerate that. On top of that, Norman's cycle of evil tainted peter. Peter's best friend Harry was traumitized by his father all his life leading to a new cycle of abuse and eventually his death. Even when norman wasnt "alive," norman's legacy left more dead. Doc Ock dosnt have that. Actually come to think of it, norman is prob the only one of spidey's rouge gallery to be an abusive/negelctful father.
@@Venom_eddie123 it does though. It didn't when it first showed up in the comics. But then it happens in the 90s animated series, and then from there the comics decided to follow suit and make it affect him.
@DarksideGmss0513 yes the 90s is adaptation but the 616 still doesn't affect him so if you point out things like spider's shadow or other evil symbiote spider-man those aren't 616
@@Venom_eddie123 it's part of the Spider-Man mythos now though. Almost every story that does symbiote suit Spider-Man they have the symbiote corrupt him.
I knew it you son of a gun! Poverty is always the villain, which is fair still love Peter jumping out of his window in the 2018 game after looking at a bill.
"In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero, and most times they're friends like you and me." Mr. Glass, Unbreakable (2000)
I was glued to my seat when the camera zoomed into a close up of Dr. Capitalism saying "it's capitalisin' time" and profiting off the horrors of modern society. Shivers down my spine.
Not entirely related to this video, but while watching I started wondering how Spider-Man's power/responsibility theme applies to X-Men and the mutants. I've tried to explain to people why mutants are persecuted but other superheroes are not like this; imagine what it would be like if Peter didn’t keep his powers a secret and didn't create the spiderman identity. His life couldn't be normal even if he tried, even if he still used his powers responsibly and not in self-interest. Peter absolutely would be persecuted the same way mutants are if he made his powers public, regardless of if he was Spider-Man. Everyone would question the fairness of it and single him out. Secret identities let people with powers live a normal life, but mutants don’t want to hide who they are. No matter what anyone says, having power does not make your life easy when everyone else wants to exploit or punish you for it. So, I feel in a way that the X-Men are a soft antithesis to Spider-Man; they are pressured from birth to be responsible with their power. The only way mutants are able to find acceptance of their power by society is by becoming superheroes and fihgting evil. Part of their struggle is to create a world where they don’t need to be a hero to be accepted, they can just be a normal guy like Peter. Edit: just to further my point, if mutants are an allegory for minorities, then being a superhero is like being a celebrity. They are accepted by society as long as they prove highly entertaining or useful. The most well adjusted mutants are the ones who keep their identities secret, and making their identities public could be seen as similar as coming out or becoming "political." And I'm sure that has something to do with capitalism.
Jameson is definitely the biggest antagonist of Parker's Spiderman, but Doc Ock, Green Goblin and Venom are probably the most iconic who actually fights him.
Yes it is Peter vs capitalism. It's true. As far as an individual arch nemesis, it's Norman Osborn. He's the most like Peter. He looks the most like Peter, he uses his brain, he uses power for selfish reasons, he's the ultimate could be father figure. Peter could have been working that same job. My favorite villain though is The Vulture.
Spider-Man’s greatest adversary is Marvel Editorial refusing to let him grow as a character
So true! Don't forget current Editor Nick Lowe is also the reason we had the Wolverine SAing MJ comic in USM
This is why I recommend stuff like the OG Ultimate Comics and adaptations of Spidey over his OG comic counterpart, despite the great stories that version has.
Yep
Took the words right out of my mouth.
I don't even think it's that they don't let him grow. It'd that they undid their status quo.
For awhile the marvel universe was naturally aging but by the 90s we had settled into the "status quo" going forward in marvel. The world the sliding timeline moved around. Mj and Peter being married was very much a part of that.
And then they undone it.
I don't particularly care about the mj marriage personally, but this would be like de-aging Peter or the o5 xmen or the ff4 IMO
Your comments on why Black Cat represents a threat to Peter Parker, as a temptation to leave his civilian identity behind, is a perfect encapsulation for why I think she NEEDS to be in the next MCU Spider-Man film/arc of films. With the least amount of ties to people as Peter Parker that he'll likely ever have, this is the ideal time narratively to put that temptation in front of him.
Perfect time to have someone newer on the Avengers also keep an eye on him and warn him about Felicia too: One miss Doreen Green
Cat’s also a perfect distraction and counter to Hobgoblin if they wanted to go that route too.
Agree Spider-Man 4 is the prefect opportunity to finally bring Black Cat to live action
I suspect Disney is hesitant to let a comic accurate Black Cat onto the big screen for... obvious reasons
@ABenAbides I don't think they'd mind implementing her in the same way they did with Black Widow. I think they're more hesitant to have a love interest with so much sexual tension in an MCU with such a young Peter. I know they're generally portrayed as being similar in age in the comics, but Disney is probably scared of making their audience uncomfortable with the optics.
@@Wingsaber Even Black Widow wasn't the same level of s*xual in the more recent films. I don't think they'll ever let any female ever go back to the way Black Widow was initially portrayed
The funniest part about the usual parade of Spidey fans complaining about the editors and authors is that it still proves capitalism is his greatest foe, both in and out of the comics.
@donovanfaust3227 how so?
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 His IP gets thrown around companies for money. The drive for comic sales can also pressure writers to make vapid, poorly calculated arcs instead of polishing pre-established worlds and storylines.
@@Shmearcakes because of fans, right? Why writers rush and all
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 The character is not allowed to grow, change, and even die. He is a property of a corporation first, a literary character second. A truly satisfying narrative arc is impossible if the character is immortal and unchanging due to a company afraid to leave money on the table.
@@TheCompleteJeff but how do the fans proves capitalism exist? That seems more on the fault of writers and editors?
Disappointed you didn't bring up The Wall. He's one Wall Spidey will never crawl.
Another interpretation of Venom that I personally like is that he also represents who Peter could become if he abandoned his personal life and becomes fully dedicated to Spider-Man. Yes, he'd be doing what he thinks is good all the time but that can spiral into obsession & not having anyone ground him can lead to him crossing that line. The symbiote in the comics exhausted Peter because even while sleeping, the symbiote is out using his body to be Spider-Man. The symbiote, new to humans & how they think, believes it's doing what it hosts wants & believes only Spider-Man is what Peter needs & nothing else because it doesn't understand humanity
Another interpretation I like is that it's an allegory for substance abuse and addiction. When Peter puts on the symbiote, he's faster, stronger, doesn't feel pain and most importantly his repressed inner emotions and stress is brought out albeit in an unhealthy manner. He pushes concerned friends and family away and is prone to being more abrasive, irrational and impulsive.
A more psychological take on it is how the symbiote can represent the shadow self. Pete was a 15 yr old boy thrust into the world of violence, crime and suffering. His life is a very difficult one, his loved ones keep getting hurt but he just powers through it. There's no healthy outlet for all the repressed emotions and stress. The symbiote helps him with that but because he has suppressed it for a long time, it all come pouring out at once. Learning to control your shadow self and incorporating it into your real self is integral in leading a healthy life.
I saw the title and went, "Poverty!" I think I get half a point.
That's my greatest villain
Capitalism is all of our biggest villain
Trick question! It's the one villain he will never defeat. The editors and writers at Marvel. It ain't just one or two we can point at directly either. It's the greatest league of bad guys ever known.
Don't forget Marvel's marketing - That's why the Clone Saga was stretched to two years months from the... 6 week, I think I've read?... event the writers conceived it as.
The bureaucracy of Marvel, then.
@@Stephen-Fox That's a good point. A lot of the problems started in Clone Saga
@@Stephen-Foxwhat about Sony too? Specifically Amy Pascal and Avi Arad?
@@dannydumletif only norman osborn stayed dead
Spiderman greatest villain is the Spiderman editorial team since One More Day
@pesanticat9379 and Sony Pictures (Amy Pascal and Avi Arad)
Oh, the editorial team had it out for Spidey long before One More Day
Remember how Aunt May didn't die, because she was actually a paid actor, who was actually a skrull pretending to be a paid actor, who only happened because of a reality warper interacting with stuff? Also, I think Aunt May might have been secretly Blind Al at this point in time as well
Like, all the unveils for Stevil's run as pretending to be Captain America was already done by Aunt May, more than once, by the time Stevil hit the stage
edit: I just realised I accidentally suggested that at one point in time Blind Al pretended to be Captain America for a story line. I'm not aware of this having been suggested to have actually happened. We only have one part where Blind Al pretended to be Aunt May
Great video! Stan Lee once said, Doctor octopus was the arch enemy to spider-man but green goblin was the arch enemy to Peter Parker, let that sink in.
Venom even being a contender is proof that adaptations have severely skewed mainstream perception of Spider-Man in a lame direction. Venom has had so many redemption arcs and media refuses to cover that, the movies succeed in showing him as an antihero but fail in showing that that was a genuine character journey Eddie and the Venom symbiote actually had to undergo.
If you're looking at the character as a whole, sure. Though I don't think it's unwarranted to include him in a conversation regarding Spidey's greatest villains when you consider he how much impact he had on, not only Spider-Man stories but, pop culture as whole during his time as a villain. He wasn't just a one and done villain either that changed course right after debuting. He was THE Spider-Man villain throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Whenever he appeared in a story you knew it was going to be an event that pushed Spider-Man to his limits. He also singlehandedly carried the whole dark rival/mirror villain trope on his back in that era and is still the only enduring example of it left over from then aside from maybe Shadow the Hedgehog. While he's got some solid stories later on you can't deny it's a mixed bag compared to his villain era which probably contributes to why it's stuck around in people's minds more prominently. Aside from Lethal Protector, Maximum Carnage, Agent Venom, or more recently King in Black, Venom's anti-hero era isn't as well handled imho.
The last Spider-Man cartoon had a season dedicated to the Maximum Venom arc and a hint of him becoming an anti-hero, but he instead gets killed off as a villain and the show got cancelled after that.
The anti hero stuff is stupid, its just so they can take a cool villain and make them a hero with all the same bad quality's people liked in them as a villain. Villian I want to kill people Anti hero I want to kill people but this time I will make sure they deserve it. A anti hero is a villain that is the main character. The Punisher is still a dardevil and spiderman villian inspire of him having his own comics
@@daraghokane4236 Then I guess Wolverine is a villain then because he debuted as a Hulk villain.
@@daraghokane4236 good thing he basically isn’t an anti hero anymore tbh lol
I totally agree that Jonah Jameson should be consider a Spider Man villain, or at least an antagonist. Not only he was involved in the origin of some of Spider Man rogues like Scorpion and the Spider Slayers, but, ever since his first apperance in Amazing Spider Man nº1, he plays a key role in Peter struggles as hero. The way he uses his newspaper to ruin Spider Man reputation not only cause the public distrust on Spider Man but also affects Peter on personal level.
What drives Peter to be hero is the guilt he feels for what happen to his uncle. Every sacrifice he makes in his personal life to be hero causes him to let people down and makes question if being Spider Man is really the responsible thing. What's the point of being a hero if he keeps failing to be there for his friends? Jameson just makes things worse, turning the public against Spider Man and making have more self doubts.
The story that shows how effective Jameson can be as threat to Spider Man is the iconic "Spider Man No More" (Amazing Spider Man 50). The moment when Peter decides to quit being Spider Man is right after he experience a bad day bc of his life as Spider Man and seen Jameson on TV, saying that "Spider Man is menace and only cares about fame!", and Peter starts to agree with Jameson, beliving that maybe he was being a hero for the wrong reasons. After all why should he continue being hero who is not respect by the public? This is what makes the ending of the story so impacfull with Peter not only realizing his mistakes and becoming Spider Man once again, but also confronting Jameson, telling in his face how he going to "fill the city with a army of Spider Man" (basically declaring that he will never give up).
I thought Jameson was gonna be the surprise reveal on who Spidey's greatest adversary is because he's been antagonizing him since the beginning of the 1st issue.
This is the correct answer
problem is, Jameson can be contained and even legally challenged, after all, peter did say that what he is doing is Libel.
Im not gonna lie Anthony I was not expecting THAT compelling of an argument for Paste-Pot-Pete
I mean when he provided that much evidence to support it what can you do really? Just accept the fact that Paste-Pot-Pete truly is Spider-Man's greatest adversary.
dear hipsters,
you're not funny.
signed, reality.
PS. he hasn't been called paste pot pete in a really, really long time.
@@plasticweapon
Dear Mr. Romney,
Do Da Stanky Leg
Signed, Joe
There’s an issue of Captain America when Falcon was still new wherein Sam decides to hunt down Spider-Man because he read the Daily Bugle.
He ends up beating up Harry Osborn because he sees Spidey swing into their apartment.
So I feel like that’s on Jonah too.
Doc ock being there more often doesnt change that goblin hits peter way harder with his antics. Killed his one true love, stole his aunt and his newborn baby, was responsible for the clone saga, and was the first to learn peters identity.
Octavius best attack on peter is taking his role as Spider-Man which he gave back to peter because of...... the green goblin. Its so obviously the goblin and this video is clearly biased towards octavius which is fine but not a fair comparison when your best point is "well he's there more often".
Most iconic? Green Goblin.
Most dangerous? Carnage.
Most popular? Venom.
Most consistent? DOC Ock.
Yeah, this is correct.
I would argue Morlun and the Inheritors would be the most dangerous since it took tons of Spiders across all dimensions to defeat them.
The thing about Norman is that he is the antithesis of everything Peter stands for like Lex Luthor with Superman and Joker with Batman. Also even with the small appearances of Goblin, Norman still is responsible, directly or indirectly, for a lot of everything that screwed over Peter leading up to the Nick Spencer run. Norman doesn’t do a lot but he makes everything count and he’s the most thematically interesting.
@Mammothsaber-4457 it gets annoying when he gets away all the time. He also didn’t deserve a gold goblin comic and be redeemed in Zeb Wells’s run. He deserves to be tormented by Ghost Rider
Commenting for algorithm. Love the bit towards the end about Peter Parker being the “Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman”. It’s why I love him so much. It seems like the whole world is out to get him sometimes, but he still strives to do what he can to help others.
Kingpin, Green Goblin, Dock Ock, J. Jonah Jameson.
These guys are Spidey's greatest goes IMO!
@Alec-nc2eu Back in Black Spidey vs Kingpin is one of the most satisfying comics Ive read
Honestly I would say Spider-Man's worst enemy is his lack of ability to offer reasonable explanations. So many times he has to be pulled away from something and just comes up with a poor excuse or stammers out a terrible apology when he could explain he was caught up in some incident or another that involuntarily caused him delay.
Also, since the 2010s, I'm surprised Stark or someone hasn't been able to set up untraceable bank accounts that could be used for crowd-funding purposes. Spider-Man has more than enough people who could send him money to support himself full-time as Spider-Man. Same with other superheroes with secret identities such as Dare Devil. Like there is zero reason Pete needs to be struggling at this point, and it'd be more interesting to see him take on more adult responsibilities like raising kids and managing a marriage, among other things.
I agree with the analysis of what the *true* eternal adversary is, but going back to the individual people that make up Spidey's rogues, I think we can group both Doc Ock and Green Goblin together as his top villains but for different reasons. As far as I'm aware, Doc Ock doesn't know who Spider-Man's identity is except in the Superior run, so his villainous acts impact Spider-Man during his hero work. Of course some of Otto's plans do impact Peter personally but it's not his main goal to hurt *Peter*.
While the Green Goblins (both Norman and Harry) do and have done major damage to Peter's life personally and on purpose because they know his identity. So Doc Ock is Spider-Man's arch nemesis, while the Goblins are Peter Parker's arch nemesis.
Current Oct remembers Peter is Spider-man. They keep teasing a return of superior spider-man (or his octopus based version, I forgot the exact name he went by) and Otto doing a redemption and restoring his character development he did as the superior spider man after peter got his body back.... And so far have delivered about as much as they have all the OMD reversals thry have teased.
Even though you didn’t put Vulture on this list, I would make an argument that he’s one of Spidey’s most reoccurring foes. He’s special for being the first villain that Peter had a rematch against. Heck, Vulture’s one of those villains that typically gets put out there to give Peter someone to fight for a bit.
I wouldn’t say Vulture is one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains (unless we’re talking about the movies), but I do think he should be an honorable mention at least.
I think he should have at least taken JACKALS spot
@@NotAFakeName1 Jackal has had a far larger impact on Peter’s life compared to Vulture. Jackal cloned Peter and Gwen, which spawned an entire dedicated part of the franchise on its own. The biggest impact Vulture had was killing one of Aunt May’s love interests, which led into my favorite Vulture story: Wings of Vengeance.
Vulture always felt like a bargain bin Doc Ock to me personally. Sure he's consistently around but he's never as big a menace overall.
@@HubPie3 I know about the clone saga I just dont respect it very much
Like jackals one of those characters where every time he appears the audience groans because he serves nothing but to remind the audience of some of spideys worst stories
Also there's just no real sauce to him as a foil to Peter or a unique threat to spiderman he's just kinda a goon
Spiderman has always been my favorite superhero and after this video essay it's clear to me that it's because i relate to him so heavily. He's broke and empathetic and hasn't given up yet.
Spiderman's greatest foe is the burden of responsibility. It's why so many of his villains represent power without responsibility. It's also why when his villians redeem themselves its upon realizing they too have a responsibility. Example Venom upon realizing Caranage is their fault. Or Doc Oc realizing upon inheriting Peter's powers he also inherits his responsibilities. Or even Jameson upon learning Spidermans secrect realizing that he has done harm to someone who didn't deserve it then feels its his responsibility to try and undo the damage he's done.
I think parker industries in the comics was a step in the right direction in the sense of peter having a company and career. I dont think him trying to be like tony was good but just him having a business. Peter in the spiderman 2 game starting in a garage to build it up is what i want for peter in comics to be able to do. Have a family and a business that is big but is grounded in the sense of him still giving villians a second chance by working for him and helping out the communities
I also liked the idea of hobie brown helping him out with his spidey stuff since they should be on good terms it's cool when marvel remembers hobie exists in 616 not just spider punk loo
That’s exactly what I have in my headcanon; Peter rising above his money issues and relationship troubles to help multiple communities on a global scale. While at the same time, giving the redeemable villains in his rogues gallery a second chance.
I wonder how the Writers who originally planned for Peter to Retire after the Clone Saga, living with MJ and their Daughter in New Jersey while Ben took on the mantel full time feel now. Since it seems a bunch of those concepts are being picked back up again across Spider-Man media, such as a similar turn of events happening at the end of Insomniac's Spider-Man 2.
I would say Spider-Man's greatest villain is the editors.
THANK you for giving some credit to Harry Osborn's Goblin. I, too, like him in that role more than his father.
12:51 Shocker is Peter’s greatest mirror of they’re both just two trying to make it by and pay rent, even if the world constantly punishes them for it.
The main villain of Ultimate Spider-Man is absolutely Doc Ock. He appears at the start of every season, is responsible for creating a number of other villains, forms multiple different versions of the Sinister Six, creates Ben Reilly as a sleeper agent and is the main villain at the end of the show with him knowing Peter’s identity and threatening to kill everyone he cares about unless he gives up being Spider-Man.
@fazbearking87 it is definitely the most underrated Spider-Man cartoon and one of the most underrated comic book cartoons
Absolutely agree with your take on the real villian. Peter really would be able to chill and have good relationship with still living people he loves. If spider-man, he would be loved and just save people from robbers and muggers.
Everyone says Marvel editorial is his arch enemy, but I’d argue 2010’s Sony Pictures did just as much damage to the Spidey brand. Avi Arad is this evil incarnate.
People complaining about the writers and editors having bad things happen to the character: I'm going to read the "bad things happen to characters" genre. If anything bad happens to the characters I'm going to lose it.
@brody5409 which is why I was frustrated with across the spider verse because for years people want peter parker to suffer all the time to be “relatable” and he needs to lose people and suffer consequences but say Miguel is wrong about canon events even tho Miguel reflects those fans
There is a huge difference between being relatable and being the universe's punching bag
Modern (spider-man) writers effectively proved they just hate spider-man being happy in any way, they just do anything in their power to not let this man be happy.
Just go read Usm because Tasm's current run is, well...
@@yaldamasevpro4862 what if people find being punching bag constantly relatable because no matter how hard they try they keep getting beat down
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 sure, the ways they do it to spider-man feels shallow and uncreative makes me feel like the writers just follow a binary formula of Misery=Good
Even if someone is a guy who keeps getting dragged down in life i won't imagine they would enjoy this writing where it represents them in such a shallow way.
@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 The way I interpret it at least, it's not so much that Miguel is wrong about spiderman needing to suffer because Canon events, it's more the philosophy that because someone is supposed to die, you shouldn't try to save them. Spiderman is supposed to try to save everyone. It won't always work, but he has to try every time. Where Miguel is wrong is saying that there are some people spiderman shouldn't even attempt to save.
You see if you were to ask me whose my favorite Spider-man character without hesitation i would say Venom/Eddie but if your asking my favourite villain I chose green goblin ( norman/harry) . Because from narrative perceptive Venom being a main villain for spider-man really only works for a short time or else it becomes repetitive . And in adaptations where he is strictly a pure villain it just doesn't work because it either makes him a mindless monster or alien invasion ( insomniac, ultimate cartoon , or 2017 ) . Alot of casual fans and writers of adaptations have this mindset that he's Peter's reverse flash but in actuality he's his shadow the hedgehog , vegta , kevin 11 , asuka , and goro akechi his hate for spider-man is just an outlet to release his hatred on someone he sees has a similar life to him but more successful, and he uses the excuse of the spider-man making him lose his job as the spark
Time for the static shock Spiderman swapping rouges gallery video
That'd be an awesome idea for a vid ngl, especially since as far as i can remember Static's villains are pretty unique despite his parallels with Spidey (atleast in the comics, in the show tho Statics villains are still pretty unique but i can remember a few that are similar to other classic villains, heck i forget the guys name/the episode but i remember an episode of Static Shock having a guy that had powers that were essentially just Doc Ock's tentacles but without the insanity/multiple personalities), also i wonder how a fight between Electro and Static would go considering their powers, like would Static have the upper hand because he can just drain Electro or even overcharge him? Or would their powers be useless against eachother since they'd end up just transferring energy back and forth? Idk just an interesting question lol, i wish we'd get an official crossover between Spider-Man and Static someday, i mean hell Spider-Man has met Superman in a comic so theres not much stopping it besides the fact Static hasn't got the attention the character deserves in a while
Goblins my favorite but Insomniacs Spider-Man made a great argument for Doc Ock, honestly their neck and neck.
ive been feeling super sick lately but listening to this video in the background as i try to deal with it has been comforting. so thank you
honestly, I always felt Goblin, Doc, and Venom have been Spider-man's "arch-nemesis" trio
Nah Paul will always be like one of the big Spidey Villains with how far the editors went to justify him being a part of this story for as long as he was...only way they could make it worse technically is doing it again but having the guy this happens with a second time actually sleep with MJ, if only to top what Paul did.
I may or may not have cheered when you brought up Big Wheel 😂
I'd like to make a point on the mcu spiderman. Having starks backing financially didn't ultimately help him, it actually put way more pressure and restrictions on him. Having starks rules, standards, and legacy to live up to tipped the balance of stress from financial into him needing to do way more as a hero and straining his personal life.
And I think pairing spiderman and Ironman together worked well thematically. All of Tony's main villains, stane, hammer, AIM, were all people who wanted to use starks tech not just for capitalistic gains but war profiteering. All of Tony's external conflicts in his own movies were to keep his technology used for helping the world instead of being for profit. Ironman 3 caused him to spiral and skew his idea of what would help the world.
Spiderman struggles under capitalism, while Ironman tries to insulate himself from it, and they work as a good pair because of that
I really enjoy these essays.
Glad to see another Shocker fan! I love him because of the 90’s show like you showed in your video but also in Spider-man 2 enter electro he was a very competent first boss for the game
Spider-Man's greatest villain is his codependent relationship with Aunt May. He's never allowed to grow and mature. That said, I LOVED Michael Keaton's portrayal of Vulture. It took someone with Keaton's passion and chops to make the Vulture somewhat sympathetic in his goals. It's his METHODS that make him a villain.
I would have said Jameson if we're limiting to just people, since not only does he use his power irresponsibly to wrongfully defame Spiderman and even create new villains and criminals, but because of Spuderman's sense of responsibility, Jameson is **immune** to Spuderman's power. Of all of Spiderman's rogues, Jameson is the least directly threatening, sure, but is the only villain to consistently get away with what he does.
Green Goblin is obviously Spider-Man’s arch enemy #1 but I think the reason people keep bringing this question up is because the Spider-Man comics treat his enemies differently than Batman, Superman, Avengers, etc. They always kill them off and don’t use them again for a long time. Compare it to Joker where he’s synonymous with Batman and is constantly showing up in different stories so much that he’ll show up in two different stories at the same time. The Spider-Man series will always change the original character in a very different ways to where it’s not really the same character as when they first showed up. Superman will always have a new lex luthor story, Avengers will always rely on Doom, Thanos, Ultron etc. It’s cool and sad because Spider-Man’s villains always change and mature but we end up loosing the thing we originally loved.
Mom said it’s my turn to make the Spider-Man’s greatest villain is the editorial team joke.
I always believed it was Kraven the Hunter as a teen. Simply because he knew Spidey identity, but would only go after him when hes spiderman. Of course through the years and writers they retcon that knowledge.
Stan Lee himself said that Doc Ock is Spider-Man's greatest enemy and that Green Goblin is Peter Parker's greatest enemy. Which is actually true. Doc Ock is the most reoccuring enemy of Spider-Man and is responsible for a lot of Spidey's greatest "workplace" challenges, like trying to crush Spidey with rubble, organizing Sinister Six or other over-the-top plans. But he never cared about Peter, he just wanted to prove that idea of Ock is better than idea of Spidey. He never attacked Peter's loved ones because that's beneath him. Norman is the opposite, he does not care about Spidey, he hates Peter specifically because their worldviews are the opposite. Other villains are not even close.
My first exposure to Spider Man was the 90’s cartoon. If that was all I’d ever seen, I’d say it was Kingpin. Which is kind of funny because it seems like he’s not around that much anymore.
How did Kingpin not make the cut? Sure, Daredevil hates him more, but he's been a menace to Spidey on every level for decades.
Are we certain that Peter Parker's greatest enemy isn't Joe Quesada?
imo, the 4 biggest contenders are Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Scorpion & Venom.
Green Goblin affects Spidey on an emotional level for multiple reasons, he was also directly responsible for the death of Gwen, a fact that Goblin has probably rubbed in more than once, plus in the first raimi movie, he proves to be quite intelligent and beats Peter to a bloody pulp. the greatest weakness that Goblin has is two fold, one is norman's morality due to seeing Peter as something of a son, and the fact that the Goblin's ego dictates that he monologues about how he's going to destroy everything the Peter holds dear, that includes killing his loved ones, the minute that happens, Spiderman gets pissed, the adrenaline starts pumping and he stops pulling his punches, that means someone is going to get their end kicked hard, and unfortunately, Goblin is going to need a proctologist, assuming he survives the pummeling he gets.
Doc Ock: biggest strength is the intelligence, the arms definetly allow him to contend with spider-man evenly. the biggest weakness though is, depending on if we're talking raimiverse or comicverse, his hubris is his undoing, and out of most of the villians, Peter has a very strong tie to Otto, so much so that he considers him his hero in many ways and the reason Peter got into science in the first place. also, taking out the arms is relatively easy.
Scorpion: poisonous tail that can spit acid (at least in the Animated series), because of the procedure done to him, he also has arachnid DNA which makes him difficult to detect with the Spider-sense, not impossible though.
biggest weakness? comprimised mental state., and definetly, 100% a sadist who prefers to play with his food.
Venom: okay, this is the big one, because of how long the symbiote bonded to Peter (at least in the comics), the symbiote gained a lot of information about the host and actually managed to permanently copy Peter's powers. it is also immune to the spider-sense, making it easy for the venom host to ambush Spidey, not to mention because it knows peter's identity, it is going to share that with the host it is bonded to an use that against him.
Biggest weakness? sound waves (though venom has developed something of a resistance to that), i would also argue that seperating the symbiote from the host is another weakness, but also emotionally manipulating the host into rejection, and because the symbiote took peter rejecting it not very well, it has an intense hatred that can be exploited.
Lizard and sandman are up there imo
As a spider man fanboy I enjoyed this, honestly sometimes it feels like new York itself is spider mans worst enemy, like every other week someone is trying to frame spider man for something and people fall for it, or blame him for villains attacking to a point where in one comic people rooted for scorpion to beat him, seriously it feels like spider man is new York's fall guy when they can yell at no one else for the problems that go on and it makes me sad.
as someone who's watched the movies, watched a few shows, played a few games, read a lot of comics from different eras, I enjoyed this and hope to see more Spidey content from u 🕷️
I think weirdly "new ways to die" proves green goblin as spideys greatest villains to me, because the second they see each other, they want to tear each other apart on sight. Goblin is also omnipresent in Peter's mind and the one to stress him out the most for long spans of times, that's a big bad. I also like Jonah as Spideys main Villan.
Big Wheel Mentioned🗣️🔥🔥🔥
By now it seems Spidey's greatest villain is a guy named Paul
Love to see you doing well on youtube!
12:41 excuse me, big wheel has to be one of spiderman's biggest villains, he has big in his name!
While I do consider THE CLONE SAGA to be a massive guilty pleasure if mine (I’m a humongous Ben Reilly & Kaine fan), I still FREAKING despise the Jackal with a passion!
The Jackal is honestly my single most hated character in all of fiction because he’s both single-handedly responsible for detailing THE CLONE SAGA’s narrative and is so insufferably annoying!
Spider-Man has my favorite rogues gallery with Batman's being number 2.
Didn’t see the rant coming, but since my first ever Spidey comic was the first Marvel Masterwork edition, thank you public library, I completely agree that capitalism has been smacking Spidey around from the very beginning, before he even got his powers. I like to think a modern Spider-Man would have a very successful Patreon that cool New Yorkers happily fund.
I saw it from a mile away, but I wanted to hear you out, got a good chuckle out of me with all the set up, had fun listening in! LOL
I have flippantly said on more than on occasion that Spiderman has a crappy rogues gallery. I'm really enjoying this rebuttal. 😄
I will definitely always argue in favor of Spidey's villains. They're some of the best in my opinion. Especially Venom. I have a soft spot for that one.
We live in a society 🤯
Great rundown
Kinda unrelated but in Spider man by Insomniac Spider man seems the most evil character. 😭Like literally every villain (besides Frisk) need help and instead of having a chat with them and trying to help he send them to jail which will help no one! I feel like Peter Parker would have tried to help them. The villains teamed up with the Octopus because he helped them! Yes, he wanted something back but even that is more than Peter has done. 😭 And the whole Mayor plotline makes 0 sense. The guy clearly cares more about his wallet than about his people! (Yeah, he does love his family but the villains don't know that). And Peter is like "It's bad that you are fighting with him using force" but force is often the only means you can use to fight corrupt politicians!
I really wish Doctor won.
I honestly thought the answer was just gonna be some life circumstance like Peter always being poor or getting evicted
Absolutely loved the video. Such an interesting topic that I think was wonderfully spoken about
An interesting point about Vulture's actions effecting both himself and his family is that he clearly takes advantage of his earnings. (Reality Punch Studios, if they still go by that name, referred to him as a "class traitor".) Yes he's completely right about the rich like Stark not caring about working class guys, but once Toomes starts selling black market weapons he buys a nice big house with a big pool that only someone with a great deal of cash could afford. It can't be cheap. (We never see what Toomes' living situation was before he becomes the Vulture so we're left to make some assumptions.) So he starts to benefit from the same system that Stark did, only difference being that Toomes didn't get a warrant to sell to another country so he could go: "outta sight, outta mind" like Stark did. There was a great moral dilemma because Peter knew that Toomes had to be stopped to keep petty thugs from killing loads of people with alien tech, but by doing so he was condemning his family to potential homelessness and shame from his actions.
Joker and green goblin have to be the most iconic villains even to the mainstream media/people
Little late to the party, but I had the privilege to meet Michael PapaJohn, who played as Uncle Ben's killer in the 2002 Spiderman movie. Really awesome dude. He also played college baseball at LSU. He told me he would get me a signed poster of the Spiderman movie, on the day it came out, but he ended up getting side tracked with making another movie. Still, once in a lifetime moment for me
It's obviously big wheel or the wall.
definitely Doc Ock or Green Goblin are Spidey's greatest physical enemies, JJJ is a great psychological enemy, spreading hate about Spidey. I do think Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, Scorpion, Rhino, Electro, and Shocker are all worth mentioneing, haveing been consistent enough and part of the Sinister/Insideous Six.
His greatest villain is clearly the Editor
Thanks!
Thank you. :)
0/10, no ripping the background off the wall for the big twist
I love this. I know Steve Ditko, a Libertarian, would disagree and would somehow insist that capitalism is good and perfect, but he's wrong. This take is great. Love it. Subbed.
Cool video! Your thoughts on peter's relationship to the economics of america is interesting! Spectacular spiderman even incoporated that type of anlysis in the first season. Steve ditko obviously wouldnt neccesarily agree with the whole spiderman vs evil capitlaism per se, ironic.
I think one comic sums up the in-universe physical nemesis for Peter, Its written in the untold tales. A figure in a trench coat goes to a bar, a bar visited regularly by supervillains (Doc Ock is in the bar as well). This figure is told by kraven and the vulture on how much spiderman annoys them, how they hate him. Except...this figure says "Oh i wish i had that relationship with spiderman. he never goes into jokester mood with me."
The villains ask him why HE has a different relationship. The figure says "Well after he foiled my plans, I sought to teach him a lesson he would never forget." Now the attention is all on him, the villains are intrigued...what did he do?
The figure takes of his trench coat, showing its Norman Osborn, grinning as if he were a high school jock having locker room talk over how he hurt a woman (osborn in-canon is sexist), "I KILLED HIS GIRL. IT WAS A BLAST." Bar is dead silent.
This is what seperates norman from the others. All of the other villains, while cruel, wouldnt exactly take the same amount of joy in killing gwen, nor would they neccesarily think of doing that.
Kingpin shot aunt may when his hired gun tried to ice peter-it was a consequence not an intended act.
Venom has a bizzare code of honor to cover his sociapthic tendacies.
Doc Ock once saved spidey becuase he enjoyed the thrill, and when he killed peter again-he began to empahtize with peter's life and decided to one up his rival. He could have went after mary jane, aunt may, etc, but he didnt.
Norman? He aboslutely took it so personal that he destroyed took a way a future from peter. He killed? his baby girl, he killed ben reily, he put flash into a coma. Why? Because Peter defied him and Norman does not tolerate that. On top of that, Norman's cycle of evil tainted peter. Peter's best friend Harry was traumitized by his father all his life leading to a new cycle of abuse and eventually his death. Even when norman wasnt "alive," norman's legacy left more dead. Doc Ock dosnt have that. Actually come to think of it, norman is prob the only one of spidey's rouge gallery to be an abusive/negelctful father.
5:33 I definetely had to do a double take, I was like ,"WUT" HE MARRYED AAUNT MAYY!! 😂
You could say God, but Peter & God seem pretty chill from what I remember
There's an argument to be made for the symbiote. Because when Peter gets the symbiote it always brings out his worse self.
No it doesn't the symbiote doesn't change Peter's emotions in the comics that just what adaptations do
@@Venom_eddie123 it does though. It didn't when it first showed up in the comics. But then it happens in the 90s animated series, and then from there the comics decided to follow suit and make it affect him.
@DarksideGmss0513 yes the 90s is adaptation but the 616 still doesn't affect him so if you point out things like spider's shadow or other evil symbiote spider-man those aren't 616
@@Venom_eddie123 it's part of the Spider-Man mythos now though. Almost every story that does symbiote suit Spider-Man they have the symbiote corrupt him.
@DarksideGmss0513 but comics till this day remind the reader that peter was at fault not the symbiote
I knew it you son of a gun! Poverty is always the villain, which is fair still love Peter jumping out of his window in the 2018 game after looking at a bill.
"In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero, and most times they're friends like you and me."
Mr. Glass, Unbreakable (2000)
That Felicia Hardy analysis i feel is way behind the times. She's long grown past not liking peter parker
She's grown past _not_ liking Peter or grown past liking Peter?
@@donovanfaust3227she actually grew a liking to Peter
First vid from you and you got my sub I love Spider-Man all day and I appreciate this video a lot
I honestly believe its Doctor Octopus. He literally managed to take over Peter's mind/body
I'm gonna go ahead and predict this: J.J. is the greatest villain.
I had a sneaking suspicion he was going to make this list.
I was glued to my seat when the camera zoomed into a close up of Dr. Capitalism saying "it's capitalisin' time" and profiting off the horrors of modern society. Shivers down my spine.
Green Goblin is Peter Parker’s arch enemy
Doctor Octopus is Spider-Man’s arch enemy
I appreciated the after-credits scene. 😊
Spider-Man’s greatest villain is his current writers.
Not entirely related to this video, but while watching I started wondering how Spider-Man's power/responsibility theme applies to X-Men and the mutants.
I've tried to explain to people why mutants are persecuted but other superheroes are not like this; imagine what it would be like if Peter didn’t keep his powers a secret and didn't create the spiderman identity. His life couldn't be normal even if he tried, even if he still used his powers responsibly and not in self-interest. Peter absolutely would be persecuted the same way mutants are if he made his powers public, regardless of if he was Spider-Man. Everyone would question the fairness of it and single him out.
Secret identities let people with powers live a normal life, but mutants don’t want to hide who they are. No matter what anyone says, having power does not make your life easy when everyone else wants to exploit or punish you for it.
So, I feel in a way that the X-Men are a soft antithesis to Spider-Man; they are pressured from birth to be responsible with their power. The only way mutants are able to find acceptance of their power by society is by becoming superheroes and fihgting evil. Part of their struggle is to create a world where they don’t need to be a hero to be accepted, they can just be a normal guy like Peter.
Edit: just to further my point, if mutants are an allegory for minorities, then being a superhero is like being a celebrity. They are accepted by society as long as they prove highly entertaining or useful. The most well adjusted mutants are the ones who keep their identities secret, and making their identities public could be seen as similar as coming out or becoming "political." And I'm sure that has something to do with capitalism.
Peter's greatest adversary is himself.
Now to watch your answer.
People got mad at dan slott for saying that lol
I find this to be more accurate than “capitalism”
You should do a video on who is The Flash's archenemy!
Obviously it's the Marvel writers.
Jameson is definitely the biggest antagonist of Parker's Spiderman, but Doc Ock, Green Goblin and Venom are probably the most iconic who actually fights him.
Yes it is Peter vs capitalism. It's true. As far as an individual arch nemesis, it's Norman Osborn. He's the most like Peter. He looks the most like Peter, he uses his brain, he uses power for selfish reasons, he's the ultimate could be father figure. Peter could have been working that same job. My favorite villain though is The Vulture.
Fun that Spider-Man and I have the same ultimate villain.
30 seconds in, just gotta say, Spidey's arch nemesis, without a doubt, is J. Jonah Jameson.
Obviously the Sinister Six.
Dan Slott, Avi Arad, Bendis, Joe Q, Sweet baby inc., and Zeb Wells.