The brutality of Spider-Man's villains

[Scott Taylor]

Many of Spider-Man's villains are common thugs who got powers. They can seem brutal, by how they act and what they say, but in reality most of the time these types are cowards who are just in it for the money or some other selfish interest.

To the ones discussed already who truly are brutal - Kletus and Norman - I'd add in Mac Gargan.

[Huntsman Spider]

Many of Spider-Man's villains are common thugs who got powers. They can seem brutal, by how they act and what they say, but in reality most of the time these types are cowards who are just in it for the money or some other selfish interest.

To the ones discussed already who truly are brutal - Kletus and Norman - I'd add in Mac Gargan.

Before or after he became Venom?

[Scott Taylor]

Before or after he became Venom?

More afterwards, but Gargan as always been depicted as a bigger jerkoff than even Electro.

[Turlast]

I've only read a handful of Tombstone stuff, but he seems to be one those guys that's just brutal by nature. I'm beginning to read more of his stories and he's pretty bad.

[Huntsman Spider]

More afterwards, but Gargan as always been depicted as a bigger jerkoff than even Electro.

Ok, then.

I've only read a handful of Tombstone stuff, but he seems to be one those guys that's just brutal by nature. I'm beginning to read more of his stories and he's pretty bad.

Yeah, Tombstone is a pretty sick piece of work, and (one of) the most brutal of the gangland villains Spider-Man has ever faced.

[Michael Watkins]

you should meet his daughter. she's just as brutal in her own way.

[Huntsman Spider]

you should meet his daughter. she's just as brutal in her own way.

You think we'll see more of her in Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man?

[Michael Watkins]

You think we'll see more of her in Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man?

I don't doubt it for a second. Spencer has his favorites. and he usually brings them along for the ride. he already has Boomerang as Peter's new roommate.

[Scott Taylor]

Ok, then.

Yeah, Tombstone is a pretty sick piece of work, and (one of) the most brutal of the gangland villains Spider-Man has ever faced.

Tombstone is a good call, too. He's like Hammerhead but without the restraint.

[The Overlord]

I've recently been looking at older stories to gauge how bloodthirsty a lot of the villains can be. Spidey's rogue gallery has always been my favorite set of villains since they were always shown to be quite unique in their ways.

-Some were just criminals that only cared about power and wealth (Shocker, Mysterio, Hobgoblin, Vulture, Electro, etc)
-Some were just criminals that had no direction, but weren't really bad (Sandman)
-Some were psychotic and enjoyed killing to prove a point or for fun (Carnage, Doc Ock, Green Goblin, etc)
-Some only cared about revenge (Venom)
-Some started out seeking revenge only to take it further (Scorpion, Smythe
-Some did it for sport (Kraven)

In Marvel Knights, there was a scene where Electro was so mad about losing $20 million that he blew up all of the cars (that had people in them) that were in the area. This was surprising to me because Electro always seemed like one of those guys who'd never go that far. Well, not literally. There was a story where Electro made Spidey beg for his life or he was going to destroy the closest neighborhoods with his new powers. That seemed to be an ego thing, though.

Vulture is one of the characters that seemed to get darker as the stories continued. Toomes was always a criminal, but Spectacular #186-188 seemed to turn him into a remorseless killer. The only time where he appeared to have remorse was when Nathan died because of his antics, since it was an accident. He totally accepted his responsibility in the matter and asked for May's forgiveness, but his brutality remained. He even goes straight to the Daily Bugle and threatens to kill Jameson if he doesn't change the headline to the paper. Most of this seemed to build-up from his various defeats at the hands of Spidey over the yrs.

This page does a great job in in highlighting Vulture's cold-blooded nature and the tragic circumstances surrounding him:



You can't help but feel sorry for him when reading that. This is easily the best Vulture story imo.

Doc Ock is another one of those who've hatched countless plans to wipe out NYC to prove his superiority or just to kill Spidey. He was fine with poisoning the water supply in NYC, destroying the city with the neuron bomb during the Owl Gang War, releasing a germ to kill Spidey because he was too traumatized by him, the stuff he did with the electronics in #600, and the Ends of the Earth.

So when it comes to brutal nature of Spidey's villains, which ones stand out to you the most?

I am going to bring up two villains who acted brutal, with different results.

In the Guardian Devil story from Daredevil, Mysterio was dying and wanted to become famous, so he committed a very brutal scheme where his goons wiped out a maternity ward, made Daredevil think another baby was the anti Christ in order to get him to kill the baby, made Karen Page think she had AIDs, sent Bullseye to church were he went a killing spree (killing Page in the process) and then started offing his own goons, all just to drive Daredevil insane in a bid for fame.

That may be too dark for a Spidey comic (Daredevil stories tended to be darker) but this not an isolated incident. There was an issue of Avengers Academy where Mysterio ordered Rhino to kill a bunch of teen heroes, which Rhino refused to do.

Mysterio is a vain, manipulative, psychopath with a talent for cruel mind games, he should no problem crossing any line to satisfy his ego and desire for fame.

Shocker once tried to kill 12 people because a psychopathic mob boss paid him to and that did not work for me. If Shocker is supposed to be more rational then other villains, he should be more noble, going out of his way not to kill innocent people, he should only kill in survival situations or if someone really does him wrong.

So I say make Mysterio more cruel and make Shocker more noble.

[Turlast]

I actually had no idea Mysterio was even capable of such a thing.

Now you got me wanting to read Guardian Devil.

[Tony Stark]

I actually had no idea Mysterio was even capable of such a thing.

Now you got me wanting to read Guardian Devil.

You will totally enjoy that story. It was amazing to me.

[TheCape]

I actually had no idea Mysterio was even capable of such a thing.

Now you got me wanting to read Guardian Devil.

Guardian Devil is the only DD story that i had read, but i thought it was good, is really well done, Spider-Man also has a good apperance at the end of it, not a big fan of Quesada's artwork thought. Althougth, funny enougth the first thing that i always remenber of this story is Matt throwing a baby over the building

[Huntsman Spider]

I actually had no idea Mysterio was even capable of such a thing.

Now you got me wanting to read Guardian Devil.

And even though it's an A/U, and possibly a case of Mark Millar being too edgy for his own good, the original Old Man Logan miniseries had Mysterio as the one who brought about the end of the X-Men by using his illusions to trick Wolverine into killing them all under the belief he was fighting an invading horde of supervillains . . . and then dropped the illusion just in time for Wolverine to see Jubilee die in front of him. A/U or not, that, along with Guardian Devil, would pretty much be the pinnacle or nadir of what Mysterio could do if he was in the right (or wrong) frame of mind, and if he ever turned that ruthlessness, viciousness, and cruelty on Spider-Man himself . . . well, Spidey better hope Mysterio doesn't have spider-sense-nullifying gases.