Green with Evil

[Mistah K88]

Throughout Spider-Man's career, he's amassed so many enemies. A lot of the most popular and well known rogues happen to share a particular color in their costumes, thus making Peter's real enemy the color green. After looking through multiple comic book characters they often change costumes quite a bit like for example, Lex Luthor from the Superman series has had quite a few iconic looks, from that purple and green outfit (which everyone knows what I'm talking about) to the business suit...don't get started on Brainiac's wildly different designs... That said, it says something about Spider-Man's rogues that a majority of them generally have the exact same looks from when they first appeared (which means their designs are SPECTACULAR).


However which of Spider-Man's green garbed rogues could use a change in color? There are some like Green Goblin who CANNOT change color (I mean Green is in his name), but you have to wonder, while keeping the same general look, does Scorpion need to be green? Vulture? Jackal? etc. Which baddie(s) do you think could use a change in color?

[Snoop Dogg]

The best, or rather, the only good Jackal design ditched the green along with everything else. And the real Jackal didn't even get to wear it.

Not a big fan of green and yellow jumpsuit Doctor Octopus.

Electro's green and yellow is Ditko's only dodgy villain design and Francine should use her woman's touch to redesign it. Maybe don't scrap the green entirely, but make it much darker and more like the Spectacular cartoon's Electro, who the United Nations decided is the best Electro.

[AngelJD]

Green is a contrasting color of Red (Spider-Man). In fact that might be the primary reason why the 'Green Goblin' is 'green' vs any other color the creators were thinking of his design when he was made. In 616 Gwen Stacy had a few different outfits but her iconic one that most know her in is that version with her in that GREEN Jacket that her died in.
Green also can represent envy which for Earth-65 Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman her Peter Parker died as the Lizard (green) who was envious of Harry and wanted to be special like Spider-Woman. Green is the color of money which Peter rarely has or when he does it's gone quickly while his rogues have tons (Kingpin) or is motivated by it/greed.


I bet Peter will die after disgusting a Mcdonald's Shamrock Shake (green) on St. Patrick's day (where he was also pinched to death by Wade as he wasn't wearing green ).

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Green is a good contrasting color against red and blue. And also green has been in many different cultures around the world, the color of death, and in some cases quite literally (https://www.racked.com/2017/3/17/149...-history-death). So it's an appropriate color. You know Dr. Doom rocks a Green surcoat and cape and hood combo.

And in any case some of these characters aren't entirely green. Green Goblin has a purple tunic and cap over a green bodysuit. The Raimi suit (which I like a lot, but many dislike) is a much brighter shade of green than the costume mainly because it entirely ditches the purple. It's the greenest goblin there ever was or ever has been. Which is why I tend to prefer and favor it, and why I don't have time for people who simply make fun of it.

I prefer Dr. Octopus' Green and Yellow jumpsuit too...looks better than the Matrix Trenchcoat cosplay ensemble he sported in the Spider-Man 2 movie and that ridiculous face-mask outfit you see with Superior Octopus. Dr. Octopus is supposed to be Ugly. He's supposed to communicate how little he cares about his looks and how much he wants to get his ugly face in yours...covering his face defeats his motif, my dudes.

I like yellow sparks Electro over blue spark Electro. I am willing to go with Purple Sparks too...at least until people at Marvel read up on real science and learn about the spark gap.

[Digifiend]

The best, or rather, the only good Jackal design ditched the green along with everything else. And the real Jackal didn't even get to wear it.

You mean Ben Reilly's Jackal costume, right?

[ngroove]

The only one I can think of who would come to my mind, would be in favor for nineties Doctor Octopus. I loved his urbane, white, three-piece suit look, that he used to lead the Sinister Six, threaten Marla Jameson, and romancing Stunner while saving Spider-Man's life.

Otherwise, green is green because it POPS. To alter it to red, like was done to Vulture(s) a few times, long-term, would be boring.

[Snoop Dogg]

You mean Ben Reilly's Jackal costume, right?

oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

[Huntsman Spider]

oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

Say what you will about what a brutal decimation of Ben's character The Clone Conspiracy was, but the man is certainly a snappy dresser. We should've seen it coming, looking back on his redesign of the Spider-Man costume (that went on to be adopted by his niece Mayday in Spider-Girl).

[SuperiorIronman]

The original Jackal costume doesn't look bad. And to be honest it looks as much like a Jackal as Peter dresses up like a Spider. Peter may in some respects have the color scheme for at least one genus, but I completely buy that as a mixture between a canine and a human that Jackal makes it work.

I may have liked it at first but Ben's Jackal outfit while in some respects looks good, it undermines the character by making it too on the nose. Yeah you can go the Egyptian route but nothing about Ben's characterization lends itself to Anubis or in the way he goes about his business. Making him looks like Anubis in a business-suit because his deal is dead people is lazy in terms of character design. Jackal is green and a blending of animal traits not only to convey that sort of background knowledge, but also show that the doctor had made his transition from Jekyll to Hyde. He looks crazy because he's gone crazy, and the animal traits and behavior is meant to accentuate that. Green is also a great contrasting color to Red which is of course Spider-man's primary. And because Jackal deals in the dead because we associate green with corpses, it makes Jackal's colors reflect that. Costumes are also meant for theatricality, and because his costume is so out there it gets people's attention. The most Ben's has going for it is the dog mask.

[Snoop Dogg]

The furry convention Jackal design is like

What if we did Green Goblin

But bad

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Jackal was never intended to be a villain that lasts. He was intended as a one-off villain to die at the end of the First Clone Saga before the people behind the second one misread the first story on literally every level...

Miles Warren and the Jackal was intended as the mouthpiece for salty Gwen fans upset about her death and wanting to bring her back. So Conway decided to take those fans who annoyed him, who had sent him death threats, and make the comics embodiment of that...a creeepy, ugly Professor with a terrible costume who is also a creep and a necrophiliac.

There's a reason why there's been no Jackal between 149 and some time before the Clone Saga. Nobody wanted him back. Nobody had a story for him. Nobody cared for him.

[PCN24454]

The original Jackal costume doesn't look bad. And to be honest it looks as much like a Jackal as Peter dresses up like a Spider. Peter may in some respects have the color scheme for at least one genus, but I completely buy that as a mixture between a canine and a human that Jackal makes it work.

I may have liked it at first but Ben's Jackal outfit while in some respects looks good, it undermines the character by making it too on the nose. Yeah you can go the Egyptian route but nothing about Ben's characterization lends itself to Anubis or in the way he goes about his business. Making him looks like Anubis in a business-suit because his deal is dead people is lazy in terms of character design. Jackal is green and a blending of animal traits not only to convey that sort of background knowledge, but also show that the doctor had made his transition from Jekyll to Hyde. He looks crazy because he's gone crazy, and the animal traits and behavior is meant to accentuate that. Green is also a great contrasting color to Red which is of course Spider-man's primary. And because Jackal deals in the dead because we associate green with corpses, it makes Jackal's colors reflect that. Costumes are also meant for theatricality, and because his costume is so out there it gets people's attention. The most Ben's has going for it is the dog mask.

I think the original Jackal costume is “outdated”. A newer character would never be designed that way whereas Reilly’s costume is more modern.

The 2017 Spider-Man got away with the green Jackal costume because it wasn’t an actual costume. It was a mutation.

[SuperiorIronman]

I don't deny Jackal could've used a visual update but under the right artist he looks fine. My Problem with Ben's design is that it's lazy, doesn't lend itself to deeper insight into him intentional or not, and completely ignores the theming outside of a building. If it's because he dealt in the dead, for as much as Ben's Jackal characterization reflected that it could've been a giraffe mask.

Costumes are important in superhero comics because it's the first thing people see and thus it informs first impressions and informs the audience as to what it is that hero or villain does. Putting Ben in a suit because he runs a business and making it red because he was Scarlet Spider is a bit on the nose. Making him wear a dog mask because he's now Jackal and not reflecting that in his characterization or motivations means he could have literally worn anything. The combo works fine but as a Jackal costume it doesn't work because Ben for as much as its worth could've dressed up as an inflatable hot dog. Why not? It's not like his then current outfit had much to do beyond the superficial.

[Snoop Dogg]

An on-the-nose animal themed outfit in a Spider-Man comic?

[Lee]

The old unspoken rule was that super heroes wore primary colours and super villains wore secondary colours. Sometimes these colours were applied without too much thought, and certainly without any anticipation of all the villains being seen together at the same time.

Looking at the classic Spider-Man villains, which ones would benefit from a change?

Green Goblin - The green is in the name, and the purple lends to the Halloween feel. Great costume. Keep it.

Mysterio - Perfect costume. No other colour combination would be more effective. Keep it.

Sandman - Perfect in its simplicity, and the yellow/green contrast gives it a different feel to the more common green/purple. Keep it.

Vulture - The important parts of the design are the wings, the feathery collar and Adrian's vulturey facial features. The green doesn't really add much, black would be more vulturey.

Electro - Great costume that leaves an impression. The yellow lightning bolts are the most important element, green is just there for contrast. Maybe making the green parts black make the lightning bolts pop more?

Lizard - Gotta keep the green scaley skin. No need for him to ever wear purple again though - too Hulk.

Jackal - Too Green Goblin, doesn't evoke a Jackal. Change it.

Doctor Octopus - He was more interesting in his earlier appearances, when he wore ordinary clothing. The green/orange costume has been gone for a long time already now.

Scorpion - Green doesn't evoke a scorpion, but orange/brown wouldn't make much of an impact and black would be too dark for the detailing on his costume. Maybe a brown/dark orange with black elements could work, but it might be best to just stick with green.