Should Shocker get more character development or a more fleshed-out backstory?

[Refrax5]

I think both Shocker and Electro could use more fleshing out. Of all the major Spidey villains, these two are seemingly villains because... reasons.

-Pav, who wonders what fans would consider the best story featuring each of these guys...

Dematteis did some neat stuff with Electro where he was basically a nobody with a lot of resentment towards the world who basically used the powers he got to make money and lash out at the world.

I always just figured Herman was the kind of guy that would be robbing people even if he wasn't a supervillain. He's basically a goon-for-hire and bankrobber by trade.

Don't get me wrong. I love a complex, sympathetic villain as much as anybody, but I kind of like that those two guys were just kind of dicks who did what they did for money and power. I feel like there would definitely be guys like that in a world filled with super powers. Some would be conflicted or mentally ill or misguided, but some of them would just be super-jerks, right? I kind of like that contrast to the Osborns and Eddie Brocks of the world.

[godisawesome]

I love the idea of him being a just the blue-collar, mildly misanthropic but extremely professional super criminal with a personal code of pragmatic ethics but who hates the very concept of “honor”, the type of guy who had a “rough childhood,” but is self-aware and proud enough to mock anyone trying to make it his excuse.

Like, he’d have stories of his dad and him throwing down once or twice, and being neglected by his mom a lot, but maybe still have him actually in mild contact with them because they weren’t monsters, just disappointing, and maybe even make a bit of dark humor that they’re maybe actually prouder of him now that he’s got a rep. Maybe pour in some jokes about how he played hooky and slacked off in school, and embarrasses the one teacher he liked in his science class by becoming a super-criminal. And I’d really lean into maybe mimicking some of that Insomniac stuff where he and Spidey have a fairly chill rapport for having fought each other so much, just not so much it’s outright friendly.

...Mostly though, I’d love to see them pull a bit of a Captain Cold thing and have him form a decently successful iteration of the Sinister Six who just pull off a few larger scale heists successfully without Spider-Man stopping them.

[Huntsman Spider]

I love the idea of him being a just the blue-collar, mildly misanthropic but extremely professional super criminal with a personal code of pragmatic ethics but who hates the very concept of “honor”, the type of guy who had a “rough childhood,” but is self-aware and proud enough to mock anyone trying to make it his excuse.

Like, he’d have stories of his dad and him throwing down once or twice, and being neglected by his mom a lot, but maybe still have him actually in mild contact with them because they weren’t monsters, just disappointing, and maybe even make a bit of dark humor that they’re maybe actually prouder of him now that he’s got a rep. Maybe pour in some jokes about how he played hooky and slacked off in school, and embarrasses the one teacher he liked in his science class by becoming a super-criminal. And I’d really lean into maybe mimicking some of that Insomniac stuff where he and Spidey have a fairly chill rapport for having fought each other so much, just not so much it’s outright friendly.

...Mostly though, I’d love to see them pull a bit of a Captain Cold thing and have him form a decently successful iteration of the Sinister Six who just pull off a few larger scale heists successfully without Spider-Man stopping them.

That sounds pretty cool.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Not all villains can be Thanos or Dr. Doom. We also need some cannon-fodder villains around, with no origins, motivations, story arcs, or whatever, just be around robbing banks and being a villain for the sake of it, and be defeated and/or captured by the heroes just to let them show their new powers or to fill a pair of pages. Always using the Wrecking Crew for that would get repetitive.

[Huntsman Spider]

Not all villains can be Thanos or Dr. Doom. We also need some cannon-fodder villains around, with no origins, motivations, story arcs, or whatever, just be around robbing banks and being a villain for the sake of it, and be defeated and/or captured by the heroes just to let them show their new powers or to fill a pair of pages. Always using the Wrecking Crew for that would get repetitive.

A fair and valid point there.