For over 20 years, we've seen Spider-Man live on the big screen in three different interpretations of the wall crawler in three vastly different universes. We see different views of Peter Parker, his family, his friends, his powers, his skills, and most importantly, the villains he faces. While each iteration of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has its own strengths, making each one unique and enjoyable in its own way, the good and the bad Spider-Man movies really can be separated by the power of their villains.
The highest level Spider-Man movies are elevated by incredible villain performances, such as Spider Man, Spider Man 2, And Spider Man: Homecoming, while the worst of the bunch are overloaded with bad villains who don't have enough time to flesh out the characters, like spiderman 3 or The Amazing Spider Man 2. Since there have been so many villains in Spider-Man movie history, ranging from good quality to bad quality, ranging from all different kinds of powers and motives to take out our favorite web-slinger, it is only right to rank all the villains that several live action Spideys have had to deal with. Here's every major live action Spider-Man villain, ranked from worst to best.
10 Green Goblin (Amazing Spider-Man 2 version)
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Harry Osborn's transformation into the maniacal Green Goblin could have been interesting The Amazing Spider Man 2 taking the time to research Peter and Harry's relationship. Unfortunately, since Harry was the second villain introduced in the movie, there just wasn't enough time to actually see his turn to madness, which made his turn to the Green Goblin feel rushed.
Perhaps if he were the only villain in the movie, and we didn't see Electro introduced first, at least Harry wouldn't be last on this list. But with multiple villains in his movie, there is already an iconic Green Goblin for him and he has no chance to redeem his character Spider-Man: No Way Home like some of the other villains on this list, it's hard to put him anywhere but at the bottom strictly as a villain. However, he was responsible for Gwen Stacy's death, which was a shock many viewers didn't see coming. Either way, this iteration of the Green Goblin is the worst live-action Spider-Man villain we've seen yet.
9 venom
Not far behind Amazing Spider-Man's However, Green Goblin is Spider Man 3's venom. Venom is another character who fell victim to the movie trying to do too much at once, with three main villains all vying for Peter Parker's attention. But even with a lot going on in the movie, the character himself was definitely the weakest of the three villains. Topher Grace's portrayal of Eddie Brock just doesn't fit the movie and doesn't play the villain convincingly enough when the Venom symbiote eventually takes over. And now that we've seen Tom Hardy's take on the character in the venom movies, Venom's black suit in it spider man 3 looks even worse now, and so does Grace's performance.
At least the symbiote gave us Peter Parker's awesome black suit, despite Peter's now infamous persona we see in the movie. Otherwise, Venom could have been cut out of the movie altogether and wouldn't have suffered much.
8 New Goblin
Harry Osborn's turn to evil in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies could have been something really special. We're with Harry for all three movies right there next to his best friend Peter as his hatred for Spider-Man grows. Believing that Spider-Man killed his father, Harry found out that his best friend was the one behind the mask and led him down a path of revenge that would have been great to see fully fleshed out, until they decided to give him amnesia after hitting his father. head. This was probably because there was so much going on already spider man 3 that they needed this, but the New Goblin/Spider-Man dynamic would have been much more interesting than the bad guy trio we ended up with.
Despite the character's shortcomings, Harry was still able to redeem himself at the end of the film, sacrificing his own life to save Peter's life. While he wasn't the best villain ever, they could give more meaning to his character, something not all villains have.
7 Electro
Max Dillon's goofy looks before he turned into Electro was a bit over the top from Jamie Foxx, but Max was still just someone who wanted to get noticed. He's been stepped on, overlooked, and misunderstood, but his newfound powers drive him a little crazy once he acquires them. Of course, the blue CGI face doesn't help Electro's case either, as he's certainly one of the dumbest Spider-Man villains we've seen. While he is definitely over the top and has strange motivations The Amazing Spider Man 2, more justice to his character No way home.
Not only does he get a brand new look that works so much better than his first appearance, his more fleshed out nature makes Electro so much better to watch on screen. However, while his appearance in No way home definitely helps make him a better character, we still can't quite see past his first big screen appearance.
6 Lizard
Speaking of villains with strange motivations, Dr. Curtis Conners who wants to turn the rest of New York into lizards is definitely there. But motivations aside, Conners' transformation into the Lizard is in The awesome Spider-Man is still a fun story as we see one of Peter Parker's mentor figures accidentally turning himself into a monster, similar to Otto Octavius in spider man 2.
While most fans will agree that the mentor turned supervillain storyline is definitely not as well done in this story as it was in Spider Man 2, it still created great moral ambiguity when we see Peter Parker assume the creature Conners has become. We see the lizard return No way home also, but he plays a much smaller role as the focus is shifted to other villains, so that's not enough to greatly influence anyone's opinion of the character.
5 Sandman
Definitely the best of the villains we see Spider Man 3, the reveal that Flint Marko was the man who actually killed Uncle Ben was an odd retcon, but it was all so his character would have more meaning to Peter Parker. Sandman's character is also enhanced by the fact that he is not inherently evil for the sake of being evil, he simply needed money to help his ailing daughter and became the Sandman as a by-product of his criminal deeds.
Sandman exists more as a character for Peter Parker to face his demons and come to terms with why he really is Spider-Man, which really helps elevate Peter's character, which in turn also makes Sandman better. It also helps that his powers are great to watch on screen, along with the fact that he's returning for it too No way home albeit in a smaller role similar to the Lizard.
4 Mysterious
While many of these villains were unintentionally turned into monsters with the powers they acquired, Mysterio knew what he was doing all along. Creating the guise of a global threat while pumping himself up to appear to be the greatest superhero in the world to manipulate Peter is truly evil and uses his illusions to fool the entire world as well. He's definitely one of the most willfully evil characters we've come across with a Spider-Man, and it makes Mysterio all the better for it. Mysterio also helps Tom Holland's Peter Parker come to terms with the man he needs to be if he really wants to be an Avenger. In addition, Mysterio's actions have affected the events of No way home which ended up having some of the best Spider-Man moments we've ever seen.
3 Vulture
The MCU is known for its massive stakes and end-of-universe implications, with things like alien invasions, quantum realms, ancient gods, and mad titans. Vulture's biggest strength is that he brings a smaller scale to the MCU that we really don't get to see anymore, especially with time-bending characters like Kang the Conqueror now being introduced.
Spider Man: Coming Home shows that he is just a man trying to support his family, and he would do anything to make sure they are safe. Plus, he's the father of Peter's high school crush, which makes the match feel a little more personal than any old villain. He's a perfect first villain for Tom Holland's Spider-Man to take on, setting Peter on the path to becoming the man and hero he always wanted to be.
2 Doctor Octopus
The two best characters on this list could easily be interchangeable, as they really are in a league of their own when it comes to the best Spider-Man villains. But in second place we have Doctor Otto Octavius or Doctor Octopus. spider man 2 might be the best Spider-Man movie we've ever seen, and that's largely thanks to Alfred Molina's portrayal of Doc Ock. On the one hand, Doc Ock is menacing with his giant metal tentacles that allow him to maneuver just about anywhere and do as he pleases.
On the other hand, viewers can't help but sympathize with the character, as it's the tentacles themselves that have taken over Otto's body and are manipulating him into doing the horrible things he does. In addition, his relationship with Peter made it even more difficult for Peter to stand up to him. And besides that, at the end of the movie, Otto realized his mistakes and sacrificed himself to save everyone else, giving him a full and satisfying character arc. Plus, his performance in No way home only elevated his status as a character fans can sympathize with, showing that he is a brilliant mind who was tainted by his own experiments.
1 Green goblin
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Finally we have the original Spider-Man villain, Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin. Green Goblin is a perfect storm to create an iconic villain, with an incredible performance from Willem Dafoe, his descent into insanity, his awesome glider and pumpkin bombs, and even his suit has a charm you can't help but love. Plus, his terrifying cackling as he terrorizes New York City is enough to terrify the hearts of everyone.
He's chaotic, almost strictly for the sake of being chaotic, and is one of the most purely evil forces that really gives Spider-Man a run for his money. We see that pure madness returning No way home also, leaving Tom Holland's Spider-Man to wonder if he can even be saved. Green Goblin is the definitive Spider-Man villain and we wouldn't have it any other way.
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