Superheroes are often defined by the villains they battle. This means the best heroes have the the most dangerous villains who can represent the opposite of everything they stand for. So, for example, if Superman embodies the ultimate achievements of the human body, Lex Luthor displays the absolute might of the human mind. If Batman is an agent of order, trying to weed out the criminal element from society, the Joker is pure chaos. In the case of Spider-Man, the eternal youth given great power and learning to use it responsibly, it would only be natural for him to face villains who have their own opportunities and choose to do evil instead. In a way, Spider-Man always seems to be fighting off some version of himself that could have been, and that’s what makes us love his villains so much.

Unlike many other superheroes in the game, Peter Parker primarily fights blue collar criminals who just want to hit the local bank over taking over the world. This means he’s usually up against the guys who like to fight it out with their fists, who cause some serious property damage and look to terrorize the community. A lot of them are angry at the cards life dealt them, and they want to take it out on Spider-Man. Ever wonder who’s the toughest? Here are the 20 most ferocious Spider-Man villains ever, officially ranked.

20 RHINO

Aleksei Sytsevich is remembered as the dimwitted muscle for hire who wears an enhanced exosuit and goes by the name Rhino. Despite all the silliness of a grown man wearing a rhinoceros costume that gives him incredible strength, he has more than proven himself capable of handling Spider-Man in a fight. After going up against the wall-crawler a few times, he eventually took on the Hulk as one of his new enemies. Despite his incredible strength, Aleksei proved to be no match for the Jade Giant. He then refocused his efforts on Spider-Man, teamed up with many of his other enemies, and attempted to take out the hero for good.

Rhino eventually learned to turn over a new leaf. He accidentally ended the life of a security guard during a bank heist, and when he found out, Aleksei felt horrible about the whole thing. After years spent in that rhino suit, he finally gave it all up in order to live a normal life. Aleksei settled down, got married, and tried to put the past behind him. However, his fellow villains could not forget the power he once held. A new Rhino was chosen, but the original helped take him down. Unfortunately, his new happiness would not last, and his wife Oksana later bit the dust. The pain proved to be too much, and he returned to a life of crime.

19 PHIL URICH

Phil-Urich-Hobgoblin

Phil Urich isn’t necessarily evil, but he’s certainly a bad guy who seems to enjoy hurting people whenever he doesn’t get his way. He initially attempts to be a superhero under the guise of a new Green Goblin, but he eventually snaps and goes bad. Apparently Urich can get a little attached to the women around him, and when they don’t feel the same way about him, he tends to overreact, have a breakdown, and turn to a life of crime. Being the nephew of long-time Spider-Man ally Ben Urich, Phil is the kind of threat that hits a little close to home.

Never much one for original ideas, Phil Urich made a criminal career out of copying others and doing whatever he is told to do. He stole the Hobgoblin identity from a man he thought was Roderick Kingsley, and then he became an enforcer for the Kingpin. He later fought the original Hobgoblin over the name before eventually falling in with Norman Osborn and becoming one of his Goblin Knights. After an attempt to replace Osborn as the new Goblin King, and another battle with Roderick Kingsley, he was eventually wiped out during a chance encounter with his old boss.

18 MENACE

There have been many Green Goblin replacements come and go over the years, but the revelation that Lily Hollister was a villain is among the most hard hitting. The girlfriend of Harry Osborn, both Harry and Peter cared for her right up until it was revealed she had been moonlighting as Menace, the latest supervillain to call New York City her stomping grounds. She proved to be quite the menace right up to the mayoral election, but her outing as a villain caused her father to resign from the position. She eventually fell in with Norman Osborn during his rise to power and turned her back on Harry.

What might hurt the worst is the fact that it was kind of Harry’s fault that she became a villain in the first place. Finding her boyfriend’s notes about the Green Goblin, she went to one of Norman Osborn’s old safe houses and accidentally spilled Goblin Formula on herself. This not only transformed her into a goblin-like monster, it also gifted her with enough strength to actually defeat Spider-Man in battle. At one point she proved to be too much for him in his weakened state, and she choked the web-slinger out with her bare hands.

17 MISTER NEGATIVE

Mister Negative SpiderMan Videogame

Mister Negative is an interesting dichotomy between good and evil within the same body. One of the more recent addition to Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, the man who became Mister Negative is not who he says he is. After surviving the shipwreck of a slave ship operated by a Chinese gang, a man survives who claims himself to be Martin Li. He is captured and experimented on, and though he gains his freedom and becomes a productive member of society, he also in secret becomes Mister Negative, who seeks to gain control of New York City’s underground.

He uses his abilities to influence people's actions and manipulate those around him. At various points, Li has used this power on the likes of Aunt May, Cloak and Dagger, and even Spider-Man himself in order to get them to do his bidding. Mister Negative’s machinations eventually lead to all-out war between his Inner Demons and the Hood’s gang. Despite the fact that he never succeeds in claiming the power he desires, he has remained a presence in the New York City criminal underworld for many years now. Even when he’s at his weakest, Li is near impossible to defeat because he can make you do anything he wants with a mere touch.

16 HOBGOBLIN

Hobgoblin ripping Spider-Man's costume in half

Everyone wants to be the next Green Goblin, but only Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin, was able to challenge Norman Osborn’s legacy. Kingsley is obsessed with the original Green Goblin after his fall and initially sets out to follow in his footsteps by becoming the Hobgoblin. Unhappy with merely matching the Green Goblin, Kingsley finds a way to perfect the Goblin Formula and becomes even more powerful than Osborn himself. Kingsley manipulates Ned Leeds into serving as the new Hobgoblin in order to lead everyone off his scent. Following a prolonged retirement, he eventually returns and takes out his replacement Jason Macendale.

Kingsley is much more of a businessman than a supervillain, so on many occasions he has taken the opportunity to make money off his reputation as a criminal. Eventually he uses his vast resources to collect the costumes and equipment of deceased or retired criminals and sells them to buyers in order to create new supervillains. He created Mysterion, a new Crime Master, and many other low-level criminals through this operation. When Phil Urich attempts to usurp his Hobgoblin identity, he allows him to keep it as long as he gets a cut of the profits. Kingsley has proven to be the kind of businessman who is comfortable selling just about anything.

15 TOMBSTONE

Tombstone-fighting-Spider-Man

Everyone in Peter Parker’s life, from the most prominent supporting cast to even the tertiary characters, seems to have a personal villain of their very own. While Spider-Man was off fighting Doctor Octopus or the Sinister Six, Robbie Robertson was in the battle for his life against the villainous mob enforcer known as Tombstone. After Robbie witnessed him taking care of business, the two became entangled in an unending battle. Thanks to his albino appearance, Lonnie Lincoln gained a reputation for being a haunting and menacing figure to meet on the street. The filed down teeth that made him look like a vampire sure made it worse.

The battle between Tombstone and Robertson raged on for some time before Spider-Man became involved. In the fight that ensued, the wall-crawler nearly lost his life, as he proved to be no match for Lonnie’s raw power. Tombstone and Robertson even went to prison together, where their fight continued. Things didn’t settle down until Robbie accidentally gave Tombstone actual superpowers, granting him increased strength and durability. As a sign of gratitude, Lonnie decided to finally leave Robertson alone. The scariest part of it all is that even after everything was said and done, Tombstone walked away even stronger, meaner, and scarier than ever.

14 ALISTAIR SMYTHE

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Most of Spider-Man’s foes have a vendetta against the hero for getting in the way of their life of crime. When it comes to Alistair Smythe, it’s all about a personal desire to seek revenge for the loss of his father. Spencer Smythe previously build the infamous Spider-Slayers to attack Spider-Man, however, Alistair’s father eventually lost his life and he blamed Spidey and J. Jonah Jameson for it. Deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps, he sent a new breed of Spider-Slayers after Spider-Man before eventually transforming himself into the menacing Ultimate Spider-Slayer in order to finally take out his enemy.

Alistair Smythe was able to seriously improve upon the technology his father created, making new Spider-Slayers using cybernetic technology and inventing the Mini-Slayers. He even manages to create a new cybernetic suit for himself that allowed him to take the fight directly against Spider-Man. At one point Smythe targets Jameson and his entire family, eager to get revenge for his role in his father’s fate. The conflict ends with Marla Jameson losing her life. It takes an incredibly brutal encounter with the Superior Spider-Man to finally take the man down. Due to be executed in prison, a new violent Spider-Man shows up to stop his escape. Given the chance to stop Alistair or save innocent lives, he chooses to take out the villain once and for all.

13 SANDMAN

Not all of Spider-Man’s enemies are made of pure evil. Some of them were just given a bad break in life and fell into a life of crime. While the Sandman has attempted to change his way for awhile, in the end, it’s hard to not put Sandman in the company of Spider-Man's toughest opponents. Given the power to transform himself into sand, he proves to be more than a match against Spider-Man. He eventually decides to turn over a new leaf and helps his former enemy before going so far as to join the Avengers and later Silver Sable’s Wild Pack.

It eventually comes apart for the once redeemed villain, and he goes back to living a life of crime. In “The Gauntlet” storyline, Flint Marko displays new abilities that allow him to split himself into separate individuals, each with a different personality and motivation. This new feature makes Sandman an even more dangerous threat than he was as just a guy who could morph his limbs into different weapons. When the Superior Spider-Man comes into town, he makes Flint one of his Superior Six, where he mind controls them into doing heroic, yet dangerous work. Sandman eventually escapes and seeks his revenge against Spider-Man. It’s not a wise idea to get on the bad side of a guy who is comprised of living sand, even if he’s not all bad.

12 JACKAL

jackal

Few villains have been responsible for more horror in Peter Parker’s life than Miles Warren, the man who would become the Jackal. A brilliant scientist with the ability to create elaborate human clones, Warren was the primary villain behind the infamous Clone Saga that took place in Spider-Man comics. Warren was responsible for the return of Gwen Stacy, as well as the creation of Peter Parker clones Kaine and Ben Reilly. He even convinced Peter that Ben was the original and he was the clone, completely messing him up for a good period of time.

The Jackal was believed to have passed on many times over, but has seemingly returned from the grave over and over. Coming back to infect the residents of Manhattan with spider powers, he is responsible for the events of the “Spider-Island” crossover. It was also revealed that he had saved the life of Ben Reilly, and after an extensive amount of experiments, the Jackal was able to stabilize his clone cells again. This resulted in a more morally ambiguous Ben Reilly who soon set off the events of Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy. It seems like no matter what happens to him, the one true Jackal is always hiding out and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

11 ELECTRO

Electro FINAL

While other enemies of Spider-Man are either trying to take over the New York City underworld, or simply out for revenge against the wall-crawler for some injustice, Max Dillon is nothing more than a professional criminal. Given the ability to absorb electricity and wield it as a weapon, Electro has proven to be one of the most dangerous villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. On more than one occasion his powers have made fighting him to be a dangerous and tricky operation. Spider-Man learned quickly that the only way to defeat him was to use rubber to prevent Electro’s attacks from frying him.

A series of upgrades have made him increasingly dangerous and nearly unstoppable at times. Electro eventually lost control of his immense powers to the point where he couldn’t even make physical contact with anyone, otherwise he would end them. Other villains often employ Electro because his incredible powers allow them to do a lot of damage. He’s been a frequent member of the Secret Six and was even hired to start the jailbreak at the Raft that led to the formation of the New Avengers. His powers were eventually burned out by Francine Frye, but it’s only a matter of time before the original Electro makes his return.

10 SCORPION

Scorpion Mac Gargan

For much of his career as a criminal, Mac Gargan was actually more an enemy of J. Jonah Jameson than Spider-Man himself. Considering Jameson was responsible for Gargan undergoing the procedure that turned him into a crazed scorpion-powered villain, he has gone after him for revenge at several points. These conflicts were what got Spider-Man involved, as he was forced to save Jameson a few times. Gargan’s career as the Scorpion was rather uninteresting until he became the host for the Venom symbiote and became something of a monster that proved to be more than a match for Spider-Man.

Gargan’s reign of terror as the new host of the symbiote was filled with mayhem and a taste for human flesh. He worked under Norman Osborn during his rise to power in the Marvel Universe and became one of the main members of the Thunderbolts during this time. He proved to be a valuable asset, though the now bestial Gargan was hard to control at times. Gargan served as a member of Osborn’s Dark Avengers, assuming the identity of Spider-Man, before eventually losing the symbiote and returning to his life as the Scorpion. He seems to be an enemy of every Spider-Man in existence, having fought Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2099.

9 CHAMELEON

Chameleon shapeshifter Marvel Spider-Man

Family is more important than anything, and when Kraven the Hunter takes his own life, his brother the Chameleon decides to take revenge on Spider-Man. Before that time, Dmitri was more of a gifted imposter until he takes a serum that allows him to manipulate his face. This is when things start to get personal and the stakes are raised dramatically. The conflict between Spider-Man and the Chameleon involved multiple cases of kidnapping and eventually took both men right to the edge of sanity. In the end, they both cracked up and were lost for a time.

Chameleon goes on to impersonate Peter Parker for awhile as his own sense of identity continues to spiral out of control. He has also impersonated many other costumed heroes over the years, which has led to his continued unstable mental state. He comes to work with the Kravinoff family in preparations for the revival of his brother, and proves to be an important part of the plan coming to fruition in the “Grim Hunt” storyline. Given the fact that the Chameleon was the very first super criminal Spider-Man fought, he will always have a special place among the hero’s pantheon of villains.

8 CARRION

Carrion Spider-Man

Carrion might be less popular than many of Spider-Man’s other enemies, but every version of the villain seems to be more horrifying than the next. The identity of the original person who used this name was actually the clone of Professor Miles Warren, aka the Jackal. Looking for revenge against Spider-Man for the fate of both Gwen Stacy and the original Miles Warren, Carrion fought Peter Parker to the bitter end. Years later, it was discovered that Warren had created a virus that endowed others with Carrion’s powers of telepathy, levitation, and disintegrating touch. The villain would then seemingly live on in new hosts.

This virus was used on Malcolm McBride to create the second incarnation of Carrion, who also fought against Spider-Man. Then a third, William Allen, became a more advanced version of the villain who attempted to infect New York City with a zombie plague. Another Carrion was simply a sentient virus that could take over various hosts and fought the Superior Spider-Man. When the Jackal (secretly Ben Reilly in disguise) returned in Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy, he attempts to get Spider-Man to work with him in order to bring back everyone’s lost loved ones as clones. Apparently in the universes where Peter did agree to team with him, the Carrion virus went out of control and caused something of a zombie outbreak. That’s definitely not what you want.

7 LIZARD

The Lizard

Dr. Curt Connors is not a bad guy, but his reptilian alter-ego the Lizard is too dangerous to be allowed to roam free. Accidentally transforming himself into a monster, Connors went on a rampage until Spider-Man was able to save him. The two became friends and allies, but a permanent cure was hard to come by. Every time the Lizard resurfaces, Peter Parker loses his friend and must stop the dangerous Lizard from destroying humanity. Connors would wrestle with the beast inside him for many years, often doing everything in his power to find a cure, even if it meant breaking the law.

Years spent battling his inner demons finally took its toll on Dr. Connors. It was even worse after losing his wife and having his son taken away from him. He would eventually give into his reptilian counterpart in order to commit evil acts, like eat his boss and son. This incident causes incredible changes in the Lizard, and he goes through a series of evolutions, from a more streamlined appearance to a more balanced psyche. In the end, though, without his wife and son, Connors has nothing left to live for. He is manipulated and used by other villains many times over, but for the most part, the Lizard has no real purpose anymore. It’s a sad existence for a decent man.

6 KRAVEN THE HUNTER

Some villains like to rob banks, others want to take over the world, and still others want revenge against your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. What does Kraven the Hunter want? Why, he simply wants to hunt. He finds Spider-Man to be the ultimate pray and decides to dedicate his life to defeating the hero. Just in case you thought Kraven would rely on some unfair tricks, the villain actually possesses some amount of honor that prevents him from taking out the wall-crawler under unfair circumstances. Eventually Kraven’s body betrays him and he becomes old. Prepared for one more hunt, he goes after Spider-Man in the 1987 story “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” but ultimately takes his own life when he fails.

In the ensuing decades that pass, several new Kravens appear, each proving to be a family member of Sergei Kravinoff. Nearly 25 years after his demise, his family manages to resurrect him in a supernatural ritual during the “Grim Hunt” storyline. Returning more violent than ever before, he ends up eliminating several of his family members that he feels do not deserve a place in his family. Together with his daughter Ana, the two decide to rebuild the Kravinoff family and make them a dangerous force in the world once again.

5 DOCTOR OCTOPUS

Adamantium Rage Doc Ock

Few feuds between superhero and supervillain have become as personal as the struggle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus has become. Over the years, the two have managed to hurt each other in a number of ways, but Otto Octavius remains one of the worst threats to Peter Parker’s life. A brilliant scientist before his turn as a criminal, Doc Ock uses a harness with four powerful tentacle arms to be more than a match to Spider-Man in a fight. He has gone to great lengths to mess with Peter, from kidnapping Betty Brant and Aunt May, to actually attempting to marry May, to nearly finishing off the Black Cat.

Easily the worst thing that Otto Octavius has done to his rival is steal his body from him. Suffering from terminal cancer, Doctor Octopus tries one last attempt to defeat his enemy by finding a way to swap their minds. With Peter’s consciousness stuck inside Otto’s ravaged body, he passes away with the villain still in possession of Spider-Man. He then becomes the Superior Spider-Man, pretends to be Peter Parker, and even has a relationship with Mary Jane Watson. While Peter does eventually oust Otto from his body, it’s a terrible thing that his greatest enemy did to him. Doctor Octopus finds a way to live on in a new body, but the damage has already been done. You can’t outdo stealing a man’s very identity.

4 MORLUN

morlun

While most of Spider-Man’s villains possess only heightened abilities and use advanced technology to commit crime, Morlun actually has legitimate superpowers that make him a serious threat. Super strength, speed, durability, and the ability to absorb the life force of others all add up to an enemy that actually succeeds in ending the life of Peter Parker. Morlun is a powerful entity from Earth-001 of the Marvel Multiverse, who makes it his cause to hunt down and eliminate all Spider-Totems in existence. This makes Spider-Man a prime target and results in Peter getting brutally beat down on several occasions.

Though Spider-Man has managed to defeat Morlun in the past, he seems to have the ability to reconstitute his body and return once again. The villain later returns during the “Spider-Verse” storyline, where he and his family members target different alternate versions of Spider-Man throughout the Marvel Multiverse. After a huge battle between the Inheritors and the Spider-Totems, Peter Parker is finally able to defeat Morlun by stranding him and his people on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Without any living humans to feed on, nor the ability to travel between dimensions anymore, Morlun and his family were left to an uncertain fate. However, he could always find a way to return and hunt down Spider-Man once and for all.

3 GREEN GOBLIN

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Few villains are as dangerous as Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin. The unhinged criminal has done his fair share to ruin the lives of Peter Parker and those around him. He was responsible for the demise of Gwen Stacy, ruined the life of Peter’s best friend Harry Osborn, and was the one who manipulated the events of the infamous Clone Saga from behind the scenes. Osborn lost his life in battle with Spider-Man—or so we thought—and several new versions of the Green Goblin took his place, but no one could ever match up to the original.

Osborn came back in a big way as the director of the Thunderbolts, and he almost immediately used it against Spider-Man. He sent the likes of Venom, Bullseye, and other dangerous criminals after the wall-crawler. Osborn gained even more power after Secret Invasion, which he used to replace the Avengers with the Dark Avengers. After his fall from grace, Osborn really lost his mind and descended into madness again. Back in the role of Green Goblin, he formed a cult that brought him up against Spider-Man. Now the Green Goblin has bonded with the symbiote Carnage, and things are about to get a whole lot uglier before they get better.

2 VENOM

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The story of Eddie Brock and Venom is a sad tale of revenge that may have honestly gone a little too far. Brock blamed Peter Parker for everything bad that happened in his life, and the alien symbiote was upset because Spider-Man ditched it in an alleyway. By combining their malice, the two became the deadly villain known as Venom, who managed to quite a challenge for the webslinger. After spending much of the ‘80s and ‘90s as Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis, Venom eventually went on to become something of an anti-hero in his own right.

Even though Eddie Brock and the symbiote eventually went their separate ways, Venom still proved to be a major thorn in Spider-Man’s side. When Mac Gargan took on the identity, he became a major player in the Thunderbolt and one of Norman Osborn’s most valuable puppets. Thanks to the influence of Flash Thompson, the Venom symbiote was actually able to become a superhero in its own right, but nothing ever seemed to measure up to Eddie Brock. In the end, Brock was forced to take back the symbiote, and now the two are on their own path again. It shouldn’t be long before they come across Spider-Man once again, and when that happens all bets are off.

1 CARNAGE

The only thing worse than your greatest enemy is your greatest enemy’s son. That’s the lesson that Spider-Man has learned over the years since Carnage came into his life. The offspring of the Venom symbiote, everyone had the misfortune of seeing it bond with the sadistic serial killer Cletus Kasady. From that day on, Carnage became one of the most dangerous villains in the entire Marvel Universe. It has proved to be far more powerful than its father, requiring Spider-Man to team up with Venom just to defeat it in the first place. However, things were just getting started.

Over the years, Carnage has gone on several different rampages, each told in a new story. “Maximum Carnage” had the symbiote spreading itself over several criminals in order to create as much chaos as possible. In Carnage U.S.A., the symbiote goes across the country in order to go on a rampage in small town America, The symbiote then discovers the Microverse in “Minimum Carnage,” requiring the Scarlet Spider and Venom to go after it. Carnage has bonded with being as power as the Silver Surfer, as heroic as Ben Reilly, and as dangerous as Norman Osborn. The symbiote is even stronger than Venom and far more chaotic. This is the most dangerous villain Spider-Man has ever faced.