Everyone can agree that the best word to describe the '90s is 'radical'. It was a unique time with a distinct style that seemed to possess pop culture. Characters were tubular, virtually every live-action movie was getting a Saturday morning cartoon whether they deserved it or not, and comics were getting edgy new characters.
Marvel wasn't excluded from this as they developed an abundance of new characters like Cable and Gambit. However not all characters have been able to remain relevant in the comics. Spider-Man received a plethora of new villains that have been hit or miss over the last few years. The following are five examples of those who are still around and those who aren't.
10 Forgotten: Delilah
The '90s had an interesting trend of making beautiful, killer, second bananas. Delilah is one of them, serving as a highly-trained assassin for the mob boss Jacob Conover. She's a ruthless killer that isn't afraid to get her hands dirty or send a severed head as a warning. That said, she's been fooled plenty of times and as a result found herself on the brink of death. Suffice it to say, it's probably for the best she isn't around. Otherwise she might meet her end at the hands of a more competent assassin like Deadpool or Silver Sable.
9 Still Around: Stunner
Angelina Brancale AKA Stunner is among the many lab assistants in comics who wound up falling for a madman. In her case, she fell in love with Doctor Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus. Octavius used a virtual reality machine to give her a virtual beautiful, powerful body that she wound up using to cause destruction.
She was knocked into a coma at one point but returned to learn that Dr. Octavius was dead, when in actuality he was in Peter Parker's body as the Superior Spider-Man. She blamed Spider-Man for the death of her love and tried to kill but he managed to calm her down and end their relationship. While she hasn't made shown herself since 2013, she's still kicking and could potentially return.
8 Forgotten: Corona
If Marvel had only known what the future held for them they probably would have chosen a different villainess name than Corona. Her real name is Dagny Forrester and she was a wealthy scientist who used herself as a test subject to give her powers. The first time she met Spider-Man was when he tried to stop her from stealing the antidote she needed from her brother and the next time she was forced to serve as a bodyguard being controlled by remote. Spider-Man eventually freed her and she left to discover her destiny but she has yet to make an appearance since then. Hopefully she'll consider getting a new name before she makes a comeback.
7 Still Around: Shriek
Some villains just bring out the worst in people. In Shriek's case that's an actual power of hers. In addition to her sonic scream, she can bring out people's dark side and imbue them with sinister thoughts and desires. She's tangled with Marvel's best and worst from Venom and Deadpool to Porcupine and the Great Lakes Avengers. Recently she was involved in the Absolute Carnage event where she aided the titular villain and offered herself as a sacrifice. But that other villain will be discussed later.
6 Forgotten: Critical Mass
Ever wondered what the Blob from X-Men would look like in a gaudy outfit and able to shoot explosive blasts from his fingertips? Then look no further than Critical Mass. The mutant leader of the short-lived Band of Baddies who wound up on Spidey and Wolverine's radar when his crew kidnapped a mutant little girl.
After holding the girl at gunpoint, her powers went off and destroyed their warehouse, supposedly killing the crew off-screen. It's unlikely Critical Mass or his crew will be resurrected like the many comic characters before them.
5 Still Around: Kaine
The Clone Saga is one of Spider-Man's most infamous, and most mind-boggling, events to ever transpire in Marvel history. Thanks to the Jackal's cloning of Peter Parker, several characters like Ben Reilly and Kaine. In the case of Kaine, he's been manipulated by the Jackal and Green Goblin to go after Peter and Ben serving as an evil reflection of the wall crawlers. Maybe it's the Parker luck keeping him around but somehow he's managed to stick around flip-flopping between villain and anti-hero. Though that's to be expected of Peter's sort-of brother.
4 Forgotten: F.A.C.A.D.E.
If you're wondering who F.A.C.A.D.E. is, you're not alone. The user of the Full Acclimation Combat And Defense Explo-skeleton was introduced in the '90s but their mystery was never solved. What was supposed to be an on-going subplot was upstaged by the growing popularity of The Clone Saga. The writers kept teasing the reveal of F.A.C.A.D.E.'s identity and pulling the rug out at the last second that it eventually became a running gag. At this point, not even the Marvel characters care who was in the suit, much less the readers.
3 Still Around: Alistair Smythe
Admittedly, this is a bit cheating since he originally debuted in 1985 but he's been considered a '90s villain before and he technically played a big role in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Alistair Smythe is the son of the late Spencer Smythe, the inventor of the Spider-Slayers, who was determined to finish Spider-Man once and for all.
Over the years he went through a series of transformations and Spider-Slayers before the Superior Spider-Man put an end to him. Of course no one truly stays dead since the Jackal managed to make clones of Alastair and Spencer Smythe in Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy. So there's still a chance he could return to meddle in Spidey's affairs.
2 Forgotten: Judas Traveller
It's almost a shame that Judas Traveller isn't around anymore since he looked like a formidable foe for Spider-Man. Initially he was built up as a powerful, age-less being fascinated with the nature of evil and Spider-Man. Not only did he force Spider-Man and his clones to undergo perilous trials but he even put Peter on trial with Ravencroft inmates as the jury. Eventually it was revealed that Traveller was a delusional mutant with illusion-casting powers who faded into obscurity. Though the same could not be said of the villain who served as the judge of Peter's trial...
1 Still Around: Carnage
Move over Venom, there's a deadlier symbiote in town. Carnage is the offspring of the Venom symbiote that merged with serial killer Cletus Kasady. Their mutual love of killing gave them a stronger bond than Eddie Brock's bond with his symbiote, resulting in the two working together to go on killing sprees. Carnage is one of the few villains Spider-Man can rarely beat alone and usually requires help from the likes of Venom, the Fantastic Four, or even the Avengers. Worst of all, no matter how many times he's defeated, Kassady always finds a way to come back and create Carnage.