Spider-Man has been described as everything from amazing to spectacular during his illustrious career in the Marvel Universe. No matter what adjective is used to describe him, it fits, because ever since the fateful night Peter Parker learned that with great power comes great responsibility, he's earned each and every title by facing off with major threat after major threat, day in and day out.
While Spider-Man is always going to be a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, his great responsibility has led him to go against some of the most powerful people the Marvel Universe has to offer, and with ingenuity, determination, and a little luck he's always found a way to come out on top. Here's a look at the ten most powerful opponents Spider-Man has defeated.
10 The Hulk
This comes with some major asterisks. First, this was the grey/Joe Fixit version of the Hulk, who could "only" lift around 75 tons, and while he could still get stronger as he got madder, this ability was dampened due to his higher intelligence and reasoning abilities.
The second asterisk is that Spider-Man was in possession of the powers of Captain Universe at the time, which granted him cosmic abilities far beyond his normal ones. Still though, he punched the Hulk into orbit, and while he couldn't have done it without the Captain Universe powers that's still an impressive feat.
9 Venom
An honorable mention goes to Titania, who Spider-Man trounced during Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. At the time of the fight, Titania could lift 85 tons, more than the Grey Hulk, but since he had the potential to increase his strength by getting madder (and got punched into space), he made the list over her.
Titania is also physically stronger than Venom, who can lift 70 tons. But Venom's ability to negate Spider-Man's Spider-Sense, blend into his surroundings, plus his pure and utter hatred for the Wall-Crawler made him a far deadlier opponent than either her or the Grey Hulk - not to mention how many times Spider-Man has had to defeat Venom.
8 Goliath
The Goliath Spider-Man defeated was Erik Josten, the future Atlas in Baron Zemo's Thunderbolts. Already a powered individual before becoming Goliath, he can lift over 100 tons in his larger sizes.
Spider-Man initially defeated Goliath while he had his Captain Universe powers. Seeking revenge, he teamed with other villains Spider-Man defeated with the Captain Universe powers, but during the fight Spidey webbed Goliath's legs together unbeknownst to him, causing him to fall hard and knock himself out.
7 Carnage
The Carnage symbiote gives him the ability to lift over 80 tons, plus the symbiote's biomass allows it to grow in size and bulk as well, so it has the potential to surpass Goliath's strength. But with Carnage, his strength levels are only the beginning of Spider-Man's worries.
Like Venom's symbiote, it has the ability to negate Spider-Man's Spider-Sense and can blend into its surroundings. But because it was created on Earth, it also has abilities that the Venom symbiote doesn't, like launching projectiles and creating bladed weapons. With all the powers the Carnage symbiote has factored in with his chaotic madness it's a miracle Spider-Man's been able to defeat him as many times as he has.
6 Red Goblin
Despite arguably being Spider-Man's greatest enemy, the Green Goblin isn't powerful enough to make this list. But when the Green Goblin combines with the Carnage symbiote then it's a total gamechanger.
As the Red Goblin, the Green Goblin gets the powers of the Carnage symbiote on top of his own. But what makes him even more deadly is that the Goblin Formula eliminates the symbiote's vulnerability to fire and sonics. The Red Goblin proved so powerful that Spider-Man couldn't defeat him even with the Venom symbiote. The only way Spider-Man was able to win was by goading Norman Osborn to face him without the symbiote.
5 Graviton
If you're not familiar with Graviton, just know that he's basically Magneto but with gravity. And during the Acts of Vengeance crossover, he soundly defeated Spider-Man in their first encounter, only for Spider-Man to come back and beat him when he got the Captain Universe powers.
Graviton was part of the group of villains that sought revenge on Spider-Man following the loss of his cosmic powers. During the fight he actually negated Spider-Man's gravity, sending Spider-Man hurtling into the sky, but Spider-Man was able to web on to a passing-by plane before he suffocated in the upper atmosphere. When the Web-Slinger got back to the fight, he took an unprotected by gravity Graviton out with one punch.
4 The Fantastic Four
In the very first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man was looking for ways to make money being a superhero. He figured he would join the Fantastic Four, which has to pay well, so he broke into the Baxter Building to fight the team and show them what he could do.
Granted, the team was trying to be cautious, and since it was the early days of Marvel the Invisible Woman, the team's most powerful member, hadn't had her powers fully developed so her main thing was "being invisible," but still Spider-Man impressively was winning the fight until both sides called a truce and he explained the reason for his visit.
3 The X-Men
If you count "getting a new costume that later tries to kill you plus spawns two of your most dangerous enemies" as a good thing, then Spider-Man came out of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars pretty well. Besides his one-sided win against Titania, he also (in)famously defeated the X-Men, who didn't quite fare as well in the series.
Spider-Man overhears the X-Men agree to leave the heroes and join then-villain Magneto. When they discovered his presence Spider-Man overreacted and not only attacked them but came out ahead with relative ease. And this wasn't some X-Men B team, this was one of their most powerful lineups. Only a Professor X mindwipe prevented Spider-Man from ratting them out.
2 Firelord
In one of Spider-Man's most questionable wins, Spider-Man once defeated Firelord, a former Herald of Galactus.
After throwing everything imaginable at the Power Cosmic imbued former herald, Firelord wasn't even phased, so Spider-Man just dug in and nailed him with punch after punch, constantly moving with his Spider-Speed and never letting up. The next thing Spider-Man knew, Captain America was pulling him back and congratulating him on a hard-fought win.
1 Juggernaut
While the Spider-Man/Firelord fight may have been iffy, a perfectly done Spider-Man underdog fight came when Spider-Man faced the Juggernaut in Amazing Spider-Man #229-230.
Like with Firelord, Juggernaut shrugged off Spider-Man's every attempt to stop him. Having found themselves at a construction site, Spider-Man jumps on Juggernaut's back and covers his eyes. Despite the hammering blows Juggernaut hits him with, Spider-Man persists, until the Juggernaut inadvertently walks into the wet concrete of a building foundation. With Juggernaut sinking into the concrete, Spider-Man jumps away to safety.