Marvel Comics boasts an interesting lineup of heroes and villains, many of whom can work on either side of the line depending on the situation. For every character like Spider-Man, who is a pure-blood hero to the core, there is a Venom, who has been as much a villain as a do-gooder. However, the best thing about Marvel Comics is that there are specific times these heroes and villains have to team up to fight a common enemy or to save the world. When heroes are forced to team up with their most hated enemies, it creates dynamic storytelling that offers up adventures readers could only have dreamed of.
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From Spider-Man being forced to team up with Venom and even Doctor Octopus to a moment where Captain America had to help Red Skull, here are 10 times where Marvel Comics heroes had to team up with their greatest villains.
10) Spider-Man & Venom
When the Venom symbiote first appeared in Marvel Comics, it was attached to Spider-Man and wanted more than anything to help him be a hero. However, not wanting an alien controlling him, Peter Parker rejected it. This created a hatred between Venom and Spider-Man, and when it attached to Eddie Brock, who hated Peter Parker, it made them instant enemies. At the same time, Venom wanted to be a hero, just not when Spider-Man was around. However, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Venom and Spider-Man eventually had to work together to fight the sociopathic Carnage symbiote. Eventually, Venom and Spider-Man agreed to stop fighting each other and avoid each other, but it all started when they were forced to work together against Carnage.
9) Captain America & Red Skull
If there is one villain that no hero would ever want to team with, it is Red Skull. There was even a DC/Marvel crossover where Joker said he wouldn’t even team with Red Skull because everyone hates Nazis. However, in one shocking Marvel Comics storyline, Captain America had to work with Red Skull. This was a case where Captain America almost died, but he was saved when Red Skull agreed to offer a blood transfusion since he needed Cap to help him stop World War III. The storyline started in Captain America #445, and the two men had to work together to stop a cult known as Kubekult, which stole the Cosmic Cube that contained Hitler’s soul and wanted to use it to rewrite reality. This only lasts three issues before Skull gets the Cube back and becomes the main villain again.
8) Daredevil & Kingpin
Daredevil is someone who has higher morals than most Marvel Comics heroes, and he will fight even to protect and save criminals from other criminals. Even when the bad guy is someone as loathsome as The Kingpin, Daredevil will do the right thing if he has to protect the villain. As a matter of fact, Daredevil has worked with Kingpin more than once. During the Inferno crossover event, supervillains descend on Hell’s Kitchen to destroy it, and Kingpin shows up to help Daredevil fight to defend his home. In Return of the King, Daredevil and Kingpin teamed up again to battle the Hand, which ironically ended with Daredevil taking control of the Hand. They also ended up imprisoned together once and had to team up during a prison riot. However, as expected, the team-ups never lasted long before they were fighting each other again.
7) Spider-Man & Doctor Octopus
Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus have hated each other for almost the entire time they have been hero and villain. Otto is all about arrogance and superiority, and Spider-Man is the opposite of everything he believes in. Doctor Octopus even killed Spider-Man once when he switched minds right before he died of cancer. Luckily, Peter survived and returned later, but when Otto took over his body, he ended up becoming a hero as Superior Spider-Man and developed somewhat of a conscience for the first time. This is probably why Otto ended up betraying all his Sinister Six teammates during Sinister War to help save Spider-Man’s life so the Wall-Crawler could move on in his battle with Kindred. Humorously, Doc Ock refused to accept Spider-Man’s thanks and said he just wanted revenge on Kindred.
6) Thor & Loki
For eons, Thor and Loki were the greatest of enemies. Thor was Odin’s son and the heir to the throne. Loki was Odin’s adoptive son, whom he always looked down upon with disdain. It was a Shakespearean story with Loki finally tiring of being looked down upon and always lashing out at his brother. However, they are still brothers and Asgardians, and the two of them had to team up together to stop Ragnarok. However, the most significant moment when Loki finally turned the corner was in the Siege storyline when he saved Thor’s life and sacrificed himself for Asgard against the Dark Avengers. Loki returned later and ultimately became the hero/anti-hero fans know him to be today.
5) Spider-Man & J. Jonah Jameson
If there was ever someone who hated a superhero with his every fiber, it was J. Jonah Jameson and Spider-Man. Jameson hated Spider-Man from the start, not knowing the hero was a teenager just trying to do what was right. Jameson even turned into a major villain at times, creating villains to try to kill Spider-Man, including Scorpion and the Spider-Slayer. However, when Spider-Man agreed to be on Jameson’s podcast, he finally revealed his secret identity to the man who hates him, and JJJ saw it was Peter Parker, someone he often looked at like a son. After this, Jameson went into overdrive to praise Spider-Man and tried to make up for his past. He even became Spider-Man’s Man in the Chair for a short time, and the two became partners. They have since had a slight falling out, but it’s nowhere near the level of their relationship’s past issues.
4) Blade & Dracula
Other than Captain America and Red Skull, the most shocking team-up in Marvel Comics came when Blade showed up and asked for Dracula’s help. Of course, Blade’s only goal in life is to kill every vampire on the planet, and his biggest goal from the start was Dracula. Blade debuted in the comic book series Tomb of Dracula, and he always fell short of killing the greatest vampire of them all. However, during King in Black, Blade and the other heroes realized they needed help from the monsters who fought strongest in the darkness. Blade asked Dracula for help, and he got it. Typically, when heroes and villains team up, the villains end up betraying the heroes. The opposite happened here. After Knull fell, Blade started killing the vampires who had just helped him.
3) Magneto & Professor X
The first major villain the X-Men had to face was Magneto, and this was the man who became their most persistent villain. Professor Charles Xavier sought to bring peace between mutants and humans, while Magneto felt that humans would always fear and hunt mutants. For most of their lives, Professor X was the hero, but Magneto was right in his beliefs, but not in his methods. When Professor X had to leave Earth, he asked Magneto to lead his school, and this started his slow turn into an antihero. However, in the Krakoan Era, Xavier and Magneto became close allies, leading the government of Krakoa, and working together to lead mutants to a brighter day, even if it wouldn’t last.
2) Doctor Doom & Doctor Strange
Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange are mostly mortal enemies and have an intense hatred for each other. In 2024, during the Blood Hunt storyline, Doctor Doom did the unthinkable when he took over the role of the Sorcerer Supreme from Strange and then used it to make himself the Emperor, where he took leadership of the planet in One World Under Doom. However, years before this, the two doctors teamed up when Strange helped Doom save the Latverian leader’s mother. This happened in Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, where Strange accompanied Doom to Hell to free Cynthia Von Doom from her debt to Mephisto.
1) Spider-Man & Norman Osborn
In what might be the most shocking hero and villain team-up in Marvel Comics history, Spider-Man and Norman Osborn became allies for a short time. Norman became Green Goblin and went pure evil thanks to the Goblin Serum. He was even responsible for killing Peter Parker’s first major love, Gwen Stacy. However, over time, he became evil even without it. After Secret Invasion, Osborn was evil on his own and led the Dark Avengers into terrorizing the world. That said, Sin-Eater shot Norman with his shotgun, which stripped Norman of all his sins. Following this, Norman set out to make things right and ended up helping Spider-Man as an ally. Norman even sacrificed his goodness to save Spider-Man’s life.
What was your favorite Marvel Comics storyline where a hero had to team up with his greatest villain? Let us know in the comments below.
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