Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular character, and quite possibly the most popular superhero around. If he’s not number one, he’s definitely in the top three. While part of that popularity is definitely due to his awesome villains and own awesome powers, an equal amount of credit has to be given to Spidey’s incredible supporting cast. Peter’s always been as much of a drama character as he is a superhero, and that kind of story can only be carried with a strong set of supporting characters, of which Peter’s are arguably the strongest in comics. So today we’re going to be looking at the ten most important Spider-Man side characters, and ranking them by arcs.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Before we get into it, let’s set some ground rules. We’re ranking these characters by both their personal character arcs and how instrumental they’ve been in Peter’s, although their own arc is weighted a bit more here. We’ll be judging how much they’ve changed since their first appearance, and how positive that growth has been. Also, we’re only ranking Spidey specific supporting characters, so no other superheroes or villains, unless they started as a member of Spider-Man’s cast. With that out of the way, let’s get right into it.
10) Gwen Stacy
Getting tenth place on our list is Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s college love and one of his most tragic losses. She’s one of the most important people towards Peter’s growth into the man he is today, but as a character herself, there’s unfortunately not much growth. Gwen was introduced as the intellectual popular girl Peter met in college, and she stayed exactly that until the day she died. The closest she had to a change in her character was hating Spider-Man after her dad’s death, but even that didn’t change all that much, and it added more drama on Peter’s end than hers. Gwen’s important, but unfortunately, mostly just as a lost character.
9) Robbie Robertson
Robbie is one of the best Spider-Man characters, being the calm foil to JJJ’s erratic Spider-hatred, and has such an interesting background. He knew Tombstone back in high school, with the gangster looking at Robbie as his only friend and biggest traitor, while Robbie blames himself for not stopping Tombstone before he became such a monster. However, as great of a character as he is, he hasn’t had much of an arc. Robbie’s best moments were being forced to work with Tombstone and watching their kids grow close, learning to let go of that self-doubt and hate, but overall he hasn’t changed much from his debut. Some characters are just too good to change.
8) Uncle Ben
Much like Gwen, Uncle Ben didn’t have much of a defined character himself. He was the wise father-figure whose words guide Peter to this day, but given that all we see of him is in flashbacks, he hasn’t ever been anything but that. Still, Ben’s importance to Peter’s own character growth literally cannot be understated. His teachings and death spurred Peter to become one of the greatest heroes of all time, changing him from a brash young man to the Amazing Spider-Man that teaches other people the same lessons. Unfortunately, Ben himself hasn’t changed much, given that he’s dead and all.
7) Betty Brant
When Betty was introduced as Peter’s first love interest, she was nothing more than your standard damsel-in-distress. Her entire character revolved around liking Peter, disliking Spider-Man, and getting jealous when another woman talked to him. Over time, however, after she moved on from Peter, she became a much stronger character. She overcame her grief after the death of her husband Ned Leeds, and forged herself into a renowned investigative journalist. She’s still one of Peter’s closest friends, and a fierce ally in helping him stand up to many of the problems they face.
6) Harry Osborn
Peter’s best friend, Harry has been through plenty of ups and downs as a character. He was the spoiled son who felt alienated and turned to drugs, then went crazy after his dad died, and would go back and forth between being Peter’s biggest supporter and his worst enemy. Watching Harry cycle back to being the villain every now and again is a point against his arc, but his growth and dedication to changing is what makes it so great. Whenever Harry is at his lowest and he decides he has to pick himself back up, his journey towards being a better man, husband, father, and friend is incredible to see.
5) Black Cat
Felicia Hardy was originally a thief with a begrudging attraction to Spider-Man. They dated, and although she initially had trouble accepting that Spider-Man was a normal man underneath and wasn’t just in this for the thrill, but eventually came to love Peter with or without the mask. Their friendship helped Felicia appreciate more than just the thrill of the chase and crime, and she’s gone from a cat burglar to a cat burglar who is always willing to help Spidey out of a jam and usually stands beside other heroes, too. She’s opened her heart to be a much better person, but there are unfortunately quite a few low points to her character.
Like the time Felicia became the crime kingpin of New York, or that time she dumped Peter because she missed their villain-hero dynamic. Felicia seems to be stuck in as much of an arc-resetting cycle as Spider-Man, but when she’s written to match her decades of development, she stands as one of Spider-Man’s best characters.
4) Flash Thompson
Back in the day, Flash was your typical high school bully. He ragged on Peter any chance he got, and his only other personality trait was loving Spider-Man. Despite that, Flash matured a lot as Peter and him grew up. Flash joined the military and became a dedicated veteran, becoming a hero to the point of losing his legs to save other members of his troop. Inspired by Peter and Spider-Man, he became his own hero as Agent Venom, and taught the evil symbiote what it means to be more. Flash is far from perfect, just look at his affair with Betty Brant, but overall he’s become a reliable, trustworthy, and selfless man that started as nothing more than a jerk.
3) J. Jonah Jameson
Much like Flash, Jonah has changed a lot, and I mean a lot across the decades. His first appearance showed him being nothing more than a petty man who hated Spider-Man because he supposedly stole his son’s glory. He became the world’s most vocal and dedicated hater because Spider-Man made him feel inferior, yet slowly but surely Jonah began to change. He started to care about his employees, his city, and the sanctity of the news, Spider-Man notwithstanding. He went from making supervillains for jealous revenge to calling out the problems of heroes wearing masks, advocating for what he saw as justice. He’s now one of Peter’s biggest supporters, defending Spider-Man whenever he can. Jonah is one of Spidey’s best characters, all because he started as one of his worst.
2) Aunt May
If there’s one person who’s changed as much as Peter has over the years, it’s Aunt May. In Spider-Man’s earliest adventures, she was simply a plot device to add drama to Peter’s life. She was an old lady with no discernible personality beyond being old, worrying about Peter, and thinking Spider-Man was a menace. She would get sick and nearly die at the drop of a hat, and she didn’t do much beyond tie Peter to familial responsibilities. In fact, you could even argue that she only existed so Peter could hide his identity from someone, as he was scared Aunt May finding out would be shocking enough to kill her.
But from that humble beginning, May became something special. She went from a fragile biddy to one of Peter’s most important people. She’s his emotional rock, the person who inspires him to stay on the right track when he begins to sway, having been as changed by Ben’s death as Peter was. She’s become a drive for good change in her community and her family, and when she’s utilized right, she can embody the ideals of Spider-Man just as well as he can. She’s not used nearly enough nowadays, but when she’s right, she’s the heart of Spider-Man’s cast.
1) Mary Jane
There can and should be no character with a better arc than Mary Jane Watson. Originally a party girl who only cared about having fun, she went through more growth than anybody else. She overcame her fear of intimacy and connection to stay beside Peter after Gwen died, and developed true, lasting relationships both with him and the characters here. Instead of just doing whatever she wanted, MJ started to put other people first and stopped running from what scared her. She became the grounding, human element to contrast Peter’s superhero world, and easily one of the best characters in it.
There have been plenty of low points for MJ’s character lately. From the erasure of her marriage in “One More Day,” and her leaving Peter for Paul in Zeb Well’s infamous Amazing Spider-Man run. Still, even today her character continues to evolve as she has forged a new bond with Venom, gaining a deeper understanding of her own failures, and what it means to be a hero. MJ has gone through more growth than anyone else, from self-centered to caring and heroic. She’s grown, and Peter grew most when he was beside her. They made each other better, what more is there to say?
So there we have the ten most important Spider-Man supporting characters, ranked by the strength of their character arcs. It makes sense that, generally speaking, the most important and present characters have the strongest arcs. Hopefully we can see even more growth and entertaining changes in the future with these beloved characters. This list was super competitive, and I easily could have included other awesome characters like Liz Allen and the reformed Norman Osborn. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of Crunchyroll
