Spider-Man‘s success over the decades comes from multiple factors, but an important one is his rogues gallery. Spider-Man has an amazing cadre of villains to fight, each of them tailor-made to menace the Wall-Crawler in a variety of entertaining ways. Sony has squandered Spidey’s foes, with Kraven the Hunter being the latest failure, but that doesn’t mean that Marvel Studios shouldn’t dig into Spider-Man’s deep bench.
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The MCU has an embarrassment of riches to choose from for their next Spider-Man project. Most of Spider-Man’s A-list villains have been used, but there are plenty of great villains the MCU could use to great effect. Spider-Man’s enemies are a varied lot, with multiple lower level villains always ready to jump into the spotlight.
Hydro-Man
Morris Bench was accidentally knocked overboard during the testing of an experimental generator. He was exposed to the energy conversion process and that mixed with volcanic gases changed his molecular structure. He gained the power to transform into water, and swore revenge on Spider-Man. He turned to crime to fund his war, battling Spider-Man every chance he gets.
Hydro-Man is an interesting villain because of his personal vendetta against Spider-Man. While he may not seem to be the best choice for a main villain, his grudge against Spider-Man works very well from a thematic standpoint. It fits the fact that Spider-Man is a younger hero whose lack of experience could cause him to accidentally cause Hydro-Man’s accident. Villains who have some justification make for the most intriguing foes to watch, bringing an extra dimension to the movie. Hydro-Man would work perfectly in that role, showing MCU fans a different kind of Spider-Man story.
White Rabbit
White Rabbit is a Z-list villain, more known for being a laughingstock than a serious villain. However, she could still make for an excellent big screen Spider-Man foe. Lorina Dodson was born wealthy and eventually became a trophy wife. She grew tired of that life and killed her elderly husband, and then used her inheritance to purchase high-tech weapons and gadgets. She became the White Rabbit, inspired by her love of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, committing crimes and running afoul of Spider-Man in some pretty funny stories.
White Rabbit doesn’t have the pedigree of some Spider-Man villains – her battles with Spidey being more embarrassing for her than dangerous to Spider-Man. That shouldn’t preclude her to getting a chance as silver screen stardom, though. White Rabbit represents an important part of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery – that of the comedy villain – and she would make for a perfect secondary bad guy. Imagine a Spider-Man movie where as he’s dealing with one of the big name villains, he keeps having to contend with White Rabbit’s low stakes but hilarious threats. Or the movie could build her into a serious threat by the end. White Rabbit is too good an opportunity to pass up.
Kaine
The Clone Saga has been maligned for decades, and for good reason. Marvel stretched the story out too long and didn’t have a plan for its ending, just riding the sales wave in the hopes of it all ending up well. That doen’t mean it should consigned to the dustbin of history – there are some good ideas and marvelous characters in it. The Clone Saga could be done well in the MCU, all because of characters like Kaine. Kaine was a harbinger of doom, always watching Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider, using his “Mark of Kaine” touch to kill anyone who got in his way.
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Kaine was the first clone of Spider-Man. He was stronger and faster than baseline Peter, his spider-sense so powerful that it became prophetic visions and the Mark of Kaine a modification of Spider-Man’s wall sticking ability. He’s a striking visual presence who can go toe to toe with Spider-Man, testing him in ways few other villains in the MCU have. Kaine was always one of the highlights of the Clone Saga – his popularity seeing him return as the Scarlet Spider for a time – and is the best face to put forward in the beginning of series of Clone Saga films.
Tombstone
Tombstone has come into his own and it’s about time. The villain was the main antagonist of the last run of The Amazing Spider-Man, and fans got to see him as the dangerous and powerful mob boss he should always be. Tombstone rose through the ranks of the underworld, much like he rose through the ranks of Spider-Man’s best villains, eventually rivaling even Kingpin. Tombstone is a striking foe visually and he represents the kind of threat that MCU Spider-Man needs to face.
Tombstone is a superpowered mob boss, which opens up the MCU to more crime based Spider-Man stories. This type of story would play in nice contrast to his last adventures, grounding the hero in a very realistic way. Spider-Man matching wits with a cunning crime boss is the basis of some excellent Spider-Man stories, and since Daredevil has Kingpin, Tombstone is the perfect villain to step in and challenge the Wall-Crawler
Hobgoblin
Hobgoblin is one of the bigger missed opportunities among Spider-Man’s villains. Readers were hot for the story that introduced the character, as the mystery of who Hobgoblin was half the fun. It was revealed to be Spider-Man’s friend Ned Leeds, but years later Marvel would retcon this to Roderick Kingsley, robbing the story of its narrative heft. Since then, there have been several different Hobgoblins, with none of their stories approaching the quality of the original Hobgoblin arc.
The MCU already has everything it needs to do the Hobgoblin right. Peter Parker has his own MCU Ned Leeds, and fans have speculated for years about him becoming Hobgoblin. No Way Home even almost included a Hobgoblin tease. It would make for amazing stories and there’s a perfect way to make it work – Ned only becomes Hobgoblin because he doesn’t have Peter in his life. This little twist makes Spider-Man feel responsible for his old friend, leading to a story that explores Spider-Man’s sense of responsibility. Ned as Hobgoblin could give Spider-Man’s second trilogy the perfect villain.
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