Back Issues: Spider-Man’s Deadliest Foes Form the Sinister Six

Sinister supervillains from across the Multiverse unite to squash Spider-Man when the wall-crawler’s greatest enemies team up in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Framed for murder after Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) exposes his secret identity in Far From Home, an unmasked Peter Parker (Tom Holland) turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. Peter’s Avengers ally casts a dangerous spell, unwittingly unleashing the Multiverse and a gang of the most powerful super-criminals Spider-Man has ever faced: the Green Goblin (Spider-Man‘s Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2‘s Alfred Molina), Sandman (Spider-Man 3‘s Thomas Haden Church), the Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Rhys Ifans), and Electro (The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s Jamie Foxx).

Before these multiversal villains enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Spider-Man: No Way Home, read on to learn how Doc Ock recruits a rotating membership of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes to form a nefarious sextet: The Sinister Six. 

Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Six

Defeated twice over and out for revenge against Spider-Man, an armed and dangerous Otto Octavius escapes from prison and forms the Sinister Six when he gathers villains Vulture, Sandman, Mysterio, Electro, and Kraven the Hunter (The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1). Guilt-ridden over the death of his beloved Uncle Ben, the webhead faces his greatest challenge yet when the Sinister Six kidnap Betty Brant and Peter Parker’s Aunt May — just as Spider-Man suddenly loses his spider-powers. 

When Spider-Man’s powers return as mysteriously as they disappeared in battle with Electro, the costumed teen takes on the six super-criminals individually, defeating the gauntlet of villains and rescuing his loved ones from the clutches of Doctor Octopus. Thwarting the tentacled threat once again, the web-slinger taunts the defeated Doc Ock: the scorned supervillains might have proved too powerful to overcome had they worked as a team.

Return of the Sinister Six

Years later, Doctor Octopus rounds up his old partners to form a new and unstoppable Sinister Six. Gathering Electro, Vulture, and new recruit Hobgoblin, Doc Ock coerces a reformed Sandman and manipulates Mysterio to join his re-formation of the Sinister Six (The Amazing Spider-Man #337). Ock plots to hold the Earth for ransom with a stolen satellite modified to spray poison into the atmosphere, killing everyone on the planet unless they serve the Sinister Six. 

While Ock secretly plans to betray his cohorts, using them to launch the poison dispersion device into space while keeping the antidote for himself, Spider-Man battles the Sinister Six together as a team for the first time (The Amazing Spider-Man #338). 

Ock reveals the poison causes extreme convulsions in cocaine users, making it so that a limited supply of the antidote will give Octavius enough influence to rule the world — alone. With help from Sandman, Spider-Man thwarts an escaping Ock’s plans as his teammates vow revenge on the tentacled traitor (The Amazing Spider-Man #339). 

Revenge of the Sinister Six

Now wielding indestructible adamantium arms, making him deadlier than ever, Doctor Octopus schemes for world domination as the re-formed five villains seek revenge on Octavius (Spider-Man #18). After Ock’s upgraded and unbreakable arms defeat Spider-Man and Professor Hulk, the show of force convinces the Sinister Six to team up once more to raid an arsenal of weapons from another dimension and take over the world (Spider-Man #21). 

When Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider, Deatlok, and Sleepwalker team up to stop the Sinister Six from taking over a Hydra satellite control center with access to orbital weapons that could blow up the world, Doc Ock reveals his team’s sixth member: Kraven’s “old friend,” the 300-foot-tall alien Gog (Spider-Man #22). 

Joining forces with the Fantastic Four, Nova, and the heavily-armed assassin Solo, Spider-Man’s superhero team thwarts the Sinister Six. The battle ends when Sandman, turned to glass by Ock for a second time, nearly kills the Six’s leader (Spider-Man #23). 

Scourge of the Sinister Six

Following Doc Ock’s death at the hands of Peter Parker’s clone Kaine (The Spectacular Spider-Man #221), Octavius’ cousin, Elias Hargrove, reassembles Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, and Hobgoblin (Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus #1). Using Ock’s unruly arms apparatus, Spider-Man battles the fearsome foursome, defeated again in battles with Kaine and another Spider-clone: Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider (Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus #3). 

After murdering Octavius and the Grim Hunter, the unhinged Kaine hunts Spider-Man’s foes. United by a common enemy, Hobgoblin, Mysterio, Electro, and Vulture join forces with Beetle, the Shocker, and the stinging Scorpia to form the Sinister Seven and carry out “Operation Kaine-Kill.” Unable to function or fight together as a team, the Sinister Seven separate after Scarlet Spider saves them from being killed by Kaine (Spider-Man Unlimited #9).

The Sinister Six Strike Again

Following the returns of a resurrected Doctor Octopus (The Amazing Spider-Man #427) and a new Mysterio, Sandman gathers a new Sinister Six targeting Senator Stewart Ward and the team’s original mastermind: Doc Ock. Bringing together Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, and Kraven’s son Alexei Kravinoff, Sandman’s Sinister Six gets an unexpected addition: Venom (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 #12).

As Ock protects the senator for his own purposes, more in-fighting quickly unravels Sandman’s Sinister Six. When Sandman spares Spider-Man, Venom turns on the gang of villains, and the Six scatter when they unwittingly unleash the power of the Sentry (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #12). 

The Green Goblin’s Sinister Twelve

Another version of the “Sinister Six” appears in later years: the so-called “Sinister Twelve” assembled by Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin, behind a plot involving the kidnap of Peter Parker’s Aunt May (Marvel Knights Spider-Man #10). Goblin’s group — recurring members Electro, Sandman, Vulture, Shocker, and newcomers Chameleon, Hydro-Man, Lizard, Hammerhead, Boomerang, Tombstone, and Venom (Mac Gargan) — nearly kill Spider-Man and Black Cat but are fended off by superhero allies Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four (Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11).

Sinister Six Supreme

A dying Doc Ock recruits a new version of the Sinister Six — Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Chameleon, and Rhino — as part of a plot that threatens to destroy Manhattan (The Amazing Spider-Man #648). After robotic impersonators of the Sinister Six battle Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four’s Future Foundation (The Amazing Spider-Man #660), the real Sinister Six steals theIntelligencia’s Zero Cannon. Created by the evil genuis M.O.D.O.K., the “perfect weapon” has the power to warp Earth’s magnetic poles and send any place on the globe hurtling into space (The Amazing Spider-Man #676). 

In the final stage of Doc Ock’s last master plan, the mad scientist says his technology alone can repair the ozone layer — or destroy it, dooming the entire planet (The Amazing Spider-Man #683). After the terminal Doc Ock’s Sinister Six defeats the Avengers, he uses mind control to turn six of Earth’s mightiest heroes into his new “Sinister Six” (The Amazing Spider-Man #686).

Spider-Man, Black Widow, and Silver Sable defeat the “Octobot-zombie” Avengers before Spider-Man battles Doc Ock, who plans to kill seven billion people and cement his legacy as the world’s greatest mind — and its most infamous mass murderer (The Amazing Spider-Man #687). 

Sinister War

After Spider-Man and a team of mutants defeats an “all-new Sinister Six” consisting of D-list villains — Swarm, Delilah, 8-Ball, Killer Shrike, Squid, and the Melter (Spider-Man & the X-Men #4) — a more traditional lineup returns under a rejuvenated Doctor Octopus (The Amazing Spider-Man #70). Manipulated by the demon Kindred, Doc Ock recruits Mysterio to join Sandman, Electro, Lizard, and the original Kraven the Hunter in the Sinister Six’s war with the Vulture’s “Savage Six” (Sinister War #1). 

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