Ranking All 13 Spider-Man Movie Villains Before Brand New Day

A Brand New Day is upon is, full of both spiders and men in equal amounts. But perhaps that will change in the new movie? Regardless, we actually don’t know a lot about Spider-Man’s newest adventure, despite the copious marketing for it, which has me both nervous and excited as a lifelong fan of the webslinger. He’ll be teaming up with The Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to square off against The Scorpion (Michael Mando), Tombstone (Marvin Jones III), and a mysterious figure we don’t know the identity of.

Spider-Man is famous for having debatably the best Rogues Gallery of all time, rivaled only by Batman, so it’s only right we celebrate the (mostly) incredible cast of villains he’s fought over the past 26 years in cinemas. For the purposes of this list, we’re ignoring villains who never actually fought Spider-Man (sorry, Morbius). Here’s all 13 major Spider-Man movie villains ranked!

13. Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne/The Green Goblin

Even fans of The Amazing Spider-Man movies (of which I am one) have to admit that their version of Harry Osborne, and subsequently his transformation into the Green Goblin, was super lame. There’s a combination of factors here: DeHaan, while a good actor, was totally miscast in this part. He was also done a disservice by some genuinely terrible writing in TASM 2. By the time he premiers with the weird teeth and dirt makeup and cyborg helmet, you’re begging them to bring Electro back on screen.

12. James Franco as Harry Osborne/The New Goblin

I need to very quickly get in front of this – James Franco was excellent at playing Harry Osborne. For two films he played the part of the disturbed, outcast son of a famous billionaire who lived in his father’s shadow, which made his plight and descent into darkness believable. The major problem is that his turn into “The New Goblin”, a really stupid name, came with basically no fanfare or screen time because he was the third-billed villain in a movie with Sandman and Venom. This placement on the list is entirely because of the attempt from Sony to fit more villains into one movie, and if Harry’s final turn to evil had been the focus of its own movie, I guarantee it’d be near the top of the list. Especially because he is killed about 45 minutes after becoming The New Goblin, ruining any drama or development that could come from this turn.

11. Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom

Again, one of the most famous instances of miscasting in a superhero movie, That ’70s Show star Topher Grace played Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3. Brock has been portrayed in many different ways across the cartoons, sometimes as a jock bully and sometimes as a lab nerd who also is an athlete. I don’t exactly know what Raimi was trying to do with him here; Grace is the absolute worst pick for the asshole, tough-guy rival of Peter Parker. I love the Venom design, especially for 2007 level special effects, but we don’t see that much of him and one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains has to share the screen with a sad guy made of sand and a disgruntled billionaire throwing pumpkin bombs. Couple this with the fact that Grace’s departure from That ’70s Show to film this movie created one of the worst seasons of TV ever, and you’ve got a grade A stinker.

10. Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curtis Connors/The Lizard

I don’t want to malign Ifans for his performance as Dr. Connors in The Amazing Spider-Man. He’s actually great as Peter’s lab mentor, and has good chemistry with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. The problems come from both the writing and the art/visual effects team. The design of the Lizard is not only gross and weird, it’s not frightening. Every other iteration of the Lizard I’ve seen has been outright terrifying, most notably the version made for Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 game. He looks like a dumb guy in a rubber suit, not a mini-Godzilla like we wanted. And his plan to shoot a gas into the air that will turn everyone into lizards is… dumb. It is very comic book in the worst way – those are the comic book plots you specifically don’t adapt. I wish we had more time with Ifans as Connors, which I suppose we get for a few minutes in No Way Home, but he was definitely done dirty.

9. Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro

The reason Jamie Foxx’s Electro is this high up the list is because of the complete redesign and reimagining of the character in No Way Home. I think if we were just looking at him from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, he’d be dead last. This version of Electro looks ugly, stupid, and lame, but his version of Max Dillon is even uglier, stupider, and lamer. Again, the writers and the art/effects team are to blame for this. I don’t know what the team was thinking trying to make Jamie Foxx, one of the most handsome and charismatic men in Hollywood, into a bullied, boring, disgruntled loser. And then to have him fall in a vat of electric eels to get powers, and then because of an accident on the part of an NYPD officer think Spider-Man tried to kill him? That was the only way to give him motivation to be a villain? No Way Home has Electro as he should have been, in a costume that pays homage to the goofy comic one while still looking good in real life. At least Hans Zimmer and Pharrell’s Electro Suite is an all-time banger.

8. Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin

We don’t spend too much time with the Kingpin in Into the Spiderverse, but Liev Schreiber’s voice performance is still a memorable one. As a corporate CEO, land developer, and crimelord all rolled into one, Wilson Fisk has always been a top enemy of Spider-Man. He’s always hungry for more, and will never have enough. In this version, he funded the creation of the super collider he hopes to use to reach his wife (VANESSAAAA!) and child who were lost in spacetime, and outright declares his intention to destroy the world on his way to do it. I loved this plot for him, as his motivation in the comics and cartoons is usually just land development deals, and the twist works great. You almost feel sympathetic for him – almost. I might rank this higher if the MCU version of the Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio, hadn’t solidified this character in his image for eternity.

7. Jason Schwartzmann as Dr. Johnathan Ohnn/The Spot

The primary villain of Across the Spiderverse, Spot works well in small doses. Jason Schwartzmann voices the scientist-turned-villain to great comedic effect, communicating both his weaknesses and strengths. Spot gets a higher placement on this list because of his involvement turning Miles into Spider-Man. As a scientist, he led the project that transported the radioactive spider that bites Miles to their world, but in the process of Miles destroying the super collider he became a monster. Miles puts down Spot as a “villain-of-the-week”, which he really should be, but his gradual grasp on his dimension and portal powers makes him an S-tier villain on the power scale. It’s kind of fun that he’s a self-described nemesis for Spider-Man as well, but his story definitely is on the sadder side. Great performance and good writing promotes this D-tier comic villain to ready for primetime.

6. Thomas Haden Church as Flink Marko/The Sandman

Like everyone in Spider-Man 3, Flink Marko is done a great disservice by sharing the runtime with both Venom and Harry Osborne as villains. Thomas Haden Church’s portrayal of the Sandman definitely comes out the best of all the characters in the movie, moreso than Peter and MJ even. Marko was one of the two criminals that killed Uncle Ben in Spider-Man, although the reason he was there in the first place was to get money to pay for his daughter’s cancer treatments and the murder itself was an accident. Now, this is probably the most tired trope in cinema, but back in 2007 I think it was still easy to buy sympathy for a villain by playing the “I need to do crime to afford medical treatment for a family member” card. I felt for Marko, and his arc ending with asking Peter for forgiveness, and Peter granting it was probably the best part of the film. A great example of a sympathetic anti-villain with a redemption arc!

5. Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio

As a mega-fan of the Gamecube game Spider-Man 2, which gamers will know as a surprisingly good licensed game from back in the day, I was unbelievably excited for Mysterio to appear in Spider-Man: Far From Home. He plays a major part in the game as a boss with several memorable fights and levels, with his ability to seemingly manipulate reality by use of his talents as a visual effects artist. In a surprising and interesting twist, in the MCU Quentin Beck was a visual effects artist that used to work for Tony Stark who wants revenge for Stark’s ridicule and firing after his death. He wants to become the new Iron Man. He’s also supported by two dozen scientists that used to work for Stark Industries before he closed his weapons division and laid them all off, ruining their lives. This is both a great tie-in to previous MCU entries and an excellent new villain, and the Master of Illusion finally pulls out a real Mysterio fight in the parking garage with Spider-Man. Gyllenhaal does a fabulous job playing Beck as an seemingly earnest older brother/mentor type before pivoting into the vengeful psychopath he is.

4. Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis/The Prowler

The Prowler is a pretty low-level Spider-Man villain on the power scale, but his identity as Miles Morales’ beloved Uncle Aaron puts him high on the list. Miles’ closest confidant is his Uncle Aaron, which is pretty believable for a teenager, so when the truth is revealed that he is a hitman working for the Kingpin the shock hits hard. The emotional toil of battling his uncle, and on some level his best friend, makes for incredible drama backed by excellent writing. Prowler backing off Miles, getting killed anyway, and using his last breath to tell Miles to be a better man than he was will never not bring a tear to my eye.

3. Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture

A lot of the credit for how well this character works must go to Keaton himself. The man becomes famous for Beetlejuice, solidifies his A-list status as Batman, then his career falters and he disappears for 10 years, and then he returns in an Oscar-nominated role in Iñárritu’s Birdman, a semi-autobiographical movie about a washed up super hero actor dreaming of his glory days. He then appears in Spider-Man Homecoming as The Vulture, a literal Bird Man, in the villain role. Keaton brings with him this blue collar sensibility that is generally missing in the MCU, and after the Avengers’ actions result in him losing his job he makes his own way using alien tech to make and sell weapons. Group that in with one of the biggest reveals and best scenes in the MCU where his identity as the father of Peter’s homecoming date is revealed, and you’ve got a 10/10 stew of excellent writing, acting, design, effects, and backstory.

2. Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborne/The Green Goblin

I don’t think I need to make too much of a case for my top two picks; the only debatable thing is which order they’d go in. Willem Dafoe’s performance as Norman Osborne in Spider-Man and again in No Way Home is legendary not just among super hero movies, but among the great villains of cinema in general. The voice, the face, the design of the suit that is somehow both scary and absurd, the Gollum-like battle between the two halves of him… it’s hard to top. I think the thing that’s missing from DeHaan’s version is that this Green Goblin is truly, viscerally scary. Every line out of his mouth is iconic. “We could be brothers, you and I!” His death at the end of Spider-Man is as satisfying as it is sad, and cements The Green Goblin as Spider-Man’s nemesis akin to Batman and The Joker.

1. Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus

If The Green Goblin is at #2, of course the only possibly ranking for #1 is Alfred Molina’s turn as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2. Besides the film still being possibly the best super hero movie to date, Molina brings a cool charm to the role of a loving husband who is turned into a monster by his own creation. His outfit is slick as hell, which is a stark difference to the comics version, and he plays the role with incredible ease. The arms are animated so well, especially for 2003, and his tragic death in the finale as a sacrifice to save Peter is pure and perfect. The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand…

Who are you favorites? Excited to see the Scorpion and Tombstone in Brand New Day? Let us know in the comments below!