Ranked: SPIDER-MAN Movie Villains
The villains in the Spider-Man films has ranged from bad to great. Each performance is unique and special in their own way. In this list we’re going to rank every single villain from all the Spider-Man films from worst to best, and yes we’re even including Spider-Man: Homecoming. How well does the Vulture stack up against the rest? We’re about to find out!
11. The Rhino (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) is at the bottom of this list because he’s the absolute worst. He’s loud, over-the-top, and completely useless. He’s so forgettable that he almost didn’t make the list. You can cut him out of the film and it wouldn’t miss a beat. There’s honestly not much more I can say about this character.
10. The Green Goblin (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
Dane DeHaan is a great actor, and I was so excited to see his portrayal of Harry Osborn. Seeing a new take on the character after Franco was welcomed, especially coming off of The Amazing Spider-Man, a film I actually enjoy. Unfortunately things didn’t go well; his design was horrible, the goblin disease was terrible plot point, Harry never worked as a character. Everything about him is bad. There’s not one good thing I can say about Harry Osborn. He never felt like an actual human being, more of a plot device. The film needed another villain for some reason. DeHaan had potential but it’s completely wasted, like everything else in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
9. Electro (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
It’s worth pointing out that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took up the entire bottom half of the list. Electro (Jamie Foxx) isn’t quite as bad as Rhino or Goblin, but make no mistake, he’s still pretty bad. The character is written horribly, his motives are stupid, and Foxx’s campy performance feels like it belongs in Batman and Robin. He attacked Spider-Man because someone else shot at him. Really? Really? Max Dillon is mentally unstable, but you’ve got to better than that. The only reason he’s this high on the list is because his design is halfway decent.
8. The Shocker & The Tinkerer (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) and The Tinkerer (Michael Chernus) aren’t actually bad villains. They just gets nothing to do in Spider-Man: Homecoming.When they are on screen I enjoyed them, but I’m not sure they’re in the film for more than 20 minutes combined. That’s why they’re sharing the number seven spot. I hope to see more of them in the sequel, but for now, they’re in the eighth spot by default.
7. Green Goblin II (Spider-Man 3)
James Franco’s Harry Osborn had three films of build up. Everything was in place for him to be a great final villain, completing his arc from the very first film. Sadly, the direction they took the character was extremely underwhelming. Instead of setting up conflict between him and Spider-Man, we knock him out for a good chunk of the movie (making him a new character entirely). He gets held back because he has to share screentime with two other villains. I think they could’ve done something really interesting with Harry. Instead those threads from the previous two films went nowhere.
6. Venom (Spider-Man 3)
Venom (Topher Grace) runs into the same problem Harry does. Venom should’ve been Spider-Man’s toughest challenge yet. Sharing time with Goblin and Sandman really held the character back, and it feel like he was shoehorned into this movie (because he was). Though I will admit his design was pretty awesome. I really wish we could have gotten a proper Spider-Man vs.Venom showdown, but now that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.
5. The Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man)
The Amazing Spider-Man is a bit of a mixed bag, and The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) is no different. Dr. Connors is done in the same vein as Green Goblin – a scientist who is forced to experiment on himself, leading to him going mad. Connors is a solid villain. You empathize with him and his struggle. What really holds him back is his master plan. He wants everyone in the city into lizard people (for some reason). That… interesting. I wish they handled that part a little better, but I was able to look past that and still enjoy Ifans’ performance. It was similar to Green Goblin but it still worked, mostly.
4. Sandman (Spider-Man 3)
The best part of Spider-Man is easily The Dance Scene Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). He [like the other Spider-Man 3 villains] could have been incredible if he was given enough screentime. That being said, he does a great job with what he’s given. He has one of the best transformation scenes I’ve ever seen. He felt like a natural part of the (unlike Venom), and his fights with Spider-Man awesome. Some of the CG looks a little dated, but it’s surprisingly good. If he could’ve gotten the film to himself, he might’ve been in the top three.
3. The Vulture (Spider-Man: Homecoming)
The latest villain is one of Spider-Man’s best. The Vulture (Michael Keaton) is terrifying. Adrian Toomes is guy who was forced to crime because of certain circumstances. I’m not going into too much detail here; but his motives make prefect sense, and his big power play is actually really well done. The only problem I have with him is that he turn felt a little too rushed. That being said, everything else about the character is fantastic.
2. The Green Goblin (Spider-Man)
The Green Goblin will always hold a special place in my heart. The original Spider-Man is the first movie I ever saw in theaters. Willem Dafoe is great as Norman Osborn, and delivers an amazing performance. He’s able to be menacing, charming, and insane all at the same time. The character does get a little too out there at times, but it’s so fun to watch that you just get sucked in. He is so smooth, that he was able to chill with Spidey on a rooftop, and it didn’t feel strange. That’s something that a lot of movie villains don’t seem to do these days. They embraced the crazy, and it payed off big time.
1. Doc Ock (Spider-Man 2)
We all knew it was going to be Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) at the number one spot on this list. Spider-Man 2 is one of the best comic book films ever made, and a big part of that is Otto Octavius. Molina just like Keaton and Dafoe, manages to be menacing and empathetic. I felt a connection to him even before he became a villain. His transformation in the hospital is something out of a horror movie. His fights scenes with Spider-Man are still some of the best we’ve seen (that train scene). He’s the perfect foil to Spider-Man, and one of the best villains of all-time.
Honorable Mentions: J Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3) and Gravity (The Amazing Spider-Man 2)
That’s my personal ranking of every Spider-Man (movie) villain. Did you agree? Everyone has their own opinion and I’d love to hear from you. Follow us @AstonishMarvels on twitter to let us know your picks. Our 9 days of Spider-Man continues tomorrow.
Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theaters July 7th.
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