Comics

Who Are SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE’s Villains?

by Rosie Knight
Dec 4 2018 • 8:13 AM

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is almost here, and over the last few weeks we’ve been looking at some of the cast of brilliant heroes from Spider-Gwen to Peni Parker to Spider-Ham to its star Miles Morales. But as we get ever closer to the release date, we thought it was about time to explore the antagonists of the epic animated adventure, especially as the film includes some of the most iconic Spider-Man villains of all-time.

Kingpin

Though Wilson Fisk is probably best known for being an adversary of Matt Murdock A.K.A. Daredevil, he was first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #50 as an antagonist for Peter Parker. In main Marvel continuity, Fisk is a notorious crime boss who rules the streets of New York City with an iron fist. In the Ultimate Universe, where Miles Morales’ Spider-Man first debuted, Fisk is the head of all corporate crime in the Big Apple. He’s also known as a brutal murderer, with enough corrupt friends in high places to avoid prosecution. In the film, Fisk is the man behind the multiverse-spanning threat that sees the Spider-Folks come together to save their worlds.

Green Goblin

Norman Osborn is arguably the best known of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. The father of Peter’s best friend Harry, his alter-ego the Green Goblin first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #14 and was the result of Norman experimenting on himself. The latest film version (who can forget Willem Dafoe in the Raimi movies?) seems to take from the Ultimate Universe, which is where the demonic and monstrous version of Norman was first introduced. In the Ultimate timeline, Osborn was once again a brilliant scientist, but in that version he was attempting to recreate the Super Soldier serum for S.H.I.E.L.D. when his desperation to achieve greatness saw him test it on himself and become the terrifying Green Goblin.

The Prowler

A deeper cut Spider-Man character, this anti-hero made his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #78. The original incarnation Hobie Brown was an ally to the wall crawler, but in the Ultimate Universe he was Miles’ ne’er-do-well uncle and antagonist Aaron Davies. He was brought to life by Donald Glover in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and in the comics he tried to kill Miles after blackmailing him to help him defeat Scorpion. He died during the Ultimate run, but when Miles joined the main comic book continuity, Aaron was brought back to life in the 616 universe, once again becoming a massive threat to his young nephew. It looks like he’ll be back to his old villainous tricks in Into the Spider-Verse.

Are There More Villains?

The trailer revealed that these won’t be the only bad guys popping up in Miles’ movie, as we’ll also see some classic Spidey-Foes like: Doc Ock, the hyper intelligent scientist whose body was fused with a four-armed apparatus, giving him the appearance of an octopus; Scorpion, who made a cameo in Homecoming, was the subject of scientific experimentation and the recipient of an advanced body armor with a deadly prehensile tail; and Tombstone, Wilson Fisk’s trusty henchie and hitman who later becomes a crime boss himself. We may get even more iconic villainy, but we’ll have to wait until December 14 to find out!

Images: Sony, Marvel