These Villains Were Created By Spider-Man

Spider-Man's entire reason for being, when you get down to it, is the understanding that with great power comes great responsibility. As fans and longtime readers will recall, he learned that lesson the hard way when he didn't stop the robber who would later go on to kill his dear Uncle Ben. However, there were times during his career when he inspired villains who weren't simply interested in ruling the world, robbing banks, or controlling the New York mobs. Some villains' entire existence could be traced to Spider-Man, either because someone wanted him dead, wanted revenge solely on him, or because of some dubious decisions he made.

J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker's boss at the Daily Bugle, was responsible for funding the creation of several villains to destroy what he perceived as a public menace. Peter Parker picked up a mysterious goo that bonded with him in the form of a new, black Spider-Man suit on Battleworld during Secret Wars and wound up bringing a horrifying alien symbiote to Earth. People like Harry Osborn and Miles Warren took up super-villain identities because they believed Spidey was responsible for the death of someone they loved. The Sinister Six was formed to get revenge on Spider-Man, while Kraven the Hunter did it for glory. 

Unlike Tony Stark, whose cutthroat business decisions drove some men to villainy, or Hank Pym, whose own inventions took on a horrifying life of their own, poor Peter Parker rarely did anything with that degree of hubris. He's just Marvel's bad-luck magnet. Let's take a closer look at the villains that Spider-Man created.

While J. Jonah Jameson valued the photos of Spider-Man that Peter Parker was able to obtain, he wanted to know how he did it. Why depend on some punk kid when he could find a way to do it cheaper, and maybe make Spider-Man look worse in the process? He hired a private investigator named Mac Gargan to tail Peter and glean his methods. Unfortunately for poor Mac, Peter's trusty Spider-Sense alerted him every time he was being followed, so he was able to dodge Gargan with ease.

Jonah was frequently approached by crackpot mad scientists. When Gargan came up short in figuring out how Peter got those photos, Jameson offered him $10,000 to act as a volunteer for Dr. Farley Stillwell, a biologist specializing in animal mutations whose process gave Gargan the proportional speed, strength, and agility of a scorpion. Stillwell also outfitted him with a mechanical prehensile tail that he could use as a weapon. 

The Scorpion easily defeated Spidey in their first two battles. He won so easily the first time that he didn't even bother to kill Spider-Man. Scorpion hurt his hand knocking him out the second time. That's when Stillwell looked at test results and realized that the serum he gave Gargan had completely twisted his mind. He died trying to reverse the process.

Gargan then went after Jameson, who knew his secret identity, but Jameson was ironically saved by Spider-Man. The Scorpion has been a menace ever since.

The creation and eventual proliferation of the killer robots dubbed Spider-Slayers was entirely Peter Parker's fault. 

Selling some photos to J. Jonah Jameson one day, an inventor named Spencer Smythe burst into the Daily Bugle offices with a goofy-looking robot that he claimed could defeat Spider-Man. Jameson tried to throw him out, but a greedy Peter talked him into listening to the scientist, convinced that he could easily defeat it as Spider-Man and maybe make a few bucks selling pictures.

Unfortunately for Peter, Smythe's Spider-Slayer was a legitimately deadly device. Covered with a non-stick coating that sloughed off webs, it tracked down Spider-Man thanks to its sensitivity to arachnids. When near its target, it uncoiled super-strong steel cables to trap its prey. It could climb up buildings or step off of them with hydraulic limbs. To add insult to injury, its faceplate featured the face of whoever was running it, so Jameson had a merry old time chasing Spidey around while Spidey could see him gloating.

The Spider-Slayer eventually captured Spider-Man, and Jameson and Smythe raced over to unmask Spidey. Given a precious few moments, Peter found the automaton's control panel and deactivated it, leaving an empty costume in its clutches just to make Jameson mad. 

However, this would hardly be the last of the Spider-Slayers. Smythe kept upgrading it, and when he died, his son kept up the family tradition. All told, the Spider-Slayer was remade 20 more times after its introduction. Keep your mouth shut, Pete!

J. Jonah Jameson just refused to learn. After funding the Scorpion's creation and a host of dangerous Spider-Slayers, he wanted to create a superhero who matched all of Spidey's powers in order to bring him down. He hired Harlan Stillwell, the brother of the deceased Farley, a mad scientist in need of funds, to create that hero. Unfortunately for all involved, Stillwell made the dubious choice of a violent criminal named Richard Deacon to be his test subject. 

Deacon had been shot by cops after being beaten by Spider-Man in a hostage situation, and he was close to death. He forced Stillwell to use a process that "impregnated" his DNA with that of a housefly. That turned Deacon into the Human Fly, not to be confused with the real-life daredevil of the same name who had his own Marvel comic. The Fly had the proportional speed, strength, and agility of a fly as well as a pair of wings that allowed him to fly and created shockwaves.

The Fly then killed Stillwell and kidnapped Jameson, publicly challenging Spider-Man to find him. After letting the Fly beat him up for a while, Spidey allowed the villain to lure him to Jameson's location, and he put away his inexperienced foe with ease. The Fly would return and mutate in the future, with a dual hatred for Spider-Man and Jameson. Once again, Jameson's hatred of Spider-Man fueled another dangerous experiment.

When Peter Parker had his costume shredded during the first Secret Wars on Battleworld, he saw how Spider-Woman made herself a new costume with alien technology. He decided that he would try the same trick, and he wound up with a black costume that responded to his thoughts and produced unlimited webbing. Unbeknownst to him, he had bonded himself to a Klyntar alien symbiote. It was intelligent, alive, and wanted to bond itself to Peter permanently.

Peter didn't realize this until he brought it back to Earth, inadvertently triggering a series of events that would kill dozens of people. When he started to realize that the costume seemed to have a mind of his own, Reed Richards confirmed this for him and revealed to him its intention to permanently fuse with him. Peter rejected the symbiote as Reed discovered it was vulnerable to sonics and high heat; it then escaped and tried to forcibly bond with Peter before the tolls of a church bell drove it out and seemed to kill it.

A disgraced reporter named Eddie Brock, who had been humiliated by Spider-Man, went into that church. The symbiote bonded with him, sensing their mutual hatred of Spider-Man. They named themselves Venom and made it their business to destroy Spider-Man. Venom eventually became a "lethal protector" with Brock, but the symbiote bounced to many others, including Mac Gargan. The symbiote's seething hatred of Peter Parker was a constant, even as it yearned to be reunited with him.

After a fight in which the symbiote was seemingly destroyed, Eddie Brock was put in prison. His cellmate was one Cletus Kasady, a psychotic killer imprisoned for life. Theirs was not a friendly relationship. The symbiote was not actually dead — it busted Eddie out of prison as it bonded with him again. However, in the midst of all this, the symbiote also spawned, and the baby chose Kasady as its host. It bonded directly with his blood, and the result was Carnage, a symbiote-human pairing with no redeeming qualities and a thirst for murder.

Spider-Man and Venom teamed up to defeat him after a reign of terror, but Kasady could reproduce a new symbiote simply by exposing his blood to the air. Spider-Man took him down every time, but not without a lot of lives lost. The Carnage symbiote later bonded itself to John Jameson, the Silver Surfer, and Peter Parker himself. It would also wreak havoc in the Microverse and bond with the magical Darkhold. The symbiote that Peter Parker brought to Earth has been the gift that's kept on giving, and they have not only proven hard to kill, they have been weaponized by shady organizations.

Kindred was once a human sent to hell who became a powerful demon. Appearing in a tattered costume with two huge centipedes crawling over him, he had a grudge against both Peter Parker and Norman Osborn. He knew Peter well enough to call him "Pete," and when Spider-Man was off fighting Kraven, Kindred watched over Mary Jane, making sure no harm came to her. 

Kindred told Peter that he was going to torture for him for something he'd done, but he declined to say what it was or offer up his true name. He's unleashed a series of schemes and underlings, including a resurrected Mysterio, Sentinels, and the Robot-Master. He even got the Kingpin to obey him. He implanted a centipede in Osborn's ear, content to let him rot in prison thinking he was Cletus Kasady. However, Kindred blamed Osborn for his demonic transformation. Kindred insisted that he would be the one to kill Spider-Man when the time came and even saved Spider-Man from Osborn when he broke out of prison.

Kindred is a terrifying opponent, with the mystery of his identity being especially creepy. The question is, what did Peter do to deserve his hatred? Was this a direct result of one of his actions, or was it the kind of misunderstanding that helped create the Jackal? All that's known for sure is that Kindred certainly blames Peter for something, and he's doing horrible things as a result.

Sergei Kravinoff was a former member of the Russian aristocracy who escaped the revolution and became a mighty hunter in Africa. He stole a potion that gave him heightened strength, speed, and agility, which made him invincible as a hunter. His half-brother, the criminal spy the Chameleon, recruited him to the USA solely because he was afraid of Spider-Man capturing him. Kraven wanted to come over anyway because he wanted to capture what he saw as the most dangerous game.

Yep, Spider-Man's reputation alone was enough to get Kraven to leave Africa and menace the US. The Chameleon gave Kraven intelligence on Spider-Man, and despite the use of toxins, well-laid traps, and using a body double, Spidey was able to beat him. Enraged, Kraven kept coming back, sometimes teaming with the Sinister Six, but he was never able to defeat his foe.

Kraven would eventually commit suicide after finally beating Spider-Man and then impersonating him. Of course, he was then resurrected and cursed to die only at Spider-Man's hands, and he'd go on to hurt many other people before he reformed and died a second time. 

Upon escaping from prison after being beaten by Spider-Man yet again, Dr. Octopus came up with a new plan. He created a team of villains he dubbed the Sinister Six, all of whom had been defeated by Spidey multiple times. They were all out for revenge, and their hatred spawned a new team that went through many iterations and caused all sorts of problems. Of course, Doc Ock outsmarted himself, as he concocted what he thought was a foolproof plan. Kidnapping Betty Brant and Aunt May, he had Spider-Man go to locations that would be advantageous for each member of his team.

Electro fought Spider-Man in an electrical plant, but Spidey grounded himself and won easily. He then outmaneuvered Kraven the Hunter and two big cats in a park, getting his card with the address of the next fight. He used his Spider-Sense to see through Mysterio's illusions and then beat the Sandman in an airtight chamber when his foe ran out of oxygen. The Vulture seemed to outsmart him when he forced Spider-Man to fight without his webbing, but Spidey used the Vulture's weapons against him.

That left just Doc Ock, who fought Spider-Man in a giant fishbowl. In that tight space, Spidey's webbing slowed his opponent down and ended the battle. Spidey chastised Doc Ock for his convoluted plan, saying that if they had put aside ego and attacked him together, they might have beaten him. The Sinister Six reappeared nine more times, with similar results.

Harry Osborn is the son of Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin. When Peter Parker started attending Empire State University, they eventually became friends, with Harry overcoming the negative influence of Peter's high school nemesis Flash Thompson. Norman and Peter learned each other's identities, but Norman lost his memory after an epic battle with Spider-Man. Peter and Harry became close, as Peter was trying to make sure that the amnesia stuck. Peter was dating Gwen Stacy and Harry was dating Mary Jane Watson, and all seemed well.

Eventually, Norman regained his memory, and Harry developed an addiction to pills. Norman kidnapped Gwen Stacy and eventually killed her, but Norman was impaled by his Goblin Glider. Harry found the body and learned of his father's secret identity. He snapped and blamed Spider-Man for his father's death. It didn't even matter that Spider-Man wasn't really responsible for his father's death; in Harry's mind, he wanted him dead. He broke up with Mary Jane and then discovered that his roommate Peter was actually Spider-Man.

He kidnapped Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Flash and battled Spider-Man, but he lost. Fortunately for Peter, trauma-induced amnesia seemed to be hereditary for the Osborns, as Harry forgot both Peter and his dad's identities. Poor Harry couldn't catch a break, as his psychiatrist Bart Hamilton deduced his family's legacy and became the next Green Goblin. The accidental trauma that Peter induced was exploited by Hamilton and lived on for years in Harry.

The night that Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn died had severe repercussions. Not only did Harry Osborn blame Spider-Man for his dad's death, but ESU professor Miles Warren blamed Spider-Man for Gwen Stacy's death. A brilliant but twisted chemist, he fell in love with Gwen Stacy while she was still his student. Warren had collected DNA samples from his entire class, which included Peter. Studying it, Warren realized that Peter was actually Spider-Man.

Warren was an expert on cloning and whipped up clones of both Gwen and Peter before he was confronted by his lab assistant. Warren completely snapped, killed his assistant, and took on the costumed identity of the Jackal as part of his quest for revenge. The Jackal roped in the Punisher, the Scorpion, and Tarantula into his scheme but eventually had Peter confront his clone in battle. 

Warren would go on to inflict misery on Peter and his clone Ben Reilly for years, though it was usually behind the scenes. Warren eventually altered his own DNA to make himself actually resemble a mutated jackal, and he later followed the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 (Ghost Spider) back to her home dimension in order to profess his demented "love" to her. Poor Spider-Man was caught once again in the middle of a sick mind's delusional obsessions, but there's no question that his mere presence attracted such weirdness.