"You're the best, Foreigner! That's what everyone says. They say you want a job smooth, efficient? Go to the Foreigner!"
"I'm going to miss Claude. Fantastic manservant. He made a terrible Hobgoblin, but he made the best bouillabaisse. But some sacrifices have to be made. Just not self-sacrifices. Ah well. Time to lay low again. To plan. To scheme. To rise anew. Have your victory today, Osborn. You earned it. To you, my old foe. And to Goblins everywhere."
Roderick Kingsley, Superior Spider-Man (2013)
Spider-Man has fought numerous foes of all calibres, but a select few have the ingenuity of both brains and brawn to be more of a match against the webbed slinger.
This is for the comics only. Other examples for the franchise can be found elsewhere:
- Examples in their animated adaptations can be found here.
- Examples from the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series can be found here, while examples from Spider-Man: Homecoming Trilogy can be found here.
- Examples in their video game adaptations can be found here.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
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Earth-616 (both Spidey himself, and others)
Examples
- Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, is one of Marvel's greatest femme fatales and one of Spider-Man's most valuable frenemies. Training herself to peak physical form and mentored by the Black Fox in the art of thievery, Black Cat becomes a world-renowned criminal who far surpasses her father Walter's legacy. In her first encounter with Spider-Man, Cat earns his respect and sympathy when she stages a successful breakout of her imprisoned father so he can die in the comfort of his own home. Over the years, Cat serves as both an enemy and ally to Spider-Man, helping him fight horrible villains while continuing her own immoral activities on the side. In just one of her many solo outings, Cat rips off the likes of Dr. Strange, Iron Man and Iron Fist with carefully-laid plans, all as part of a greater plot to rob the Thieves' Guild, and when Fox tries to betray all of Manhattan to the Gilded Saint, Cat successfully tricks the Saint into reneging on the deal, saving millions of lives. Cat even strikes a heavy blow against Knull and the symbiote invasion by rescuing an entrapped Dr. Strange and carving her way through their ranks with the Yggdrasil staff. Be it as an Anti-Hero, a ruthless gang boss, or a simple jewel thief, Black Cat has consistently proven herself one of the most innovative criminals in all of Marvel.
- Sergei Kravinoff, aka Kraven the Hunter, is one of Spider-Man's most dangerous and honorable foes. Starting as a hunter in Africa, Kraven moved on to a far more dangerous prey in Spider-Man, employing numerous complex strategies against the hero in their battles. Tiring of his failure, Kraven decided to go on one last hunt, burying Spider-Man alive and impersonating him in order to prove himself superior. Content with his success, Kraven kills himself in order to die with honor. Years later Kraven was unwillingly revived by his family and cursed so that "only the Spider can kill [him]" and killed most of his family for revenge. After cloning himself to get an heir, Kraven set up his grandest hunt yet, kidnapping animal themed villains and having them hunted by big game hunters in Central Park. Secretly abhorring both sides, Kraven manipulates events so both sides will kill each other. Kraven forces Spider-Man to nearly kill the Lizard, and almost succeeds in manipulating him into killing Kraven. When Spider-Man makes him realize the error of his ways, Kraven frees everyone from the park, then dons Spider-Man's outfit in order to trick his son into killing him permanently, leaving a note so his son will carry on his legacy.
- "The Tinkerer", Phineas Mason, is an elderly, technologically gifted criminal mind whose service of outfitting, weaponizing and upgrading the costumes and arsenals of super-criminals has profited him for years. After a brief stint as a more outwardly villainous mastermind who fooled Spider-Man into believing he was alien and turned the hero's own gadgets against him, the Tinkerer settled for becoming a black market dealer in villains' tech, using his gift for gadgetry to grant several of Spider-Man's foes the ability to fight and nearly kill him. Though having saved the entire Earth from an invasion by the Vedomi decades ago, when the Tinkerer's son apparently died, the Tinkerer orchestrates a genius, despair-induced plot to wipe out Earth's greatest heroes, then recall the Vedomi to wipe out all of humanity, the Tinkerer believing it is for the best to end all human suffering. The Tinkerer ends up sharing a heartfelt kinship with Spider-Man and calling off the invasion, proving himself to still be the same polite, honorable man who would regularly help heroes take on threats greater than himself if it appealed to his morality.
- Alonzo "Lonnie" Lincoln was a boy who spent his childhood bullied and ostracized for his albinism, prompting him to harden himself into the ruthless criminal Tombstone. Tombstone became known as one of the country's most vicious, efficient hitmen, as he carries out dozens of mob assassinations while leaving no witnesses or evidence. Having a twisted respect for his childhood rival Joe "Robbie" Robertson, Tombstone forces him to cover up Tombstone's activities for years before facing Robbie in a final duel that results in Tombstone honorably dropping their feud. Even when arrested, Tombstone rules the prison with ease before staging a clever trap for Spider-Man that enables him to escape and continue his criminal career, culminating in him overthrowing Hammerhead and becoming a genuine mob boss in his own right. Over the years, Tombstone has faced off against Kingpin, the Rose, and a variety of other criminals, always keeping pace with them while maintaining his crooked sense of professionalism. Tombstone even puts aside his differences with Robbie enough to let his daughter marry Robbie's son, and in one of his greatest schemes yet, Tombstone tricks Spider-Man into wiping out an entire rival gang without Tombstone having to lift a finger.
- Roderick Kingsley was a ruthless businessman who built an empire out of the fashion industry with unscrupulous practices. Discovering the lair of the Green Goblin, Kingsley decided to build the identity of the Hobgoblin, remaining concealed the whole while. Creating a new criminal empire, he used criminal Lefty Donovan the Hobgoblin to test the effectiveness of the Goblin formula and then eliminated him when he'd served his purposes. Kingsley also brainwashed reporter Ned Leeds into thinking he was the Hobgoblin to use him as a cover, eventually getting Leeds killed while he skipped away free and clear. Returning to murder the fourth Hobgoblin, Jason Macendale, for bringing undue scrutiny upon him, he then manipulated the Green Goblin into attacking him so he could escape prison and then begins leasing the identities and costumes of minor supervillains to others in order to take a cut of the profits. A criminal genius long before he donned the mask, Kingsley repeatedly shows why he is one of Spider-Man's most intelligent enemies.
- The Black Tarantula, Carlos LaMuerto, was originally introduced here as an immensely powerful international crime lord, using his reach to dabble in all sorts of enterprises while avoiding the public eye. On the hunt for his ex-wife Marina after she kidnapped their son, Black Tarantula uses the excuse of branching out to New York to gain the alliance of local crime bosses, turn them against each other, and use their resources to track down Marina. Personally and harshly beating Spider-Man himself in combat multiple times and even tearing through an army of mob henchmen with his bare hands, Black Tarantula ultimately finds Marina and his son, yet leaves them in peace after realizing Marina can raise the boy right without the crime lord's influence. Black Tarantula then spares Spider-Man out of respect for the hero and departs New York without further conflict.
- The assassin known as The Foreigner is a suave and mysterious man who runs a number of identities through the world and only performs any violence to protect himself and his interests or when he is paid. Seeking to rope Spider-Man into his organization, he operates a phony ring before having a killer attack Black Cat's apartment, killing the man himself to lure Spider-Man out. The Foreigner operates with a professional courtesy and uses a combination of lures to accomplish his ends, always returning with the same professionalism his enemies and friends come to expect.
- Black Fox is considered one of Europe's most skilled thieves, and has trained many equally-successful crooks over his long years. Audacious enough to play cards with, then rob, Dracula himself, Fox has used a variety of aliases that have always helped him evade repercussions for his many thefts. Fox regularly takes on Spider-Man in his exploits in New York City, and even teams with the webhead at one point to face down cultists trying to doom the city. The mentor of Black Cat herself, Fox trained the woman to be the unstoppable force she is today, and is the mastermind of her superhero robbery spree for the purposes of robbing the Thieves Guild. Only once they have infiltrated the vault does Fox reveal his true plan to sell out Manhattan to the Gilded Saint in exchange for immortality for himself and Cat, a plan he initially succeeds in. Even when Cat manages to trick the Saint into ending the deal, Fox simply applauds Cat for outsmarting him, and uses his last words to reiterate that he loves her as a daughter.
Examples
- Superman and Spider-Man & New Avengers/Transformers: Dr. Victor Von Doom is as megalomaniacal and brilliant as ever. In the first story, Doom allies with Parasite and uses the supervillain as a pawn in his scheme to destroy the Earth's fuel and electrical supply so that Doom's powerful energy source will enable him to institute his own, utopian rule. Doom uses both the confines of the law and stealthy red herrings to regularly outwit Superman and Spider-Man, nearly killing the duo. Though he ends the comic with a heavy dose of cowardice, Doom later returns with all his gravitas restored, risking his own life to fight the Decepticons and help save the entire planet from their schemes. Doom personally damages the Decepticons' HQ and saves a variety of heroes from brainwashing, ending the comic developing a new plan with stoic resolve even as the base explodes around him.
- Batman & Spider-Man: New Age Dawning: The Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk, is the powerful criminal mastermind who controls all criminal organizations within New York City. Providing Ra's al Ghul with resources that help him to carry out terrorist acts around the world, Kingpin objected when Ra's wanted to cause destruction in New York. Eventually being forced to seemingly submit to Ra's, due to his desire to cure his dying wife, Kingpin then sabotaged Ra's plans by reprogramming his satellite, causing it to blow up and then revealing that he knew all along who Ra's was and what he planned, sneaking Batman and Spider-Man into Ra's base and outsmarting "The Demon", putting a stop to his plans before they even began.
- Ultimate Spider-Man: The Beetle is a mysterious Latverian supervillain sent to retrieve the Venom symbiote on behalf of Doctor Doom. Armed with a powerful suit that allows him incredibly fast flight, lasers that can track targets, and even the ability to phase through walls, the Beetle clashes with Spider-Man several times in his mission, always managing to escape. Knocking out all of Trask Industries and the dangerous Silver Sable with gas to steal a sample of the symbiote, the Beetle further manages to ensure the capture of Eddie Brock himself, approaching him in the guise of an average civilian to lull him into a false sense of security and apprehending the monster when he inevitably attacks.
- Marvel Action: Spider-Man's Issues #7-9: Felicia Hardy, after witnessing her father getting arrested by Peter, Miles, and Gwen, dons on the Black Cat moniker to exact payback. Tracking down the trio and luring them to her location, Felicia grants them bad luck in order to ruin their lives as she makes out with some jewelry. Framing Peter for releasing some leopards at the zoo, Felicia later attempts to break her dad from prison, and while defeated by the trio, she’s still able to earn respect from her beloved father.
- The Black Cat Strikes (Earth-1048): Felicia Hardy, the titular Black Cat, is just as intelligent and ruthless a criminal as in the original game. A master thief who is introduced brazenly getting away with robbing the Kingpin himself, Black Cat went on to briefly join Spider-Man as a heroic crime-fighter, matching him in both competence and wittiness on several occasions before returning to her criminal lifestyle. Returning years later in the employ of Hammerhead, Felicia claims that the Maggia don has kidnapped her and Peter's son to trick Spider-Man into helping her steal the keys to the Maggia's wealth, proceeding to masterfully fake her own death so as to set Peter against Hammerhead. Felicia uses the latter's defeat as a distraction to rob the NYPD's evidence storage before attempting to make off with all of Hammerhead's loot, and though apprehended, takes it in good grace as she silently remarks that Peter and MJ are "adorable" together.
- Spider's Shadow (Earth-21619):
- Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, is a crime lord who managed to run a successful criminal enterprise in spite of interference from the vigilante Spider-Man. Although fearful for his life as Spider-Man begins murdering criminals under the influence of a symbiote masquerading as his new black suit, Kingpin retains a level head and hires Shocker and Scorpion to investigate, indeed confirming that Spider-Man had become a killer. Deducing Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker, Kingpin refuses to show fear or anger and calmly prepares to be killed at the web-slinger's hands, having prepared a contingency in the form of releasing Parker's identity to the public, ensuring that he would have a target on his back in or out of costume. Surviving Spider-Man's assault, albeit with his face badly maimed, Kingpin waits out the symbiote's attack on New York, dead set on getting his revenge on Spider-Man in spite of his ailing health and poised to do so upon acquiring a symbiote that survived the attack.
- Kraven the Hunter is once again one of Spider-Man's most cunning and competent foes. After Spider-Man begins killing his enemies, Kraven joins forces with fellow villains and J. Jonah Jameson in a bid to defeat their common enemy once and for all. To that end, Kraven devises a battle plan, using Beetle to lure the web-slinger away from the city and avoid involving other heroes, then exploiting Mysterio's illusions to disorient their enemy. When unable to track Spider-Man through the goggles Mysterio provided him, Kraven removes them to find that his enemy avoided the illusion by hiding underground. Deducing the alien symbiote's fear of fire, Kraven turns the tables on Spider-Man and helps Jameson trap him in a burning barn, removing the organism from the wall-crawler's unconscious body. A brilliant tactician and one of the few members of the supervillain community to survive Spider-Man's bloody rampage, Kraven comes close to outright killing the hero before Jameson knocks him out cold.
- Spidey (Earth-16220):
- The Green Goblin combines Norman Osborn's analytical genius with a ruthless destructive streak. Becoming intrigued by Spidey, the Goblin spends several of their battles analyzing his behavior, eventually realizing his Chronic Hero Syndrome as well as the number of webs he has. With this information, Goblin lures Spidey into a confrontation where he then attacks civilians so that he'll save them, causing him to waste his webs; the result is Spidey falls out of the sky right where Goblin predicts. When Spidey still gets up and attacks anyway, Goblin admits that Peter is a Worthy Opponent and flies away, with Norman beginning to piece together Peter's secret identity.
- Issue #4, "Doomsday Off": Doctor Victor von Doom is the ruler of Latveria, a brilliant scientist, and a criminal mastermind. Doom initiates a plan to steal a valuable Latverian painting and return it to its homeland, going head-to-head against Spider-Man in his mission. Though the superhero destroys his initial Doombot and foils the scheme at first, Doom siphons New York's power grid to power his other robots. Biding his time when Spider-Man tracks him down and setting up an ambush via his robots, Doom fights off Spider-Man and escapes with the painting, completely succeeding in his mission.
- Venomverse (Earth-22249): Venompool proves to be one of the most competent members of the Resistance in spite of his madness and penchant for dark jokes. Hired to investigate a scientist experimenting with parasitic tapeworms on his world, Wade bonds with the Venom symbiote to gain the upper hand against the rampant parasites, killing them all before being drafted into the war against the Poisons. Noting that the Poison that consumed Spider-Man still bore vestiges of his consciousness, Venompool allows himself to be assimilated, sacrificing his symbiote and banking on his "special brand of crazy" to create a Poison Deadpool with his mind intact. Acting as a double agent within the Hive, Deadpool reveals the location of their base to the Resistance, allowing them to infiltrate the Poisons' ship to rescue Doctor Strange. Fighting alongside Carnage to buy time for the Resistance, Deadpool accepts his fate when it becomes clear that he and Cletus would be left for dead, honorably telling him that there would be no one he'd rather die with as the ship explodes.
- What If? Spider-Man: The Other (Earth-70134): The Venom symbiote uses the full extent of its natural abilities and relentless cunning in pursuit of its goals. Sensing that its first host Peter Parker has gone into a coma, the symbiote breaks out of the Raft, effortlessly killing most of the guards and taking over one to use as an interim host before abandoning him to permanently bond with Parker, taking over his body and rechristening itself Poison. Intent on finding a mate to join him in his new life, Poison breaks into the apartment of May Parker and Mary Jane Watson, the latter of whom he intends to bond with his spawn, and easily defeating Wolverine and Luke Cage when they try to intervene. Although spurned by Mary Jane, Poison is undeterred and simply exhumes the corpse of Gwen Stacy to make her his symbiote bride instead.
