History YMMV / SpiderMan

** Cletus Kasady was a [[AxCrazy psychotic]], prolific serial killer even before he bonded with a bloodthirsty alien symbiote and took the name of [[NamesToRunAwayFrom Carnage]]. As Carnage he became one of the worst enemy of Venom and Spider-Man both with his psychotic killing sprees through New York where he murdered anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path and if not for Venom and Spider Man he would have killed thousands more. During the Maximum Carnage event, Carnage created a 'family' of fellow super villains, using their powers to drive New York into homicidal insanity and to capture his 'father' Venom, in whose captivity Carnage subjected to horrible torture. Not even his own family was safe from Carnage's psychosis and he brutalized his 'wife' Shriek for ignoring his instructions before murdering their 'son' Doppleganger when he tried defending her. Carnage has a habit of returning from death, always nastier than before and the intense evil of Cassidy and the Symbiote together results in one Peter Parker's most murderous enemies

** Cletus Kassady, a.k.a. Carnage, was never really sane to begin with. As a child, he killed his grandmother and pet dog, tortured his mother, killed the headmaster of his orphanage with a lead pipe, and then burned the orphanage down, and pushed a girl he had a crush on in front of a bus because she rejected him; he became even more insane and murderous after bonding with the symbiote, and he has no qualms about who he kills...even people he once trusted, including his own henchmen and childhood friends.

* MyRealDaddy: DeMatteis' work on Kraven and his kids has clearly influenced every subsequent story about the character.

** Carnage, who was never really sane to begin with. As a child, he killed his grandmother and pet dog, tortured his mother, killed the headmaster of his orphanage with a lead pipe, and then burned the orphanage down, and pushed a girl he had a crush on in front of a bus because she rejected him; he became even more insane and murderous after bonding with the symbiote, and he has no qualms about who he kills...even people he once trusted, including his own henchmen and childhood friends.

** NormanOsborn, {{archenemy}} of ''SpiderMan'', gradauted to Complete Monsterdom following his resurrection in the nineties. Once a TragicVillain who suffered from a SplitPersonality that forced him to become the Green Goblin, Norman was apparently slain after he threw Spider-Man's girlfriend, [[ILetGwenStacyDie Gwen Stacy]] [[TheNightGwenStacyDied off a bridge]], in what many fans saw as his MoralEventHorizon. Brought BackFromTheDead in the nineties, Norman revealed that he had been the mastermind behind the Clone Saga, buried Aunt May alive and killed Peter's clone, Ben Reilly, while gloating that he could now remember all the crimes he'd committed as the Goblin and was proud of them. Since then, he has gone on to be a major player in the Marvelverse, masterminding the creation of the [[ComicBook/DarkReign Dark Avengers]]. During this time period, he kept the Sentry in line via drug addiction (then had his wife killed), planned to have the caputred Songbird decapitated (so that he could mount her head on the wall and masturbate to it), and deliberately triggered a war with Asgard by having the U-Foes attack Agardian warrior [[BoisterousBruiser Volstaag]] in a football stadium, resulting in thousands of casualties. During this time, he also seduced and impregnated his son Harry's girlfriend, then plotted to have [[OffingTheOffspring Harry killed]], because he thought Harry's tragic death would earn him public sympathy. These, by the way, are all actions committed by the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Norman Osborn]] persona; the Green Goblin persona remains an AxeCrazy MadBomber who regularly endangers/kills hundreds of civillians during his battle's with Spider-Man, and, in commemoration of Gwen Stacy's death, tried to recreate the tragedy with Mary-Jane Watson, Peter's then LoveInterest, as the victim. As Norman Osborn he's a cold-blooded, [[TheChessmaster calculating]] [[TheSociopath psychopath]] who treats everyone as a means to an end. As the Green Goblin he's a violent lunatic who threatens every person in the vicinity.

** Otto Octavius in ''SpiderManNoir'' stands in stark contrast to his occasionally noble 616 counterpart. Born a cripple, Octavius used his genius to create mechanical limbs to compensate. Also a follower and worshiper of the Nazi philosophy, Octavius kidnaps innocent black men, knowing the police won't devote much effort to their disappearances and practices horrific experiments on them, that kill them or leave them drooling vegetables. He displays no remorse for this whatsoever, viewing them as less than human. He isn't above straight murder when it suits his purposes, either.

* DerailingLoveInterests: Happens to Mary Jane. A LOT. Basically, whenever a writer wants to break them up, they'll try to do so in a way to make Peter look like a victim so he can angst over it. First time was her rejection of his proposal and shallow break up with him (though while MJ was yet to finish her character development and was a bit shallow, it was STILL very out of character for her to be so unapologetic about it), second time was serious bitchification before then killing her off (didn't last, fortunately), third time was, AFTER they allready broke up, [[JoeQuesada they]] decided to have OneMomentInTime to explain that it was all MJ's fault, and wrote her as an emotional trainwreck who was ready to break down from stress. Thankfully, only [[FanDumb some fans]] take these at face value and blame MJ for the bad writing.

* MotiveDecay:
** Dr. Octopus tends to jump around from being the strongest around, to destroying New York / The World, to ''ruling'' New York / The World, proving he's the smartest, or being a crime lord. {{Justified|Trope}} when you take his brain damage into account.
*** Not quite MotiveDecay when you consider his ''original'' EvilPlan was to... hold some hospital staff hostage, followed by some odd scheme to take over a nuclear power plant and rebuild it in his own image, for a purpose whose details were never specified. He then started committing crimes solely to lure Spiderman into a fight in order to avenge his past defeats.
** Just about every adaptation featuring him has gone out of their way to invert this for Venom, making his dislike of Spidey and / or Peter much more personal, if not any more well-founded.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Retroactively done with the ''Amazing Fantasy Starring Spider-Man'' mini-series, which bridged the gap between ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 and ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #1. In the second issue of the series, Peter meets Joey Pulaski, a teenaged superheroine who he became friends with. She ends up being sent to jail after Spider-Man turns her in for committing a number of crimes, and for the rest of the mini-series, Spider-Man is devastated by the memory of her. Of course, since she was created in the mid-nineties, and her story set between those published in the early 60s, her existence begs the question "why haven't we heard of her until now?". The only time she ever appears is in the one story, and her existence is never explored again.
** This happens a lot with these retro-active issues. The other villains in the same mini-series (a man named Undertaker and a suppervillain named Supercharger), despite being Spider-Man's first supervillains, never get any mention (indeed, the Chameleon is still toted as Spider-Man's first supervillain in the comics), and the original villains for ''Untold Tales of Spider-Man'' generally have never reappeared. The exception to this is The Scorcher, (Spider-Man's first black villain), who died within the series.

* GannonBanned: Some fans get really upset if you leave out the hyphen and spell it as one word - And it's rather common that non-comic fans do so. [[InvokedTrope This even applies in universe]], as Spidey himself thinks it makes him sound like the Jewish family down the street - ''Honey, let's have the Spidermans over for dinner.'' It's so bad that an episode of ''{{Series/Friends}}'' had Phoebe & Chandler actually discuss this.
--> '''Chandler''': Because it's not his last name.
--> '''Phoebe''': It isn't?
--> '''Chandler''': He's not, like, Phil Spiderman. He's a Spider-''Man''. Like Goldman's a last name, but there's no Gold-Man,

* NormanOsborn, {{archenemy}} of ''SpiderMan'', gradauted to Complete Monsterdom following his resurrection in the nineties. Once a TragicVillain who suffered from a SplitPersonality that forced him to become the Green Goblin, Norman was apparently slain after he threw Spider-Man's girlfriend, [[ILetGwenStacyDie Gwen Stacy]] [[TheNightGwenStacyDied off a bridge]], in what many fans saw as his MoralEventHorizon. Brought BackFromTheDead in the nineties, Norman revealed that he had been the mastermind behind the Clone Saga, buried Aunt May alive and killed Peter's clone, Ben Reilly, while gloating that he could now remember all the crimes he'd committed as the Goblin and was proud of them. Since then, he has gone on to be a major player in the Marvelverse, masterminding the creation of the [[ComicBook/DarkReign Dark Avengers]]. During this time period, he kept the Sentry in line via drug addiction (then had his wife killed), planned to have the caputred Songbird decapitated (so that he could mount her head on the wall and masturbate to it), and deliberately triggered a war with Asgard by having the U-Foes attack Agardian warrior [[BoisterousBruiser Volstaag]] in a football stadium, resulting in thousands of casualties. During this time, he also seduced and impregnated his son Harry's girlfriend, then plotted to have [[OffingTheOffspring Harry killed]], because he thought Harry's tragic death would earn him public sympathy. These, by the way, are all actions committed by the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Norman Osborn]] persona; the Green Goblin persona remains an AxeCrazy MadBomber who regularly endangers/kills hundreds of civillians during his battle's with Spider-Man, and, in commemoration of Gwen Stacy's death, tried to recreate the tragedy with Mary-Jane Watson, Peter's then LoveInterest, as the victim. As Norman Osborn he's a cold-blooded, [[TheChessmaster calculating]] [[TheSociopath psychopath]] who treats everyone as a means to an end. As the Green Goblin he's a violent lunatic who threatens every person in the vicinity.
* Carnage, who was never really sane to begin with. As a child, he killed his grandmother and pet dog, tortured his mother, killed the headmaster of his orphanage with a lead pipe, and then burned the orphanage down, and pushed a girl he had a crush on in front of a bus because she rejected him; he became even more insane and murderous after bonding with the symbiote, and he has no qualms about who he kills...even people he once trusted, including his own henchmen and childhood friends.
* Oneshot villain [[SmugSnake Carl]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare King]], a.k.a. {{The|Swarm}} [[TheWormThatWalks Thousand]], definitely fits the bill. [[SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp A particularly vicious childhood tormentor of Peter Parker]] who happened to be at the demonstration where Pete was bitten by a certain radioactive spider. He quickly put two-and-two together and decided to get spider-powers of his own by eating said spider. Instead, he was transformed into [[HiveMind a colony of a thousand oversized spiders]] [[OrificeInvasion with the ability to crawl into a human body]], [[BodyHorror eat the host's organs, musculature, and bones from the inside out]], [[ParanoiaFuel and wear their skin like a suit, mimicking both the victim's mannerisms and voice]]. The first person Carl "possessed" in this fashion ''was his own mother''; the second, who he killed intentionally [[ForTheEvulz and for no reason]], was his father, [[FridgeHorror and the imagery implies that he killed his dad after having sex with him]]. Since then, he has come to the conclusion that ''he'' should have been Spider-Man rather than puny Parker, [[ImAHumanitarian and has gone through around a dozen bodies every year, several of which were children]], in order to become strong enough to overpower Spidey and steal both his body and his life. Fortunately, after receiving an epic ShutUpHannibal speech from our favorite webslinger, the hideous abomination wound up frying his current host and most of his spiders [[DeadlyDodging by punching a transformer]], and the final spider was killed in a satisfyingly appropriate fashion: stepped on by an oblivious New Yorker, unnoticed and unmourned like the miserable little nobody he really was.
* Otto Octavius in ''SpiderManNoir'' stands in stark contrast to his occasionally noble 616 counterpart. Born a cripple, Octavius used his genius to create mechanical limbs to compensate. Also a follower and worshiper of the Nazi philosophy, Octavius kidnaps innocent black men, knowing the police won't devote much effort to their disappearances and practices horrific experiments on them, that kill them or leave them drooling vegetables. He displays no remorse for this whatsoever, viewing them as less than human. He isn't above straight murder when it suits his purposes, either.

* CompleteMonster: {{Norman Osborn}} has become one of these since his return, with scenes showing how he's willing to drop a tramfull of kids to their deaths just to spite Spider-Man.
** [[ILetGwenStacyDie Actually, since shortly before.]]
** And then there's [[AxCrazy Carnage]], who puts effort into being as much of a monster as possible. A serial killer BEFORE he became Carnage.
** Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion I / Venom III, particularly after he became Venom III.
** Kraven the Hunter, and his extended family, with the exceptions of sons Alyosha (who went back and forth between {{Ax Crazy}} bad guy and {{Anti-Hero}}, due to mental issues, or just [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on who was writing him that day]]), and Vladimir.

*** To a lesser extent, Toxin's father [[MagnificentBastard Carn]][[LargeHam ag]][[LightningBruiser e]].

* YMMV/{{Spider-Man Trilogy}}

--> '''Chandler He's not, like, Phil Spiderman. He's a Spider-''Man''. Like Goldman's a last name, but there's no Gold-Man,

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Within eleven months, Dan Slott's run undid the majority of the plot developments fans disliked about the OneMoreDay[=/=]BrandNewDay era, with the exception of the actual CosmicRetcon itself. Quesada being promoted to a position with more power in the company but less influence over the stories probably helped this.

** Let's just say the Superior Spider-Man has some people willing to give it a chance, some not going for it based on the concept itself and a few sending Dan Slott death threats.
*** Given the recent leaks spoiling the identity of Superior Spider-Man [[spoiler: and the death of Peter]], however, most who were willing to give it a chance have switched sides, to either the 'not giving it a chance' to the 'send in death threats' side.

** The "Superior" version of Spider-Man is, at this point, guaranteed to be one given the InternetBackdraft surrounding the character. [[spoiler:When a villain like Doctor Octopus replaces the hero by switching bodies and killing them, that's to expected.]]

** Superior Spider-Man is, at this point, guaranteed to be one [[spoiler: though, when a villain replaces the hero by killing them, that's expected]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Mary Jane Watson, to the point that a large majority of the book's fanbase consider her and not Aunt May to be the most important person in Peter's life.

* FashionVictimVillain: Electro.
** FromBadToWorse: And yet... somehow his John Byrne-created costume was uglier.

* GannonBanned: Some fans get really upset if you leave out the hyphen and spell it as one word.
** As does Spidey himself. He thinks it makes him sound like the Jewish family down the street. ''Honey, let's have the Spidermans over for dinner.''

** Toxin was also one. Shame that he suffered from ChuckCunninghamSyndrome for so long.

** For Doc Ock, his recent outings include [[spoiler: firstly, trying to destroy 90% of the world so the remaining ten percent will remember him as the greatest monster that ever lived, and now he's [[FreakyFridayFlip swapped minds with Peter]], leaving Peter trapped in his crippled body as he runs free with all of Peter's memories, allowing him to restart his relationship with MJ and live his life without anyone being any the wiser. Though some fans insist that neither May or Mary Jane would be fooled by this, especially since May once correctly deduced two people posing as Peter's parents were phonies, and MJ has figured out other people have impersonated her soul mate like Chameleon and Kraven]]

** The BrandNewDay era... did not do well, critically or financially. Then Dan Slott took over the book.

* GannonBanned: Some fans get really upset if you leave out the hyphen.
** As does Spidey himself. He thinks it makes him sound like the Jewish family down the street. ''Honey, let's have the SpiderMans over for dinner.''
** And god help you if you spell it as one word.

* MagnificentBastard: Norman Osborn, Hobgoblin, Dr. Octopus (DependingOnTheWriter).

** For Doc Ock, his recent outings include [[spoiler: firstly, trying to destroy 90% of the world so the remaining ten percent will remember him as the greatest monster that ever lived, and now he's [[FreakyFridayFlip swapped minds with Peter]], leaving Peter trapped in his crippled body as he runs free with all of Peter's memories, allowing him to restart his relationship with MJ and live his life without anyone being any the wiser. Though some fans insist that neither May or Mary Jane would be fooled by this, especially since May once correctly deduced two people posing as Peter's parents were phonies, and MJ has figured out other people have impersonated her soul mate like Chamelion and Kraven]]

*** Not quite MotiveDecay when you consider his ''original'' EvilPlan was to... hold some hospital staff hostage, followed by some suicidal and senseless scheme to personally cause a nuclear meltdown for no obvious reason. He then started committing crimes solely to lure Spiderman into a fight in order to avenge his past defeats.

** ItGotWorse: And yet... somehow his John Byrne-created costume was uglier.

** Anti-Venom too, though he is more of a BaseBreaker amongst those who rather Brock as Venom.

*** Not quite MotiveDecay when you consider his ''original'' EvilPlan was to...hold some hospital staff hostage, followed by some suicidal and senseless scheme to persoanlly cause a nuclear meltdown for no obvious reason. He then started commiting crimes solely to lure Spiderman into a fight in order to avenge his past defeats.

** And yet surprisingly averted when he backhanded a ''pregnant'' Mary Jane. Though long-time fans understandably criticize this one moment, you're not likely to find any writers willing to reference it in any way. [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Hank Pym]] would surely and understandably be envious of that.

** For Doc Ock, his recent outings include [[spoiler: firstly, trying to destroy 90% of the world so the remaining ten percent will remember him as the greatest monster that ever lived, and now he's [[FreakyFridayFlip swapped minds with Peter]], leaving Peter trapped in his crippled body as he runs free with all of Peter's memories, allowing him to restart his relationship with MJ and live his life without anyone being any the wiser.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Harry Osborn, the second Green Goblin]].