10 Spider-Man Villains With Untapped Potential

Considered one of the best rogues galleries in comics by many fans, Spider-Man’s villains are iconic. Of course, this is for good reason— many have recognizable designs and standout personalities. Foes such as the Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus are considered some of the best in comics history due to their compelling motives and treacherous schemes.

Yet, despite how large Spider-Man’s gallery of rogues is, many enemies within find themselves lacking. Most are built on the bones of good ideas, and some have a few stories that hint at something greater for these villains— but, for the most part, they are inconsistent or inconsequential characters. Looking at foes ranging from Electro to Screwball suffering from the problem of wasted potential, many of Spider-Man’s rogues can be amazing in the comics.

10 Screwball is a Fun and Modern Foe

Many fans detest the villain due to her presence in 2017’s Marvel’s Spider-Man video game. However, Screwball has an irritating charm to her, not too dissimilar from Riddler in the Batman: Arkham series of games. Her confident but somewhat abrasive personality compliments her gimmick of a thrill-seeking influencer wannabe well. It makes her unlikable in a way that’s refreshingly different from some of the literal monsters that Spider-Man faces.

Screwball isn’t a character that needs to be written with layers of nuances or given a sympathetic motive, something 2017’s Marvel Spider-Man cartoon did to lackluster results. Instead, it would be best if writers actually gave her a name or the simplest of backstories, the bare minimum of development she has sadly been left without. Similarly developing her social media niche would also be a fantastic way to keep her up with the times, as live-streaming parkour is a bit of a dead trend nowadays.

9 Hypno-Hustler Doesn’t Have to Perform His Swan Song

Even before a movie starring Donald Glover as Hypno-Hustler was announced and canceled within the same year, the villain was always one of the biggest accidental joke villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. His design and gimmick are both heavily dated, with the character not having much personality outside some very dated one-liners.

Hypno-Hustler could have a subtly menacing quality hidden beneath his extremely cheesy veneer. Someone able to control the minds and actions of others through music automatically has a Pied-Piper quality to them. If their power is used right, it could cause unprecedented damage. This could especially be used with heroes that rely on their auditory senses, like Daredevil.

8 Swarm is a Scary Mess

Swarm is a villain that is a disorienting mish-mash of gimmicks. He’s one-part body insect menace, one-part former Nazi scientist, and more prominently, all-parts dullard. His most recent appearance was in 2017’s Marvel Spider-Man show, where, for some confusing reason, Jefferson Davis, Miles Morales’ father, was the villain’s secret identity.

To avoid gimmicks like cheap interpersonal conflict, Swarm could lead hard into the body horror that defines the character’s design, as he’s a man who had his entire being transferred into a swarm of bees. Perhaps one could also explore a literal hive-mind mentality that influences bigotry and hatred, harkening back to the character’s origins as a Nazi. Allying him with villains like Red Skull, Grim Reaper, or HYDRA operatives would push him into the big leagues as a threat, possibly even needing Avengers-level pushback.

7 White Rabbit Could be Great Comic Relief

Despite her recent appearances as Janice Lincoln’s second-in-command in the Zeb Wells run of Amazing Spider-Man, White Rabbit is yet another of Spider-Man’s more humorous villains. Unlike some of her compatriots, she was always meant to be more of a joke character, as evidenced by her larger-than-life personality, madcap schemes, and constant bumbling.

It’d be best to lean into this side of the character to get proper mileage out of her, turning White Rabbit into a Killer Moth-like figure within Spider-Man’s rogues gallery— a wannabe with the flighty dream of being taken seriously in the world of caped crusaders. Her alter ego, Lorina Dodson, is also remarkably wealthy, so it’d be incredibly funny if the villain bounced between being a member of high society one moment and a wannabe supervillain with mob ties the next.

6 The Enforcers as Memorable Side Characters

While fairly minor and not all that special on the surface, The Enforcers are an entertaining group of mercenary foes nonetheless. Some fans may remember them as recurring foes in The Spectacular Spider-Man, debuting in the cartoon’s first episode, and others may remember them from their incredibly early appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #10.

Fans don’t usually open a Spider-Man comic for fairly dull mob heavies. But it could be very easy to have The Enforcers appear as recurring characters in Spider-Man stories and for them to be granted more concrete, fun personalities. Bits and pieces of these characters’ lore could also be used to enhance them—Fancy Dan having a family that left him, Ox’s brother having replaced him at one point, or Montana’s stint as the Shocker in the aforementioned Spectacular Spider-Man. It would be easy to portray them as loveable minor villains like the Superior Foes or old-timer mob threats like Tombstone.

5 Shocker Can Take a Shocking Turn

Shocker is probably one of the most down-to-earth and relatable of all of Spider-Man’s villains. Herman Schultz dealt with issues such as anxiety and familial death over the years, so it isn’t a surprise Shocker is a fan-favorite villain. However, he is in need of a tune-up as a character.

Shocker’s everyman quality could be built on in his presumably brief time as the head of New York’s mob after the events of The Superior Foes of Spider-Man as he dealt with a sense of discontent in his career as a supervillain. It would be fun to see Herman attempt heroism as a change of pace for the character. He could return to his Thunderbolt days to help the little guys like him as a more enjoyable venture than getting his teeth kicked in by Marvel’s various heroes.

4 Hydro-Man Could be Truly Terrifying

While fairly forgettable in most incarnations, Hydro-Man was once made threatening in the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon as Mary Jane Watson’s obsessive ex-boyfriend. Using his hydrokinetic powers to stalk and kidnap MJ, the villain came off as a truly unsettling depiction of an abusive partner.

While Morris Bench doesn’t have any connections to Mary Jane in comics, and it would be very clumsy to retcon such a relationship, the angle of Hydro-Man being an obsessive stalker could add a very real horror to the villain. Villains of a similarly elemental nature as Bench, such as Sandman, have had their unique physiology lead to their minds deteriorating— and so, it wouldn’t be a stretch to put Hydro-Man down a similar route and have him fixate on the star Mary Jane. It could even give her a personal threat to face as the new heroine, Jackpot.

3 Chameleon Was Spider-Man’s First Foe

For someone who was Spider-Man’s first supervillain, the Chameleon doesn’t tend to get much appreciation as a character. This may partly be due to a lack of attention in major adaptations and a personality that isn’t all too memorable. While the fact that he is Kraven the Hunter’s brother is a major aspect of the character, many modern stories exploring the idea are either convoluted or redundant. Nowadays, every member of Kraven’s family has tried getting revenge on Spider-Man at some point, so Chameleon is not unique on that front.

A decent way to revitalize the character could be honing in on the lack of identity that comes with being a shapeshifter, something the legendary J.M. DeMatteis and Paul Jenkins touched on in the late nineties. There’s also the idea of returning him to the espionage game, something very well suited to the Chameleon’s skills.

2 Scorpion Could Revisit His Origins

Conceived as the original “Evil Spider-Man” figure decades before characters like Venom were conceived, Scorpion has unfortunately languished in mediocrity for years. With a classic origin trope of science gone wrong that foils Peter Parker, a clear grudge towards major supporting character J. Jonah Jameson, and a powerset that rivals the wallcrawler himself, Mac Gargan has very strong potential that could be built on.

Scorpion has been getting some fantastic development in the current Miles Morales: Spider-Man series from Cody Ziglar, making the character more of an occasional and reluctant ally to Miles. It could be interesting to see Scorpion develop into a full-on hero and one day even return to his roots as an altruistic, though jaded, private investigator. There’s a bit of humor in a man wearing a scorpion suit solving mysteries, but it would be a natural evolution and inspiring redemption for the Scorpion character.

1 Electro Needs to Take the Spotlight

Electro is one of Spider-Man’s most well-known villains, appearing in various video games, movies, and shows. However, despite his iconic status, fans regard him as one of the most inconsistently written Spider-Man villains. With motivations that jump from the somewhat sympathetic in the Spectacular Spider-Man show to self-serving in Marvel’s Spider-Man game, the writing of Max Dillon in adaptations has seemed pretty aimless— the comics aren’t much better either, with Electro going from glory-hound to grunt, to political figurehead.

For Electro to thrive, it would be best to give the character a concrete backstory and motives that drive him. What’s arguably the most consistent characterization of the villain is his desire for attention and fear of being forgotten. This parallels Peter Parker’s attention-seeking nature from his teenage years, which is versatile enough for many stories all on its own.