In case you're just tuning in, it's Spider-Man week here at Popverse, and I won't lie - I was a little nervous when my bosses told me we were doing a spotlight on the wall-crawler. Why? Well to be honest, I usually find myself gravitating a bit more toward ol' Petey Parker's rogues galleries more than I do the Spider-Family. Fortunately, for me, though, there's a great deal of satisfying overlap.

Perhaps more than any other comic book character, Spider-Man's shoes have been (surprisingly) filled by the very villains that are usually causing him problems. And since it's those nasty flies in the spider's web that I'm slightly more interested in, I thought I might break down (and rank!) my favorite instances of just that happening. So settle into your inky alien suit or onto your smoke-billowing gliders and enjoy Popverse's (definitely not definitive) list of the times a Spider-Villain took over for Spider-Man.

Spider-Man Goes Bad #6: Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (The Amazing Spider-Man, 2025)

If you grew up with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man as I did, there were few more frightening comic book villains than the Green Goblin, AKA Willem Dafoe’s brilliant Norman Osborn. So seeing his comic book inspiration put on the mask and web-shooters was… odd, to say the least. To be fair, the lead-up to Norman’s donning the mask in The Amazing Spider-Man #11 did take us through a redemption arc, but in my personal opinion, it didn’t do enough to convince us that the man who murdered Gwen Stacy would feel loyal enough to Peter Parker to protect his legacy. After all, even when the “Goblin” side of his persona wasn’t in control, wasn’t Norman still a ruthless industrialist/abusive father all the while? That said, I don’t hate the slight tweak Norman gave the typical Spider-Suit, and wouldn’t mind seeing that again.

Spider-Man Goes Bad #5: Venom/Mary Jane Watson (Venom, 2025)

Making slightly more sense was the very recent time that the symbiote calling itself Venom did its own restyling, switching out its iconic black and white for a Rek-Rap-looking reds and blues. That was in Venom #251, when the symbiote decided that it and its current host, Mary Jane Watson, would patrol the streets of New York under the Spider-Man moniker. It’s an interesting enough concept - especially since, technically, the symbiote has been one half of Spider-Man before - but this stint only lasted two issues, so we didn’t get to explore what it could’ve been in the long term. Still a pretty fun addition to the current Venom saga, though, particularly if it gets more folks interested in Rek-Rap because of their visual similarities.

Spider-Man Goes Bad #4: Chasm/Ben Reilly (Ben Reilly: Spider-Man)

I’ll admit - part of me didn’t know whether to include Ben Reilly on a list of Spider-Man villains. The clone of Peter Parker, who was originally created to kill him, has been a great ally to Spidey in the past and has even become a kind of pseudo-brother. But here’s the thing: the last time Ben put on the mask, it led to a series of events that would turn him into the supervillain Chasm, and a whole host of things that definitely put him on the opposite side of the angels. There’s a great chance Ben’s relationship to the spider-suit will continue to be a difficult and complex one, so maybe we’ll have to revise this list when he eventually gets his chance at redemption. For now, though, we’re keeping him in the baddie category.

Spider-Man Goes Bad #3: Scorpion/Mac Gargan (Dark Avengers)

Here’s the thing about team comics - even if there’s a character that doesn’t quite land, the overarching story can still have them coming out looking great. That’s pretty much how I feel about the time ex-Scorpion Mac Gargan was posing as Spidey himself for the classic Dark Avengers storyline. Bonded to the Venom symbiote (hey, it’s that thing again!), Mac didn’t have the same fascinating character arc as the final two members of this list, but he was a great choice for an overall story about what happens when the wrong people are put in the position of protecting the populace. In fact, I’d argue that it’s this story where we get a more interesting take on Norman Osborn’s attempt to switch sides than the entry above.

Spider-Man Goes Bad #2: Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius (Superior Spider-Man)

Inspiring countless lesser knock-offs and even a story arc in an animated Spider-Man series, the now-famous Superior Spider-Man comic saga is some of the most fun we’ve had with the wall-crawler family in ages, and that wouldn’t have been possible without the creators’ deep understanding of the Otto Octavius character. No one before had given Doc Ock, or any of Spidey’s rogues, really exactly what they needed to truly change from egotistical madman to self-sacrificial hero in a way that was as funny, charming, and memorable as this storyline. And only one story besides this one had better encapsulated what it was like for a villain to experience the power & responsibility balance that’s so core to Peter Parker’s life…

Spider-Man Goes Bad #1: Kraven the Hunter/Sergei Kravinoff (Kraven's Last Hunt)

Widely considered one of the best Spider-Man storylines of all time, Kraven’s Last Hunt is the best example of what makes the “villain trying to be Spider-Man” trope great: that is, that they’ll never actually succeed so long as they’re still a villain. You can put on Spider-Man’s suit, you can have his powers, you can even do (as Kraven proved) a “better” job of fighting crime, but no one will ever be Spider-Man unless they put the people they’ve sworn to protect before themselves.

And the thing is - once you learn to do that, well, you’re not really a villain anymore, are you?

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• The best Spider-Mans (or is it Spider-Men?)
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• The best Spider-Man suits
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.