Its a tough reality to face, but what comic book fans want to see on the big screen and what they eventually get are usually two very different things. Since Hollywood began putting my favorite childhood characters on the big screen, Ive had to deal with Sandman being Uncle Bens murderer, the Absorbing Man being Bruce Banners father, and the Mandarin being little more than an oafish instrument of propaganda. It might just be that I hold Spider-Man so much nearer and dearer than I do any other superhero, but he seems to have suffered the most serious injustices. And it's sort of difficult to figure out why. A Spider-Man movie should be easy to make. All fans want most of all is to see wall-crawling, wise-cracking and crook-nabbing. Which is why I'm so excited for next year's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. A perfect combination of two classic villains from Spider-Mans earliest days, Electro and Rhino, are set to pester the wall-crawler. Their trademark costumes have been traded in, as usual, for something edgier and more realistic, which is unfortunate. But as long as director Marc Webb captures the characters essences audiences should be in for quite a show. The villains could represent a welcome break from the heavy nature of so many superhero films as their motivations in the comics tend to be less about hatred and vengeance and more about simple petty gain. And with Colm Feore now reported to be playing Adrian Toomes, the man who will become the Vulture, fans are being given a good many things to look forward to. Spider-Mans rogues gallery is one of the most colorful in comics. Only Batman could boast a greater number of well-established crooks and costumed neer-do-wells, and even thats debatable. With the specter of Norman Osborn looming in the franchises horizon, it seems likely well see the Green Goblin again someday. But what of the dozens of Spidey villains whove been relegated to the bench since his feature film debut more than a decade ago? Heres a wish list of some of the best Spider-Man villains of all-time and why they deserve to make the jump from printed page to big screen.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
