10 Most Evil Versions Of Spider-Man
The most chilling, totally-not-friendly neighbourhood iterations of ol' Web-head.
When look across the pantheon of characters served up by Marvel Comics over the decades, it's fair to say that nobody has proved as forever popular as Spider-Man.
Created by the iconic duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in 1962, Peter Parker has maintained a huge popularity across his 60-year history, with so much of that initially being down to how relatable it was to see a hero having to juggle very real everyday issues such as high school and young love... whilst, y'know, donning red and blue spandex and swinging through the skylines of New York to battle a wide array of various supervillains.
Regardless of the character's heroic ways, long-time readers have seen some iterations of the Wall-crawler who have been far from the good and wholesome Spidey we've come to know and love over the years. Whether it's Peter Parker or A.N. Other Spider-Man, there have been times when the pages of Marvel Comics have showcased some truly disturbing and outright sinister versions of ol' Web-head.
With that in mind, then, here are ten of the most utterly evil iterations of Spider-Man seen across the lifespan of this most beloved of comic book figures.
10. The Last Stand - Happy Birthday
It may be unfair to label this version of Spider-Man as outright evil, but he was certainly a cold, clinical murderer.
From J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr.'s run with Spidey, 2003 saw a three-part Happy Birthday story that found Peter Parker trapped deep in the timeline as the result of a scheme from the villainous Dormammu. There, Parker was able to see both a younger version of himself and an older version.
For the younger version, this is the Peter who is minutes away from being bitten by the radioactive spider that would change his life. Should present-day Parker hop in and stop this bite frog happening, in turn giving him a chance to save Uncle Ben? Upon glancing at the future Peter, our hero sees a grizzled figure who is about to go down in a blaze of glory as gun-toting cops circle in on him. Should present-day Web-head intervene?
The truth is, this future Peter Parker had spent years as a brutal vigilante who killed his targets. This bloody path began - as later shown in Grim Hunt - when Spider-Man murdered Kraven in revenge for the deaths of Kaine and the Mattie Franklin version of Spider-Woman.
From there, Peter embarked on a downward spiral that pulled inspiration from the Punisher's playbook, including killing Doctor Octopus. In fact, so extreme were his methods, Spidey was even kicked out of the Avengers. After years on the run from the law, he lured the police to Aunt May's grave with the intentions of having the cops kill him - which is where our Spider-Man finds him.