10 Messed Up Marvel Villains You Won't Believe Exist

Over the last decade, DC - unfairly, may I add - has developed a reputation for being darker than Marvel. You can mark that down to just how moody and one-note the company's onscreen efforts have been since 2013, but fans sometimes erroneously assume that the same applies when it comes to comics.

Marvel is bright, DC is dark; Batman is broody, Spider-Man is fun, and so on. It's not right, but it's stuck, despite both universes being home to a wide variety of different genres and stories that strike a whole spectrum of different tones and moods.

So yes, DC does have its darker elements, but you know what? So does Marvel. And they're damn good at the dark stuff too. For every creepy villain that exists in the DC universe, Marvel has just as many, ranging from cosmic horrors from beyond the stars, to ordinary people who just really enjoy being evil.

But, whether they're a more Earthly terror or something beyond our mortal comprehension, one thing that is for sure is that they should give plenty of pause for thought the next time someone argues that Marvel is all sunshine and rainbows...

When it comes to Spider-Man and villains of the goblin variety, ol' web-head has it up to his ears. There's the original Green Goblin, the alter-ego of Norman Osborn; the second Green Goblin, who was Spidey's best friend Harry Osborn; goodness knows how many Hobgoblins (A LOT), and then this guy, the Demogoblin, who chances are most Spidey fans aren't even aware exists.

The Demogoblin was introduced in 1992's Web of Spider-Man #86, and was a demon who inhabited the body of the previous Hobgoblin, Jason Macendale. He bears all the hallmarks of a nineties-era Marvel villain both in look and in backstory, and while he probably sounds like a bit of a Spawn reject, there is something undeniably freaky about a Goblin with a supernatural dimension.

Macendale becomes the Demogoblin after pleading with a demon called N'astirh for greater power. The deal backfires, though (I mean come on - when do demonic dealings EVER go well for the mortal party), and a previously banished demon just ends up taking over Macendale's body full-time.

Demogoblin differed from the other goblins skills-wise too. He had demonic powers, a magical glider, and all other sorts of supernatural abilities. Plus, he looked creepy (as nineties as his design may have been).