10 Thankfully Obscure Spider-Man Villains

9. The Terrible Tinkerer

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #2 (1963) When I think of high crimes, 'tinkering' €“ attempting to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way, often to no useful effect €“ doesn't come to mind. Not to mention all the PR problems of implying you're 'terrible' at your chosen profession. But then again, what would one expect of a villain dressed as Mr. Rogers? Phineas Mason, the 'terrible' one himself, debuted under the guise of a harmless radio repairman. Boy, is that a 60's job. Phineas was in league with alien invaders as an engineer. Spidey uncovers this scheme and is captured by the Tinkerer using possibly the weirdest gun ever. Spidey escapes and the aliens flee for fear the Earth has even more Spider-Men. Yet another example of people being really bad at their chosen profession, but the weirdest twist of this issue is that in the ensuing chaos, Spidey finds the mask of Phineas, implying he was an alien himself! Well, he was until he was brought back for subsequent issues, which retcon this event as that being a mask worn over an alien mask worn over his own human face which looks exactly like his human mask. That's either Machiavellian planning or the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
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