7. The Vulture
Not for the first time and not for the last will I mention Roger Stern on this countdown. During his all-too-brief run on Spider-Man he did an amazing job of deep characterization, something which the comic book medium all-too-frequently lacks. His Vulture is a sympathetic character with a compelling origin story. After being screwed by his old business associate, elderly Adrian Toomes sought revenge and constructed his wings to pursue a life of crime. Stern even wrote Toomes a friendship with Peter Parkers Aunt May and her boyfriend Nathan Lubensky while the villain rested in supposed retirement at an old folks home. Hes been one of Spider-Man's most frequent and iconic antagonists ever since his first appearance in issue 2 of The Amazing Spider-Man. In the air, he is one of the most agile enemies Spider-Man ever fights and his suit also grants him significant strength. Spider-Man vs. Vulture battle scenes are just the kind of thing CGI is good for. With the economic downturn the character has a real chance to be of some social relevance. Audiences will be able to relate to an elderly, small-time electronics repairman down on his luck and robbed of any chance at a legitimate future by his business executive former associate. It looks like Toomes will be cast in the role of an executive at Norman Osborn's Oscorp in the new movie, which already opens the door for this origin to unfold on a bigger scale. The movies love playing on this type of drama, and Vulture is the perfect avatar for it. He's a villain in the strictest sense of the term, but he's a villain Spider-Man can't help feeling a little sorry for.