10 Most Evil Versions Of Spider-Man

Mac Gargan is one of Spider-Man's oldest rivals, with Gargan initially debuting in 1964's The Amazing Spider-Man #19 before then becoming the villainous Scorpion in the following issue.

In addition to a lengthy career as the Scorpion, Mac at one point also became Venom, which nicely led into him then taking on the mantle of Spider-Man.

So, how can someone with decades' worth of evil intentions behind them be worthy of the Spider-Man moniker? Well, that's because this was all part of a masterplan from Norman Osborn.

After Osborn constructed his own underhand Thunderbolts team - which itself was a follow-up to Norman's Sinister Twelve that featured a Venom symbiote-bonded Gargan - Mac was present when that group evolved into the Dark Avengers. Again a villainous faction headed up by Norman Osborn, here we had the Venom symbiote tweaked so that it was less erratic and looked more like Spider-Man during the time Peter first wore the black suit. As such, Osborn renamed Gargan as Dark Spider-Man, aka Sinister Spider-Man.

This Dark Spider-Man wasted no time in topping the heinous acts of his time as Scorpion and Venom, with Mac now intent on eating those who stood in his way as he became consumed by the addictive aggression of this altered symbiote.

Gargan would drop the Spider-Man name and finally be banished of the Venom symbiote, period, by 2010's Big Time tale - although he would still revert back to his Scorpion persona.