Spider-Man has one of the most iconic rogues’ galleries in the superhero genre, arguably rivaled only by Batman. But for every beloved Spidey villain like Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, or Venom, there’s another that’s despised by fans.

Some of these much-maligned malefactors have the potential to be entertaining, but are intrinsically linked to some of Spider-Man’s worst comic stories. Meanwhile, others are flawed on a conceptual level, making them nigh-impossible to salvage. Either way, it’s probably not a good idea for any of these bad guys to be adapted for the MCU’s next Spider-Man trilogy.

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The Jackal

Marvel-Jackal

One of the most infamous villains on this list, the Jackal was introduced by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru in Amazing Spider-Man #129, better known as the first appearance of the Punisher. Under the Jackal’s mask was Dr. Miles Warren, a professor at Empire State University who harbored a disturbing obsession with Gwen Stacy, creating a clone of her after her death at the hand of the Green Goblin. He also created a clone of Peter Parker — something that would create complications for Peter, his real-world fans, and even Marvel staff.

Indeed, the Jackal is most notorious for his role in the controversial “Clone Saga” from 1994 to 1996, an overcrowded, needlessly complex mess of a storyline that’s gone down in history as one of the worst Spider-Man stories ever. Later writers have tried to give the Jackal more personality, but he still doesn’t have much of a motive beyond making clones for clones’ sake. Needless to say, that’s one can of spiders the MCU shouldn’t go opening.

Judas Traveller

Marvel-Judas-Traveller

Speaking of the Clone Saga, the villain that kicked off the entire affair was Judas Traveller, a famous psychologist who was obsessed with studying the nature of good and evil. However, all he ever really seemed interested in doing was forcing Spider-Man to fight other villains while delivering cryptic monologues from the shadows. Despite initially being presented as some sort of enigmatic, godlike being with immense mystical power, Traveller was later revealed to be an ordinary mutant with the power to create psychic illusions. Beneath all the hype, Judas Traveller was about as bland as villains can get.

Morlun

Morlun-and-Spider-Man

Created in 2001 by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr., Morlun was the first of many supernatural villains introduced by Straczynski in an attempt to give the Spider-Man mythos more mystical connections. But though Straczynski had plenty of interesting ideas for expanding Spidey’s lore, most of them were undercooked and poorly explained.

Case in point: Morlun, said to be an ancient vampiric entity who feeds on the life force of animal-powered beings called “totems”. Despite providing one of Peter’s most spectacular battles in his introductory arc, Morlun is a woefully undeveloped character with little personality and even less backstory. And though he would later return as the villain of multiple stories — including the original “Spider-Verse” comic in 2014 — no writers seemed very interested in fleshing out Morlun or his history, and the few answers fans did get only raised more questions.

Menace

Marvel-Menace

Every iconic villain spawns their share of imitators, and the Green Goblin is no exception. And while some of Norman Osborn's successors were a success with fans — like the Hobgoblin, or Harry Osborn’s own donning of the Green Goblin mantle — later Goblins have come off as little more than cheap knock-offs. Take for instance the Demogoblin, or the Goblin Knight, or even Menace, aka Lily Hollister.

Despite not having “Goblin” in her name, Menace is clearly marked as a Green Goblin stand-in by her appearance, glider, and penchant for explosives. Despite being one of the more prominent female villains in Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, she has little to set her apart from past Goblins, making her one of the most forgettable foes on this list.

Spider-Queen

Spider-Man-Queen

Sadly, Peter’s other biggest female enemy isn’t much more compelling. Born Adriana Soria, she was experimented on by American scientists in World War II in an attempt to recreate Captain America’s Super-Soldier Serum. Soria wound up with an eclectic batch of powers, from super-strength to a sonic scream to telekinesis, to the ability to mind control any human with the “insect gene” — something that is almost definitely not a real thing.

The Spider-Queen has the potential to be a truly great villain, thanks to her deadly powers and deep ties to Marvel lore. But in her few appearances, she’s typically been portrayed as a generic femme fatale with inconsistent motives. Not exactly arch-nemesis material.

Kindred

Marvel-Kindred

The most recent creation on this list, Kindred was the main antagonist of writer Nick Spencer’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, which wrapped up earlier this year. Kindred immediately caught the interest of comic fans in his 2018 debut thanks to his creepy design and intimidating presence. It quickly became clear that Kindred was a fallen friend of Peter Parker who was back from the dead for revenge, but the mystery was dragged out for two whole years, souring many fans on the character. Eventually, Kindred was revealed to be Harry Osborn, leading to some compelling conflict between him and Peter. But as Spencer’s run neared its conclusion, things got much more complicated. It was eventually revealed that Kindred wasn’t really Harry Osborn, but rather the shared alias of Gabriel and Sarah Stacy, two characters who fans wanted to forget.

The Stacy twins were originally created by Straczynski in the “Sins Past” arc as the children of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn, with whom Gwen had an affair in Europe prior to her death. Needless to say, this storyline was despised by fans, and the Stacy twins were quickly forgotten. However, Spencer revealed that Gwen and Norman never had any kids, and the twins were actually clones created by Harry Osborn during his time as the Green Goblin. The attempt to retcon away one of the worst Spider-Man stories was a noble one, but the convoluted new explanation only serves to raise further questions. On every level, Kindred is a poorly-executed idea that should probably stay forgotten.

Mephisto

Mephisto-Marvel

Technically, Mephisto isn’t a Spider-Man villain — he’s best known as Ghost Rider’s archenemy, and tends to battle other supernatural characters like Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, and Loki. And in those stories, Mephisto tends to be used well as an antagonist. But in Spider-Man stories, Mephisto has a very different reputation. In the 2007 storyline “One More Day”, Aunt May is mortally wounded by an assassin hired by the Kingpin, and Mephisto appears to Peter and MJ offering to save her life. But in exchange, Peter will have to give up his marriage, rewriting history so that he and MJ were never married. Peter accepts the deal, removing the Parker-Watson marriage from Marvel canon in a retcon that has yet to be undone to this day.

Since then, Mephisto has yet to confront Peter Parker again — though he was the mastermind behind Kindred’s actions, and has also menaced other associated characters like Miles Morales and Otto Octavius. So again, he isn’t really a Spider-Man villain in the usual sense. But even so, simply using Mephisto in a Spider-Man story is bound to dredge up bad memories in countless fans.

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