With a fourth MCU Spider-Man movie rumored to be released after Avengers: Doomsday, and before the conclusion of the embattled Multiverse Saga in Avengers: Secret Wars, a big question on many fans’ minds is, naturally, which villain (or villains) Spidey may face off against in the upcoming film. This is a more complicated question than it might initially appear, as many of the webhead’s most iconic bad guys have already appeared in previous films, some multiple times.
RELATED: Captain America: Brave New World – Proves That It Is Heart Over Strength
For instance, Green Goblin, perhaps Spidey’s most well-known and ubiquitous adversary, was played by Willem Dafoe in both the original 2002 theatrical film directed by Sam Raimi AND 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, directed by MCU Spidey helmer Jon Watts. In-between, different versions of the character were played by James Franco in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and Dane DeHaan in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. And the Goblin is far from being Spidey’s only villain who might be considered to be a little bit over-exposed.
Jamie Foxx starred as lightning-powered supervillain Electro in Amazing Spider-Man 2 and No Way Home, in which previous heavies Dr. Octopus (Spider-Man 2), Sandman (Spider-Man 3), and Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man) also put in relatively small appearances. B-list villains Morbius and Kraven the Hunter have headlined eponymous films of their own, and of course Venom, perhaps Peter Parker’s most iconic nemesis, not only appeared (to little acclaim) in Spider-Man 3, but more recently headlined a movie trilogy of his own. Rhino and Chameleon recently had supporting roles in Sony’s much-maligned Kraven film, and the former had a crucial cameo in Amazing Spider-Man 2 as well.
So who’s next? As a nerd on the internet, I can attest that the two names most commonly thrown out by fans, at least before Kraven came out, were Scorpion and, of course, Kraven himself. Scorpion, aka Mac Gargan, was introduced to the Marvel canon way back in December 1964, and is usually depicted as a former private investigator driven mad by a botched experiment that left him with super strength and precognitive abilities similar to Spidey, insectile green armor covering most of his body, and a robotic tail with venomous stinger-like properties; Kraven, on the other hand — well, after last year’s film, we’re now all too familiar with him.
Though Kraven is undoubtedly the more popular character, the release and catastrophic flop of his recent film has probably left him radioactive for a while (and unlike Spidey, not in a good way). So assuming Disney’s not planning to do a deep dive into Peter Parker’s rogues gallery and pit him against Jackpot or The Human Fly in their next film, my money’s on Scorpion, perhaps with an assist from a more morally grey adversary like Black Cat or Silver Sable.
Once Tom Holland moves on and either Disney or Sony is inevitably forced to reboot the character (again), perhaps enough time will have passed for Kraven to get another shot at facing Spidey on the silver screen. I could even see a first post-Secret Wars Spidey film (or a fifth Holland film, for that matter) pitting the webhead against Chameleon, Kraven’s estranged shape-shifting brother, only for Kraven himself to target Spidey seeking revenge in the next entry. Personally, I’d take any of these options over a fifth big-screen incarnation of the Green Goblin!
