Scariest Spider-Man Villains in Animated Shows, Ranked

Summary

• Taskmaster from Ultimate Spider-Man has a ghoulish look that makes him an intimidating presence in battle.
• Morbius in Spider-Man: The Animated Series is a disturbing vampire with terrifying features and powers.
• The Symbiote Sisters in Marvel’s Spider-Man have a more visceral and disturbing design compared to other symbiotes.

Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes around, thanks in part to an impressive rouge gallery that is rivaled only by DC icon Batman. But unlike the Caped Crusader, terror is not overtly associated with Spider-Man. Fans normally expect to see Peter Parker struggling with high school social structures and quipping whilst punching out colorful, often animal-themed, crooks.

Over his 60-plus year lifespan, though, the occasional creature and horror has cropped up to torment the Web-Slinger with vicious tendencies and bodies composed of swarms of creepy crawlies. Most of the worst offenders won’t be found here, but more than a few of them have made an appearance as one of the scariest Spider-Man villains in animated shows.

10 Taskmaster

Ultimate Spider-Man

• Abilities: Master Marksman, Swordsman, Archer, Tactician, and highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant.

Taskmaster is usually considered more of a calculated foe than a frightening one. However, the ghoulish visage that the animators of Ultimate Spider-Man went for when capturing the trademark skull mask is sure to leave a lasting image in the minds of viewers. His appearance does change slightly across the run of the series, but each is adorned with the hollow skeletal face and glowing eyes, making the former S.H.E.I.L.D agent an intimidating presence on any battlefield.

9 Morbius

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• Abilities: Superhuman Strength, durability and speed, Hypnotism, Flight

It’s hard to fear Morbius these days after the vampire was the memeworthy star of Sony’s continued attempts to eviscerate every Spider-Man IP they still hold. But his portrayal in Spider-Man: The Animated Series is a little more disturbing.

He possesses freakish little mouths on his hands, through which he feasts on his victims ‘plasma’ to gain strength. Preying on the citizens of Manhattan in a reign of terror, he also proves more than a match for Spider-Man at full strength. For good measure, he transforms into a bat monster to complete his arc.

8 Alistair Smythe – Ultimate Slayer

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• Abilities: Superhuman strength, durability and reflexes, genius level intellect, wall crawling, bladed talons

Alistair Smythe plays a pivotal role in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, serving as the right-hand man to principal antagonist King Pin. He provides the intellectual acumen for the crime boss and builds a number of Spider-Slayer robots to hunt Spider-Man.

Later in the series, he is transformed into a gargoyle-like monstrosity dubbed the Ultimate Slayer, giving him the physical power to go toe-to-toe with the Wall-Crawler. He’s a fearsome beast with razor-sharp claws and a mind to match.

7 Lizard

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

• Abilities: Superhuman strength, speed, agility and durability, regeneration

Lizard is both a terrifying and tragic villain, often depicted as struggling with his inner dichotomy of Curt Connors and the creature he inadvertently turned himself into. When Connors loses full control, Lizard becomes a nigh unstoppable predatory beast. Spider-Man: The New Animated Series gets the nod as the most disturbing depiction of the creature, with its bold CGI cel-shaded art style capturing the monstrous design in an alarming photorealistic fashion.

6 Chameleon

Spectacular Spider-Man

• Abilities: Method acting, master of disguise

The two seasons of Spectacular Spider-Man told a genuinely compelling tale, but the show was unfortunately a casualty of intellectual properties changing hands. In the second season, Chameleon plays a pivotal role, showcasing his menacingly cerebral qualities. He doesn’t quite get as dark as some of the most shocking iterations from the comics, but that blank, emotionless face and his uncanny ability to hide in plain sight make him a fearsome foe.

5 Calypso

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• Abilities: Potion mastery, resurrection, mind control

Calypso presents a unique threat to Spider-Man. As a voodoo priestess, she wields powerful magic through the use of potions and charms. She doesn’t actually appear in her traditional format in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, being portrayed by an adjacent character, Dr. Mariah Crawford, who mainly serves as an ally.

After contracting a plague, Kraven the Hunter gives her a serum in an attempt to save her life, but instead transforms her into an enormous feline creature. Similar to Lizard, she loses her agency and stalks the innocent citizens of Manhattan. She gets props for being both the spooky voodoo priestess in the comics and a ferocious monster in the animated series.

4 Vulture

Ultimate Spider-Man

• Abilities: Flight, vampirism, superhuman strength and lifespan

Vulture is a common Spidey foe. He isn’t usually considered fearsome, but there are two animated portrayals that would beg to differ. Firstly, in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Vulture is empowered by an ancient tablet that allows him to drain the youth out of his prey, killing them to extend his own life. But it’s Ultimate Spider-Man that delivers the scariest Vulture. The show offers a terrifying rendering of him as a human-bird hybrid, complete with skin-covered beak and beady red eyes.

3 Hobgoblin

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• Abilities: Superhuman strength, speed, durability and healing, use of weaponized gadgetry

The Green Goblin is arguably Spider-Man’s most famous foe, but it’s the slightly more unhinged Hobgoblin that reigns supreme as the scariest goblin in an animated series. Hobgoblin’s pale ghastly face and sinister red eyes give the villain a real menace. His erratic, unstable behavior coupled with his physical prowess and his use of Halloween-themed gadgetry, including his bat glider and pumpkin bombs, make him a frightening villain to encounter.

2 The Symbiote Sisters

Marvel’s Spider-Man

• Abilities: Shapeshifting and camouflage, Symbiote defence system, mimic Spider-Man’s abilities

Marvel’s Spider-Man introduced many symbiotes, playing a key role in the series arc. An honorary mention goes to what is probably the scariest Venom design in an animated series, but it’s the villainous Symbiote Sisters: Mania, Scorn, and most significantly, their leader Scream, that take the cake. The more visceral, sharper edges of the symbiotes’ bodies and the three different interpretations of contorted and horrifying facial features make them that little bit more disturbing than their alien counterparts.

1 Carnage

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

• Abilities: All the power of Spider-Man, shapeshifting and camouflage, Symbiote defence system

Spidey fans will already know that the Symbiote Sisters are not the most frightening symbiotes in the Spider-Man universe, though. That honor is reserved for the infamous serial killer Cletus Kasady and his Symbiote form, Carnage.

Kasady is already a disturbed and sadistic individual, and the powers granted to him by the symbiote only amplify the worst parts of him. He’s also a powerful antagonist, serving as the ultimate adversary in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Taking on the form of Spider Carnage, it requires a multidimensional team of webslingers to finally put Carnage down.

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  Spider-Man: The Animated Series

  Release Date

  November 19, 1994

  Cast

  christopher daniel barnes , Jennifer Hale , Saratoga Ballantine , Edward Asner , Rodney Saulsberry , Linda Gary , Julie Bennett , Joseph Campanella , Gary Imhoff , Neil Ross

  Network

  FOX , Fox Kids

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  Spider-Man

  Release Date

  August 19, 2017

  Cast

  Ben Diskin , Daniel Hagen , jason spisak , Jim Cummings , Patton Oswalt , Scott Menville , Felicia Day , Cameron Boyce , Nadji Jeter , Alastair Duncan , John DiMaggio , Robbie Daymond , Nancy Linari , Max Mittelman , Laura Bailey , Josh Keaton , Melanie Minichino , Fred Tatasciore , Nathaniel J. Potvin , Richard Doyle , Zeno Robinson , Matthew Mercer , grey delisle , travis willingham , Sofia Carson

  Network

  Disney XD

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