< Spider-Man

Spider-Man/Characters


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Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description.

Spider-Man and Family

Peter Benjamin Parker / Spider-Man

"And so a legend is born and a new name is added to the roster of those who make the world of fantasy the most exciting realm of all!"
—Amazing Fantasy #15, foretelling the legacy of Spider-Man
  • Adorkable
  • Alliterative Name: Peter Parker
  • Always Save the Girl: Except not. Big time.
  • Animal Motifs: Most of his villains.
    • And himself, obviously.
  • Anti-Hero: Spider-Man may be the ultimate subversion of this trope. Stan Lee's original concept, and many of the original Silver Age stories portray Peter's motivations as being largely selfish, or at least relating to his personal relationships and helping his Aunt May make due, and in general Spidey's attitude and difficulties with authority make him come off as a Type I or Type II anti-hero, but when the chips are really down, his selflessness and sheer heroism are second in the Marvel Universe only to Captain America.
  • The Atoner
  • Author Avatar: Stan Lee's. An example of Tropes Are Not Bad.
  • Badass Bookworm
  • Beware the Nice Ones: You DO NOT want to threaten his loved ones. The results will not be good for you.
  • Big Damn Heroes
  • Boxing Lessons for Superman: Peter spent a bit of time as a successful show-wrestler before ever trying to fight crime.
    • In a straighter example of this trope, he studied martial arts under Shang Chi during one of the (many) times he briefly lost his spider-sense and found himself seriously handicapped without it.
  • Breakout Character: Originally the star of a story in an issue of a Twilight Zone-esque sci-fi anthology, he proved popular enough to get his own series a few months later and quickly became one of the most popular superheroes ever.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Subverted most of the time. Peter is often perceived this way because everyone knows how smart he is, but not why he doesn't put more energy into his work (the trope is even stated by name in the second movie). However, those that do know the whole story have said that Peter isn't exercising his full potential.
  • Brooklyn Rage: The quintessential New York superhero.

Leo Zelinksy: "Ask me again in that Queens accent how I know you're from around here."

  • Butt Monkey: Oh so very much. In the first film, not only is he being laughed at by the other students for missing the bus, but the driver is deliberately stringing him along for laughs.
  • Building Swing
  • Cannot Talk to Women
  • Character Tic: Will often crouch as a means for writers to show his super agility.
    • Likewise, he has a distinct way of hanging from the end of a web, and extreme contortion is second nature to him.
  • Characterization Marches On: Peter Parker is often described as an everyman, with all the good nature that implies, but in the early days he was a boiling pot of resentment. It's seen most clearly at the start of his story, in Amazing Fantasy #15. Poor Peter is almost a textbook case of a future school shooter. He wouldn't become the good-hearted everyman we know and love until after the reclusive Steve Ditko left artistic chores and was replaced by John Romita.
  • Clueless Chick Magnet
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Trope Namer
  • Creepy Good: He was often seen as creepy by many fellow heroes in the Marvel Universe, even as recently as The Nineties, as seen when he and Nova fought the Tri-Sentinel. Also, while it isn't canon, Wonder Woman mentioned he was creepy during his second Crossover with Superman. This is often due to Spidey's costume, his ability to cling to any surface, and his knack for showing up out of the blue, to say nothing of the fact that he is often a Hero with Bad Publicity.
    • His above tendencies, coupled with a knack for often frightening contortions and a face concealing bug-eyed mask, were likely what led to his becoming a Hero with Bad Publicity, after which it just became a vicious cycle.
  • Cursed with Awesome
  • Deadpan Snarker: And how. It's literally how he maintains composure.
  • Deconstruction: Spider-Man was actually one of the earliest Superhero deconstructions, showing just how much being a super hero could have an affect on someone's personal life.
  • Determinator
  • Dork Knight
  • Doom Magnet
  • Don't Think, Feel: Subverted. His powers work very well, if not even better, purely on instinct, but Spidey's foes tend to be exceedingly dangerous, and in very many cases more than a physical match for him. Usually, Spider-Man has to out-think or out-smart his enemies, pulling almost as many Batman Gambits as the Trope Namer. Additionally, his live-saving reflexes and Spider-sense will generally kick-in whether or not he's thinking or distracted.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Are you kidding? He's arguably Marvel's definitive example of this trope.
  • The Everyman: Perhaps the poster child
  • Expressive Mask
  • Failure Hero: Can happen a lot. Sometimes it's because he's too full of self-pity, other times because the writers like to Kick the Dog.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: With Daredevil. In fact, many of Spidey's superhero friendships arguably fall into this trope.
  • Genius Bruiser
  • Genre Savvy: The 2000/2010s crop of Marvel writers often tend to use this as the reason why Spider-Man fits on the Avengers. He knows almost everyone in the superhuman community at this point, both heroes and villains, and is often the guy who sneaks off into the background to get the real work done while everyone else is involved in the big fight scene. Recent examples thereof involve his guest appearances in Avengers vs. X-Men, Annihilators, and Agents of ATLAS.
  • Guilt Complex
  • Happily Married: Well, he was (for about twenty years real-time) to Mary Jane Watson. But then Joe Quesada decided that made him feel too old and boring and retconned the marriage. The backlash of ending the marriage was so bad that even Stan Lee didn't fully agree with the new direction, and kept him married in the newspaper strip.
  • The Hero Dies: The final fate of Peter in the Ultimate Universe.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity
  • Hollywood Dateless: It mostly kicked in after high-school.

Chameleon: Does Parker know anyone who isn't a stunningly beautiful woman?


Mary Jane Watson / Mary Jane Watson-Parker

  • Abusive Parents: Her dad sucked.
  • Badass Damsel: She may not be a superhero, but it's your funeral if you try to harm this chick.
  • Betty and Veronica: Formed this with the good girl Gwen Stacy. Was actually the Betty when she found herself in this situation again with The Black Cat.
  • Blind Date: How she met Peter and was introduced to the book.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: With Betty Brant and Gwen back in the day.
  • Big Bra to Fill: Mary Jane is one of the curviest non-superheroic females in the entire Marvel universe. In Sam Raimi's film series she was portrayed by Kirsten Dunst, who doesn't quite have the body Mary Jane in the comics does (but few real life people do).
  • Catch Phrase: "Face it, tiger -- you just hit the jackpot."[1]
  • Character Development: One of the most notable moments occurs, when she decides to stay with Peter whilst he is grieving over Gwen's death.
    • Amazing Spider-Man #259 delves a good deal into her past.
  • Dark-Skinned Redhead: Sometimes her skin is colored darkly.
  • Deadpan Snarker: She's every bit as good at snarking as Peter.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The famous panel with her first appearance is pictured on the trope page.
  • The Faceless: For a while she was never seen or her face was obscured, not until Romita's Sr.'s run did we see the jackpot.
    • As noted elsewhere, it took slightly longer to see her in-person fully than it did to find out who the Green Goblin was.
  • The Fashionista: Although as noted on that trope's page, she's an unusual example in that outside of her interest in fashion and her very girly appearance, she's a bit of a tomboy with an interest in sports.
  • Fiery Redhead
  • Fun Personified: Until some hidden depths where revealed and we latter find out it was mostly an act to hide the pain her brought on by her abusive childhood, anyway. She's still a fun character though, just not in a way that it's only only defining trait or that makes her seem like she doesn't care about anything.
  • The Ghost: Early on in the series, she was mentioned for dozens of issues, but was never seen until the final panel of issue #40.
  • Green Eyes
  • Happily Married: To Peter Parker. And then Mephisto came. Stan Lee kept her married to Peter in the newspaper strip.
  • Hello, Nurse!: The exact thing that Peter was not expecting when he opened the door to her for the first time. Hit the jackpot, he did indeed.
  • Heroes Want Redheads
  • Heroic Bystander: Many times (just check the awesome moments page!).
  • Hidden Depths: Up until she stayed with Peter after Gwen's death, she was never shown to do anything seriously.
    • Readers would also later learn about her abusive father and that her party girl attitude was an act to keep people from finding out how screwed-up her personal life was.
  • Ironic Echo: When May and Anna Watson were trying to set them up on a blind date, Peter resisted - thinking Mary Jane must be some pathetic teen that couldn't possibly get a date without help. Turns out in Parallel Lives, Mary Jane had said the same things about him.
  • Keep the Home Fires Burning: Many issues focus on her conflicted feelings of being supportive towards Peter and her fear that this could be the time he doesn't make it back.
  • Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: With Peter (though if you want to be technical about it, it's more like "literally loving thy aunt's neighbor").
  • Muggle Best Friend
  • Painted-On Pants
  • Plucky Girl: Although she's gone through some rough patches and worries more than most examples of this trope, she still the type of character that will have no qualms about beating a B list hero with a baseball bat or bringing Peter out of slum with some helpful optimism.
  • Official Couple: Was this with Peter until One More Day. Let's just say the fans were not happy with the end of their offical couple status and leave it at that.
  • Outdated Outfit: Naturally as the most fashion conscience member of the cast, she falls victim to this the most as time passes.
  • Secret Secret Keeper: During Tom DeFalco's first run on Amazing Spider-Man, it was revealed that Mary Jane was this. Parallel Lives elaborated that it was since the night Ben Parker was murdered (she had observed Peter returning home and then Spider-Man leaving through his bedroom window). Obviously, after Peter learned all this, Mary Jane was upgraded to Secret Keeper.
  • Ship Tease: The ending of Spider Island suggests that she may get back together with Peter after One More Day and One Moment in Time.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: With Peter.
  • Stepford Smiler: Put on the facade that she was happy when on the inside she was really upset with her childhood.
  • The Tease: Her original role in the series.
  • Totally Radical: In The Sixties at least, to the point of nigh-incomprehensibility to some modern readers.
  • True Love Is Exceptional
  • The Watson: Incredibly Lame Pun aside, her questions about Peter's current superhero crisis can be a pretty handy device for readers.


Aunt May Reilly-Parker


Uncle Benjamin "Ben" Parker


Anna Watson


Ben Reilly / The Scarlet Spider


May "Mayday" Parker / Spider-Girl


Benjy Parker


Richard and Mary Parker


Miguel O'Hara / Spider-Man 2099

  • Animal Motifs
  • Cassandra Truth: When Miguel tries to tell his mother that he's actually Spider-Man (whom she idolizes), she laughs it off as a pathetic attempt to get her attention.
  • Child Prodigy
  • The Chosen One: The Thorites of 2099 call Spider-Man the "Herald of Thor", who is prophesied to save the world. Turns out he really was The Chosen One, and was the third person to wield Thor's hammer.
  • Drugs Are Bad: When Miguel wanted to quit Alchemax, his boss secretly gets him addicted to illegal drugs as a retention technique. Miguel's attempt to shake the addiction leads to the accident that grants him his powers.
  • Deadpan Snarker: In a deliberate inversion from Peter Parker, Spider-Man tends to speak tersely while in costume, and saves his snarking for his civilian identity.
  • Freak Lab Accident
  • Generation Xerox: Subverted; creator Peter David deliberately based much of Miguel's personality by setting his traits as opposite those of Peter Parker's.
  • Genius Bruiser
  • Jerkass: Before the accident that gave him his powers, Miguel was an unabashed self-centered egotistical jerk who belittled almost everyone else he knew.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Miguel secretly discovers that his father is Alchemax CEO Tyler Stone.
  • Revenge: Miguel's original motivation was to get revenge on Alchemax CEO Tyler Stone for accidentally getting him addicted to Rapture.
  • Super Reflexes: Instead of Spider Sense, Miguel has enhanced perceptions that happen to tune in very quickly to what's pertinent, such as an immediate danger or a general plot point. It's still limited by what he is focused on, and he can still be caught flat-footed.
  • The Unfavorite: Miguel's younger brother Gabriel is clearly their mother's favorite, largely due to Miguel's Jerkass behavior.
  • Wall Crawl
  • Wolverine Claws: Miguel acquires retractable talons on his fingers and toes. Not only does this allow him to Wall Crawl, but he also uses them as a slashing attack.


Love Interests

Elizabeth "Liz" Allan


Betty Brant

  • Alliterative Name
  • Betty and Veronica: Literally the Betty to Liz's Veronica.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl
  • Damsel in Distress
  • Important Haircut: Got a page-boy cut after her brother died.
  • The Load
  • Platonic Life Partners: Her current relationship with Peter.
  • Sympathetic Adulteress: She had a brief affair with Peter and Flash Thompson when she was married to Ned Leeds.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Following her husband Ned's death, Betty checked out for a while. Once she got her head together, she reinvented herself, going from the Bugle's harried secretary to a fearless reporter in her own right, willing to go toe-to-toe with supervillains and monsters if required. Recent adaptations that include Betty tend to start from this characterization, to the point where a lot of newer fans won't recognize her at all if they go back and read her pre-1989 appearances.


Gwendolyne "Gwen" Stacy


Debra Whitman

  • Shrinking Violet: Although she's not necessarily shy, her aversion to conflict and reluctance when it comes to taking initiative makes her this in the comics.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappeared completely after being written out of the early-'80s Spectacular Spider-Man book. Every other woman in Peter Parker's dating life tends to reappear from time to time as a member of his supporting cast, except for Debra. She finally reemerged following Peter's unmasking in Civil War, having written a tell-all book about her time dating him, and promptly disappeared again.


Felicia Hardy / Black Cat


Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat (Ultimate Marvel)


Carlie Cooper


High School and College Classmates

Eugene "Flash" Thompson/ Venom IV


Harry Osborn / Green Goblin II / American Son


Randy Robertson


Kenny "King Kong" McFarlane


The Daily Bugle

John Jonah Jameson

  • Abusive Parents: His Abusive Step-Dad.
  • Alliterative Name: Taken even further recently: he's J. Jonah Jameson Junior.
  • Anti-Villain: Type I.
  • Badass Mustache
  • Bad Boss: Played with. He regularly verbally abuses those that aren't Joe Robertson, but he's also protective of his staff.
    • Illustrated rather well in the first movie, where he protects Peter from the Green Goblin by refusing to say who takes their pictures of Spider-Man, despite the fact that doing so would certainly result in severe personal injury or worse.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Da Editor
  • Depending on the Writer: JJJ's character varies from writer to writer and the reasoning behind his hatred of Spider-Man and the depth of that hatred run the gamut from being a jerkass to secretly being jealous of Spider-Man's truly heroic nature.
  • Doting Parent: Praises his son, the astronaut John Jameson, every chance he can get. He may be compensating.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Stands up for human rights... because he Hates Everyone Equally!
    • Also in everything else except where Spider-Man is concerned he is absoloutely commited to truth in reporting. Even then, many interpretations of the character have him genuinely believing the superhero is a menace, despite all the evidence to the contrary, his hate runs that deep. Even then, JJJ has printed so many retractions of his published accusations that at least one fan kept a whole photo album's worth of the clippings.
      • Actually, even when it comes to Spider-Man. For example, in the third movie, he's thrilled with finally getting photographic proof that Spider-Man is a criminal. Then he finds out those photos were faked and (begrudgingly) issues an immediate retraction.
  • George Jetson Job Security: Played for laughs in the second movie, where he fires and un-fires Peter in the span of five seconds.
  • Heroic BSOD: After Spencer Smythe shackled Spidey and Jonah together with a bomb. As time was about to run out, Jonah cracked under the pressure. Spidey naturally saved the day in the nick of time, but Jonah realizes that the man he hates most has seen him at his most vulnerable. Already reeling from the supposed death of his son, Jonah launches a new anti-Spidey campaign and appears to be having a nervous breakdown. It would later be revealed he was being pushed over the edge by Jonas Harrow, though.
  • Hidden Depths: From his verbal tirades against Spider-Man and his own staff, you'd never know how much Jonah loves his family or how much he values those that work for him. He's also a staunch supporter of human and civil rights for everybody, black, gay, mutant, whatever. Heck, he even paid Peter's legal bills during The Clone Saga (secretly, of course).
  • Intrepid Reporter: Was a photojournalist in World War II, among other hostile environments and eras.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: When accused of spreading Malicious Slander "It is NOT! Slander is spoken, in print, it's libel."
  • Jerkass
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold / Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
  • Strawman News Media: Outside his hatred of superheroes, his integrity as a journalist is unimpeachable.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Spidey has saved his and his loved one's lives again and again, and yet he goes right back to smearing the superhero as always.


Joe "Robbie" Robertson


Ben Urich


Ned Leeds


Gloria "Glory" Grant


Spider-Man's Allies

Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman I


Cassandra Webb / Madame Web


Hobie Brown / The Prowler


Captain John Jameson


Thomas Fireheart / Puma


Mark Raxton / Molten Man

  • The Brute: When his temper gets the better of him.
  • Genius Bruiser: He has both science smarts and superhuman strength
  • Hair of Gold: Duh.
  • Heel Face Turn: Went from being a Jerkass Anti-hero/villain to accepting his change and apologizing to Liz.
  • Jerkass: Gave a lot of crap to Liz back in the day. He got better at least.


Ollie Osnick / The Steel Spider

A chubby young nerd who idolized Dr. Octopus and built his own set of octopus tentacles. After meeting Spider-Man, he idolized Spidey instead and redesigned himself as "Spider-Lad", Spider-Man's sidekick. After being turned down by Spider-Man, he's had an off-again off-again career as the Steel Spider, in a metal exo-suit equipped with Spider-like abilities.


Anya Corazon / Araña / Spider-Girl

  • Accidental Murder: Her father was in the middle of a Red Hulk rampage and was accidentally killed by him.
  • Badass Normal: She doesn’t have any superpowers now.
    • It seems she has a new set of spider-powers with the outbreak of Spider Island. She now seems to have speed, strength, camolflauge and Peter's organic web shooters from 'The Other', truly making her Spider-Girl. Unlike most, she keeps these powers after the storyline.
  • The Chosen One: It was stated in a "What If" story that if Peter Parker is killed or did a Face Heel Turn, Anya would have to become the new "Web of Life" Champion, which would lead to...
  • Dead Serious: Brutally done to her father.
  • Distaff Counterpart
  • Expy: Her original exoskeleton is generally modeled after Kamen Rider.
  • Enemy Mine: With The Kingpin and Hobgoblin on Spider-Island.
  • Future Badass / Cynical Big Sister Mentor: In Spider Girl
  • Guile Heroine: Has demonstrated traces of this now that she has lost her powers, most recently in using her civilian clothes as a trap to lure out Kraven's daughter into a one on one fight as opposed to letting herself be ambushed.
  • Heroic BSOD: After her father's death
  • I Just Want to Be Special: After losing her powers (and before she got new ones), Anya had some doubts about her usefulness as a costumed hero. One particular moment was when she became depressed because she thought that if she had retained her old powers, maybe she could have prevented Rikki Barnes' death.
  • Legacy Character: Julia Carpenter gave her the Spider-Woman costume, but she chose to keep her old nickname. Eventually, she changed to Spider-Girl.
    • Named by Democracy: She didn't actually choose the name Spider-Girl, she resigned herself to it because everyone kept calling her that.
  • Parental Abandonment: Originally only lacked a mother, but Paul Tobin's first order of business as he took the character over was too kill her loving dad.
  • Retcon: Anya hated the idea of having to dress in spandex like a freak, but suddenly she began to like it when she became Spider-Girl. In the same way, she used to hate the name “Spider-Girl”, but suddenly she began to like it.
    • These aren't really retcons, Anya has explicitly said she still dislikes the "Spider-girl" monicker, she's merely resigned to it because people refuse to call her anything else. Similarly, she still has never expressed a liking to the spandex suit, she just uses it because it was a gift from Julia Carpenter.
    • The position of her old tattoo was changed from a Spider-like tattoo on her right shoulder to a big Spider-like tattoo on her back.
  • Secret Identity: Her identity was revealed during Civil War, but when she became Spider-Girl, her identity became secret again.
    • This is a little subverted. A lot of people know her true identity because Anya is really careless at keeping her identity as a secret, often tweeting her whole life, putting her costume in open bright streets and arriving her apartment and staying inside with the costume on. Her friend Rocky and The Kingpin have pointed out how easy was for them to find out her true identity.
  • The Symbiote: Though of a different kind than Venom and Co.
  • Tears of Fear: When she was imprisoned during the "Grim Hunt".
  • Too Happy to Live: Her father was a nurturing, caring, and accepting parent who while concerned and apprehensive, still did his best to understand his daughter's need to do good with the abilities she'd trained so dedicatedly. So naturally, first order of business in her new series was to kill him.


Johnny Storm / The Human Torch


Bobby Drake / Iceman


Angelica Jones / Firestar


Tyrone Johnson / Cloak


Tandy Bowen / Dagger


Patrick Mulligan / Toxin I

Venom: We're naming him Toxin, isn't it pretty?


Captain George Stacy


Jean DeWolff


Villains

Norman Osborn / Green Goblin I / Iron Patriot

  • Abusive Father: Had one, and was one to Harry.
  • Ambition Is Evil
  • Arch Enemy: One of them. Though, since his return in the 90's, he has eclipsed the other two.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Apparently he was a big fan of comic books as a child.
  • Ax Crazy
  • Badass in a Nice Suit
  • Bad Boss: Mainly to the Thunderbolts.
    • Oscorp employees, too. During "The Final Chapter" arc, he uses several employees as unknowing test subjects for his DNA weapon. The first Pulse storyline also demonstrated his habit of murdering his employees to satisfy his urges.
  • Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Attempted to invoke this with Peter. Nearly succeeded. Added a lot of points to Peter's woobie factor.
  • Big Bad: For a lot of Spidey's recent existence. And of Dark Reign.
  • Blue Blood: comes from old money. His father squandered the family fortune and Norman built it back up.
  • Board to Death
  • Broken Ace
  • Canon Immigrant: Thematic example. In Revenge of the Green Goblin, Osborn, his son Harry then long dead, started to realize that Peter himself was everything he ever wanted in a son and heir—smart, resourceful, tough, and able to live through everything life throws at him. This was since retconned out of existence (partly because Harry is back, partly because Norman no longer knows who Spidey is), but it was well received and became an integral part of his character in other media, such as the movie and the The Spectacular Spider Man cartoon. So successful some more recent fans thought it was an integral part of the character.
  • Character Development: He is a very different person from the one who appeared in the 60's and 70's, but not just because of Depending on the Writer. The main difference is the Osborn from the old stories had no idea he was the Green Goblin; the one in the modern takes knows, took control... and realized he liked it. The other big one is the changing nature of his emnity with Spider-Man, from business, to personal, to very personal, to twisted admiration, and finally warped Friendly Enemy. One More Day regressed it back to "very personal", minus the motivator of Harry being dead.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Despite a common belief, he predates Lex Luthor in this department.
  • Cool Glider
  • Crazy Prepared: Mac Gargan once described one of Norman's hideouts as a "cornucopia of plans and counter-plans."
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Frequently Lampshaded, though also inverted. The Hobgoblin only turned to crime becase he wasn't as smart as Norman, and though Osborn had to be insane to use his amazing tech in the same way when he could easily make a fortune out of it. That said, Osborn is already a successful corporate millionare and his superbrain has only made him more money and power (ironically enough, he ended up buying out the Hobgoblin's own company when the latter tried to blackmail him). Nonetheless, he is still too messed up to use his mind to its fullest potential.
  • Death Seeker: In one storyline (in which he Mind Rapes Spider-Man in an attempt to get Spidey to kill him.)
  • Depending on the Writer: Mark Millar's version of the character is noticeably smarter—bordering on Omnidisciplinary Scientist—compared to most other takes on the character.
  • Don't Tell Mama
  • Easy Amnesia: Formerly. Now mostly averted.
  • Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Type 2 at times as the Green Goblin. He can rival The Joker in this trope.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Peter. Also to Tony Stark (including, but not limited to the Iron Patriot).
  • Evil Genius
  • Evil Laugh
  • Evil Mentor: Once tried to be this to Peter. Nearly succeeded.
  • Evil Sounds Deep
    • Oddly inverted in his pre-Spectacular cartoon appearances, where the Goblin had a high, screeching voice and laugh. (In fact, a later Goblin, Phil Urich, weaponized the laugh.)
  • Faux Affably Evil: He tries to be Affably Evil, but eventually falls in this.
  • Friendly Enemy: Before One More Day, he had started to imagine that he and Peter were these, albeit at a pretty extreme level. Peter didn't agree.
  • Gadgeteer Genius
  • Gollum Made Me Do It: In The Movie
  • Good Parents: In Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
  • He-Man Woman Hater
  • Hoist by His Own Petard
  • Impossibly Cool Weapons: The razor bats and the pumpkin bombs, especially in The Movie.
  • Jekyll and Hyde: Subverted. Norman is evil. The Goblin is just crazy-evil.
  • Living with the Villain
  • The Mentally Disturbed: Norman has been consistently depicted with a range of mental illnesses, in addition to his psychopathic tendecies. He is a manic depressive, prone to violent mood swings and, untreated, paranoia, hallucinations and occasionally a Split Personality. This is in additon to his textbook sadism, egomania and antisocial personality, and they tend to make each other worse. It's very common for these to bite him in the ass particularly since he denies or covers up the fact that he has such "weaknesses". It especially threatens his attempts to be a Villain with Good Publicity, usually because he finds himself unable to control his homicidal urges.
  • Morality Pet: Harry; once in the 70s, Peter defeated the Goblin by showing him his overdosed son, causing the Goblin to actually cry and snap back to Norman's benign personality.
    • Also the Ultimate version, who asked to be killed after seeing what he did to Harry.
    • And now subverted to hell and back, as Norman has tried to murder him. For ratings.
  • Never My Fault
  • Not So Different: The Hannibal Lecture in The Movie. Occasionally in the comics. He really does have a lot in common with Peter.
  • Offscreen Villain Dark Matter
  • The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Cult of Scryer.
  • Powered Armor
  • Professor Guinea Pig
  • Retcon: In the 60s and 70s, he was portrayed as being a decent guy before becoming the Goblin, however since his return, it's been established that even before he became the Goblin, he was quite a bastard.
    • Um, decent? In the early comics when his origin is revealed, we found out he screwed his business partner over and had him arrested and then stole his formula. The only difference is that before the retcon, Norman genuinely loved his son, but he was still power hungry. The Goblin formula just made him crazy.
    • It seemed more like that Norman started off as a misguided father who gave his son gifts. Then one day there was a lab accident and he gradually became a Jerkass and stopped being a legitimate businessman then became a villain.
      • Oddly, the Norman side only became unambiguously good when he had amnesia.
  • Secret Circle of Secrets: The Cult of Scrier.
  • Self-Made Man: He comes from a rich family, but his father squandered their fortune, forcing Norman to build it back up himself.
  • The Social Darwinist
  • The Sociopath
  • Stuffed in The Fridge: The classic example; the Goblin's killing of Gwen Stacy.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Subverted. Played straight in the early stories when he got amnesia and lost his powers, but now his powers are permanent regardless of who is in control (though the Goblin has not actually been in control since then).
  • Super Strength
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: He loves his pumpkin bombs.
  • Took a Level in Badass/Took a Level in Jerkass: He is several magnitudes more dangerous, calculating and sadistic than he was in his early appearances since he came Back from the Dead. The main reason for this is that though Osborn survived being Hoist by His Own Petard back in the 70's, The Goblin seems to have been largely suppressed. The result though was that Norman retained his memories as the Goblin for once and evolved into a much more rational psychopath who was able to take advantage of his considerable strength, intelligence and resources, and since he decided that Evil Tastes Good he now frequently Kicks the Dog For the Evulz. Some notable examples include:
    • Killing Peter and Mary-Jane's unborn baby probably.
    • Getting Flash Thompson drunk and putting him behind the wheel of a truck (after hiring the unwitting Flash to be his driver, just to mess with Peter), resulting in Flash being brain damaged after Osborn made the truck crash into his and Peter's school (oh, and class was in).
    • Trying to murder everyone who was connected to either Peter or his son (he felt that those friends had "betrayed him" and indirectly caused Harrys death by making him a weakling) after orchestrating "The Clone Saga", a convoluted plot to drive Peter insane (meaning he nearly got Marvel bankrupt, which means he is guilty of both Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking and being an Omnicidal Maniac).
    • Attempting once to murder every living thing on the planet by turning them into prehistoric goo (he was more crazy than usual at the time thanks to some messing with magic, which convinced him he was a Physical God and mistakenely think he would survive such a scheme, but the plan was clearly set in motion before that occured).
    • Giving a prison guard advice on how to cure his wife's illness, that actually made the woman die a faster and more painful death (the guard came to him).
    • And after Brand New Day, he tried to murder his own son just because the public would feel sorry for him and give him more support, since his son was dead.
  • Ubermensch: There were shades of this in The Movie.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Became one at the end of Secret Invasion, and rode on this throughout Dark Reign.
    • He was also this after his return, where he expended considerable resources to trick the masses into believing he was never the Green Goblin.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Ultimate Goblin.
  • We Can Rule Together: To Spidey, mainly in the movie but briefly in the comics.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Dark Reign. Or rather, he thought he was one of these, but liked to gloss over the fact that he was often creating his own problems, sometimes on purpose.
  • Would Hurt a Child: His biggest Moral Event Horizon in the movie is when he threatens to drop both MJ and a tram full of kids to their doom and forces Spider-Man to make a Sadistic Choice between saving MJ or the kids. He manages to save both.
  • Xanatos Roulette: "The Clone Saga"


Dr. Otto Octavius / Dr. Octopus


Eddie Brock / Venom I / Anti-Venom/ Toxin II


Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard


Cletus Kasady / Carnage


Adrian Toomes / The Vulture I

  • Badass Bookworm: Makes powered armor and goes toe to toe with Spidey.
  • Bald of Evil
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Without his suit, he's a normal old man.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy / Only Sane Man: In the very first Sinister Six team-up, the Vulture was the only one who advocated that all six of them attack Spider-Man together, as opposed to making him fight them one at a time. After he was outvoted, and his turn did come up, he forced Spidey to remove his web-shooters before the fight ("otherwise I'll just fly away") as he knows the webs were the only reason Spidey won last time.
  • Darker and Edgier: In the Mark Millar 12-parter, his costume is black and red... and it actually works!
    • A new Vulture has popped up that is darker and edgier like it was the 90s again.
    • Even before that, two Vultures were introduced in the 60s and 70s to be more formidable replacements. Adrian outlasted them both.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In 1980, he had a nephew who was loyal to him. When he was shot by a gangster they were trying to kill, he wept and then went berserk at seeing the one family member who cared about him die. Later in 2004, he learned he had a sickly grandson and went on a crime spree to pay for his treatment.
  • Evil Old Folks
  • I Am a Humanitarian: The Noir incarnation.
  • Pet the Dog: See Even Evil Has Loved Ones.
  • Powered Armor: Even his original costume qualified, but in recent decades, it has become more metallic.
  • Power Parasite: Depending on the Writer, he can drain his victims' youth as a result of stealing their abilities.


Quentin Beck / Mysterio I

  • Back from the Dead: In a Peter David Friendly Neighborhood arc with a dose of Body Horror.
  • Driven to Suicide: During Kevin Smith's Daredevil run, Beck learned he had cancer and wouldn't last long. After making Daredevil's life a living hell, Beck shot himself in the head.
  • Evil Genius
  • Glass Cannon: Really good traps, but once he's face to face with Spidey, he tends to have one or two final tricks before going down quickly.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: He got cancer from overexposure to the materials he used for his illusions.
  • Large Ham
  • Legacy Character: Aside from Beck, Daniel Berkhart and Francis Klum each took up the role for a time.
  • Master of Illusion
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Was shown as returning via supernatural means with new magical powers before One More Day; post-OMD, he's been sticking to his usual special effects fakery, implying that his demonic phase was more special effects trickery. Writer Dan Slott has thus far refused to say for sure, though.
  • Only in It For the Money: His main motivation for joining up with Doc Ock's current Sinister Six. In Ends of the Earth once Ock's plan is revealed Spider-Man convinces him to pull a Heel Face Turn, if only for a little bit, due to the fact that the money would be useless should Ock succeed.
  • Rogues Gallery Transplant: A Spider-Man villain, but also battled with Daredevil.


Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin


Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter

Where'd you come from?
Mother Russia. By way of Mother Africa!


Aleksei Sytsevich / "Alex O'Hirn" / Rhino I

  • The Brute
  • Characterization Marches On: In his origin, it was mentioned he got smarter due to the process; however, everyone wrote him as dumb afterwards. Recently, he's gone back to being written as being of at least average intelligence but who knows how long that will last.
  • The Chew Toy: For a time, Deadpool shrunk him down to about the size of a hamster and kept him as a pet. He eventually got payback on Deadpool though.
  • Depending on the Writer: His intelligence and how strongly affixed his costume is. The first time he took on the Hulk, his costume was more of a slip-on thing, while other writers have made it clear that he can only go to the bathroom due to a tiny flap and he can't get laid. This has since been fixed and he can put it on and take it off at will.
    • Mark Waid once explained this by claiming the mutation was unstable regarding his intelligence, then had it stabilized in that same story.
  • Dumb Muscle
  • Even Evil Has Standards: His fight with Spider-Man in "The Origin of the Species" is short-lived as Spider-Man reads him the riot act for trying to start a fight when Spidey has a baby in tow. Rhino, much to Spidey's shock, actually does drop the fight and leave of his own accord in response.
  • Flowers for Algernon Syndrome: Becomes a heck of a lot smarter in Flowers for the Rhino. So much so that he reverses it because it made his life far less interesting.
  • Genius Bruiser: Briefly in Flowers for the Rhino.
  • Morality Chain: His wife, Oksana. She doesn't last long.
  • Pet the Dog: Misses his dead mom and the storyline Flowers for the Rhino.
  • Rogues Gallery Transplant: See above about Deadpool and he has also fought The Hulk several times.


William Baker / "Flint Marko" / The Sandman


Mac Gargan / Scorpion I / Venom III / The Sinister Spider-Man


Shocker / Herman Schultz


Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon


Max Dillon / Electro


Hammerhead

  • The Dragon: To the Big Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: It's not known what he was after getting left for dead in an alley, but he certainly didn't have super powers before hand.
    • BND stories have made his background reasonably clear; as a bonus, he's now an example of both The Mafia and The Mafiya.
  • Suddenly Ethnicity: Despite being a walking Italian gangster stereotype, when his past is finally revealed, he turns out to be Russian.
  • Took a Level in Badass: BND, another alright thing about that period.
  • Use Your Head


Roderick Kingsley / Hobgoblin I


Morrie Bench / Hydro-Man


Professor Miles Warren / The Jackal

  • Abusive Creator: To just about every clone he made.
  • Arch Enemy: For a few years, he was siccing super villains after Peter Parker and was his more frequent enemy, but from behind the scenes.
  • Hot for Student: Gwen Stacy. His refusal to admit it to himself until after she died led to him becoming a supervillain.
  • The Man Behind the Man: He hired numerous villains to attack Peter like Tarantula, the Scorpion, or the Grizzly before going in himself. And here's where it gets impressive: he was this to the Punisher in his debut.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Briefly regained his sanity at the last moment and was able to save the Gwen Clone before dying in an explosion, or so it seemed.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Of Norman Osborn, per the end of "The Clone Saga".


Kaine / Scarlet Spider II


Spencer Smythe / Spider-Slayer


Abner Jenkins / The Beetle


Martin Li / Mr. Negative


Michael Morbius / Morbius the Living Vampire

Morbius: ...I borrowed this equipment from the ESU Science Department.
Felicia Hardy: Pilfered.
Morbius: ...Borrowed.


Silvio Manfredi / Silvermane


Lonnie Lincoln / Tombstone


Frances Louise Barrison / Shriek


Fred Myers / Boomerang

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