# Best Cinematic Spiderman Villain **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082 "2018-02-03T03:04:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/1 "2018-02-03T03:04:16Z")
Take your pick. Discuss ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/2 "2018-02-03T04:22:07Z")
Doctor Von Schlick. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/3 "2018-02-03T04:24:43Z")
Bonesaw. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/4 "2018-02-03T04:34:21Z")
Hard to say. Dr. Octopus is an intelligently written, thoroughly human, sympathy-drawing villain. But he seems to fit totally into the standard intelligently written, thoroughly human, sympathy-drawing villain mold. Not much creativity. The Vulture was an excellent performance by Michael Keaton. However, he did have to go through the boring old “vaporize an underling to show how evil he is” scene. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/5 "2018-02-03T04:35:30Z")
I gave it to Doc Oc, with a close second to Vulture. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/6 "2018-02-03T04:38:09Z")
Vulture. I have some issues with the execution (I think the Big Reveal was badly timed, and would have made some design tweaks to his costume), but overall… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/7 "2018-02-03T04:40:21Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I gave it to Doc Oc, with a close second to Vulture. Exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/8 "2018-02-03T04:45:47Z")
I thought about including “Bonesaw”, but had to draw the line somewhere. One thing is certain, they’ve done a great job overall at portraying Spidey’s “Rogue’s Gallery”. Loved Keaton’s portrayal of Vulture, but also think that Jameson (as played by Simmons) was as close to spot on as you can get with a comic character in a live action film. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/9 "2018-02-03T04:54:12Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I thought about including “Bonesaw”, but had to draw the line somewhere. And you think it fine to consign the Rhino behind the line? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/10 "2018-02-03T15:20:19Z")
Nope, I forgot that he was even in that film.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/11 "2018-02-03T17:06:34Z")
I’m gonna go against the grain and say Sandman. The way the character was written - and the way Thomas Haden Church played him - gave us a villain who was sort of forced into super-villainy. He’s a petty crook caught up in something way too big for him and he uses it for something someone else needs badly. Really, had he dumped the Venom stuff and just given us Green Goblin and Sandman - the contrast between why the two became supervillains (revenge for GG and saving his child for SM) the movie would have been right there with Spider-Man 2 in terms of storytelling. Sadly, this did not happen. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/12 "2018-02-03T18:10:40Z")
Vulture definitely. Michael Keaton’s performance was incredible and the character was so sympathetically written that if he hadn’t been selling guns to criminals, he would have been an antihero. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/13 "2018-02-03T18:48:27Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I’m gonna go against the grain and say Sandman. The way the character was written - and the way Thomas Haden Church played him - gave us a villain who was sort of forced into super-villainy. He’s a petty crook caught up in something way too big for him and he uses it for something someone else needs badly. > > Really, had he dumped the Venom stuff and just given us Green Goblin and Sandman - the contrast between why the two became supervillains (revenge for GG and saving his child for SM) the movie would have been right there with Spider-Man 2 in terms of storytelling. > > Sadly, this did not happen. That first sentence, I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/14 "2018-02-03T19:01:09Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The Vulture was an excellent performance by Michael Keaton. However, he did have to go through the boring old “vaporize an underling to show how evil he is” scene. Yet subverted with Keaton saying (paraphrased) “Shit, I thought this was the freeze ray” I gave it to Vulture but it’s a coin flip between him and the Doc. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/15 "2018-02-03T20:31:57Z")
I will break the mold and say Sandman, judging the character and not the movie. Papa Goblin and Lizard were standard nice guys gone crazy. Got sick of Baby Goblin, plus Franco in small doses is best. Did not watch the Electro one yet. I’m being petty, but I hated the bad science and plot holes in Raimi 2. I can’t disassociate it form the character but he swallowed the stupid pill, too. Yet another nice guy driven crazy by his arms, which are independently intelligent and could be used to make billions but somehow Osborn completely ignores this breakthrough in science in favor of fusion. After voting, I guess Keaton was pretty good, I’ll need to watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/16 "2018-02-05T00:41:12Z")
The “birth of Sandman” scene was particularly impressive and even moving and I have no issue with Church’s performance, but the weepy forgiveness theme of the film (plus the tiresome contrivance of having Marko be involved in Uncle Ben’s death) left a bad taste in my mouth. Nobody else really stands out so if I had to vote, it’d grudgingly be for Molina’s Doctor Octopus, in part because I liked the bit where he uses the arms to casually prepare and light a cigar for himself. Keaton’s Vulture was close, but I was mildly annoyed by the scene between him and Peter in the car just outside the school dance. He vaguely threatens Peter with a handgun and while I get that Peter is early in his crimefighting career and perhaps a bit unsure of himself, I think I’d’ve liked it immensely more if he’d responded with “You know, I could take that gun away from you long before you’d get a chance to point it at me and if I wanted to, I could crush this car around you like a giant metal straitjacket.” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/17 "2018-02-05T00:43:05Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I gave it to Doc Oc, with a close second to Vulture. Exactly this, except I’m pretty sure it’s Doc Ock. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/18 "2018-02-05T00:58:15Z")
I’ve only seen the first three, with GG/Doc Ock/Sandman-Venom. Which villain appears in which flick afterwards? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cinematic-spiderman-villain/808082/19 "2018-02-05T01:20:48Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I’ve only seen the first three, with GG/Doc Ock/Sandman-Venom. Which villain appears in which flick afterwards? _The Amazing Spider-Man_ (2012): the Lizard as primary, with minor appearances by the Burglar, the Gentleman _The Amazing Spider-Man 2_ (2014): Electro as primary. Minor: Normal Osborne, Harry Osborne, Felicia Hardy, the Gentleman, the Rhino _Spider-Man: Homecoming_ (2017): Vulture as primary. Minor: the Shocker, the Tinkerer, Mac Gargan