Spider-Man is the face of Marvel. Among the wide variety of Marvel heroes to choose from, Peter Parker stands out above the rest. He is without a doubt the greatest hero Marvel has ever created. From the time Stan Lee created him in 1962, Spidey has continued to impress readers not only with his fantastic abilities but also with his great heart.
But what if Spider-Man were not a hero? There have been several comics that have explored a more villainous side of the wall-crawler. While our favorite Spider-Man will always be the courageous hero, it is fun to see him as a villain. Here are the top ten times Spider-Man became a villain.
10 Timespinner
Kang the Conqueror is one of the Avenger's greatest enemies. A time-traveling tyrant and brilliant scientist, there is little that this supervillain cannot accomplish. During one of his many conflicts with the Avengers, Kang created an android called Timespinner.
Timespinner was an exact duplicate of Spider-Man, having all of the web slinger's thoughts and abilities. The only difference was this version was completely loyal to Kang the Conqueror.
9 The Lizard (Earth-65)
After the Spider-Verse event introduced Marvel fans to a slew of alternate universe spider-characters, Spider-Gwen became incredibly popular. This character comes from an alternate universe where Gwen Stacy, rather than Peter Parker, was bitten by the radioactive spider.
After becoming Spider-Woman, one of Gwen's first villains was revealed to be the Lizard. It was later shown that the identity of the Lizard was none other than Peter Parker himself.
8 Patton Parnell
Another character that showed up in the Spider-Verse event, Patton Parnell was a truly sadistic monster. This version essentially showed what Spider-Man would be like if he was the antagonist in his own horror movie.
Not only did Patton have stalker-like tendencies, but he also fed off of the blood of his abusive uncle. This story was a horrifying, yet interesting look at Spider-Man as another kind of villain.
7 Zombie Spider-Man
One of Marvel's most popular alternate universe stories, Marvel Zombies gives as a sick and twisted look at many of our main characters. All of Marvel's heroes are either eaten or turned into zombies with the singular goal of satiating their hunger.
When Spider-Man becomes infected, he tries to fend off the urges as best he can, but eventually fails. He then preceded to eat Mary Jane and Aunt May. For Spider-Man fans horrified by this dark turn for the character, there is a little comfort knowing towards the end of the series, Spider-Man was able to redeem himself by creating a vaccine that killed all the zombies including himself.
6 The Death of Jean DeWolff
During The Death of Jean DeWolff arc, Spider-Man is truly tested. After the tragic murder of Captain Jean DeWolff, a close friend of Spidey, he set out on a warpath. After finding the villain responsible, the Sin-Eater, Spider-Man was going to murder him.
Daredevil intervened, hoping to stop his longtime superhero friend from crossing that line. In response Spider-Man punched Daredevil, sending him flying through a window. He continued to attack Daredevil, who was able to fend the webhead off just long enough for Peter to come to his senses.
5 Spider-Carnage
During the long and highly criticized Clone Saga, Spider-Man and his clone, the Scarlet Spider, worked together to fight crime as a team. Although both Peter Parker and his clone (going by the name Ben Reilly) were heroes, there was a time when Reilly became a bit of a villain.
During the Web of Carnage arc, Ben Reilly was bonded to the Carnage symbiote. Although the two beings weren't bonded for too long, while together they proved to be one of the most deadly Spider-Man villains.
4 The Queen's Spider
One of Spider-Man's more formidable new villains in recent years was the Queen. The Queen had the power to control anyone with an "insect gene." Spider-Man, for obvious reason, has such a gene, giving this villainess power over him.
This powerful villain turns Spidey into a monstrous spider-creature that is fully under her control. Spider-Man, in his new form, was soon after killed. From the corpse of this dead body, Spider-Man arose, seemingly back to his human form. Not only did the Queen make Spider-Man her servant, but she also turned him into a giant monster. Good thing it didn't last.
3 Symbiote Spider-Man
After Spider-Man gained his new black suit, which he didn't realize was a sentient alien, he started doing very questionable things. Spidey was now more aggressive and violent with his villains than he had ever been before.
It turns out that while Peter slept, the alien suit would take control of his body and go on adventures unbeknownst to him. During these escapades, the symbiote-controlled-spidey was no better than many of his enemies.
2 Superior Spider-Man
One of the more divisive story-arcs in recent Spider-Man history, Superior Spider-Man was unlike any Spider-Man comic before it. In a final climactic battle with his archnemesis Doc Ock, Spider-Man lost control of his mind to the mad doctor.
As Spider-Man, Octavius set out to prove he was truly the superior hero. In order to do this, Doc Ock turned Spider-Man into a brutal, ruthless and morally compromised crime-fighter. Although at times this approach had better results, it nevertheless made Spider-Man no better than his villains.
1 Amazing Fantasy #15
Many comic readers are soon to forget that Spider-Man didn't start out a hero. Rather, he was a self-serving celebrity using his powers to make a quick buck. When Peter had the chance to stop a robber he refused, telling the police that Spider-Man only looks out for himself.
This error in moral judgment resulted in the greatest tragedy of Peter's life: the death of Uncle Ben. While his actions were that of a villain beforehand, Ben's death set Peter on a path to take responsibility for the gifts he had been given. Spider-Man became the greatest hero the world had ever seen.
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