Summary
Spider-Manis possibly one of the most popular superheroes in modern media. In fact, he is arguablyMarvel’smost recognizable character. The Web Head regularly appears in comics, TV shows, movies, and of course, video games. There have been plenty of games throughout the years that let players zip across skylines asSpider-Man. However, a good hero is only as good as those trying to foil them.
That is why many fans considerSpider-Manto have thebest Rogues Gallery in all of comics. Everyone has heard of the likes of Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Venom, or The Rhino. Even Morbius the Living Vampire got his own big-budget movie release. That is why some game developers feel it necessary to give these iconicMarvelcharacters the spotlight by allowing gamers to play as some of these villains in certainSpider-Mangames.
6Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Playable Venom & Green Goblin
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2is heavily based onMarvel’s Civil Warcomic event from 2007. Such a huge conflict roped in as many characters as possible, and the video game tried to include as many playable options as the system would allow. Players could add the likes of Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine The Thing, and Spider-Man to their teams whenever they wanted.
However, a key plot point in the story is that Iron Man’s pro-registration side deems it worthy of adding some villains to his side. As such, players can unlock bothVenom and Green Goblinduring the story mode ofUltimate Alliance 2. The former plays very similarly to Spidey but with a bit more strength, whileGreen Goblincan fly on his glider and throw pumpkin bombs at his enemies.
5Spider-Man 3, The New Goblin
Spider-Man 3may not be one of the fondly rememberedSpider-Manmovies and the game based on the film has largely become a forgotten relic of the early PS3/Wii/Xbox 360era. However, this game does come with one unique surprise that players enjoy.
The climax of the film sees Harry Osborn’sNew Goblincome torescue Spidey from the clutchesofVenomandSandmanafter spending most of the film at odds with the titular hero. That is whyTreyarchsaw it necessary to include a level that lets players use this character in one level in theXbox 360andPS3release. The hovering goblin is mainly controlled with quick time events in a race to save his friend, but it is still a nice inclusion.
4Ultimate Spider-Man, Become Venom
The unique selling point of theUltimate Spider-Mangame, released for thePS2was that it featured a split story that focused on Spider-Man and one of his most popular villains, Venom. That and it claimed to have a similar web-swinging mechanic as theSpider-Man 2movie tie-in game released in the same year.
Thestory ofUltimate Spider-Manfollowed the comics that were released under Marvel’s newUltimateumbrella in the early 2000s. As such, players took control ofSpider-Manduring his typical day-to-day activities but could also use Venom during his side of the same story.Venom’sstory arc features the symbiote eating people to regain health in the open world of New York City, fighting the military, and an epic bar fight with Wolverine.
3Spider-Man, Play As Green Goblin
One of the few ways to find out about hidden secrets in video games back in the day was to hear about them through other people. Many of these secrets turned out to be nothing but myths and rumors; however, imagine the shock on gamers’ faces when they learned that they could actually replay the entirety of theSpide-Manmovie-tie-in-game as the Green Goblinonce completing the game as Spidey on Hero mode.
This new character follows the samelevels from a new point of view. Players take control of Harry Osborn as he takes his father’s suit and glider to investigate his murder. There were new lines of dialogue recorded for this feature, although many of the original levels play out the same.
2Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage
As the title of this arcade side-scrolling beat-em-up would suggest, players can take on this game as either Spider-Man or Venom. Both characters play the same, sticking to walls and web-swinging as each one can. However, this recreation ofone of the ‘90smost popularMarvel Comicsstoriesmarked one of the first times that gamers could try playing as Venom.
This game was so popular among fans that it even got a sequel in the form ofVenom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety. Once again,Venomis given another hefty spotlight in this title as a playable character.
1Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, All The Foes!
Given the popularity of Sam Raimi’sSpider-Manfilm trilogy, everyone wanted a slice of the pie. That is whyBeenoxdeveloped and releasedSpider-Man Friend or Foein 2007. This side-scrolling action game saw Spidey take on and team up with some of his most iconic foes in a bid to stop the evil Mysterio. As such, players could take control of some of the more popular villains from the Raimi films including Green Goblin, Venom, Doc Ock, Sandman, and New Goblin.
On top of this, players also had access to some ofthe lesser-known villainsfrom theSpider-Mancomic books, such as Black Cat, Electro, Kraven, Scorpion, and Prowler. Many of these characters were lazy reskins of each other; however, there is still yet to be a video game that allows players to take control of so many Spider-Man villains.
