10 Best Spider-Verse Villains Ranked
Spider-Verse villains stand out because their designs, powers and motives are built for animation. The first film gives Miles Morales a crime boss whose grief turns a collider into a threat to multiple dimensions. Across the Spider-Verse introduces a more comic figure in the Spot, whose portals grow from a source of jokes into a powerful danger. Between them are alternate versions of familiar enemies, including a new Doctor Octopus and a Prowler whose identity changes the story’s emotional stakes.
This ranking follows your ten selections, with #1 as the strongest villain and #10 as the least developed or most supporting. It considers character depth, visual design, thematic role, threat level and lasting impact. Some entries are individual antagonists, while Alchemax’s villains are a collective force. Doctor Octopus and Liv Octavius overlap by design: one entry considers the enduring villain concept, and the other focuses on the film’s specific incarnation. The list contains major spoilers for both Spider-Verse films, including character identities, motivations and key plot turns. For release and production background, see Sony Pictures Animation’s official film pages and Across the Spider-Verse.
A good villain in an animated superhero story does more than provide someone for the hero to punch. The antagonist can make a character’s fears visible, put pressure on their relationships or challenge the rules that define their world. Spider-Verse uses all of these functions. Kingpin’s grief becomes a dangerous attempt to undo loss; the Prowler connects the threat to Miles’s family; and the Spot grows into a villain whose abilities reflect the story’s interest in doors between worlds. Supporting enemies like Scorpion and Tombstone help make the criminal environment feel populated, while visual reinventions show how the multiverse can transform an old idea.
Rankings remain subjective, so the positions below reward both screen presence and what each character adds to the films. A villain with little backstory can still be memorable if a design or sequence makes a strong impression. At the top, a character rises because powers, motive and theme develop together. Use the JustWatch links to check current UK viewing options for the film where each villain appears.
These films draw on decades of Spider-Man publishing, but they do not simply reproduce a comic-book rogues’ gallery. Animation lets a villain’s body, environment and movement change with the world around them. A portal may start as a hole in a suit and become a route between universes; a masked figure can feel frightening through sound and silhouette before the audience knows their name. That visual storytelling is one reason the antagonists are so memorable. It also means screen time alone is an incomplete measure: a brief design can linger, while a deeper character arc can change the way we understand the hero.
The countdown balances these different strengths. It gives lower positions to figures who function mainly as supporting threats and higher positions to antagonists with a vivid design, personal connection or evolving motive. Readers may rank them differently depending on whether they value comic-book history, emotional impact or action choreography most. The notes in each entry make those trade-offs clear and keep the list’s overlapping Doctor Octopus entries distinct.
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10. Alchemax’s Villains
Image source: Clip.Cafe · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Alchemax is the corporation behind the collider that tears open the multiverse in Into the Spider-Verse. Its scientists and security forces help Kingpin build and protect the machine, turning corporate ambition into part of the danger Miles faces. The group is not a single costumed character, but its work enables the film’s central threat. The institution’s power becomes clearer in Across the Spider-Verse, where the consequences of experiments and dimensional breaches are still felt. The Spider-Verse movies use Alchemax to show how systems can create harm even when individual people carry out the plans.
This entry ranks tenth because Alchemax is an effective source of scale, but it has less personality than the named villains. Its laboratories, technology and security presence give the heroes a concrete target and make the collider’s danger understandable. The company also broadens the conflict beyond one bad person: scientific ambition becomes dangerous when there are no meaningful limits. The films do not explore corporate culture as deeply as they explore Kingpin’s grief or Miles’s choices, so Alchemax works more as an enabling force than a character. Its place on the list reflects its narrative function and the way it links multiple threats.
It matters to the plot as an institution, even though it is not one individual villain.
Who should watch: It is worth noticing if you enjoy stories where systems and organisations help create the conflict.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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9. The Vulture
Image source: The Art Newspaper · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
The Vulture who appears in Across the Spider-Verse is an alternate-universe version of the Spider-Man villain, displaced into a world whose visual rules resemble a Renaissance sketchbook. He attacks Gwen Stacy and the other Spider-people during a chaotic encounter, bringing an old-fashioned silhouette into a world of modern city streets. Miguel O’Hara’s Spider-Society arrives to contain the threat and return him to his dimension. The brief appearance makes the character less developed than the central antagonists, but his unusual design immediately shows how a familiar enemy can change across realities.
This Vulture’s most memorable feature is the way his hand-drawn, sepia-toned appearance seems to scrape against the cleaner geometry of Gwen’s world. The confrontation demonstrates that multiverse villains can be visually distinct before the film gives them much backstory. His role is brief, so the ranking reflects impact rather than complexity: he creates an early action burst and helps establish the Spider-Society’s reach. He sits ninth because the film uses him as a showcase for its visual invention more than as a fully developed threat. For a list of memorable villain designs, however, his appearance is hard to forget.
His screen time is short, but his shifting visual style makes a familiar Spider-Man foe feel new.
Who should watch: Fans of comic-book art and alternate-universe character designs will appreciate the sequence.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
8. Liv Octavius
Image source: IMDb · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Dr. Olivia Octavius is the chief scientist behind Kingpin’s collider in Into the Spider-Verse and a version of Doctor Octopus from Miles Morales’s universe. When Miles and Peter B. Parker discover the experiment, Liv reveals herself as one of Kingpin’s most dangerous allies. Her mechanical arms let her move through a fight with unnerving speed, and her calm manner contrasts with the destruction around her. The character adapts Doctor Octopus into a new identity and gender, giving the familiar comic-book role a distinct look and presence within this film’s world.
Liv ranks eighth for transforming a classic Spider-Man antagonist into a new screen presence without losing the character’s central threat. Kathryn Hahn’s voice performance stays measured and matter-of-fact, which makes the sudden violence more startling. Her design is cleanly readable against the film’s bright animation, and the mechanical arms create action that feels flexible rather than heavy. She does not have as much emotional context as Kingpin or the Prowler, but she gives the collider plot a formidable human face. The film’s choice to make Doctor Octopus a woman also opens the multiverse idea in a concise, immediately legible way.
She is a striking reinvention of Doctor Octopus with a confident voice and memorable action design.
Who should watch: Choose her if you enjoy fresh adaptations of familiar comic characters and kinetic action scenes.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
7. Green Goblin
Image source: Real Time VFX · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
In Into the Spider-Verse, the Green Goblin is one of Kingpin’s enforcers at the collider facility. This version is a hulking, monstrous figure who clashes with Spider-Man during the opening action sequence. He is not the film’s central Green Goblin story, and the movie gives him little dialogue or personal history, but his design makes the danger of Kingpin’s experiment immediate. The battle ends in catastrophe and helps establish that the collider is unstable. His role is brief, yet it provides a forceful first glimpse of how this universe can reinterpret familiar Spider-Man foes.
The Goblin’s place is seventh because the film introduces him as a visual threat rather than a developed character. His size, jagged silhouette and monstrous movement make the opening clash feel unlike a conventional superhero duel. The sequence also has a clear purpose: it shows Peter Parker taking the danger seriously before Miles fully understands what is happening. Once the story moves to Kingpin, Prowler and Liv, the Goblin recedes from the narrative. His design remains memorable and his appearance contributes to the film’s opening momentum, but the more psychologically specific villains earn higher positions.
A bold, monstrous redesign makes a short role feel consequential in the film’s opening.
Who should watch: It is a good example for viewers interested in how animation can radically reinterpret a familiar villain.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
6. Tombstone
Image source: Looper · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Tombstone is one of Wilson Fisk’s criminal associates in Into the Spider-Verse. He works as a powerful enforcer in Kingpin’s organisation and appears among the forces defending the collider project. The film does not centre him or explain his history, but his imposing build and calm physical presence help make Fisk’s operation feel larger than one man. As Miles and the other Spider-people move through the facility, Tombstone adds another obstacle to a series of confrontations. He is a supporting antagonist whose value comes from the way he fills out the criminal world around Kingpin.
Tombstone ranks sixth because a brief supporting role can still contribute to the film’s sense of danger and texture. The animation gives him a blocky, stone-like appearance that reads quickly in the crowded action, and his quiet strength contrasts with the more theatrical villains around him. He does not receive the dramatic focus that makes Kingpin or Prowler compelling, yet he feels like a character who belongs to a broader crime network. The Spider-Verse world often makes small visual choices do efficient storytelling, and Tombstone’s design tells viewers what kind of physical threat he represents before he needs much dialogue.
His supporting presence gives Kingpin’s organisation weight and variety.
Who should watch: Viewers who like seeing comic-book criminal networks represented as more than one boss will notice him.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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5. Scorpion
Image source: SlashFilm · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Scorpion is another member of Kingpin’s criminal operation in Into the Spider-Verse, working among the guards and villains at the collider facility. His mechanical tail and armour make him a recognisable physical threat, while the film’s animation gives the classic Spider-Man enemy a sharp, exaggerated silhouette. He confronts the heroes during the escalating battle at the lab, where Miles is still trying to understand the scale of the danger. Scorpion has limited screen time and little character development, but his presence adds another layer to the group of threats protecting Kingpin’s experiment.
Scorpion sits fifth because his visual design and weapon give the action a specific challenge, even when the movie does not pause for a full character story. The tail creates a clear line of movement for the animators and a readable obstacle for Spider-Man to dodge. He also helps the collider sequence feel like a clash with an organised group rather than a simple duel. His personality is less distinct than Liv Octavius’s or Prowler’s, and the list ranks him for screen impact rather than depth. As a supporting villain, he makes the film’s climactic fight busier and more varied.
His mechanical silhouette and tail-driven attacks give the lab confrontation a clear visual threat.
Who should watch: He is for viewers who enjoy action choreography and classic villains in an animated setting.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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4. Doctor Octopus
Image source: SlashFilm · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Doctor Octopus is a long-standing Spider-Man antagonist whose mechanical arms turn scientific brilliance into a physical danger. In the Spider-Verse films, the name covers more than one version of the character: Liv Octavius is the villain in Into the Spider-Verse, while the multiverse concept invites audiences to think about alternate iterations. This entry considers the broader Doctor Octopus idea behind the character as well as Liv’s specific film portrayal. The story’s collider research gives the antagonist’s intelligence a direct role in the crisis, while the arms make abstract science visible in motion.
Doctor Octopus earns fourth because the character’s central idea is so adaptable: a gifted scientist becomes dangerous when knowledge and control overwhelm empathy. Liv’s version makes that threat feel fresh through a calm voice, a sleek design and arms that can attack from unexpected angles. At the same time, the broader comic legacy gives the character a depth beyond this single appearance. This list separates the general Doctor Octopus concept from the named Liv Octavius entry because the films present one as a recognizable role and the other as a specific alternate-universe incarnation. That distinction rewards both the archetype and its reinvention.
The enduring villain concept is stronger than one appearance, and Liv’s adaptation gives it a memorable new form.
Who should watch: Fans of science-driven antagonists and multiverse reimaginings will find this character especially compelling.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
3. The Prowler
Image source: IMDb · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Aaron Davis is Miles Morales’s uncle, a warm presence in his family life who secretly works as Kingpin’s masked enforcer, the Prowler. Miles first encounters the masked figure during a tense pursuit and only later learns the personal connection behind the costume. The reveal changes how he understands both his uncle and the criminal threat surrounding the collider. The Prowler is not simply a powerful fighter; his role binds Miles’s hero story to the people he loves. His distinctive music cue, shadowed design and family connection make him one of the film’s most unsettling antagonists.
The Prowler ranks third because the villain reveal gives the movie’s action an intimate emotional cost. Before Miles knows Aaron’s identity, the figure is a near-silent predator whose movement and sound design make every appearance tense. After the reveal, the conflict becomes harder: Miles has to hold his love for his uncle alongside what Aaron has chosen to do. Mahershala Ali gives Aaron gentleness and menace without reducing him to either. The character also demonstrates how a superhero film can use a villain to explore family, loyalty and fear. He may be a supporting antagonist, but his emotional effect is among the film’s strongest.
His connection to Miles turns a frightening masked villain into a painful family conflict.
Who should watch: Best for viewers who value emotional stakes and character reveals as much as action.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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2. Kingpin
Image source: IMDb · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Wilson Fisk is a powerful crime boss who uses Alchemax technology to open a portal between dimensions. He believes he can bring back his wife and son after losing them in a car accident, and that grief drives him to risk countless lives. Miles Morales and the other Spider-people try to stop the collider before it destabilises their worlds. Liev Schreiber voices Fisk with a controlled heaviness that makes the villain both physically imposing and emotionally legible. His plan gives the first Spider-Verse film its central conflict and connects its spectacular action to a personal loss.
Kingpin is an effective villain because the film understands what he wants without asking the audience to endorse how he pursues it. His grief is sincere, but his attempt to reverse it turns other people into collateral damage. The animation exaggerates his size until he seems to dominate every room, making the emotional logic visible as physical force. His conflict with Miles also sharpens the film’s theme: heroism means accepting painful limits while still choosing to protect others. Kingpin ranks second because his motive and presence are memorable, though the Spot’s transformation across Across the Spider-Verse makes him the more dynamic villain overall.
He combines a clear emotional motive with the scale and menace required for a multiverse-level threat.
Who should watch: Choose him if you like antagonists whose personal grief complicates, but does not excuse, their choices.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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1. The Spot
Image source: Clip.Cafe · Image credit: Sony Pictures Animation
Dr. Jonathan Ohnn begins Across the Spider-Verse as a frustrated scientist whose body has been transformed by a collider accident. Portals cover his skin, and at first he uses them for small crimes that Miles can easily interrupt. As he studies his abilities, the Spot discovers that he can move between dimensions and seeks greater power and recognition. His conflict with Miles becomes personal after their earlier encounters, and his growing control threatens multiple universes. The character shifts from comic nuisance to serious danger, giving the sequel a villain whose visual form and ambition evolve together.
The Spot takes first place because his transformation makes the movie’s central visual idea serve character and plot at once. His spots begin as a source of slapstick, then become portals that can reshape a fight, a city and eventually a multiverse. Jason Schwartzman voices him with an initially awkward insecurity that makes his growing confidence unsettling. The villain’s resentment also mirrors a superhero story’s often invisible collateral damage: a hero’s victory can leave someone else furious and forgotten. Unlike the first film’s Kingpin, the Spot becomes more dangerous over time, which gives Across the Spider-Verse a compelling long-term antagonist.
His comic design, evolving abilities and personal grievance make him the franchise’s most inventive threat.
Who should watch: Ideal for viewers who enjoy villains whose powers, motives and visual identity change as the story grows.
Where to watch: Check JustWatch UK for current options.
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Conclusion
The Spider-Verse villains work because they challenge Miles in different ways. Kingpin asks whether grief can justify risking other lives. The Prowler makes danger personal, while Liv Octavius turns an iconic foe into a new screen character. The Spot begins as a joke and grows into a multiverse threat, so his visual design and character arc reinforce one another. Supporting enemies such as Scorpion, Tombstone and the Vulture give the worlds texture without needing the same depth as the central antagonists.
The Spot earns the top spot for his evolving powers, comic design and growing sense of grievance. Kingpin remains a powerful emotional antagonist, and the Prowler has one of the most affecting connections to Miles. The remaining villains each contribute a distinct kind of danger, from corporate experimentation to alternate-universe spectacle. If you have not watched both films recently, revisit them and pay attention to how the animation introduces a villain before dialogue explains them. In Spider-Verse, a silhouette, a sound cue or a shift in colour can tell you what kind of threat is coming.
Revisiting the films after reading the list can make the antagonists’ first appearances even more rewarding. Watch how sound, colour and silhouette introduce a threat before the plot explains its history, then consider how each villain changes Miles’s understanding of responsibility. The strongest enemies in this universe are memorable because they challenge both his abilities and the choices he makes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the main villain in Into the Spider-Verse?
Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin, is the main antagonist. He uses a collider in an attempt to reach alternate dimensions and undo a personal loss.
Who is the main villain in Across the Spider-Verse?
The Spot becomes the central antagonist as the sequel progresses. His portals allow him to travel between dimensions, and his conflict with Miles grows increasingly personal.
Is Liv Octavius the same as Doctor Octopus?
Liv Octavius is an alternate-universe version of Doctor Octopus in Into the Spider-Verse. This list separates her specific portrayal from the broader Doctor Octopus character concept.
Who is the Prowler in Into the Spider-Verse?
The Prowler is Aaron Davis, Miles Morales’s uncle, who works as one of Kingpin’s masked enforcers. That identity makes the character reveal especially painful for Miles.
Why is the Spot more powerful in Across the Spider-Verse?
He learns to control and expand the portals across his body, moving from small openings to travel between universes. His growing ability raises the stakes of the sequel.
Is the Vulture in Across the Spider-Verse the same version as other movies?
The film presents an alternate-universe version with a different visual style. Spider-Verse’s multiverse can contain distinct versions of familiar characters.
Is Alchemax a villain in the Spider-Verse films?
Alchemax is a corporation whose technology and experiments help create the collider crisis. It functions as an institutional antagonist rather than a single character.
Which Spider-Verse villain is most connected to Miles?
The Prowler has the closest family connection because the villain is Miles’s uncle Aaron. Kingpin is also central to Miles’s first major test as Spider-Man.
Do I need to watch both movies before reading this ranking?
The list discusses spoilers from both Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse, so watching them first will preserve the major reveals.
Where can I watch the Spider-Verse films in the UK?
Use the JustWatch UK links in the villain entries to check current streaming, rental and purchase availability.
More Places to Find Great Movies and TV Shows
Sony Pictures provides official details about Into the Spider-Verse, and Sony Pictures has information about the sequel. IMDb is useful for cast and release details, while Rotten Tomatoes gathers reviews and JustWatch UK checks current viewing options.
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