Even early in its run dating back to the 1960s, Spider-Man had one of the best galleries of rogue villains in all of comics. That being the case, Marvel decided to team up with a group of them to try and defeat Spidey together in “The Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #1, where the Sinister Six was revealed to the world. The original lineup consisted of Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, Vulture, Sandman, Electro, and Doctor Octopus, who was the de facto leader of the group.
The legendary duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are credited with creating the group, but they’ve been a mainstay on the pages of Marvel Comics for decades now. Admittedly, the roster has changed a lot over the years, with Hobgoblin, Venom, Lizard., Chameleon, Tombstone, and many more having also joined the team at various times. Essentially, if you can get six villains who hate Spider-Man together, you have the Sinister Six.
This gang of villains have been at the center of some of the greatest “Spider-Man” storylines ever released, including “Revenge of the Sinister Six,” “Ends of the Earth,” and “The Death of Spider-Man.” While many of the villains associated with the team have, individually, made their way to the movies, never have six of them united to take down a movie version of Spider-Man. That’s about to change with “Beyond the Spider-Verse,” and it’s taken us a long time to get there.