Do We Really See the Sinister Six on Screen?

A lot has already been said about the new Spider-Man film.  There are reviews galore about the special guest appearances, and the cameos, and the “surprise” stars who show up.  This review is not about that.  This review is about the villains and antagonists of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

To discuss our villainous bad guys properly, there must be discussion of the film’s details, thus, yes…there are SPOILERS  here. Just to be sure everyone understands this. If you are reading this right now and have NOT seen the Spider-Man movie, go see it first, and then read this. You can thank me later.

Ok, on with the show.  If you have seen the movie, you know that due to some inter-dimensional, multiversal, hocus-pocus by Doctor Strange, an unintentional rift opens up that pulls in heroes and villains from other universes.  Specifically, from the other two Sony films Spider-Man universes plus at least one other, as we realized in the after-credits scene.  We have villains from the Toby McGuire films (er, I mean Universe), in the form of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman.  We also get villains from Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Verse, as we encounter the Lizard and Electro.  In the end-credits scene we also realize that Eddie Brock, AKA Venom, was also pulled into the MCU-Verse.  

A lot of fans were hoping to see a villain team-up that could be considered a version of The Sinister Six, but in this movie, only five villains teamed to battle Spider-Man.  However, in our opinion, there WAS a sixth villain, and it was so obvious as to be subtle.

But first, what was the original Sinister Six group in the comics?  In the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (January 1964), Doctor Octopus gathers together a group of villains who have all seen defeat at the hands of the Wall-Crawler.  Joining Doc Ock are Electro, Sandman, the Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, and Mysterio.

The Sinister Six

As we examine all three Spider-Man franchises, we can identify Electro, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman from the original comics version of the Sinister Six.  The Vulture is in the MCU already, but he, played superbly by Michael “Batman” Keaton, is presumably still in prison, and thus unavailable.  Kraven has not appeared in any movies so far, and Mysterio died in the last MCU Spider-Man movie (or so we are led to believe).  

We also have another antagonist of Peter Parker in the film, though to call him a super-villain would be a stretch.  We, of course, are talking about J. Jonah Jameson, the media personality who effectively calls out Spider-Man’s secret identity, which is the cause of the whole plot-line that leads Peter to seek out Dr. Strange’s mystic help in the first place, and then leads to all of this multiversal carnage.  Can we count J. Jonah Jameson as our sixth villain to round out our Sinister Six?  Much as we would like to, JJJ does not rise to the same level of villainy as Green Goblin.

Looking back on the original comics lineup of the Sinister Six, we have not yet mentioned Mysterio. Wait, he died in the last movie, right?  As far as we know, yes.  BUT, he is the first villain we actually see in Spider-man: No Way Home, as Jameson plays the video that Mysterio recorded prior to his death, in which he, Mysterio, reveals that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.  Satisfying though it may be to blame Jameson for the chaos and violence in this film, the blame really belongs to Mysterio.  

The Sinister Six, Enemies of Spider-Man

Mysterio is our sixth member of this multiversal Sinister Six.  Think about it. Mysterio’s whole mode of operation, both in the comics and in the movies, is misdirection and illusion.  In his dying words, he lies and claims Spider-Man is the villain, and is a murderer.  He sets up the grand illusion that Peter Parker is a criminal.  Mysterio’s lies set up the gathering of the villains (though to be fair, that really falls on Peter and Strange for screwing up the forgetfulness spell).  However, Mysterio’s plan was to create an illusion that would ruin Spider-Man’s life.  Fair to say that he succeeded on multiple levels.

There you have it folks, our Sinister Six for the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Mysterio, Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, the Lizard, Electro, and Sandman.

And here is our own post-credits thought:  If Venom (who as we see at the end of the second Venom movie, is connected in a hive-mind like manner to all other Venom symbiotes in the multiverse, and thus was aware that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, then what about Carnage?  The symbiote that created Carnage was at one point connected to the Venom symbiote. Should that mean that the Strange spell that gathered heroes and villains who know Peter Parker is Spider-Man, also brought in Carnage?  Even though Dr. Strange sent all those characters back to their home dimension, we see a spot of black Venom Symbiote left behind when Eddie Brock is sent back. Could something similar have happened to a Carnage symbiote?  We shall see…