16 Spider

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse featured a bunch of Spider-Man variants, and it almost featured 16 villains with interesting designs.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is packed with characters from different Spider-Man universes, and it almost featured even more characters as 16 villains were cut from the movie. The universe of Spider-Man keeps expanding beyond the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and following the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this side of Spider-Man’s universe continued exploring multiversal stories in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Once more led by Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse teamed him up with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to go on a massive multiversal adventure.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse saw Miles and Gwen joining forces to save every universe of Spider-People from The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a scientist-turned-supervillain about to cause a massive disaster. Miles and Gwen met the multiverse’s protectors, led by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), with whom Miles found himself at odds on how they had to confront The Spot. During their mission, Miles and Gwen also met hundreds of Spider-People, but there could have also been a variety of Spider-Man villains in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as a total of 16 villains ended up being cut from this massive multiversal adventure.

In the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse artbook, concept art for 16 villains who didn’t make the cut can be found (via The Direct). First off is Puma, whose real name is Thomas Fireheart, a Native American bred to be a perfect warrior and prophesied to stop a future threat that could destroy the world. Firehart has the ability to transform into a humanoid mountain lion werecat at will, thus his villain name, and he later became the CEO of Fireheart Enterprises as well as a mercenary. Though initially an adversary of Spider-Man, he ended up becoming his ally.

A variant of the villain Chameleon, named Art Deco Chameleon, was also cut from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Chameleon was Spider-Man’s first adversary, and he’s depicted as a master of disguise as he has the ability to impersonate virtually anybody. Chameleon has a connection to another Spider-Man villain: Kraven the Hunter, his half-brother. It’s unknown what would have made Art Deco Chameleon different from Chameleon, besides his more stylish look.

Archibald Dyker was a thug who was mutated by a diamond-powered laser when trying to steal some gems. Dyker ended up with a hard, diamond-like body, and used his new enhanced abilities in his criminal career, taking the name Diamondhead. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s version of Diamondhead certainly gave off the vibe of a thug.

Snake Oil Salesman Hobgoblin is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s variant of the Hobgoblin, a mantle that various Marvel characters have taken, most notably Roderick Kingsley and Ned Leeds. The latter was brainwashed by the former to act as his stand-in and fool everyone into thinking he was the real Hobgoblin. Roderick became this villain after finding the Green Goblin’s secret lair and his weapons, with which he created his own supervillain identity.

Leap-Frog, whose real name is Vincent Patilio, is exactly what the name says: a man using a frog suit that grants him special abilities. Thanks to special boots, Leap-Frog can leap great distances, and the rest of his costume is equipped to keep him safe and track his leaps. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s Leap-Frog design is very costume-y, and it would have been fun to see him even if just as a background character.

Doctor Octopus is one of the most popular Spider-Man villains, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have featured a literal version of the character. In the comics, Doctor Otto Octavius becomes Doctor Octopus after an accidental radiation leak that fused a four-armed apparatus to his body. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have featured a literal Octopus with some mechanical tentacles.

Mysterio, whose real name is Quentin Beck, is a special effects master and stuntman working for a major Hollywood studio, but he saw his career as a dead-end. After a failed attempt to become an actor, Beck used his expertise in illusions to become a criminal, taking the name “Mysterio”. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s Ultimate Mysterio looks very different from Mysterio’s version in Marvel Comics, with a less intimidating design.

Aleksei Sytsevich is a Russian thug who underwent an experimental procedure that gave him an artificial skin covering and superhuman strength. Rhino used these new powers and more to become a successful criminal, but he’s also a dimwitted brute, and though he can create a lot of destruction, he’s also easily deceived. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s Rhino would have had knives stuck on his back and a “Spidey was here” graffiti.

Alistair Smythe is the son of Spencer Smythe, who dedicated his life to eliminating Spider-Man and died as a result of this mission. Alistair inherited his Spider-Slayer legacy and grew to hate Spider-Man. Alistair created a new generation of Spider-Slayers, but his revenge mission resulted in him getting paralyzed from the waist down. Alistair then encased his body in a bio-organic carapace that allowed him to walk again and gave him superpowers. The version of Alistair Smythe in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have been fully robotic.

Grizzly is the mantle that four different characters have taken in the universe of Marvel Comics. The first Grizzly was a wild west villain, the second was an A.I.M. agent, the third one a Spider-Man adversary (Maxwell Markham), and the fourth was a mutant and member of Six Pack. In the comics, Maxwell/Grizzly wears an exoskeleton bear suit, and the design for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a modernized version of it.

Sergei Kravinoff a.k.a. Kraven the Hunter is a Russian immigrant and the son of an aristocrat. He’s a big-game hunter and his goal is to beat Spider-Man in order to prove himself as the world’s greatest hunter and consumes a mystical serum that gives him enhanced strength and slows his aging process. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse almost featured a modernized version of Kraven, with a big tattoo across his whole torso, a necklace made of fangs, and a black jacket.

Max Dillon was a lineman for an electric company who was struck by lightning while working on a power line, which gave him superpowers that revolve around controlling electricity. Dillon turned to a life of crime after acquiring these powers. Electro has gone through various redesigns over the years, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have given him a fully cartoonish look, very different from his look in the comics, but it’s a very fun look.

The Spider Slayers were created by Spencer Smythe with the purpose of capturing and killing Spider-Man. The Spider-Slayers were financially backed by J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have seen a version of J. Jonah Jameson’s Spider-Slayer Mark I very much like the one in the comics.

Mooseterio is an anthropomorphic moose and the Larval Earth version of Mysterio, and he was seen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in the Spider-Society’s jail. A Mysterio/moose combination looks as cartoonish as it sounds, and the design in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse artbook kept that vibe.

Fred Myers was a baseball player who was drummed out of the major leagues for accepting bribes. Myers was contacted by the international criminal organization Secret Empire due to the potential of his skills, and he was given a costume and an arsenal of deadly boomerangs, thus taking the name “Boomerang”. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse would have seen a cavewoman version of Boomerang.

Screwball is described as the world’s first “live-streaming super-villain” and commits crimes with the purpose of getting more hits on her website. Screwball’s past is unknown, but she first came across Spider-Man when he was tracing the “Spider-Tracer Killer”, and later posed as the web-slinger for a video. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s Screwball design is reminiscent of the one in the comics, only that this version has a TV on her head.

Source: The Direct