Professional wrestling and Spider-Man have been intertwined ever since 1962, when Peter Parker tried out his new identity as Spider-Man at an in-ring challenge against a bruiser named Crusher Hogan.
Terri Schwartz at IGN only emphasized the similarities between pro-wrestling storylines and Spider-Man adventures when she tested Tom Holland’s ability to tell the difference between sports-entertainment characters and spider-foes, noting correctly that sometimes they can share a name, like Rhino (or Sandman, though his persona is quite different in each medium). And part of her quiz did feature Arachnaman, World Championship Wrestling’s ill-fated attempt at a Spidey ripoff who shot party popper streamers from his hands.
So it got us thinking: which wrestlers besides the ones mentioned above would make great Spider-Man villains, with few to no tweaks in their established characters? Plenty, actually.
Wrestlers as Spider-Man Villains
Here are a few examples of wrestlers who could seamlessly transition into Spider-Man villains:
- Goldust: A human being painted to look like a cross between an Oscar statuette and a German expressionist villain, he obsessively quoted movies and stalked his opponents like a deranged suitor. It’s not hard to imagine comic-book version of the character as an out-of-work actor hired to be a “living statue” at a movie awards party.
- Skinner: The “Skinner” character seems like he’d be a good ol’ boy hunter upset that a Commie named Sergei Kravinoff, a.k.a. Kraven the Hunter, has the best reputation for catching the most dangerous prey.
- Battle Kat: What if he fell in a vat of radioactive waste, and the mask fused to his head, also giving him the power of a sonic meow?
- Ted DiBiase (Million Dollar Man): Like the Kingpin, Ted DiBiase can fight extremely well if he has to. But his real powers are those of capitalism and influence.
- Adam Bomb: Billed as being from Three Mile Island, Adam Bomb wore bright yellow and red contacts and a “bleeding” tongue to further the gimmick that he gained his powers from radiation.
- The Great Muta: This magician with a creepy mask didn’t last much more than a week on TV, but his special power is notable: the ability to magically remove his opponent’s underwear.
- The Ultimate Warrior: Consider that in a comic book written by Warrior himself, the face-painted champion beat up Santa Claus, stripped him naked, and chained him up before usurping his role.
- Kane: An emotionally scarred boy who was nearly burned to death by his brother and grew into adulthood with delusions of disfigurement, the power to conjure fire, and a penchant for burying people alive.
Obviously there are many more possibilities; these selections were just my favorites. What wrestling foes would you like to see roaming Spidey’s world?
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Marvel Legends: The Beginning of an Era
Marvel Legends is a line of 6" (six-inch) action figures that began in 2002. The Marvel Legends line was originally intended to be a spinoff line from Spider-Man Classics line of action figures, but soon became widely popular and massive in span.
Toy Biz originally included a comic or mini-poster as well as a display stand with each figure. Beginning with Series 8 (and later in Series 11 and 13), they also began a new craze, including a piece of a larger scale action figure with each figure in a series.
Build-A-Figure (or BAF) allowed the collector to build an 18-inch action figure that wouldn't normally be able to be sold due to packaging size issues. This trend seemed to be a big hit, and continued in Series 10 (the Sentinel series).
However, for unknown reasons, it stopped in Series 11, instead including a type of vehicle relevant to each character rather than a BAF piece. When Hasbro took over the license in 2007, they started right away including new Build-A-Figures.
However, another variant didn't surface again until as late as Series 6, where variants of Cable, Phoenix, and Series 3's Wolverine were released. Since then, almost every series has contained at least one variant or 'chase figure' (for example, the Series 5 Red Skull is not on the back of the Series 5 packaging).
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Some series released a completely different character as a variant. This was the line that started it all.
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Key Marvel Legends Series
The Toy Biz Marvel Legends line ran for sixteen series, with releases ranging from extremely popular characters like Captain America and Iron Man to niche and fan-favorite character like Deathlok and Vision.
Here's a glimpse into some of the notable series:
- Series 1: Includes Spider-Man with a magnetic stand with brick wall and J. Jonah Jameson accessory.
- Series 2: Features Daredevil with nunchucks, church window base and copy of Daredevil #164.
- Series 3: Showcases Mr. Sinister with a Sentinel leg display stand and copy of X-Men (Vol. 2) #4.
- Series 6: Includes Ghost Rider with a motorcycle, removable chain and copy of Ghost Rider (Vol. 2) #1.
- Series 7: Presents Thor with Mjolnir, base, copy of Mighty Thor.
- Series 15: The M.O.D.O.K. series.
Build-A-Figure (BAF) Series
The Build-A-Figure concept revolutionized the Marvel Legends line, allowing collectors to assemble larger figures by collecting individual pieces from each figure in a series.
Notable BAF series include:
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- Series 9: Apocalypse
- Series 10: Sentinel
- Walmart Exclusive 2009: Giant Man
- A.I.M. Soldier, Scientist and Supreme
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, Maria Hill and Sharon Carter
- Mantis (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)
- Cosmo the Spacedog (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)
These series were pretty short running. Ultimate Planet Hulk was originally released with two green arms.
Spider-Man Classics: A Collector's Overview
Spider-Man Classics is a term used by collectors most commonly to refer to several action figure lines produced by Toy Biz. The lines focus on Spider-Man and his allies and enemies.
The lines have over 17 series, with dozens of Spider-Man incarnations and many of his famous enemies. The toyline lasted 5 years starting from 2001 to 2005. A year later, ToyBiz released a new series titled "The Amazing Spider-Man".
That same year, by changing the license from Marvel at the hands of Hasbro, they released Spider-Man Origins. The Spider-Man Classics line was released in 2001, and was the first 6" scale line of its kind to be produced by ToyBiz with highly detailed and articulated figures.
Toybiz's ambitions for the line were intended to aim figures towards adult collectors as well as kids. The line consisted of two series plus several exclusives and had clamshell packaging inclusive of a comic book copy or poster significant to the figure.
With the series' success, it was spun-off into Marvel Legends.
Hasbro's Spider-Man Line
Spider-Man is a line by Hasbro that seems to focus more on children.
Many of these Spider-Man costumes have not been worn in the comic books.
Examples of Spider-Man Figures
Here are some examples of Spider-Man figures from various lines:
- Super-poseable wall-crawling (based on the art of J. Scott Campbell)
- Spider-Man (Peter B. Parker) from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Spider-Man and Spinneret (Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Vol. 1))
These figures showcase the evolution of Spider-Man collectibles and the diverse interpretations of the character over the years.