Merge:Sinister Six

The Sinister Six are a group of supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe, who serve as a collection of Spider-Man's greatest foes. The original incarnation of the Sinister Six was organized by Doctor Octopus and appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1965).

Original Sinister Six
After suffering three defeats in a row from the wall crawler, Doc Ock realised he required assistance from others in order to defeat Spider-Man. He got in touch with every known supervillain Spider-Man had crossed paths with and only five responded: The airborne assassin Vulture, the electrifying Electro, wild Kraven the Hunter, illusion master Mysterio (Quentin Beck) and the dangerous Sandman. Knowing he'd never be able to keep the team together for long, Doctor Octopus quickly formulated a battle plan that would give each of the villains personal glory and Spider-Man an early death. Each individual member of the Sinister Six would battle Spider-Man in a carefully chosen location, until the point where the wall-crawler was no more. Not every supervillain answered to Doctor Octopus' call, including Doctor Doom (who was busy trying to destroy the Fantastic Four) and the Green Goblin who wanted to destroy Spider-Man on his own.

Spider-Man himself had his own problems, as he had somehow lost his powers and prepared to return to normal life as a teenager. While blaming himself for the death of his Uncle Ben, Spidey lost his balance and fell down the side of a building, landing and clinging to a flagpole. As Peter returned to his normal life as a student and a freelance photographer, he was unaware of the fact that the Sinister Six realised the Daily Bugle secretary Betty Brant played a large role in Spider-Man's life and kidnapped her, along with an innocent bystander - Aunt May. It was then left to the Vulture to spill the beans to J. Jonah Jameson, warning him to inform Spider-Man that Betty was being held hostage along with Aunt May and if he wanted to see them alive, he'd have to battle the Sinister Six.

Despite not having his powers, Peter put on his Spider-Man costume and went to fight Electro at an electrical plant. During the battle, Peter somehow regained his superpowers (It was speculated to be a mental thing, caused by his own self-loathing for the loss of his uncle, which he got over when facing a life-or-death situation) and easily defeated Electro. Spidey then battled against Kraven- who confronted him with some wild cats- and defeated this foe too. After defeating Mysterio, Sandman and the Vulture, Spidey went up against Doc Ock, who lured him into an enormous fishbowl. The two foes battled and Spider-Man was victorious.

Later versions
Many years later, the villains all escaped prison and went to get revenge on the wall-crawler. However, times had changed as Kraven had committed suicide, so the Hobgoblin took his place. A variation known as the Sinister Seven was formed by Mysterio to fight Kaine, a defective clone of Spider-Man that was killing villains, including Doctor Octopus and the Grim Hunter (Kraven's son). Eventually Sandman and Mysterio II (the original had died) formed a new version, with Venom temporarily replacing Doc Ock. The Sinister Six were defeated again (Ironically, Venom subsequently went on to attack the various members of the Sinister Six, nearly killing the Sandman and badly injuring Electro and Kraven before he and his symbiote were briefly separated from each other).

Sinister Twelve
In Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, had been unmasked to the public and imprisoned after losing a battle to Spider-Man. Defeated but unbowed, Osborn concocted a fiendish contingency plan. He contacted a group of supervillains who also bore grudges against Spider-Man, and all of them had been financed by Osborn's fortunes for years. (It was revealed that most supervillains have corporate funding in the Marvel Universe) Eager for revenge, the villains agreed to band together, and the Sinister Twelve was formed.

The Sinister Twelve was the largest gathering of Spider-Man's enemies of all time. The major villains not part of the Twelve were either deceased (Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter), retired (Molten Man, Hobgoblin), or were not considered worthy of Osborn's attention (Rhino). The only notable absentee was Doctor Octopus, who was at the time in police custody and subjected to mind-control drugs for reasons at the time unrevealed.

Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, was the de facto leader of the Twelve while Osborn was in prison, and it was he who kidnapped Peter Parker's Aunt May and threatened to kill her if Spider-Man did not help Osborn escape from jail. A desperate Spider-Man, with help from the Black Cat, broke Osborn out, only to be confronted with the Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Chameleon, Lizard, Hydro-Man, Shocker, Hammerhead, Boomerang, and Tombstone. Osborn, now in the guise of the Green Goblin, introduced them as the Sinister Twelve. The final member of the group, Scorpion, shocked everybody present when he arrived, revealing that he had bonded with Eddie Brock's alien symbiote, becoming the new Venom. Although Osborn was displeased with Gargan's new power, he nevertheless watched with glee as the assembled villains converged on the hopelessly outnumbered Spider-Man and Black Cat.

Despite the odds, Spider-Man continued to fight back in a heroic last stand. Just when all seemed lost, salvation arrived in the form of Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, Yellowjacket and the Fantastic Four, who struck back at the astonished villains. Spider-Man's wife, Mary Jane Watson, had called S.H.I.E.L.D. to aid him, as she knew he was headed into a trap. A furious Green Goblin rocketed away and kidnapped her, and Spider-Man pursued him, fighting off Venom, who was trying to stop him. Spider-Man and the Goblin clashed once again upon a bridge (not the one where Gwen Stacy was killed), this time with Mary Jane's life at stake.

Finally Osborn gave a vital clue as to Aunt May's whereabouts, and was defeated by a combination of being shot by Mary Jane, struck by lightning, and attacked by Doctor Octopus, who was brainwashed by the police into trying to kill him. The Goblin fell into the river below, and Aunt May was found and saved.

In the aftermath, Peter received a pre-sent letter from Osborn, thanking him for all the "excitement" their rivalry has provided over the years and telling him to rest easy until they meet again. The rest of the Sinister Twelve were subdued by the heroes and arrested; Gargan ended up, ironically, in Osborn's old cell.

Civil War's Sinister Six
A new version of the Sinister Six apparantly banded together during the Civil War but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers.

Original line-up

 * Doctor Octopus
 * Electro
 * Kraven the Hunter
 * Mysterio
 * The Sandman
 * The Vulture

Second line-up

 * Doctor Octopus
 * Electro
 * The Hobgoblin II
 * Mysterio
 * The Sandman
 * The Vulture

Mysterio's Sinister Seven

 * Beetle
 * Electro
 * The Hobgoblin II
 * Mysterio
 * Scorpia
 * Shocker
 * The Vulture

Other members

 * An alien called Gog (A monster originally from the Lost Land. Spidey encountered him in an early comic, where Gog abducted Gwen Stacy)
 * Scorpion (Mac Gargan)
 * Venom
 * Kraven the Hunter (Alyosha Kravinoff)
 * Lizard

The Sinister Twelve

 * Green Goblin
 * Vulture
 * Scorpion (Mac Gargan) (as Venom)
 * Chameleon
 * Lizard
 * Sandman
 * Electro
 * Hydro-Man
 * Hammerhead
 * Shocker
 * Tombstone
 * Boomerang

Civil War's Sinister Six
Unconfirmed 3 other members
 * Doctor Octopus
 * Lizard
 * Shocker

Alternate versions
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe an Ultimate Six consisting of The Sandman, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, and Green Goblin (who tried to recruit Spider-Man as their sixth member) went up against Nick Fury and the Ultimates after the villains escaped the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison they were held in after each had been defeated by Spider-Man and arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. for illegally altering their genetics codes. Spider-Man temporarily fought for The Green Goblin, believing he had kidnapped Aunt May. When Captain America informed Spider-Man otherwise, Spider-Man turned and helped defeat the Ultimate Six. Whether they wil return is unknown.

In the Age of Apocalypse 10th anniversary limited series, Mister Sinister assembles his own group dubbed the Sinister Six. This group is unrelated to the more established lineup of criminals, however. It includes Cloak, Dagger, Sonique, Sauron, and Phoenix.

In the MC2 universe there was a group of Spider-Girl villians (Dragon King, Funny Face, Killerwatt, Mr. Abnormal, Raptor and Saberclaw) that banded together to defeat her, they called themselves the Savage Six.

In other media
In the 1994 animated series, the Sinister Six was called the Insidious Six. Fox Kids censors apparently felt that the word Sinister sounded too menacing for a children's program (even though another child's program, X-Men: The Animated Series had Mr. Sinister as a villain). The Insidious Six was formed in the beginning of Season 2 as a two-part episode premiere and it was created by the Kingpin to settle off his debt with his enemy, Silvermane, and consisted of Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Chameleon, Rhino, Scorpion, and Shocker to kill Spider-Man. Unfortunately, their attempt failed. The Insidious Six was formed yet again in the Six Forgotten Warriors five-part episode in Season 5, near the end of the series, by the Kingpin to help him find out what a device called the Doomsday device would do, and due to Mysterio's death when he died in the explosion of his own studio in the Season 4 episode The Haunting of Mary Jane, the Vulture replaced Mysterio. The team was disbanded yet again after the Doomsday device was destroyed by Spider-Man and the five remaining members of the Six Forgotten Warriors in the 1940s and they would never, ever be banded again for any reason (apparently, the show was cancelled seven episodes later but if the show continued for a little longer, the Insidious Six would have been formed again).

In the early 90s Capcom released the NES games "Spider-man vesus the Sinister Six". This version of the Six consisted of Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture, Hobgoblin, and Doctor Octopus. Like the original storyline, Spider-man would have to face each of the villains in a location of their choosing, designed to augment their own powers.