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Sinister Six (Earth-616)

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It has been suggested that this article should be split into:
Sinister Six (Earth-616) and Sinister Six (Superior Foes) (Earth-616)
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User: MysteryScooby
Date: September 13, 2021 19:02:00
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Each of us almost beat him, all alone! Working together, how can we fail??

—Kraven the Hunter[source]

The Sinister Six are a team of super-villains who have joined together on multiple occasions to try and defeat their shared nemesis, Spider-Man.[10][11] The group typically bands together for a short time to try and reach their common goal, then breaks apart when they are defeated and later are reformed under the same name when different foes want to attempt a group effort again.[12]

The members of the team change with each reformation of the team, with Doctor Octopus, Electro, and the Vulture being the most frequent reoccurring members.[13] Many derivative groups have formed using similar names and goals, including the "Sinister Seven,"[14] the "Sinister Twelve,"[6] and the "Savage Six."[15]

History

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 642 John Romita Sr Variant Textless

The Original Sinister Six[]

After suffering two defeats from the wall-crawling, web-slinging super-hero Spider-Man,[16] Doctor Octopus realized that he required assistance from others in order to defeat Spider-Man. He got in touch with every known super-villain that Spider-Man had already crossed paths with and only five of them responded: the airborne assassin the Vulture, the electrifying Electro, the wild Kraven the Hunter, the mysterious Master of Illusions Mysterio, and the shapeshifting Sandman. Knowing that he would 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 hopefully 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 Web-Slinger was no more.

Spider-Man himself had his own problems, however, as he had somehow lost his spider-powers and prepared to return to normal life as an ordinary teenager. While blaming himself for the death of his uncle, Ben Parker, Spider-Man lost his balance and fell down the side of a building, landing on and clinging onto 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 realized the Daily Bugle's secretary Betty Brant played a large role in Spider-Man's life and kidnapped her, along with an innocent bystander - Peter's aunt, May Parker.

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 ever wanted to see them alive again, he would have to battle the Sinister Six.

Despite not having his spider-powers, Peter put on his Spider-Man costume and went to fight Electro first at an electrical plant. During the battle, Peter somehow regained his spider-powers (it was speculated by him later to be a psychological block 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. Spider-Man then battled Kraven the Hunter, who confronted him with some big cats, and defeated him also. After defeating Mysterio and his android duplicates of the original X-Men, the Sandman (who trapped the Wall-Crawler and himself in an indestructible airless chamber), and the Vulture, Spider-Man went up against Doctor Octopus, who lured him into an enormous fishbowl. The two foes battled, and Spider-Man was victorious. All six super-villains were subsequently sent to prison.[10]

The Return of the Sinister Six[]

Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 337

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. The group was organized once again by Doctor Octopus, who claimed they would try again to defeat Spider-Man. However, this was a trick, part of a larger plan by which Octopus alone would be the master of the world by extorting cocaine addicts. The Sandman, having at this point in his career reformed, aided Spider-Man in defeating the Sinister Six, ultimately stopping Octopus's plans to conquer the world.[11]

Revenge of the Sinister Six[]

A few months later, the group reunited once more in a bid to take over the world using alien weaponry. The Sandman's foster family was hit with a bomb, and the Sandman, believing that Octopus had attacked them as punishment for betraying him the last time that the group had formed, joined the other four members of the Sinister Six in a plan to take revenge on Octopus. Despite his grief, however, the Sandman contacted Spider-Man and asked him to shadow the group as insurance against him being double-crossed or any other unexpected surprises.

By this point, Octopus had already re-obtained his lost Adamantium arms (by killing a wealthy and unethical elderly individual who offered to sell them to him) and stealing the old man's robot soldiers and weapons. Octopus easily defeated the other five members of the Six with them, then zapped the Sandman with a weapon that transformed his living sand body into a solid glass statue (Octopus, however, was apparently not responsible for the bombing of the Sandman's foster family, which was apparently done by the other four members of the Six in order to coerce the Sandman into joining their revenge scheme; in addition, Octopus had not only anticipated the Six's plan to reassemble and take revenge upon him, but had deliberately facilitated it, even to the point of secretly paying Electro to help ensure that the Six reassembled so that he could coerce the other four members into aiding him in his scheme).

The assembled Sinister Six then went off on a rampage, stealing advanced weapons and technology from several sources, including raiding an alien dimension for advanced weaponry and attacking a facility specializing in cybernetics, in the process having several successful encounters beating Spider-Man, the Hulk (who was in his Merged Hulk alter at the time), Deathlok the Demolisher, Solo, and others (before acquiring more advanced alien weapons, the Hulk trounced the other members of the Six, then got stomped upon by Octopus because Octopus had his Adamantium arms).

Merely defeated in his initial encounter with the Six, Spider-Man was left with hairline fractures on one arm and one leg, but was able to pursue them with medical attention, including cybernetic casts. Eventually, Spider-Man and several other super-heroes confronted the villains as they were seizing a Hydra base to gain access to deadly, world-devastating weapons (during the Six's raiding assaults on various locations, the group engaged in wanton mass murder, simply exterminating anyone who got in their way, and shocking Spider-Man in the process as, despite their lack of scruples, these particular villains did not generally kill people wantonly). The last member of Octopus's Sinister Six was revealed to be Gog, and a combat between members of the super-hero community summoned by Spider-Man (including the Fantastic Four, Nova, the Hulk, and Solo) broke out, ending when the broken-glass body of the Sandman shredded Doctor Octopus, nearly killing him.[17]

The Sinister Seven plotting against Kaine

The Sinister Seven plotting against Kaine

The Sinister Seven[]

A variation of the group known as the Sinister Seven was formed by the Hobgoblin to fight Kaine, a defective clone of Spider-Man that was killing super-villains, including Doctor Octopus and the Grim Hunter (Kraven the Hunter's son). The remaining members of the Six (the Hobgoblin, Electro, Mysterio, and the Vulture) first gathered in the aftermath of Octopus's death.[18] They soon reassembled with the Shocker, the Beetle, and Scorpia to actively hunt down Kaine. In the meantime, however, Kaine was already hunting them. Peter Parker (in the Scarlet Spider costume) was forced to intervene and prevent any of his enemies from killing each other.[14]

Another Return of the Sinister Six[]

Doctor Octopus was eventually resurrected and remained on bad terms with his former teammates. Eventually, the Sandman put together another version of the Six for the sole purpose of killing both Doctor Octopus and his ally, Senator Stewart Ward. When Spider-Man intervened, they were forced to add an extra member to their roster as a replacement for Doctor Octopus: the enraged Venom. The Six were defeated again (ironically, Venom subsequently went on to attack the various members of the Six, nearly killing the Sandman and badly injuring Electro and Kraven the Hunter before he and his symbiote were briefly separated from each other).[12][19]

The Sinister Twelve[]

A few years later, Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, had been unmasked publicly and imprisoned after losing a battle to Spider-Man.[20] Defeated but unbowed, Osborn concocted a fiendish contingency plan. He contacted a group of super-villains who also bore grudges against Spider-Man, and all of them had been financed by Osborn's fortune for years.[21] Eager for revenge, the villains agreed to band together, and the Sinister Twelve was formed.[6]

The Sinister Twelve

The Sinister Twelve

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.[21] A desperate Spider-Man, with the Black Cat's help, broke Osborn out, only to be confronted by the Vulture, the Sandman, Electro, the Chameleon, the Lizard, Hydro-Man, the Shocker, Hammerhead, Boomerang, and Tombstone. Osborn, now in the guise of the Green Goblin again, introduced them as the Sinister Twelve. The final member of the group, the Scorpion, shocked everybody present when he arrived, revealing that he had bonded with Eddie Brock's alien symbiote, becoming the new Venom.[6] Although Osborn was displeased with Gargan's new identity and powers, he nevertheless watched with glee as the assembled villains converged on the hopelessly outnumbered Spider-Man and Black Cat.

Despite the odds, Spider-Man and the Black Cat fought back in a heroic last stand. Before the two could be killed, however, salvation arrived in the form of Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, Yellowjacket, and the Fantastic Four, who struck back at the villains (Spider-Man's wife, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, had called S.H.I.E.L.D. to aid him, rightly fearing that he was heading into a trap). A furious Green Goblin rocketed away on his Goblin Glider and kidnapped her, and Spider-Man pursued him, fighting off Venom, who was trying to stop him.[22]

Spider-Man and the Goblin clashed once again upon another New York bridge, 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 had been brainwashed by the police into trying to kill him at midnight. The Goblin and Doctor Octopus both fell into the river below, and Aunt May was found and saved. Octopus was found to be still alive, although he was missing two months of his whole life that he could not remember at all, but the Goblin's body was never recovered no matter how many times the police trawled the river.

In the aftermath, Peter received a pre-sent letter from Osborn that was written before his disappearance, thanking him for all of the "excitement" that their rivalry had provided over the years and telling him to rest easy until they met again. The rest of the Sinister Twelve were subdued by the other super-heroes and arrested; Gargan ended up, ironically, in Osborn's old cell.[23]

Sinister Six (Earth-616) and Secret Avengers (Civil War) (Earth-616) from Civil War Vol 1 3 001

Civil War[]

A new version of the Sinister Six apparently banded together during the Superhuman Civil War, but were stopped by Captain America and his Secret Avengers.[24]

Ends of the Earth[]

Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four later fought Doctor Octopus and his macro-Octobot army. During that time, he had assembled another version of the Sinister Six, consisting of the Chameleon (who was posing as Steve Rogers), Electro, Mysterio, the Rhino, and the Sandman in a plot to slip the macro-Octobot army into a military base and detonate them.[25]

Faking an attack in another place, Doctor Octopus managed to catch the attention of the Future Foundation so that he could enter the Baxter Building and steal some important pieces of technology.[26]

And, well, there's a number of guys I've been getting ready for-- for some time actually. Six of 'em.

—Spider-Man
Sinister Six (Earth-616) from Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2 681 0001

As part of Doctor Octopus's final plan, the Six defeated the group of genius super-villains called the Intelligencia and stole their Zero Cannon, a powerful weapon which could change Earth's gravity field to send specific objects into outer space.[27]

Sometime later, Doctor Octopus, in his plan to be remembered as the man who saved Earth, offered the chance to stop the greenhouse effect as well as speed it up, using a special device connected with different satellites in Earth's orbit.[28]

Disguised as Vice President Al Gore, the Chameleon tried to accelerate the decision of the world's leaders about the matter, but his true identity was uncovered by Spider-Man, who interrupted the scene along with the Avengers. When the Chameleon was freed, he arrived in the Mediterranean on a meeting with the rest of the team. The Avengers followed them and arrived, fighting the Six, but they were all defeated by the villains; the price of the battle was Electro, who was sent into outer space by Thor.[29]

Using an explosion as a distraction, Silver Sable saved both Spider-Man and the Black Widow. When they tried to get to one of Octopus's manufacturing plants of satellites, they defeated the Sandman, but Octopus asked for help to all nations, due to his position in the matter, to capture Spider-Man.[30]

While Spider-Man and his allies continued to disarm Doctor Octopus's bases, defeating the Rhino in the process, they were attacked by S.H.I.E.L.D. forces before they could capture him and were forced to flee. Octopus asked for help of other super-villains to watch over his facilities all over the world, but even after Spider-Man tracked down the last one, Octopus revealed that he was going to destroy the world anyway rather than save it. He activated his Octavian Lens, burning up half of the world, including Silver Sable's country, Symkaria. But this was revealed to be a trick of Mysterio's, who only burned a small portion of a city in Skymaria, while the Chameleon used a robot to fight Spider-Man. After they were defeated, Mysterio was convinced by Spider-Man to help him catch Octopus at his base in Guatemala, but Octopus used the mind-controlled Avengers as his new Sinister Six.

Spider-Man, Sable and the Widow managed to defeat the Avengers, then he and Sable headed to Octopus's underwater base. They were faced by the Rhino while the base started to flood; he trapped Sable and left Spider-Man with two choices: continue to fight him in order to save Sable from drowning (but Octopus would still activate the lenses) or let him drown himself and Sable but stop Octopus. After leaving Sable to her death at her request, Spider-Man managed to destroy Octopus's arms and equipment before taking his foe away to a doctor.[31]

The Superior Foes of Spider-Man[]

So what do we got, you ask? Well, let’s see — there’s the pretty boy driver — Overdrive. A pretty girl thief — Beetle. The new one. An advance guy who specializes in being the pain in the butt... in a room full of pains in the butt. Speed Demon. Obviously. Oh, right. And a coward. You always gotta have one of those. Thanks, Shocker. Together, we’re the new Sinister Six. And yes, I am aware there are only five of us, thank you.

—Boomerang
Superior Foes of Spider-Man Vol 1 4 Textless

Months after that event, Boomerang and some other super-villains decided to form a group as the "all-new" Sinister Six. They fought Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus's mind in Spider-Man's body at the time), who captured one of their members, the Living Brain, reprogramming it to serve him.[1] Boomerang continued to call the team the "Sinister Six" in absence of a sixth member, reasoning "what's a better deal than being the Sinister Six, but only splitting the money five ways?" Boomerang directed the team on various heists for his own self-serving ulterior motives, at one point recruiting a small army of super-villains with the help of the Owl's connections and calling it the "Sinister Sixteen."[5] The team eventually broke up after Boomerang had thoroughly screwed over everyone, including himself.[32]

Swarm's All-New Sinister Six[]

Sinister Six (Earth-616) from Spider-Man and the X-Men Vol 1 4 0001

A new incarnation of the Sinister Six appeared, dubbing themselves the "All-New Sinister Six", consisting of 8-Ball, Delilah, Killer Shrike, the Melter, and the Squid, with Swarm as the leader. This incarnation was fought by Spider-Man and the students of the Jean Grey School and ended with Swarm being defeated by Hellion, causing the rest of the Six to surrender.[2]

Spider-Man Vol 2 234 Textless

The Iron Spider's Sinister Six[]

After obtaining a recolored version of the Iron Spider Armor, Aaron Davis formed the latest incarnation of the Sinister Six, consisting of Bombshell, the new Electro, the original Hobgoblin, the Sandman, and the Spot. Their objective was to carry out a heist, stealing a decommissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier[33] to sell it to Lucia von Bardas.[34] Despite their alliance, Davis' associates doubted both him and the Sandman; Electro and the Spot even considered betraying him and splitting up the money between themselves.[35] The Hobgoblin also attempted to go his own way, and made a deal with one of the Helicarrier's Hulked-Out guards to sell out the rest of the team after being caught doing recon.[36]

Davis clashed with his nephew, Miles Morales a.k.a. Spider-Man, when Bombshell attempted to recruit her daughter, Lana, into their enterprise. The Iron Spider confronted Miles and warned him to stay out of the way.[35] After Bombshell forced her daughter to accompany them, the Sinister Six carried out the heist during a small window of time that the Helicarrier was unguarded. Lana tipped off Spider-Man of her location, and he attempted to stop the heist; however, the Helicarrier's Hulked-Out guard returned, since he had been tipped off by the Hobgoblin, which prevented Spider-Man from stopping his uncle. The Helicarrier took off and disappeared using cloaking.[37] On their way to Latveria, the Sandman knocked out the Hobgoblin for selling out the rest of the team. He was then thrown out of the Helicarrier while still unconscious. The Sinister Six's meeting with von Barda was interrupted by Spider-Man and the Champions, who had followed them to Latveria. The Champions defeated both parties involved in the transaction. In the middle of the fight, the Iron Spider and Spider-Man were forced over the edge of the Helicarrier, resulting in Davis' apparent fall to his death. He survived, however, and swore off the criminal life.[34]

Sinister War[]

Sinister Six (Earth-616) from Sinister War Vol 1 1 001

Following Doctor Octopus's return to villainy, he wanted to fill the gaps in his memory that occurred after his deal with the demon-lord Mephisto. A demon called Kindred contacted him and told he could help Octopus in return for him to help the demon in its plans. Kindred gave Octopus a list of five people, who he managed to acquire to help him.[38]

After the Vulture attacked Cage McKnight's premiere with his team, the Savage Six, Octopus and his team arrived on the scene and began a war with Toomes' team.[39]

Line-Ups[]

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Each teammates' arsenal

Notes

  • According to Spider-Man, Mysterio was the one to come up with the name "the Sinister Six."[2]
  • Boomerang owns the rights to the Sinister Six name.[40]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Superior Spider-Man #1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Spider-Man and the X-Men #4
  3. ↑ Sinister War #2
  4. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Teams 2005 #1
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Superior Foes of Spider-Man #12
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10
  7. ↑ Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5
  8. ↑ Vengeance #4
  9. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #45
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Amazing Spider-Man #334–339
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #12
  13. ↑ Sinister Six Line-Ups
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Spider-Man Unlimited #9
  15. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #16
  16. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man #3 and Amazing Spider-Man #11-12
  17. ↑ Spider-Man #18–23
  18. ↑ Spider-Man: Funeral for an Octopus #1–3
  19. ↑ Peter Parker: Spider-Man #12
  20. ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #9
  22. ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #11
  23. ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #12
  24. ↑ Civil War #2
  25. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #648
  26. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #659–660
  27. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #676
  28. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #682
  29. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #683
  30. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #684
  31. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #685–687
  32. ↑ Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17
  33. ↑ Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #234
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #239
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #236
  36. ↑ Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #237
  37. ↑ Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #238
  38. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #64–70
  39. ↑ Sinister War #1
  40. ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #7
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