The Sinister Six are a group of supervillains in the Marvel Comics universe, drawn from Spider-Man's rogues gallery. There are several different formations of the group along the history of Marvel Comics' publications whose objectives vary from joining forces against Spider-Man or another common enemy to world domination mostly facing spider-man.
Current member and leader of the Sinister Six. Left team after the third incarnation had disbanded. Founded the seventh incarnation of the team during the Superhuman Registration Act and disbanded after Ends of the Earth. While (Octavius' mind was in Peter Parker's body) he captures and assembles his own "superhero team" which he controls through tech implanted in the villains. The team later disbands once the villains regain control; the team reassembled once again while under the influence of Kindred.
Current member. Left team after the fifth incarnation had disbanded. Re-joined team during Ends of the Earth and disbanded when captured. Later was brainwashed by Octavius (while in the body of Peter Parker) to join the "Superior Six". He regained control of his mind and leaves the team. Dillion re-joined the team while under the influence of Kindred.
Current member. Left team after the fourth incarnation had disbanded. Re-joined team during Ends of the Earth and disbanded when captured. Later was brainwashed by Octavius (while in the body of Peter Parker) to join the "Superior Six". He regained control of his mind and leaves the team. Beck re-joined the team while under the influence of Kindred.
Current member. Left team after the second incarnation had disbanded. Formed and lead the fifth incarnation to get revenge on Doctor Octopus. Re-joined team during Ends of the Earth and disbanded when captured. Later was brainwashed by Octavius (while in the body of Peter Parker) to join the "Superior Six". He regained control of his mind and leaves the team. Joined a new incarnation led by Aaron Davis and later leaves team. Baker re-joined the team while under the influence of Kindred.
Former member of the Avengers, Frightful Four, Wild Pack and the Sinister Twelve.
Current leader of the Savage Six under the influence of Kindred. Founding member, left team after the fifth incarnation had disbanded. Re-joined team during the Superhuman Registration Act and disbanded after Ends of the Earth. Later was brainwashed by Octavius (while in the body of Peter Parker) to join the "Superior Six". He regained control of his mind and leaves the team.
Venom temporarily joined the Sinister Six to target Spider-Man, replacing Doctor Octopus, but after they betrayed him, he subsequently targets the other members out of revenge.
Current member. Joined during the Superhuman Registration Act and detained by the Secret Avengers. Re-joined the team while under the influence of Kindred and separated from Curt Connors through the Isotope Genome Accelerator.
This ninth incarnation debuted in the Marvel NOW! event. After their defeat by the Superior Spider-Man, who took the Living Brain to be his own assistant, the remaining five became the lead characters in Superior Foes of Spider-Man:
The Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus' mind in Peter Parker's body) captures and assembles his own "superhero team" which he controls through tech implanted in the villains. This 10th incarnation debuted in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #5 (2013). The roster corresponds closely to the original lineup.
In order to steal valuables from the Chameleon, Boomerang's Sinister Six (minus the Living Brain and the Shocker) ally themselves with the Owl, who hires 11 others to create the "Sinister Sixteen".
Mojo and the Chameleon abduct Spider-Man and his X-Men students, and force them to star in a show which pits them against the Sinister Sixty-Six. The group, which is not seen in its entirety, consists of holographic stand-ins of various enemies of Spider-Man.[1]
A new team is assembled by Swarm in Spider-Man and the X-Men. While stealing a delivery of gold, the group is confronted by Spider-Man and his X-Men students; after Swarm is defeated by Hellion, his teammates surrender.[2]
In Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (vol. 2) #6, Spider-Man plays with Nathan, a cancer patient, where they envision that Nathan becomes Spider-Bite and they "fight" the Sinister Sixty who wish to obtain Spider-Bite's action figure of Spider-Man.
In Sinister War, six teams with 36 villains total are formed under the influence of Kindred and paired up in a contest to see who can take out Spider-Man first.
In the Age of Apocalypse 10th anniversary limited series, Mister Sinister assembles his own group dubbed the Sinister Six to fight Magneto's X-Men. However, this group is unrelated to the more established lineup of criminals.
On the planet Earth created by the Shaper of Worlds, the Sinister Six are known as the Six Most Sinister, a group of criminals operating a tollbooth in the Webwood who are led by the Goblin King. When the Champions of the Realm attempt to pass through the Webwoods, they are attacked by the Six Most Sinister, who they easily deal with and leave defeated as they move on.
In an alternate reality in 2099 A.D., where the Fist – a splinter group of The Hand – succeeded in destroying the country, the Sinister Six have taken over Alchemex and rule the dystopian New York. Their leader, the Goblin, however, is secretly an informant working for the resistance. After being discovered, she is killed by Doctor Octopus, and instead find a new leader in Venture, who now employs them with the Fist, in the past.
In a trilogy of Spider-Man novels written by Adam-Troy Castro, a criminal mastermind calling himself the Gentleman formed a Sinister Six as part of an elaborate scheme to claim vengeance on Spider-Man.
The Insidious Six are a band of Demons from the "Dark Web" event. They are a collection of characters parodying important Spider-Man villains. They battled Spider-Man and Rek-Rap.
The Grave Goblin
Doctor Octoball
Gorepion
Kraken the Hunter
Lizarro
Rhiceratops
Marvel Universe: Millennial Visions
Millennial Visions brings a brand-new look at the entire Marvel Universe, including a Noxious Nine that was formed after the members of the Sinister Six joined with Rhino, Scorpion and Carnage in order to take out the Blin Quay Nuclear Power Station. Carnage was atomized in a containment field that caused an overload, releasing high levels of radiation and fusing the genetic material of the remaining members to their costumes, greatly increasing their power and making them more animal than men.
A zombified version of the Sinister Six appears in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days. They are seen attacking innocent civilians upon the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, but are repelled by Wolverine and Magneto.
In the Marvel Zombies series, the Sinister Six appear in an alternative universe that Zombie Spider-Man enters, working for the Kingpin. They are quickly and violently ripped apart, bitten, and zombified (except the Sandman, who hopefully flees by turning into sand and disguising himself as the dirt Zombie Spider-Man stood on), and end up eating Spider-Man's friends, which causes them to be killed in retaliation.
Several variants of the Super-Skrull appear, including a Sinister Six Skrull with the combined powers of Sandman (William Baker), Hydro-Man (Morris Bench), Rhino (Aleksei Sytsevich), Electro (Maxwell Dillon), Venom (MacDonald Gargan), and Lizard (Curtis Connors).
Various versions of the Sinister Six appear over various domains of Battleworld.
Spider-Verse
Doctor Octopus
Scorpion
Kraven the Hunter
Electro
Sandman
Vulture
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
Doctor Octopus
Hobgoblin
Kraven the Hunter
Mysterio
Shocker
Vulture
Beetle (replacement member)
Boomerang (replacement member)
Rhino (replacement member)
Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow
After Peter Parker (Spider-Man) is consumed by the Venom symbiote, he goes on a killing spree, eliminating his rogues gallery one by one. J. Jonah Jameson begrudgingly calls upon Doctor Octopus to bring together the Sinister Six and combat him.[4]
Eddie Brock (using Doc Ock's metallic arms after killing him)
The Sinister Syndicate
Formed by the super-villain Abner Jenkins, aka "The Beetle" to act as a mercenary group that worked for the highest bidder. The group later reformed as the Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, before tearing themselves apart with in-fighting. When Boomerang became the leader of the Sinister Six, the Shocker suggested going back to the name "Sinister Syndicate", but the idea was shot down by Speed Demon, objecting, "the Sinister Syndicate were losers!"[5]
An elderly version of the Sinister Six, dubbed the Sinner Six, appeared in Spider-Man: Reign. This version of the team is forced into the employ of New York's fascist Mayor Waters via microchips placed inside them that would detonate if they attempted to leave the city. If they succeeded in killing Spider-Man, they would be given their freedom. When the enraged (and elderly) Spider-Man returned to the superhero game, he seemingly killed the Scorpion by throwing him out of a window and Hydro-Man and Electro by throwing them into each other, as well as badly beating Kraven and Mysterio, before the Sandman revealed the existence of the bombs and handed a detonator to Spider-Man, sacrificing himself to stop Mayor Waters' plans after Waters was revealed to be nothing more than a pawn of his aide, Eddie Brock.
A version of the Sinister Six names the Six Men of Sinestry appears in Spider-Verse in the dimension of Earth-803 where it is set in Industrial Age New York. Their objective was to steal the mayor's plan. They battled Lady Spider and were forced to retreat after they were overwhelmed, yet they were able to accomplish their task.[6]
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the Sinister Six is renamed the Ultimate Six. The original five villainous members initially attempted to recruit Spider-Man as the sixth member, but failed to do so.[7] The Vulture would later join the team.[8]
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: No Way Home features a 5-member supervillain team which very closely resembles the Sinister Six. This variation of the team consists of alternate timeline variations of the characters from the SonySam Raimi and Marc WebbSpider-Man films. In a post-credits sceneVenom (Eddie Brock) is revealed to have also been brought to the MCU timeline from Sony's Spider-Man Universe, though he does not join the other characters.
The Sinister Six appears in the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, a group of supervillains led and formed by Doctor Octopus in order to physically beat Spider-Man.
The Sinister Six (later, the "Sinister Seven" and the "Superior Sinister Six") appear in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, led by Doctor Octopus. Unlike in the comic book series of the same name, the team is known as the Sinister Six rather than the Ultimate Six.
The Sinister Six appear in the 2017 Spider-Man animated series, led by Doctor Octopus. At first, the group is formed by Norman Osborn as the "Osborn Commandos" until Octopus takes over. Unlike other incarnations, this team is known as the "Sinister Five" until Octopus brainwashes Spider-Man into being their sixth member.
The Sinister Six appear as the Sinister Syndicate in the theme park attraction The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. The group has captured the Statue of Liberty with an anti-gravity gun, and attack the guests.
The Sinister Six appears in the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. In this version, their comic book origins are ignored. Instead, they share a common origin as former research scientists whom the Green Goblin deliberately mutates into "freaks" as punishment for having abandoned Osborn Industries.
The Sinister Six became the Frightful Five after Kraven the Hunter was fired from the group after trying to quit it. Kraven befriended Squirrel Girl who convinced him to turn good; he moved to the Savage Land to protect dinosaurs from poachers. The Shocker stole some Pym Particles and was set to style himself as "The Giant Sized Shocker" before being talked down and inspired to do good by Squirrel Girl on her podcast, encouraging him to use his powers to turn turbines and generate clean and affordable electricity, making more money than bank robberies, and being a hero. The Scorpion has the ability to talk to scorpions.[9]
A Multiverse Sinister Six, consisting of various members of themselves, invade dimensions to harvest the mineral ISO-8. They command an army of Sinister Soldiers. During updates, various villains appear, either aiding them or just joining in the battles, such as Jack O' Lantern, Hydro-Man, Silver Sable and Demogoblin. Superior Spider-Man was invited to the team, but declined.
The Sinister Six were also aided by autonomous robotic henchman, the "Sinister Soldiers", sometimes also known as "Portal Troops". Besides their base version, they also came in Golden, 2099, Underwater, and Mysterio variants.
A special mission features the Sinister Six in collaboration with A.I.M. This version, however, is led by Mysterio, who disguised himself as Doctor Octopus and tricks the other members, as well as A.I.M., to take control of the group and the A.I.M. faction in New York. It is unknown if the Vulture is an official member, but he assists the other villains against their fight with Spider-Man and his allies. In game, Electro does get the team tag, though Rhino does not, despite being in the event.
This team was formed by Otto Octavius, after he loses control of himself due to the dysfunctional AI in his tentacles influencing him and his darkest thoughts. He breaks out Martin Li and other villains Spider-Man has defeated and put in jail, offering them their personal desires and outfitting them with gear in exchange for their help to get revenge on and expose Mayor Norman Osborn and his involvement in the creation of Devil's Breath.
Players battle Marvel villains with unique teams of iconic heroes.
The Hood Scenario Pack
The Hood's budding criminal empire is swiftly becoming a formidable threat to the people of New York City. Under the Hood's rule, players encounter the Sinister Syndicate as an additional side scheme.
Beetle
Boomerang
Shocker
Speed Demon
White Rabbit
Sinister Motives Expansion
In this expansion, players take on a rogues gallery of classic Spider-Man villains, the Sinister Six and their sinister schemes.
Doctor Octopus
Electro
Hobgoblin
Kraven the Hunter
Scorpion
Vulture
Sinister Six
Players play as the Sinister Six to pull off heists and escape Spider-Man and his friends, and come away with the most loot.
Doctor Octopus
Electro
Green Goblin
Kraven the Hunter
Lizard
Mysterio
Rhino
Sandman
Venom
Vulture
References
^Elliott Kalan (w), Marco Failla (p), Marco Failla (i). Spider-Man and the X-Men, no. 3 (25 February 2015). United States: Marvel Comics.
^Elliott Kalan (w), R.B. Silva (p), Rob Lean (i), Ian Herring (col), Clayton Cowles (let), Katie Kubert (ed). "Vulgarity" Spider-Man and the X-Men, no. 4 (11 March 2015). United States: Marvel Comics.