The trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home introduces two villains from the Sinister Six: Electro and Doctor Octopus. We have already seen Mysterio as the main villain in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Questions emerge as to whether or not we would see the Sinister Six in future Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies or shows. With the idea of the multiverse floating around, there seems to be a very real possibility that we will see more of the Sinister Six, perhaps even all of them together. The question is who exactly are the Sinister Six? Here are some interesting facts that you might not know about them.

10. Doctor Octopus Forms The Original Sinister Six

One of comic fans’ favorite villains, Doctor Octopus, is the reason that the Sinister Six exists as a group. In The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, released in 1964, Doctor Octopus puts out a call for all of Spider-Man’s villains. The five that answer are Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, the Vulture, and Kraven the Hunter (who is going to have his own movie soon). They start by trying to fight Spider-Man individually. Of course with this team, they cannot make up their minds as to who will get the honor to take down Spider-Man, setting the scene for their first fight with the famous superhero. Their tactic to fight him individually does not work as each person ends up getting picked off by Spider-Man.

9. The Sinister Six Have Not Always Been Around In The Comics

Even though they were extremely popular when they first came out, there was a period between their first and second iterations when they were not in the comics. The Sinister Six return during Spider-Man #334 – 339 with the “Return of the Sinister Six” storyline in the late 1980s. The team is exactly the same except that Kraven the Hunter is replaced by Hobgoblin.

8. The Sinister Six Become The Sinister Twelve

In the early 2000s, Marvel Knights Spider-Man sees the Green Goblin expanding the Sinister Six to include even more villains. This leads to a more mature storyline with more powerful and dangerous villains. The Sinister Twelve include Scorpion, the Vulture, the Sandman, Electro, the Chameleon, the Lizard, Hydro-Man, the Shocker, Hammerhead, Bommerang, and Tombstone, as well as the Green Goblin.

7. The Sinister Six Do Not Always Fight Spider-Man

While the Sinister Six are usually working to take down Spider-Man, they are not always fighting him. Actually, they sometimes team up with him to fight other villains. The first instance is when the Sinister Seven variation formed by Hobgoblin fights Peter Parker’s defective clone, Kaine. Another time is when the Superior Spider-Man (Doctor Octopus’ mind in Peter Parker’s body) forms the Superior Six to fight against the Masters of Evil as superheroes. However, the Superior Six are all being controlled by technological implants. Another time, Boomerang forms the Sinister Sixteen by merging his existing Sinister Six with ten other villains in order to steal valuables from Chameleon.

6. “Ends Of The Earth”

One of the most complicated and fun plots involving the Sinister Six is from the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man. This 2012 story arc, “Ends of the Earth,” is an elaborate plot by Doctor Octopus to hold the world hostage to a deadly space weapon. In the comic, Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers go out to confront Doctor Octopus and the others, resulting in a really terrible fight. In the midst of this battle, the Sinister Six take control of the minds of the Avengers and use them against Spider-Man.

5. “Renew Your Vows”

If the multiverse is going to make a strong appearance into the MCU, then perhaps we might see something from this 2015 storyline. The “Renew Your Vows” arc is the most interesting and dangerous storyline of the Sinister Six sagas. In this reality, Spider-Man is married to Mary-Jane and has a daughter Annie. The Sinister Six (making up of Doctor Octopus, Kraven, the Hunter, Hobgoblin, Mysterio, Shocker, and Vulture) have been sent by Regent to hunt down Spider-Man. The presence of his family further increases the stakes for our hero.

4. There Are A Lot More Variations Of The Sinister Six In The Multiverse

The Spider-Verse is a huge part of the Spider-Man lore. We see a lot of this in the film Into the Spider-Verse where we are introduced different variations of Spider-Man. Of course that means that there are also multiple versions of the Sinister Six. There is a steampunk version from Earth 803 in the Spider-Gwen comics. There is also a version of the Sinister Six from the Marvel Zombies universe, and one from the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline.

3. Mister Sinister’s Sinister Six

Interesting enough, Mister Sinister’s Sinister Six are not the same as the “regular” Sinister Six. This particular group of mutants, created by Mister Sinister from Jean Grey’s DNA, is more linked to the X-Men. The team (making up of Blob, Cloak, Dagger, Phoenix, Sauron, and Sonique) appears in the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline.

2. The Sinister Six On Broadway

This is probably the weirdest fact on this list. The Sinister Six once appeared on Broadway from June 14, 2011 to January 4, 2014 in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The musical features music and lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge with orchestration by David Campbell. The story is written by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. In the show, the Green Goblin creates the Sinister Six. However, this time, he is not part of it himself. This iteration involves Electro, Carnage, Swarm, Kraven the Hunter, Lizard, and Swiss Miss (an original character created just for the musical).

1. The Ultimate Six

The Ultimate Six are part of the most significant alternate reality versions. This is also the version that we could very well see in the movies as we have seen all the characters in the Spider-Man movies one way or another. They include Sandman, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, and Green Goblin. The Vulture does join the Ultimate Six later on, further adding to the list of Spider-Man villains that we have encountered.

Source(s): Screen Rant, WhatCulture

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10 Things You Don't Know About The Sinister Six