Spider-Man has dealt with many iterations of the storied Sinister Six, composed of various super-villains with varying motivations. This has only been possible due to there being so many Spider-Man villains crammed into Marvel’s comic book source material, with many of them remaining stagnant or being retconned so that they would always remain an antagonist for Spider-Man to fight in the downtime between events.
That said, it is always neat to see a villain become a hero, let alone attempt to do good. This gives them layers of complexity beyond simply being a villain, and one of The Amazing Spider-Man’s upcoming issues features a variant cover that could pave the way for several Spider-Man villains cleaning up New York City rather than terrorizing it, with Spider-Man launching a team consisting of six of his former Sinister Six enemies, portrayed here as six of his newest and best allies.
What if… Spider-Man’s Villains Were Do-Gooders?
Amazing Spider-Man #29 What If… variant cover.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #29, written by Joe Kelly and illustrated by Pete Woods, will see Brian Nehring become Spore in what seems to be a lighter two-issue arc sandwiched between The Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral and The Amazing Spider-Man #31’s “The Talk.” Its solicitation reads as follows:
BEST FR(ENEMIES)! Spider-Man’s best friend’s life shattered by a terrible accident – and Peter Parker is to blame! Is there a new villain on Spidey’s block?
Interestingly, a Marvel’s Stormbreakers variant cover unrelated to the plot of the issue showcases Simone Di Meo’s art, asking, “What If… the Spider-Man’s greatest foes, the Sinister Six, were his greatest allies?” It is debatable whether any incarnation of the Sinister Six has ever been Spider-Man’s greatest enemies, but this variant cover proposes a neat concept with Spider-Man leading his own team of heroes.
Marvel’s fascinating What If…? hypotheticals are rarely taken with anything more than a grain of salt, presenting unprecedented concepts. Indeed, this cover depicts typical Sinister Six villains Electro, Kraven, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture as contributing members of a peaceful society, such as Electro charging a bunch of smartphones simultaneously, Mysterio producing fireworks, and Sandman conjuring sand castles for children to play with.
Could We See an Actual Spider-Man Team of Reformed Baddies?
Sinister Six plotting against Spider-Man in Marvel Comics
It would not be out of the realm of possibility for Spider-Man villains to turn a new leaf, though it is probably unlikely to occur anytime soon in Earth-616. For that to occur, a new continuity would maybe need to begin where a bunch of characters who are commonly known as villains are instead established as heroes.
This would not be too dissimilar from how Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman run began, where Edward Nygma, Harvey Dent, Oswald Cobblepot, and Waylon Jones were all depicted as Bruce Wayne’s childhood best friends. If this sort of narrative was going to be feasible in a mainline ongoing series like The Amazing Spider-Man, however, it would perhaps need to take a few pages out of Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez’s Batman run.
Batman recently introduced a character named Dr. Annika Zeller, who concocted a device called the Crown of Storms that can regulate emotions. Thus far, it seems as if this device has been so successful at helping reform and rehabilitate Batman’s rogues’ gallery that even the Joker has become sane.
Either way, it would be fantastic to see this hypothetical “What If…” cover come to life. If Marvel’s New Champions variant cover series was able to become canon, maybe there is a universe out there that could see Spider-Man leading a Saintly or Super Six with enough fans wanting to see it come to fruition.
The Amazing Spider-Man #29 is scheduled to be released on May 20, 2026.
First Appearance
Amazing Fantasy
Alias
Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Otto Octavius, Yu Komori, Kaine Parker, Pavitr Prabhakar, William Braddock, Miles Morales, Kurt Wagner
Alliance
Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Secret Defenders, Future Foundation, Heroes for Hire, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Web-Warriors
Race
Human