Warning, article contains some intense imagery.
Out of all the Spider-Man villains the Marvel Cinematic Universe has adapted, there’s one who is simply too disturbing to ever adapt into a feature film. Peter Parker has gone up against a lot of great villains, including a handful of fan-favorites in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but the nightmare-fuel villain known as “the Thousand” is almost guaranteed to never make it to the screen.
Marvel’s Webslinger has a deep bench of iconic villains, and while many of the most iconic have appeared on-screen, Spider-Man films, especially the MCU, have really only scratched the surface of Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery.
Over the years, Peter Parker has fought cold-blooded killers, Multiversal madmen, and spirits from Hell itself. Yet while villains like Morlun or the Demogoblin have a chance at showing up in a live-action movie, there’s one foe who is seriously way too unsettling to ever be adapted in a Spider-Man film properly: the Thousand.
The MCU Could Never Make Spider-Man’s Scariest Enemy, “The Thousand” Work Properly
Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #1-3; “The Coming of the Thousand” Arc; Written By Garth Ennis; Art By John McCrea; Ink By James Hodgkins; Color By Steve Buccellato; Lettering By Wes Abbot
Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #1-3 features the story “The Coming of the Thousand,” one of the most intense in the character’s long history. This tale debuts a figure from Spider-Man’s past, Carl King, Peter Parker’s old bully from Midtown High who has been stalking him for years. After years of waiting, King decides it’s time to take Spider-Man down and heads to the Daily Bugle after hours. King corners a Bugle employee and reveals that he’s actually a hive-mind of hundreds of spiders that can eat people from the inside out and wear their skins like disguises.
King’s encounter with the spider completely transformed him into a sentient clutter of spiders, thus causing him to take on the villainous moniker of the Thousand.
King uses his new idenтιтy as one of Peter’s co-workers to lure him into a trap. Peter takes King back to his apartment, and King reveals his true idenтιтy, while grotesquely distorting his skin suit to intimidate Spider-Man. The villain manages to restrain Peter via toxin and reveals King was there when Peter Parker was bitten years ago and worked out that he got powers from the irradiated spider. King also reveals that he went back to the exhibition building hoping to be bitten as well, but when that didn’t work, he simply ate the spider.
King’s encounter with the spider completely transformed him into a sentient clutter of spiders, thus causing him to take on the villainous moniker of the Thousand. Thankfully, before the Thousand can consume Spider-Man, the hero escapes his binds and fights back against his old bully. King seems to briefly overpower Peter, but during their battle, the Thousand punches a high-voltage transformer which fries almost all the spiders in the hive-mind. Only one remains, and while it swears revenge, King’s last spider is unceremoniously squished on the streets of New York City.
Spider-Man Has Fought Some Truly Sinister Villains, But Nothing Like “The Thousand”
Peter’s Movie History Has More Film-Friendly Antagonists
There are few superheroes who have a rogues’ gallery as big or as beloved as Spider-Man’s. There are so many, there are a few that haven’t even been in movies yet (that is, aside from Sony’s standalone villain films). But the ones who have appeared in the movies have certainly left an impression. Just look at Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Those films had acclaimed portrayals of the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. And while not as beloved, their takes on the Sandman and Venom also stood out in Spider-Man 3.
The Amazing Spider-Man’s continuity didn’t get to introduce as many villains, but fans still got to see interesting adaptations of the Lizard and Electro. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced a few more never-before-adapted villains, like the Vulture and Mysterio, not to mention smaller foes who have properly suited up, like the Tinkerer and Shocker. Granted, No Way Home opted to bring fan-favorite villains back instead of introducing new ones, but that’s just a testament to how great Spider-Man’s film foes have been.
While there’s an air of darkness to all of Spider-Man’s villains, the films didn’t always make them completely inhuman.
While there’s an air of darkness to all of Spider-Man’s villains, the films didn’t always make them completely inhuman. Flawed with poor decision-making skills, sure, but for most of the villains (except maybe Spider-Man 3’s Venom), there was still a humanity to them, even if they went completely over the line. While there’s something to be said about a foe who’s absolutely evil, there’s something a bit more engaging about seeing Spider-Man try to appeal to the souls of the villains he goes up against.
The Thousand Goes To A Deeply Dark Place The MCU Doesn’t Want to Go To
Marvel’s Live-Action Spider-Man Is Not Ready to Take On A Killer Hive-Mind
Yes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man has gone through some harrowing moments, not only on his own, but fighting alongside the Avengers. But there’s a big difference between Peter fighting a gang of powerful villains from a couple of alternate Earths and confronting a former bully that’s transformed into a nightmare plucked straight out of a horror story. The MCU films do have moments that are tense and dramatic, but they’re trying to go for a broad audience, so they never go too disturbing (and let’s face it, the Thousand is disturbing).
And again, the films try to have their villains be more complex characters. The Thousand is nothing but an overgrown bully who never evolved past high school and still sees himself as better than Peter. It’s really hard to make Carl King sympathetic in any capacity when he appears to be a complete sociopath. Aside from the perturbing nature of his powers, the guy honed his skills by eating unhoused people and children, not to mention the Spider-Man villain sounds practically giddy when he talks about how he got his incredibly gross powers.
While the MCU has no problem venturing into more adult realms with projects like ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine or Daredevil: Born Again, Spider-Man is something Marvel Studios definitely wants the whole family to enjoy. There are plenty of other villains it can use for future films without ever really needing the Thousand. He was an interesting one-time foe for Peter to take on. But he’s never going to fight Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and given how disturbing the Thousand is, maybe that’s okay.
Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #1-3 are available now from Marvel Comics.
Spider-Man
- Created By
-
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
- 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
- Franchise
-
Marvel, Spider-Man
