Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes ever made, but across his series of live-action films, there have been several characters who disappeared from memory almost as soon as they arrived. Spider-Man has been appearing in film long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ever began. And while his origin story has been played out several times, thanks to the lengthy comic book history of the character, each iteration has put a focus on a different set of characters.

While the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies put the focus on Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, and Mary-Jane Watson, The Amazing Spider-Man series explored the character of Gwen Stacey with Parker, and the MCU introduced Michelle Jones alongside Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds. But all of these characters became staples of their franchise. In the background, dozens of others came and went, making barely any impression despite varying degrees of comic book backstories.

10

Maximilian Fargas

Spider-Man (2002)

Going back to the beginning, Raimi’s trilogy paid a lot of attention to the character of Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin. Norman may have been a successful businessman, and an incredible scientist and engineer in his own right. However, Norman struggled to make and maintain connections.

This can be seen clearly in the scenes where Norman is being confronted by the board at OsCorp, including Maximilian Fargas. While Fargas makes quite an impression on Norman, and Norman makes attempts on his life, Fargas is largely in the movie to simply antagonize the antagonist. This puts him in a category of characters that ultimately ends up being forgotten.

9

Mendel Stromm

Spider-Man (2002)

In the comics, Mendel Stromm becomes a supervillain in his own right, known as the Robot Master, or Gaunt. However, in Spider-Man, Stromm is a soft-spoken scientist who answers to Norman Osborn. Unfortunately for Stromm, when Norman decides to rush the tests and make himself the guinea pig, Norman transforms into a monstrous and primal being who horrifically kills Stromm.

Stromm is never seen again, and despite the characters’ history in the comics, he ultimately becomes a footnote in the film that once again is used to establish how evil Norman is. Unfortunately for Stromm, his life wasn’t saved by Spider-Man, and his ending was unimaginably terrible, falling prey to the results of his experiments and his bosses’ demands.

8

John Jameson

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

In Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker has moved out of his aunt’s house to try and make a life for himself. Of course, this also means he has more freedom to embrace his superhero alter ego. However, this complicates Peter’s life, and leaves him struggling to balance a minimum-wage delivery driver job and his personal and heroic life.

While Peter has a crush on Mary-Jane Watson, he doesn’t always make time for her, which leads to MJ forming a romantic relationship with John Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson. By all accounts, John Jameson is an impressive figure, handsome, and his life is exceptional, considering his career as an astronaut. But in Spider-Man 2, Peter’s romantic opponent for MJ’s love is largely dismissed from the story.

7

Algernon

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Also seen in Spider-Man 2, MJ is working hard to make her dreams of being an actress on Broadway come through. When she finds some success and books a role in The Importance of Being Earnest, she is excited for her family and friends to come and see her perform. However, Peter keeps promising to come, only to disappoint.

When Peter does finally arrive, MJ is incredibly pleased to see him there, and she ends up stumbling over her lines, which leaves her co-star feeling rather frustrated. However, the man playing Algernon and sharing the stage is never given a name beyond his character, and he is not seen or heard from outside of this moment.

6

Jennifer Dugan

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Likewise, other characters who were given speaking roles in the franchise are similarly dismissed as they appear briefly and ultimately only serve to let other characters have big moments. Like Algernon being a sounding board for MJ, in Spider-Man 3, Eddie Brock calls out Spider-Man to come and stop him when he’s transformed by Venom, and his message is delivered by Jennifer Dugan.

Jennifer Dugan has several lines, and she speaks emphatically in her role in Spider-Man 3, but as a news reporter simply reporting on events, she fades into the background. Ultimately, this speaks volumes about these characters, who appear as ᴀssistants in framing devices, and how they simply blend into the background of the film, as Brock’s taunt to Spider-Man becomes the vocal point of her scene in the film.

5

Missy Kallenback

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

One of the biggest gripes myself and plenty of other people have with Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is the fact that he was just a little too cool. He was skating around the school, and unlike Tobey Maguire, who felt invisible and had a huge crush on MJ that appeared to go unnoticed, Garfield’s Peter was the object of other people’s crushes.

Case in point, Missy Kallenback was a girl who was generally shy, but she clearly had a thing for Peter. The two had brief conversations, but Peter was more focused on Gwen Stacy, and Missy ultimately went unnoticed and underappreciated by Peter. All the same, Missy was an interesting character who shows up in several scenes, only to be forgotten.

4

Alistair Smythe

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

In the comics and animated cartoons, Alistair Smythe is a popular villain who fights Spider-Man. Growing up in a home where his father was obsessed with slaying Spider-Man, Smythe follows in his father’s footsteps, and after an incident, he uses a special bioorganic material to enhance his body, and becomes the Ultimate Spider-Slayer.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Smythe is played by B.J. Novak, which suggests that there might have been plans to have the character take on a bigger role in the future, but as it stands, he was a bully who worked at Oscorp and abused Max Dillon as an employee. However, his role is extremely limited, and the character likely goes unnoticed by audiences who don’t recognize the actor from The Office.

3

Anne Marie Hoag

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming officially introduced Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to the MCU as a fully-fledged hero in his own right after a brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War. And building that legacy into the MCU came with the need to tie the world of this character into the one where the Avengers saved the world multiple times.

In order to do this, the film introduces Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, as a blue-collar worker who is working to clear New York after the Chitauri alien invasion. However, Toomes loses out on the business when the Department of Damage Control arrives on the scene and takes over, leaving Toomes with no work. The director who pushes Toomes out is none other than Anne Marie Hoag, who is quickly forgotten as soon as her scene ends.

2

Dimitri Smerdyakov

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Recently, in the final Sony Spider-Verse film to be released before the project was shut down, Dimitri Kravinoff plays a prominent yet different role to his comic book counterpart. In the comics, Dmitri Smerdyakov is the villain known as the Chameleon, and he proves to be one of the greatest rivals to face off against Spider-Man, who wields his shapeshifting abilities to disguise himself and muddle people’s lives.

However, in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Dimitri appears as a mostly silent, grumpy mountain of muscle. Dmitri is one of the people that captures Peter Parker while he is on his trip across Europe, but the character bares little resemblance to his comic book counterpart, despite getting the name right. And ultimately, the character disappears into obscurity.

1

Agent P. Cleary

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Another agent for the Department of Damage Control, Agent Cleary, appears in Spider-Man: No Way Home as he investigates Peter Parker and the people closest to him. With Spider-Man’s idenтιтy exposed, Cleary wishes to hold Parker responsible for his part in causing or allowing damage to occur throughout New York and beyond.

However, Agent Cleary is important to the narrative of the film for about 20 minutes. After that, the character is never seen again, and Peter embarks on the main adventures of the film with mutliversal villains and Doctor Strange’s magic spells. Like so many minor characters, Agent Cleary fades into the background of the Spider-Man movie he appears in.