The Story of the Sinister Six
Several years later, Octopus reunited the group, blackmailing the reformed Sandman into joining and replacing the now-deceased Kraven with Jason Macendale, AKA Hobgoblin. He told his co-conspirators that he intended to load poison gas canisters into a soon-to-be-launched satellite in order to hold the world for ransom. In order to avoid being poisoned themselves, Octopus proposed that they dose themselves with the newly discovered mineral burundite, which would give them immunity to the poison. The poison gas was, in fact, a cure for cocaine addiction—a fact that Octopus hid from his teammates. He planned to use the burundite, the cure’s only antidote, to blackmail the world’s rich and powerful cocaine addicts, who would experience severe convulsions if they attempted to use drugs after exposure to the cure. After stealing the burundite, the Six attacked the satellite’s launch pad en masse, only to be opposed by Spider-Man and a guilt-stricken Sandman. Although Octopus melted the Sandman into glass, his duplicity was exposed when the “poison” had no effect on Spider-Man. Abandoned by his teammates, Octopus nonetheless successfully spread the cure into the atmosphere, but lost the burundite to Spider-Man, who enlisted Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, to release it in the atmosphere and crush Octopus’ plot.
Ock hired Electro to unite the other four members in vengeance against himself, but it was solely a ruse to gather them so he could sell them on his latest plot (minus Sandman, who Octopus turned to glass once more). The five entered an uneasy alliance to journey to another dimension to raid it for high-tech weaponry and their new sixth member: the colossal Tsiln alien Gog. They then used that weaponry to storm a Hydra facility to gain control of the terrorist group’s arsenal of orbital weaponry. Spider-Man enlisted several his allies to stop them, including Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Sleepwalker, James Bourne, AKA Solo, Rich Rider, AKA Nova, Daniel Ketch, AKA Ghost Rider, and Michael Collins, AKA Deathlok, but they were initially held at bay by the Six’s extradimensional weaponry, the raw power of Gog, and the illusions of Mysterio (who held aspirations to lead the Six). One by one, however, the Sinister Six fell, and Octavius was nearly killed by Sandman, who had been shattered into a walking conglomeration of glass shards.
Ock was later murdered by the insane Peter Parker clone Kaine, leaving his notes and tentacles to be seized by the government. His cousin Elias Hargove reunited Hobgoblin, Mysterio, Electro, and the Vulture to retrieve Octavius’ possessions, unaware that he was being manipulated by Mysterio to retrieve Ock’s information on the New York underworld. The attempted heist was foiled by Spider-Man and Ben Reilly, AKA Scarlet Spider, and an attack on Electro by Kaine exposed Mysterio’s treachery. The Hobgoblin recognized the danger of Kaine and recruited his fellow Sinister Six survivors, plus Beetle, Shocker, and Scorpia, into the Sinister Seven. Despite the group’s lingering mistrust of Mysterio and the Vulture’s refusal to accept the Hobgoblin as leader, the group managed to hunt down and battle Kaine. Only Spider-Man’s interference prevented the deranged clone from killing them all, however.
The wealthy Gustav Fiers, AKA Gentleman, later regathered the Sinister Six (which included a resurrected Octopus, the Chameleon, and Fiers’ personal assassin Pity, but was without the by-now-deceased Hobgoblin) for an elaborate yet ultimately futile plot to destroy Spider-Man and gain immeasurable wealth by destroying the world’s monetary system.
When the Sandman was turned back to crime by Bentley Wittman, AKA the Wizard, he gathered the Vulture, Electro, and two new members, Sergei Kravinoff’s son Alyosha and Daniel Berkhart, the new Mysterio, to seek revenge on Dr. Octopus for his repeated deceptions and betrayals and to capture his associate, alien-mutated United States Senator Stewart Ward. Thanks to Spider-Man’s interference, Octavius and Ward escaped their first assault, but they gained a member in Eddie Brock, AKA Venom, who Berkhart persuaded Sandman to ally with. Kept in check only by the promise of killing Spider-Man, Venom turned on the others as soon as he learned that Ock and Ward were their only targets. In a massive battle between Spider-Man, the Six, Venom, and Ward, the turncoats Mysterio, and Electro escaped with the senator to deliver him to parties unrevealed. The vengeful Venom later hunted down and mauled Sandman, Kraven, and Electro before being attacked by Ward, whose alien powers allowed him to strip Brock of his symbiote.
The mad Green Goblin began augmenting the equipment of several Spider-Man’s foes, recruiting Boomerang, Chameleon, Electro, Hammerhead, Hydro-Man, Dr. Curt Connors, AKA Lizard, Sandman, Shocker, Tombstone and Vulture into a group he dubbed the Sinister Twelve. In their inaugural mission, they were sent to prevent Spider-Man from stopping the Goblin as he abducted Mary Jane Watson-Parker. Although their plan was disrupted somewhat when the 12th member, Mac Gargan, forsook his new Osborn-designed Scorpion suit for Brock’s Venom symbiote, the group held Spider-Man and Felicia Hardy, AKA Black Cat, at bay until the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Daredevil, arrived. While Spider-Man (with a brainwashed Dr. Octopus’ aid) took down Venom and the Goblin, the remaining ten were mopped up by the other heroes.
Another Sinister Six incarnation was assembled by Dr. Octopus at the height of the Super Hero “civil war,” but was foiled by Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, and his Secret Avengers. Nevertheless, it is surely only a matter of time before some assemblage of Spider-Man’s six deadliest foes returns to haunt the wall-crawler once more.
After the Sinister Six clashed and defeated the Young Masters of Evil and Intelligencia, they carried out Doc Ock’s next plan: hold the world governments hostage by threatening to aggravate or remedy global warming’s effects on Earth. Though Spider-Man foiled their plans by first defeating Sandman at a missile silo and with the Avengers’ help, Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino, was also defeated. Electro was jettisoned into space by Thor. Doc Ock remained on the loose as Spider-Man and allies attempted to shut down all his bases. Doc Ock revealed his true aim was to destroy the world no matter what and activated his Octavian Lens which burned half the world, however, it was an illusion crafted by the mystic menace Mysterio, and part of Symkaria was burned. Though Spider-Man convinced Mysterio to help him catch Doc Ock but when they arrived, the tentacled terror had mind-controlled the Avengers. Spider-Man, Silver Sable, and Black Widow defeated the “Sinister Six” Avengers. Rhino faced of with Sable and Spider-Man and got the upper hand, threatening to kill Sable by flooding the base or thwarting Doc Ock. Sable insisted that he leave her, and after he did, Spider-Man defeated Doc Ock and delivered him to a doctor.
Months later and to avoid death from a terminal illness, Doc Ock transferred his consciousness to Spider-Man’s mind and took over his life and likeness. He fooled everyone, including the Sinister Six and the Avengers. “Spider-Man” captured the other Sinister Six members, holding them for months until he mind-controlled them as his Superior Six. Though, the team remained unaware that “Spider-Man” was their ally Doc Ock the whole time, justifying their hatred of the wall-crawler even further.
When the All-New Sinister Six formed, led by Swarm. The team consisted of 8-Ball, Delilah, Simon Maddicks, AKA Killer Shrike, Melter, and Squid. They fought Spider-Man, as all Sinister Six incarnations do, as well as mutant students from Jean Grey School but were ultimately defeated and surrendered.
Under Aaron Davis, as Iron Spider, the next Sinister Six consisted of Francine Frye, AKA Electro, Lori Baumgartner, AKA Bombshell, Roderick Kingsley, AKA Hobgoblin, Sandman, and Dr. Johnathonn Ohnn, AKA Spot. Their mission was to steal a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and sell it to the highest bidder, namely Lucia von Bardas. Though Sandman, Electro, and Spot betrayed Davis. Davis struck out on his own and sold out the team. This kind of betrayal kept occurring amidst everyone whilst trying to steal the Helicarrier, until they ended up in a battle with Davis’ nephew, Miles Morales, AKA Spider-Man, and the young Super Hero team, the Champions. The fight ended up with Davis plummeting to his death off the Helicarrier, but apparently survived and turns his life around.
Once Doc Ock returned as himself, he gathered the Sinister Six at the behest of the demon Kindred. The mission: to deliver Spider-Man to Kindred. They did so and Kindred pitted the team up against other Spider-Man foes by placing centipedes in their brains to force them to battle. Though Doc Ock helped free everyone.
