Spider-Man: Freshman Year was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, and fans are looking forward to watching Spider-Man take on some of his iconic supervillains such as Speed Demon and Tombstone. He will also fight some of his animal-based villains, such as Rhino, Scorpion, and Doctor Octopus in this new animated series.
Throughout Spider-Man's crime-fighting career, he's actually accumulated a large rogues gallery of villains who have based themselves on animals. Many of these villains are seen as his strongest adversaries and have even gotten close to killing Peter on different occasions.
Black Cat
Black Cat is a professional cat burglar and has developed a small fortune from all the items she's stolen. She started off as Spider-Man's enemy, but the two of them would eventually develop feelings for each other and start an on-again, off-again relationship. Though seen as an anti-hero, Black Cat would sometimes act as a dangerous villain.
Through intense training and practice, Black Cat became a skilled acrobat with near-perfect reflexes and stamina. She's an expert in many forms of martial arts and has gained enough physical strength to take on multiple armed attackers and endure strong physical attacks. She even has retractable claws in her suit that are able to cut through many durable substances.
Vulture
The Vulture, played by Michael Keaton, wasn't only the first Spider-Man villain to appear in the MCU, but he's also one of the first villains to fight Spider-Man in the comics. He was a scientist who created his flight suit and used it in his first crime to steal money from his former corrupt business partner. Doing this filled the Vulture with so much excitement that he decided to be a full-time criminal.
As one of Spider-Man's first villains, the Vulture has a lot of experience fighting him and has been a member of nearly every Sinister Six. He can fly at high speeds for a long duration of time and can reach heights as tall as skyscrapers. His electromagnetic wings also grant him super strength, being able to lift hundreds of pounds.
Puma
Through mystic ceremonies and genetic engineering, Thomas Fireheart was given the ability to transform into a man-puma hybrid. He sees it as his duty to protect the people of his Native American tribe, but he also works as a mercenary and professional assassin for hire.
In his Puma form, Fireheart has incredible strength, speed, and reflexes. Paired with his martial arts training from Japan, he is a deadly enemy for Spider-Man and many of his targets. His claws and fangs are easily able to cut through bone and some metals. On occasions when he wants to quickly kill his target, Puma will even dip his claws in poison. His vision, hearing, and smell are also enhanced, and he can detect enemies from far distances.
Stegron
Dr. Vincent Stegron worked as an assistant to Dr. Curtis Connors and became obsessed with his Lizard formula. He then stole and drank the formula after combining it with Stegosaurus DNA. This transformed him into a human-Stegosaurus hybrid.
Stegron has super strength, speed, and skin durable enough to deflect bullets. He also has razor-sharp claws and a powerful spiked tail. What makes him especially dangerous is his ability to control the mind of any dinosaur that gets near him. He even used this to ability lead a herd of attacking dinosaurs into New York City. He also has the ability to drain a person's life force just by touching them.
Jackal
Although the Jackal hasn't appeared in the MCU yet, he's still a formidable Spider-Man villain who has brought the hero a lot of pain. He's an expert in biochemistry and was once Peter Parker's and Gwen Stacy's university professor. He fell in love with Gwen and was filled with grief after she died. He blames Spider-Man for her death and has sworn to kill him for it.
This villain purposely introduced jackal DNA into his system and gained superhuman strength, speed, and agility. He's also a skilled gymnast and martial artist. The thing that makes him especially dangerous is his knowledge and ability to create superpowered clones to do his bidding. Since he has cloned Spider-Man so many times, he knows him better than most people in his life.
Beetle
Abner Jenkins was an aircraft parts mechanic who was an expert in his field. Despite working there for years, he was looked down upon, and his designs for a flight suit were constantly dismissed. He created his suit himself and took up the name The Beetle. He decided to use his suit to defeat superheroes in combat as a way to gain instant fame.
The Beetle's first suit enabled him to fly, increased his strength, and protected him from most physical attacks. Since then, he has created many different upgraded versions of his suit. His newest ones have machine guns and rocket launchers attached to them. The suit also alerts him if an enemy gets too close, thus makes it difficult for Spider-Man or any other hero to get the drop on him.
Lizard
The Lizard was created by accident when Dr. Curt Connors took a serum that mutated him into a human-sized lizard. He did this because he was hoping that lizard DNA would regenerate his missing arm. As the Lizard, a new persona takes over, one that wants to transform all humans into lizards like him.
The Lizard has superhuman strength, speed, and agility. His scaly skin is much more durable than a human's and can resist many physical attacks. If the Lizard does get injured or lose a limb, he has a lizard's natural ability to regenerate his body. He also has razor-sharp teeth, fangs, and a powerful tail. The Lizard alone is a huge threat to Spider-Man, but his added ability to control any reptile, including alligators, makes him an even greater menace.
Rhino
The Rhino is undoubtedly the physically strongest villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery. He was once a common thug but gained unfathomable power after he agreed to undertake chemical and radiation treatment, including gamma rays, to increase his strength. He was also prominently bonded to a nearly indestructible rhinoceros suit.
The gamma rays alone made him stronger than most Marvel characters. He's even held his own against the Hulk. His suit that's both heat and acid resistant also provides him an extra layer of protection. He can even charge at enemies at super speed, which becomes extremely deadly when he pairs that with the horns on his head. Spider-Man has no chance of beating him with physical force, he instead has to rely on creative tactics to take him down.
Scorpion
Mac Gargan was once a private detective who was paid by J. Jonah Jameson to take part in an experiment that combined his DNA with a scorpion's. He was granted all the abilities of a scorpion, along with super strength, speed, and durability. He was also given a battle suit, fitted with powerful armor and a tail with a deadly metal tip.
What makes Scorpion so deadly to Spider-Man is that he was specifically created to beat him in battle. Scorpions are natural predators to spiders, and Gargan's scorpion strength has been shown to be stronger than Spider-Man's. Scorpion even lost his sanity during his transformation and gained a violent temper. This makes it hard for Spider-Man to reason with him. Scorpion has become so well-known that some people want to see him face off with Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man.
Doctor Octopus
Otto Octavius is a brilliant scientist who created his four metal arms to help with his research. However, an unfortunate accident fused the arms to his body and gave him better control over them. This newfound power increased his ego, he convinced himself that he was the smartest man on the planet and his arms made him a superior being.
Doc Ock has arguably caused more trouble for Spider-Man than all of his other villains. He has almost killed Spider-Man many times before with his extremely strong and durable arms and was the one who formed and led the Sinister Six. He was also smart enough to swap minds with Spider-Man and killed him while they were in each other's bodies. This makes him one of the few villains that were actually able to get rid of the wall-crawler (until he came back to life).