With great power, comes great responsibility. Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man knows this, but the villains he fights seem not to. Spider-Man is one of the top favorite superheroes of all time, and that is backed by a lot of focused research. However, as much as people love superheroes, it’s safe to say everyone has a soft spot for a villain or two. In celebration of the 2021 release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and all the villains we are excited to see come back, we have rounded up a list of books to read based on your favorite Spider-Man villain!

If you love Green Goblin, read Super Villain Dad by R.J. Ross

Probably Spider-Man’s most recognizable villain, Green Goblin really has it out for the superhero. The obvious “science-experiment-gone-wrong” trope runs strong with this one. He is unhinged completely, his blood cold to the touch. No matter how sadistic and homicidal he may be, Norman Osborn is still a father. Granted, Harry Osborn doesn’t fall far from the Goblin Hoverboard. If Green Goblin is your favorite evil doer then you’d probably enjoy Super Villain Dad by R.J. Ross. Zoe and Sunny are twins and they believe their father to be a scientist turned supervillain. They also find out they have superpowers they can’t control. This is a story of family bonding and likable villains.

If your favorite villain is Doc Ock, then you should read Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Doctor Otto Octavius is brilliant and was a respected nuclear physicist, atomic research consultant, and inventor. He created mechanical arms to help him with his research, but after a cruel accident in the lab, the mechanical arms fused to his body and he became the legendary figure of Spider-Man’s nightmares, Doc Ock. If he’s your favorite villain, then you should definitely pick up Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Much like Doctor Octavious, Victor and Eli were brilliant and put their arrogant ambition into researching how one receives supernatural abilities. However, when their research turns to experiments, things go terribly wrong and we learn that gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically turn you into a hero.

If you love Kingpin, read Indelible by Laurie Buchanan

Kingpin might seem like an ordinary mob boss, but he’s one of Spidey’s most notorious foes. He doesn’t have any superpowers, but with his brute force, political influence, and posse of foot soldiers, he has escaped our superhero’s hands more than once. So for lovers of thrilling, twisty, revenge plots, a book that just screams “Kingpin” is Indelible by Laurie Buchanan. Sean McPherson just wants to heal and put his life back together after a sniper kills his partner and the ambush leaves him injured. However, Sniper Jason Hughes blames McPherson for the loss of more than 10 million dollars’ worth of heroin—and he wants revenge. Hughes will stop at nothing and no one to get to McPherson, even if it means going undercover at a writing retreat.

If Mysterio is your favorite villain, you should read the Witches of Orkney series by Alane Adams

As a master of illusion himself, Mysterio is a villain of fanatics. He has no real powers, but his background as a chemist and stuntman allows him the ability to bring a type of magic to the world. If Mysterio has put a spell on you, then you’d definitely enjoy the Witches of Orkney series by Alane Adams. With multiple books to choose from, this series is full of magic and fun antics and creatures and characters so fantastical, you’ll think Mysterio created them himself!

If you love The Lizard, read Mission Afghanistan by Elie Paul Cohen

Dr. Connors served as Peter’s mentor at one point; he even worked with Doctor Octavian before his unfortunate accident that gave him his alter ego, The Lizard. What most people don’t know is that Dr. Connors served as an army surgeon before his time as a geneticist and scaly supervillain. So if your favorite villain from Spidey’s world is The Lizard, then you and Dr. Connors would definitely be into Mission Afghanistan by Elie Paul Cohen, translated by Jessica Levine. A memoir of an army doctor, Cohen tells his story of his mission as a liaison emergency doctor in Afghanistan. This memoir has a little bit of everything, from spy thriller to adventure to the costs of war.

If your favorite is Venom, you should read Gatekeeper by Alison Levy

Venom is a sentient alien symbiote that bonds with other life forms to become more powerful. Spider-Man is his first host, but his infamous occupant is another one of Spider-Man’s journalistic haters, Eddie Brock. If Venom gives you all the right kind of chills, then you should read Gatekeeper by Alison Levy. Rachel Wilde also comes from a different dimension, and she also has symbiote-type creatures in her world called daemons, creatures out of phase with our world that tempt people to do good or evil. In this conspiring novel, Rachael must track down the criminal that is breaking down dimensional barriers and survive life-threatening situations.

If you love Sandman, read When We Were All Still Alive by Keith McWalter

Flint Marko turned to a life of crime long before his accident with a radioactive explosion. In the movies, this villain commits his felonies for his daughter, who is diagnosed with cancer. His shapeshifting abilities and composition of small rocks and minerals makes him a hard villain to fight, but Spidey tries his best. If you love Sandman for his awesome mutations and sad background story, then When We Were All Still Alive by Keith McWalter is the novel for you. A grief-stricken husband and father must find the true meaning of mortality and love through the pain of his past. It would be safe to assume that Sandman himself would turn to puddles (if he could without becoming muddy) and really identify with the character of this book.

If your favorite villain is Electro, you should read Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs

Electro is the guy who is way over the top with electrifying consequences. After an accident with a powerline, Max Dillon found himself with the abilities to absorb and project massive amounts of electricity. Electro found himself constantly compared to villains and Spider-Man, and never knew which spectrum he belonged in until he decided to be a criminal. Much like Electro, Kenna, from Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs, is constantly surrounded and compared to superheroes. But when three villains break into the lab she works in and one ends up saving her, she can’t help but become entangled with thoughts of good versus evil. She must team up with her sworn enemies on a mission that will redefine what it means to be powerful and powerless.

If you’re all about Carnage, read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Carnage hasn’t shown up in the Spider-Man movies, but he is one of the deadliest and greatest foes of the superhero in the comics. Carnage is the offspring of Venom, but much more evil with  unfathomable power, especially when attached to serial killer Cletus Kasady. If Carnage is your favorite villain, then you should read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, which focuses on a man leading a double life by working Wall Street by day and expressing his true self through torture and murder by night. It’s almost too on the nose with this villain and book pairing.

If you love J. Jonah Jameson, you should read The Journalist by Jerry A. Rose and Lucy Rose Fischer

While Mr. Jameson isn’t technically a Spider-Man villain, he sure does make his life difficult. He loves to incriminate anyone with superhuman abilities, and in turn makes uses libel to slander Spider-Man in The Daily Bugle. If this is your guy, then you would definitely love to read The Journalist: Life and Loss in America’s Secret War by Jerry A. Rose and Lucy Rose Fischer. Jerry Rose was a young journalist, much like Mr. Jameson. However, Rose used his position to expose the secret beginnings of America’s Vietnam War in the early 1960s. His writing was acclaimed and even granted him a position as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Vietnam. J. Jonah Jameson would have idolized this book—and maybe it would have even helped him to stop antagonizing Spider-Man.

Not all the Spider-Man villains were able to make it to the list. Hopefully the bad-guys like Rhino and Vulture understand, and if they don’t … we have Spidey to protect us. So, while Spider-Man is out doing whatever a spider can, enjoy the new movie and books that will help you feel more connected to your favorite spider-verse villains.