While reviewing the rogue's gallery of our friendly neighborhood
Spider-Man,
I found a disturbing similarity in most of the villains. It seems that many of the
original ne'er-do-wells who plagued our wallcrawling hero all had the same
color scheme.
For instance:
- The Lizard: Green scales, purple pants, white labcoat
- Mysterio:Green jumpsuit, purple cape, white fishbowl
- Green Goblin: Green body suit and mask, purple tunic, gloves, and hat
- The Scorpion: Green costume with tail
- The Vulture: Green jumpsuit, white collar
- Dr. Octopus: Green jumpsuit
- Electro:Green jumpsuit, really awful yellow electric bolt mask
It seems that in the early days of Marvel Comics, the designers of new villains
and heroes made a clear dividing lines in the use of color: heroes got primary
colors and villains got greens, purples, and oranges.
Of course, there are exceptions,
even in the list of Spider-Man villains. The Rhino is just one big grey lump with a
horn. The Shocker is dressed all in a yellow quilt (but then who ever thinks of
the Shocker as a major Spider-Man villain) and the Kingpin is always dressed
like a waiter. But as a whole, the majority of the villains seem to buy their costumes
from the same designer.