The 20 greatest (and 10 worst) Spider-Man villains of all time
By Mike McNulty
8th Worst Villain: Frank Oliver/The Kangaroo
One reason Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery is one of the best in all of comics is because Stan Lee created a plethora of creative, unconventional adversaries for a creative, unconventional superhero. Frank Oliver, a.k.a. The Kangaroo, isn’t one of those villains.
For starters, he’s an Australian. And since early 1970’s comic books still relied on stereotypes even then, this meant he was either very skilled with boomerangs, or had the powers of a marsupial. Because Stan Lee already created a Australian villain named Boomerang, guess which one Oliver was? Even better, the Kangaroo gained his “astounding” kangaroo powers…by watching, imitating, and living with other kangaroos. And what did Kangaroo do with these skills? Why, become a boxer, of course!
Except Kangaroo also thought he was a kickboxer, and murdered an opponent during a match by leaping feet first on his face. To escape the law, Oliver fled to the United States, only to be detained by immigration for not having a passport. To avoid deportation, he stole a vial of a lethal virus which planed on selling to the black market. Spider-Man was able to stop him, but Kangaroo still managed to escape.
That’s when he later met one Dr. Jonas Harow, who surgically implanted air-powered jets into Kangaroo’s legs. But he also inserted a device into Kangaroo’s brain which gave him intense pain unless he obeyed Harrow’s orders. Tasked with stealing a radioactive isotope from a top-secret laboratory, Spider-Man again tried to intervene and warn the Kangaroo that the isotope was too dangerous. Kangaroo didn’t listen, and after opening the lead-lined vault containing the isotope, exposed himself to massive levels of radiation and died instantly.
But believe or not, the Kangaroo’s legacy didn’t die with him. Someone else was foolish enough to take up his mantle, although he at least opted for a robotic suit of armor instead of a hair-covered vest.