10 Times Spider-Man Has Been Outwitted
9. Hobgoblin Commits The Perfect Crime - Amazing Spider-Man Vol.1 #245
While a lot of later entries on this list involve villains defeating Spider-Man in a fight, there's more than one way to outwit your opponent - it could even be as simple as making sure you have an escape plan.
In Amazing Spider-Man #245, written in 1983 by Roger Stern and pencilled by John Romita Jr., we see Roderick Kingsley - also known as the original Hobgoblin - put his criminal cunning on display to give Spider-Man the slip.
After an exhaustive search for the Hobgoblin's identity as both Spider-Man and Peter Parker, it seems as if our hero has finally unearthed a lead - a small-time criminal named Lefty Donovan. However, Spider-Man's instincts tell him there's more to this case. When Spider-Man unmasks the Hobgoblin, he discovers it is in fact Lefty Donovan - but Donovan lets slip that he wasn't acting alone - he had a criminal employer.
Just as he's about to name the mastermind behind the Hobgoblin, Kingsley remote-controls Donovan's glider into a building, killing him and tying up any loose ends.