> > the Jackal back in the '70s, who won every battle he had with Spidey despite having no superhuman powers and being a probably fortysomething college professor
>
> When you put it like that it sounds so silly.

Yeah, that’s like describing the Hobgoblin as “some random fashion designer who keeps his weapons in a purse” or Doc Ock as “a tubby middle-aged glass-jawed physicist who uses his lab equipment to commit crimes”. If you word it right you can make any character sound silly. After all, Venom is just some guy wearing Spidey’s dirty laundry.