Dr. Thaddeus Paine

A sinister presence lurking in the shadowy corners of Marvel's mid-nineties symbiote mythology, Dr. Thaddeus Paine made his mark in Venom: The Hunger — a limited series that pushed into darker, more psychologically intense territory during comics' Modern Age. Debuted in 1996 by Len Kaminski and Ted Halsted, this is a character whose very name signals menace, and the rarefied company he keeps — sharing pages with Venom, Eddie Brock, Steve Rogers, Ben Grimm, and Doctor Doom — speaks to the high-stakes world he inhabits. With one of his scant three catalogued appearances earning key-issue recognition, Dr. Thaddeus Paine is exactly the kind of deep-cut, blink-and-you'll-miss-him figure that rewards the dedicated collector who digs past the surface.