Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
Are there really enough labs experimenting on symbiotes that they're lower down the prestige list than knocking over a corner shop?

Well I suppose in New York there might be one in every other apartment...
Ignoring the fact that it's a plot device meant to facilitate one's escape from captivity...

Two active corporations—the Life Foundation and Alchemaz—and Weapon Plus division(IE, clandestine military organization sponsored jointly by multiple US and Canadian military and government bodies) currently, plus a third corporation was doing so in the past before it went horribly wrong.

Something of a cultural meme among certain criminal types is that a symbiote will automatically make you an A-lister. Additionally, corporations and military research outposts tend to have expensive equipment that say, a mad scientists might want for their own research, and Alxhemax and the Life Foundation's respective focuses might be of interest to aspiring supervillains even if they're not after symbiotes.

Also keep in mind that "Z-List" doesn't mean "random thug." It has more to do with prestige and reputation than skill.

The Shocker, for example, has the skills and talent to be an A-Lister, but he's typically considered a C-Lister mostly because he doesn't care. He just wants money.

So a Z-List villain would be someone like The Hood, who wants to be a big-shot crime lord but who is mostly just a joke, or Silvermane who is literally just an aged mob boss who should have died ages ago who thinks he's still relevant in a world where Supervillains exist when really the main reason he's still around is because none of the proper villains are interested in his rackets.