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Regarding these categories, I totally get the opposite and the almost-alike, but where does the manipulator fit in terms of personality conflict? If the opposite represents everything the hero opposes, and the almost-alike represents a twisted mirror of what the hero could be, what does the manipulator represent? To continue the Spider-Man analogy, I'd see Norman as someone who represents the exact opposite of Peter; suave instead of awkward, greedy instead of responsible, and sadistic instead of compassionate.
Well, for me the categories work best in defining how the villain operates more than anything. One would expect, in traditional comic terms, for the villains to be fairly opposite of the hero in terms of values no matter what their mode of operation. I take the categories to be more superficial... first steps in outlining the broad strokes.
For instance, in creating a new villain for Al B. Harper... is it another scientist? What about an occult expert? Maybe a shadowy figure benefiting illegally from Al's research? (I suppose if you combine them all, you end up with Dr. Doom...)
I definitely see your point though that the Green Goblin was more of an opposite character, where as the recent Osborne has moved into the manipulator category.
