Shake a tree and a bunch of Spider-Man movies will fall down. When it comes to the Webslinger who deals in great power and great responsibility, he doesn’t mess around in terms of his big screen appearances. Heck, Sony has even created a spin-off universe consisting of comic book characters closely associated with Spidey, such as Venom and Morbius (aka the greatest movie character of all time). Much like with other superhero movies, there have been a plethora of good films and bad ones. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying all of them – Rotten Tomatoes scores be damned and all!
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That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun and figure out the rankings here. After all, everyone loves to debate these types of lists and argue over which film deserves a higher position and which one should be lower. But let’s not be trolls about it, okay? It’s all right to disagree and this is simply about cape stuff, so there’s no need to take it so seriously or plan to burn down the building over it.
So, let’s get into it and see where your favourites rank. For the purpose of this list, we will be excluding Marvel Cinematic Universe movies like Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War, and Captain America: Civil Wars, since those aren’t strictly Spider-Man movies; he simply appears in them as part of a larger ensemble cast.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Unfortunately, Sony hadn’t learnt its lesson from Spider-Man 3 and the inclusion of multiple villains for the sake of it. On paper, director Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had it all in terms of sheer quality on screen: Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro, and Paul Giamatti as Rhino. Plus, the story also loosely adapted the tragic comics storyline where Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) perishes after being caught up in the fight between the Web-Head and the Green Goblin.
Despite Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man and the rest of the cast doing what they could with the material at hand, this superhero affair had too much happening on screen and multiple subplots to follow or even make sense of. The sonic-musical battle between Electro and Spidey still holds up to this day, though most fans don’t remember much about this movie apart from it trying to launch a whole bunch of other spin-offs, such as The Sinister Six. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made over $700 million worldwide, but the franchise was halted in its tracks as The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was axed in favour of a new Spidey joining the MCU.
The Atlantic summed up the movie best, stating: “It’s over-stuffed with plot and consequently struggles to invest the audience in any of it, since there’s so much to get through and so many future films and spinoffs to set up.”
Spider-Man 3
Up until 2007, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise was held in high esteem. It produced two films that are still widely considered some of the best superhero movies of all time. When news broke that Spider-Man 3 would adapt the “Symbiote Saga” and feature Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman, there was anticipation and glee that this picture would top them all. Fans were ecstatic about the possibilities and rumours spread about what else could be featured, such as a tease of the birth of Carnage.
In the end, Spider-Man 3 is the weakest entry in the Raimi trilogy. It has a lot going on and doesn’t focus on a singular conflict, as it becomes lost in its own tangled web of storytelling and too many characters. Also, it’s best remembered for Emo Peter and the memeable dance in the streets of New York rather than anything significant that happens in the movie. Speaking to the “Nerdist” podcast (via Collider), Raimi said, “It’s a movie that just didn’t work very well. I tried to make it work, but I didn’t really believe in all the characters, so that couldn’t be hidden from people who loved Spider-Man. If the director doesn’t love something, it’s wrong of them to make it when so many other people love it.”
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Spider-Man: Far From Home
Is Spider-Man: Far From Home a bad film? Not necessarily. The problem is it feels inconsequential until the final scene where Peter Parker’s identity is revealed to the world. It’s set after the events of Endgame where Peter mourns and tries to cope with the loss of Tony Stark/Iron Man. He meets Jake Gyllenhaal’s Quentin Beck/Mysterio, who is primed to be his new mentor and has Nick Fury’s trust (supposedly). Ultimately, Peter realises Quentin is a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee who is a master of illusion and a supervillain.
As far as sequels and plotting go, Far From Home doesn’t match the panache of Spider-Man 2 or up the stakes much from any other film. It feels more like a story about a hero fighting against a villain without moving the needle forward in a way that hasn’t been seen yet. Comparing this to the other Spider-Man movies, it is another entertaining entry in the series, but it doesn’t try to play outside of its sandbox or break any of its genre’s rules.
FilmWeek‘s Tim Cogshell said it best, by describing it as “an affable film. It’s a pivot film, is what it is… It’s lighter and has a good deal more in common with Guardians of the Galaxy.”
The Amazing Spider-Man
There’s nothing more that fans fear than a reboot of a popular franchise. Despite the meh-ness of Spider-Man 3, the audience loved Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. However, Sony decided a reboot was necessary, casting Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man. The film acts as another retelling of the origin story, following similar beats from before; however, the main villain here is Rhys Ifans’ sympathetic Dr Curt Connors/Lizard.
Most of the criticism surrounding The Amazing Spider-Man is how it doesn’t take many risks and is yet another origin story told with different actors. While the film does tend to play on the safe side, it also does take a more modern approach and borrow elements from Ultimate Spider-Man in its narrative structure. It’s clear the movie is meant to be a single building block for something much bigger and it didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Spider-Man 3 here (although it did so in the sequel). Plus, no one can deny that Emma Stone and Garfield lack chemistry here. They might be one of the best pairings in superhero movies.
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Spider-Man
Why is 2002’s Spider-Man so far down this list, you may ask? After all, isn’t it the film that kickstarted all this in the first place? (We won’t mention the Spidey films from the ’70s here, because those were simply recut television episodes.) Director Sam Raimi certainly did a fantastic job in adapting what seemed to have been unadaptable. Sure, he made some strange decisions, such as making Spider-Man have organic web shooters and those production goofs that show up in the final cut, but he captured the essence of Peter Parker and his alias here.
That being said, Spider-Man is often cited not for Tobey Maguire’s interpretation of the titular hero, but for Willem Dafoe’s turn as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. It’s a timeless comic book movie performance that puts Dafoe in the pantheon of the greatest on-screen villains. From his nefarious cackles to physical displays of villainy, the actor has made it nigh impossible for anyone else to replace him as the Green Goblin in future films. In addition, the memes that this film birthed are next level.
Tilt Magazine best described 2002’s Spider-Man, stating: “The first Spider-Man isn’t the best of Raimi’s three Spidey films […] But it’s still a very important film, one that set the template for how Marvel superhero movies would look for the next 20 years.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming
After Tom Holland debuted as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, fans were curious to see how Sony would handle the latest version of the Web-Head in his own solo film. While there are jokes that Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming is simply Iron Man 4 considering how much Tony Stark is in the posters and story, it’s closer to a John Hughes’ film featuring Spider-Man. The big villain of the film is Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture, who adds a different layer to the story as he becomes a villain after being forced out of business. Other outstanding supporting characters include Zendaya’s MJ and Jacob Batalon’s Ned.
While Spider-Man: Homecoming doesn’t exactly reinvent the superhero wheel, it avoids becoming another unnecessary origin story. Instead, it chooses to solidify who Peter Parker is as a person and why he chooses to become Spider-Man. At the same time, it doesn’t shy away from the fact that he’s a teenager who may be in over his head but he continues to persist. Now, that is the true mark of a hero.
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Spider-Man 2
For the longest time, Spider-Man 2 was considered the greatest comic book movie of all time – and for good reason, too. While the first Sam Raimi film tackled the origin of the character, the sequel took off the shackles and told a more personal story with a relatable and likeable villain. Alfred Molina’s Doctor Otto Octavius isn’t a bad man by nature, but he becomes consumed with his grief and inherent desire to prove his experiment works – and that’s what drives him to the brink as Doctor Octopus and his wild tentacles. In the end, though, he shows who he really is as a person at heart and does what’s right for everyone, sacrificing himself in the process.
Comic Book Movie gave the film a perfect score in a retrospective review, stating: “A groundbreaking, epic masterpiece, Spider-Man 2 sees Sam Raimi continue to make great use of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s classic stories to deliver the rare perfect sequel.” It’s hard to disagree here, since it does have everything necessary to surpass the original and break new grounds for the story. It’s testament to how far the Spider-Man movies have come that there are others capable of displacing this fantastic feature.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The year 2018 was a difficult one for Spidey fans as both Stan Lee and Steve Ditko – the creators of Marvel’s most popular superhero and two industry icons – passed away. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse offers a tribute to the comics legends in the credits, but it also captures the heart and soul of the character they created in a multiversal adventure quite like no other. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, from a script written by Phil Lord and Rothman, this animated feature is Miles Morales’ story and how he becomes the Spider-Man of his universe.
He’s not on his own, though, as he is joined by Spider-Men from other universes such as Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham who each bring their own uniqueness to the tale. What plays out is a glorious and stylish film that is both flash and substance. Chicago Reader‘s Ben Sachs glowed about the film in a review, writing: “Maintaining a breathless pace, the filmmakers pile up sci-fi conceits, one-liners, and a melange of animation styles; as opposed to lots of other comic book adaptations, this actually captures the sensation of getting absorbed in a comic book.”
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Spider-Man: No Way Home
Did Spider-Man: No Way Home save cinema after the pandemic? There’s an argument to be made that it did. In December 2021, it proved to be the film that got people back into theaters in droves. Almost $2 billion later and it became the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie of all time and a pop-culture celebration. But numbers are for the accountants and fans shouldn’t care about the bottom line because it’s the story that matters.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a multiverse adventure that no fan could have dreamed of a decade ago. It features Tom Holland’s Spider-Man teaming up with the previous versions of the Wall-Crawler played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The three Spider-Men need to get the different multiverse villains back to their respective homes, while instilling hope in Peter-One who has just lost his Aunt May and feels more alone than ever. The film holds an incredible 93% critical approval rating and 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Believe the hype, because Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the Terminator 2 of the franchise. It’s also further proof that animated films can be just as good or even better than the live-action ones. Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, from a script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham, the second entry of the Spider-Verse films sees Miles Morales (voiced once again by Shameik Moore) meet the Spider-Society of the multiverse, led by Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. However, he quickly finds out that they believe in certain rules and “canon events” that he doesn’t – and he might need to defy every Spider-Man variant to stand up for what is right. But will Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy (not Spider Gwen) and Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker stand with him too?
In Fortress of Solitude’s review of the film, critic Neilan Adams wrote: “More than simply an action hero, Miles feels like a real teenager with real problems. Furthermore, his portrayal as a hero has depth and conveys the weight of responsibility on his young shoulders.” It’s an accurate assessment, as this isn’t just a film about superheroes – there’s a stronger emotional core that shows the hero beneath the mask and how his greatest superpower is his heart.
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Tell us, how would you rank the Spider-Man movies? Let us know!
Spider-Man Movies Ranked From Worst to Best Written by Sergio Pereira for Fortress of Solitude
