Spider-Man has made many live-action appearances over the years, wearing a lot of very different costumes in the process. Some have stuck to the source material (almost too much) and while others have taken some pretty significant liberties, they all vary greatly both in quality and the general design.
Just like the comic book version of the character, we all have our favourite take on the wall-crawler's iconic red and blue duds, but which of his many outfits stand out as being the among the very best?
Here, you will find a ranking of every single Spider-Man costume to ever grace the big (and small) screen over the past four or five decades, starting from the worst and working up to the ones which are easily the most amazing and spectacular. We're including
Spider-Man: Far From Home but, don't fret, because you won't find any spoilers for the movie here!
So, check find out which of the costumes comes out on top, click the "View List" button below.
15. Spidey Super Stories
"Spidey Super Stories" was a segment on a PBS children's series in the 1970s, and dancer/puppeteer Danny Seagran was the one suited up as the wall-crawler. Held back by a minuscule budget and the technological restrictions of the times, it looks like the guy is wearing the cheapest fancy dress costume ever, and it really doesn't seem as if they made any sort of effort here.
The spider symbol and oddly deranged looking eyes don't help matters, either, and when it comes to the actual Spider-Man costume, this is easily the worst version to date. If Spidey was real and swinging around looking like this, I think we'd all be on the J. Jonah Jameson hate wagon!
14. The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
The Incredible Hulk and
Wonder Woman are among the best-known superhero TV shows from the 1970s, but the wall-crawler also made his presence felt on the small screen for a time. Surprisingly faithful to the source material, this costume was much better than the version in "Super Spidey Stories", but still not great.
The webbing pattern was better (as was the material), but what in the hell is going on with those eyes?! The hero having mirrored lenses in his mask may have carried over into his big screen adventures, but it looks like someone stuck a couple of actual mirrors on his face here. For the period in which it was created, this was ok, but it's still a long way off from perfect.
13. The Amazing Spider-Man's Homemade Costume
One of the first official images released from
The Amazing Spider-Man, this shot generated a predictably sizeable backlash. It's not hard to see why either; the rebooted Peter Parker's first attempt at a costume was sunglasses, a balaclava, a ski hat, and a jacket! It was admittedly something a teenager could create, but also uninspired and dull.
The fact that the young hero went from this to his much more advanced final costume was another ridiculous jump, but one which Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is also guilty of to be fair. Regardless, this costume sucks and I wouldn't mind betting that you had completely forgotten about it before seeing it here (I know I had anyway).
12. The Japanese Spider-Man
The 1970s were a big decade for Spider-Man, particularly in the Far East. The Japanese Spidey shared nothing in common with his comic book counterpart (he was a motorcycle racer who got his powers from an alien that crash-landed on Earth, a la Green Lantern), but this costume is perhaps the best in a very bad bunch.
While it still looks like it was made by a partially sighted cosplayer, the colours are spot on and the eyes seem to be at least somewhat Ditko inspired. That gauntlet isn't a web-shooter by the way; it's controlling his giant robot Leopardon. As I said, this wasn't one for fans of the source material, but he does at least still look like Spider-Man for the most part anyway!
11. Peter Parker's Wrestling Outfit
You may think it's odd to put this homemade costume before those more faithful - but still terrible - takes on Spider-Man, but I liked this one. Sure, it's just a ski mask, a jumper, and jogging trousers, but the fact that Peter actually stencilled a logo on the damn thing illustrates at least some effort on his part to become Spider-Man.
This was also the costume in which we first saw the wall-crawler swinging between buildings in pursuit of his Uncle's killer, a moment which isn't as fondly remembered as it arguably should be (those special effects in 2002 were groundbreaking). Anyway, as homemade costumes go, this was a good one, but it's fair to say that Marvel Studios ended up topping it.
10. The Scarlet Spider Inspired Homemade Costume
On the surface, this costume doesn't really take much in the way of inspiration from the comic books because Peter Parker has never really worn anything like it. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the Scarlet Spider suit is what led to Marvel Studios dreaming up this homemade suit for Peter Parker and it looks pretty damn cool.
First glimpsed in Captain America: Civil War and later highlighted in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it was a bold decision by Marvel to have Peter wear this while doing battle with The Vulture in the final battle. However, seeing him lift that rubble while decked out in the hoodie made it clear that it's more than just the suit that makes the (spider) man.
9. The Stealth Suit
It's fair to say that most fans expected Spider-Man to have a very different black suit after travelling into outer space in the past two Avengers movies, but this Stealth costume provided to him by Nick Fury is very cool despite being a pretty major departure from the comic books.
Clearly inspired by the "Spider-Noir" version of the character, this is a clever way to hide Peter Parker's identity while he tries to stop the Elementals overseas, but not really that Spidey-ish beyond the goggles! Yes, it looks spectacular in action (that was evident from the latest trailer) but this is unlikely to be remembered as one of his most iconic or classic big screen costumes.
8. The (Not So) Amazing Spider-Man
Sony clearly felt the need to differentiate their rebooted Spider-Man from what came before, hence why we ended up with this costume. To be honest, it took a while for it to grow on me, and I did end up liking it, especially in action. However, those trainers and the lack of a utility belt (giving Spidey a weird elongated look) still bother me, even if the former were likely put there simply to emphasise the fact that Peter made this costume himself.
While the golden lenses were an interesting creative decision, they ended up looking pretty cool, and I like that you could see the hero's eyes through them. Ultimately though, this suit was far from perfect and needed some big changes.
7. The Iron Spider
While this may be a departure from the Iron Spider suit seen in the comic books, it still managed to look spectacular on screen and seeing those extra arms in action was a definite highlight in Avengers: Infinity War. Created entirely by CGI, it's hard to judge a costume brought to life via VFX in a list full of practical ones but there's no real way a suit like this could have really been done justice.
We know that the suit will return in Spider-Man: Far From Home after appearing in Avengers: Endgame, and it will be interesting to see how much screentime it receives. Ultimately, as great as this one looked in action, there are better versions out there and it could and should have been more memorable because this definitely wasn't Spidey's most exciting outfit in the MCU.
6. Spider-Man (2002)
Considering the fact that it was created for Spider-Man's live-action debut, it's hard to fault this costume. However, now that I'm looking back on it, the drabness of the colours definitely hold this one back from true greatness. The blue parts have become navy here, and the silver webbing doesn't really do the red any favours (the lack of black means it fails to really pop off the screen).
The limitations in technology at the time also mean that the mask is a problem; I'm not a fan of the very sharp and triangular style of the eyes, but worse than that is how stiff the whole headpiece looked when Peter was talking in there; there was no movement, making it look very static.
5. Spider-Man 3's Symbiote Costume
There's no denying that, for the most part, this take on Spider-Man's black costume was something of a disappointment. However, it was still cool to see it on the big screen and while it would have been nice to see the white logo make an appearance, this actually worked really well in the Raimi-verse.
Basically a black version of the regular red and blue suit, this still managed to look superb on screen and director Sam Raimi arguably made a wise decision to give the costume some texture rather than making it smooth all over like its comic book counterpart. Honestly, this outfit worked better than most fans give it credit for, and it deserved a little more screentime.
4. Spider-Man 2/Spider-Man 3
Heading into
Spider-Man 2, Tobey Maguire's costume didn't undergo a huge amount of changes, but some improvements were made in the overall design and colour scheme. In fact, had Sam Raimi figured out a way to make those eyes move, I dare say that this costume would be at the top of this list!
Heading into Spider-Man 3, it was no great surprise to see that no significant changes had been made to the costume because Sony was clearly happy with it at that point. For a lot of fans, this suit is nothing short of iconic and symbolises everything that this character should be on screen. It's just a shame that it's lacking in a few key areas those listed below are not.
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Comic Accurate Suit
I had a lot of issues with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (let's not go down that route again, eh?), but there's no denying that Marc Webb and company nailed the character's costume here. A massive improvement over the one which preceded it, this was classic Spider-Man through and through and has an advantage over Raimi's version due to the brightness of the material used.
What I'm not so keen on is that elongated spider and the actual fabric, especially as it appears to be the same weird shiny spandex from The Amazing Spider-Man. That aside, though, and this is a hard one to find fault with. Iit also incorporated the much larger eyes absent from past versions.
2. The Stark Suit
I know a lot of fans aren't happy with this suit (mostly because of those black lines and the fairly prominent web-shooters) but for me, it's definitely classic Spider-Man - even if I would prefer a slightly different logo. That may seem like a lot of negatives for a suit that's placed so highly here, but there's something that obviously distinguishes this one from the rest in a big way.
I am, of course, referring to the moving eyes, an element absent from every other suit on this list that finally gives the wall-crawler the chance to convey emotion in the same way as his comic book counterpart. In action, it looks amazing and I think it's going to be remembered as the best "classic" costume by far in years to come.
1. The Advanced Suit
Less busy than the
Spider-Man: Homecoming costume and far more visually distinctive thanks to the red and black colour scheme, it definitely doesn't seem premature to dub this the hero's best big screen costume to date. It looks like an Alex Ross drawing come to life, and the fact that the trailers have confirmed Peter himself creates it also scores brownie points.
From a purely visual standpoint, though, this is a truly amazing suit and one that I'm sure fans will be anxious to see more of in the MCU moving forward. It's honestly hard to see how it could get any better than this, and given the way it's used in the sequel, I think you'll all soon agree...
Which of these Spider-Man suits is your favourite? Do you agree with this ranking from worst to best? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts on that in the comments section down below.