With the imminent release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Marvel's iconic Wall-Crawler has now featured in 8 solo big-screen adventures and been played by 4 different actors (well, more than that if you count the multiple versions in Spider-Verse), all of whom brought something different to the table.
The movies themselves have obviously varied in quality, but even the most maligned are not without a few bright spots.
Below, you'll find a ranking of all eight Spider-Man movies from least to most spectacular. I will be discussing Far From Home in more detail than the others, but don't worry, you won't find any spoilers here!
This is just one man's opinion, so please feel free to share your own in the comments.
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Marc Webb's
TASM sequel really is a mess. While the first movie definitely has its share of problems, the follow-up basically took all of the elements that didn't work - annoying, "cool" Peter, overstuffed plot, awful villains - and amplified them.
To be fair, leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone do their best with the material and Gwen's demise is well handled, but by that point we've already sat through over 2 hours of increasing silliness, cliched romance and Jamie Fox's Electro.
Spider-Man 3
Many of you were probably expecting this to take worst place, but Sam Raimi's
Spider-Man 3 is not
quite as bad as its reputation suggests.
Sure, it's tonally all over the place Topher Grace's Venom is... not very good, but Kirsten Dunst gives arguably her best performance of the trilogy as MJ, and there are some well executed action sequences.
Then there's the dancing. Okay, there's no defending the dancing.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Sony and Marc Webb's first
Spider-Man reboot is technically a well made film and Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone make for likable enough leads, but it's basically a complete rehash of Raimi's first movie - and it falls way short.
Peter Parker being re-imagined as a cool skateboarder kid would have been forgivable if the script took a few chances and skipped over the origin story, but at the end of the day it's a copy-and-paste job with a subplot involving Peter's parents that goes nowhere, and a truly horrendous looking villain.
Not
bad, but not quite good enough to justify its existence.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
I know I'm going to be in the minority on this one, but I thought
Far From Home was just okay, and I left the theater quite disappointed. It's a fun movie for the most part and Tom Holland once again does a stellar job as Peter Parker, but I was never fully engaged with the story.
It's basically a high-school romance with some superhero stuff thrown in, and that's fine... to an extent. A couple of scenes with Peter and MJ awkwardly flirting is endearing, but it soon becomes a little tedious - even if the actors do have strong chemistry.
Unfortunately, the action sequences are also very repetitive with continuous shots of Spidey swinging around giant CGI monsters as they destroy a few buildings. We're told that these Elementals represent a major threat to the world, but that never comes across and the movie, in general, lacks bite. The final set piece is undeniably impressive, however.
Perhaps my biggest gripe with the film is that it feels like a step backwards for Spider-Man. Or a step to the side, at least. After having fought alongside The Avengers, stopped The Vulture and helped defeat Thanos and reverse The Snap (sorry, "The Blip"), this movie takes a still ridiculously inept Parker right back to the beginning and basically repeats his
Homecoming arc to the letter.
I'm a big Spider-Man fan, I guess I've just had enough of Spider-Boy at this stage.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
This second reboot fully integrated
Spider-Man into The MCU, taking the character back to basics for a light-hearted, John Hughes-inspired high-school adventure that doesn't quite reach the heights of Raimi's first two films, but comes pretty damn close.
Tom Holland is terrific as a younger take on Peter Parker, and he's bolstered by a strong supporting cast that includes Zendaya, Maria Tomei and Michael Keaton. Robert Downey Jr's extended cameo as Tony Stark came in for some backlash, but there's no denying that his presence gives this latest Spidey flick a much-needed injection of originality - as does the decision to dispense with Peter's origin story.
A
little more edge wouldn't have been unwelcome, however.
Spider-Man
X-Men is widely credited with rejuvenating the CBM genre, but the success of Sam Raimi's
Spider-Man most definitely ensured its longevity.
The
Evil Dead director brings all of the requisite blockbuster thrills while maintaining some of the pulpy charm of his earlier films to deliver what is widely considered to be one of the best comic book adaptations of all time.
There are a few issues (as great as Willem Dafoe is, that Green Goblin suit just does not work), but for the most part,
Spider-Man is about as great a big-screen debut for Marvel's web-slinging hero as one could have hoped for.
Spider-Man 2
What can be said about Raimi's Spidey sequel that hasn't been already? Some still believe the original to be superior, but for me
Spider-Man 2 is smarter, funnier, more emotional, more exciting and features more nuanced performances from Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
Alfred Molina also makes for a terrific Doc Ock, and is involved in two of the movies standout sequences: the deliriously dark operating table massacre, and that train fight people tend to bring up once in a while.
Flaws? Well, Maguire does pull that weird face while stopping the train...
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
When I first saw Sony's superb
Into The Spider-Verse I placed it below
Spider-Man 2 in my rankings, but after a second watch it just edges it out as the best Spidey flick yet.
This first big-screen outing for Miles Morales is not only a hugely entertaining and stunningly animated adventure, but it plays with the usual tropes associated with comic book movies in some surprising ways, and even succeeds in breathing new life into the well-worn superhero origin story. It's so damn good that any gripes I may have (okay, so it could have used a better villain) seem like minor, almost insignificant nitpicks.
Spectacular, amazing, astonishing - whatever Spidey-related adjective you choose, it'll fit.