Ranking Every Spider-Man Film

Spider-Man: No Way Home seems to be an interesting product of almost twenty years of Spider-Man movies. That makes this the perfect moment to check back on the previous eight Spider-Man movies with the goal of coming to a consensus: which is the best?

8. Amazing Spider-Man 2

I struggle to articulate what I don’t enjoy about this movie because I have always lacked interest in it to the point where I can’t even be bothered to hate it. Andrew Garfield isn’t a great Spider-Man or a great Peter Parker; this particular movie perpetually just has too much on its plate to really enjoy any of it.

What’s with the research montage with the Philip Philips song playing in the background? Is it supposed to make me care about Peter’s search for his biological parents? Because I don’t. And doesn’t the Oscorp subplot feel cluttered? Parallel to the MCU, I can hardly blame this franchise for trying to set up a story of the same scope as The Avengers, but all of the Sinister Six stuff in this movie feels a little too forced.

All of the dreamlike sequences where Dennis Leary appears as a ghost to haunt Peter never really stuck for me. It always felt overly-edgy, over-the-top. Maybe I need to revisit this movie, but the Captain Stacy ghost feels like too much for me – maybe I’d like it more if Gwen survived and the ghost helped Peter save her.

Lastly, Paul Giamatti as a comic book villain feels like such an inspired casting that only having him at the beginning and end of the movie feels like a tremendous waste.

This movie is cluttered and bad. That’s all I have to say about it.

7. Amazing Spider-Man

To a lesser extent than its sequel, Amazing Spider-Man has always been uninspiring to the point where I can barely remember it and what I think about it. I would apologize for not remembering it, but between the charming performances of Tobey Maguire and the Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield feels staggeringly unimpressive. (And that’s not his fault, certainly – he’s an impressive actor with a handful of great performances under his belt. You ever see him in The Social Network?!) Again, this isn’t as egregiously bad as its sequel, but feels far more sanitized than all of the movies that followed it, and not nearly as interesting.

6. Spider-Man 3

This movie is cringey, but it’s fine. I was discussing this with a friend, and we came to the conclusion that the standards of quality when this movie came out and in the following years were different than they are now. When Spider-Man 3 came out, it was a mediocre and awkward movie, leaps and bounds worse than the two movies that had come before it. Now, things about it that used to be awkward and uncomfortable for me to watch – basically, all of the awkward “Emo Peter Parker” stuff that used to make me cringe when I watched it when I was younger – isn’t nearly as bad as it used to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if my appreciation of that came from the movies that came after it being too diluted. Almost as though all of the personality in Spider-Man 3, while not making the best movie, might still end up being preferable to something a little bit more tame. Emo Peter Parker dancing isn’t the biggest risk a movie could take, but the MCU wouldn’t let it happen.

5. Spider-Man: Far From Home

This movie has two incredible sequences. The first comes when Peter gives the glasses to Mysterio, revealing (to the audience) that Mysterio is not a superhero, but a technologically-gifted illusionist. The second great sequence comes when Mysterio reveals this secret to Peter; and Peter is subjected to a sequence of illusions that psychologically torture him. This is one of the best recent sequences in the entire MCU.

The rest of the movie manages to be competent enough, in the way all of the MCU movies do, but the fact that this one sequence really sticks out puts this a few spots higher than it would be otherwise. Upon seeing it, I was genuinely faked out – I should have known that Mysterio would not die in this scene, but when he is supposedly shot by Fury, I was nearly sure that this movie was about to go an entirely different direction.

Ultimately, the rest of the movie is adequate Spider-Man faire; the surprise of J.K. Simmons being back as J. Jonah Jameson is a delight, and all of the familiar characters, like MJ, Ned, and Flash, are all still terrific.

4. Spider-Man

This movie sets the template for what so many people think about when they think Spider-Man. This was Spider-Man’s first time on the big screen, and it was early enough in the superhero bubble that it really set a precedent for how to adapt superheroes to the big screen. The effect of this movie extends to all superhero origin stories that came after it, like Batman Begins, Man of Steel, and Iron Man. Like I said about Spider-Man 3, this movie has such personality in a way that the MCU and its competitors seem to lack. There’s a lot of heart here, and it’s difficult to explain exactly what distinguishes it from the overly-produced MCU without going into such an amount of detail that would double the length of this post.

Everyone is so perfectly cast in this movie; Tobey Macguire nails his awkward but sympathetic Peter Parker, Aunt May and Uncle Ben are so kindly and warm that they feel like the viewer’s own parents, and Willem Defoe’s Jekyll-and-Hyde performance of Norman and the Green Goblin is so unhinged and so unlike most performances that go for something similar. Ironically, they’re not even the best casting – every few months, someone will ask on Twitter or Reddit “What movie had a perfect casting?” and inevitably, the responses will always include a picture or video of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. It’s a relatively small part, but JKS absolutely brings it to every single scene. This performance had absolutely no business being this good.

That’s not even getting into the meat of the story; from the first scene to the last, this movie does a great job of showing Peter’s growth. He spends the whole movie learning his lesson; with great power comes great responsibility. The story of this film is about Peter defeating the Green Goblin; but the plot focuses on Peter learning responsibility. Ultimately, these two narrative threads create a blockbuster that was absolutely foundational to the genre which now dominates all media.

3. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Homecoming had a bit of a tall order in introducing Peter Parker to the MCU. He first appeared in Captain America: Civil War, but here was where we would find out if Spider-Man could carry his own story while still existing in the framework of the MCU. It’s pretty clear that the answer is a resounding yes. As much as I prefer the version of Peter that is just a regular teenager who struggles, I also really like this version that works with Tony Stark. It’s great for Peter to have this other father figure, even if it’s not the same as him having Uncle Ben. I’m certainly willing to forgive it because it so greatly improves all of the scenes between Peter and Tony in Infinity War and Endgame.

And then there’s all of the minor ways this connects to the broader MCU that really make this movie really solid. Vulture’s powers come from obtaining technology from the alien invasion in The Avengers. The Principal at Peter’s school has a picture of his grandfather, who fought with Captain America in World War II (and is played by the same actor). And Peter’s school playing PSAs by Captain America with an offhand reference to him “probably [being] a war criminal now” is so hilarious and effective. One thing I heard a friend say when this movie came out was that this, more than others, used recognizable elements of the series to make the MCU a proper setting, and I definitely agree.

Also, this movie was just as the MCU was starting to learn how to craft an effective villain; Michael Keaton as Vulture came right in the middle of Ego, Killmonger, and the Grandmaster, ultimately heralding the arrival of Thanos. He’s sinister, but his motives are sympathetic. He’s not some over-the-top supervillain, he’s just a regular guy. And the third-act twist about him being Liz’s father actually adds a lot to the character.

One thing I really like about this particular movie that the other movies don’t really manage is that it works hard to be a teen movie, with frequent references to classic 80’s films like Ferris Bueller – the way Peter runs through yards parallels Ferris Bueller, etc. – and this is cute, but also a great thematic tool. Peter is supposed to be a teenager, and that’s something that a lot of these movies seem to forget. But using a subgenre that is aimed at teens helps to craft a story about growing up is a very clever move. It has a similar theme of responsibility as we saw in the 2002 Spider-Man, although not as explicitly stated. Ultimately, it tells a similar story as that original movie, but in an updated setting and style. I think Spider-Man: Homecoming ends up being a better movie that Spider-Man, but not a better movie than…

2. Spider-Man 2

This is one of the gold standard movies for the superhero genre. It is near perfect. Just about every thing I praised about one of the previous movies in this ranking, this movie does just a little bit better. All of the casting I praised in this movie’s predecessor remains true, or gets even better, with the notable addition of a perfect performance from Alfred Molina as Doc Ock; we get to see him have an incredible arc of the course of this movie. (We’re seeing a lot of characters come back for Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the most prominently featured seems to be Doc Ock. The main reason for that is most probably Alfred Molina’s terrific performance.) What’s more, multiple characters from the previous movie get a chance to be more dynamic: Harry grapples with his father’s death in interesting ways, MJ is a more dynamic love interest, and there are many great scenes for J. Jonah Jameson.

And how about setting? As much as I love the MCU, there’s one setting I love more than the MCU: New York City. It being the holiday season, I recently rewatched Elf, and I remarked “This is a great New York movie,” and that’s even more true for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Some of these movies most iconic scenes are great NYC action set pieces, such as the fight on the side of a skyscraper, or Spider-Man doing his best to stop the subway crash.

While I’m on it, the subway scene is certainly the best scene in the movie, and perhaps the best in the franchise. The action of the scene itself is superb, but the raw emotion behind it is what makes it great. I’ve heard people complain that the Christ imagery is laid on just a little too thick, and while I get why people think that, I think it’s done perfectly. But the real heart of this scene comes from the gratitude of the regular people, who assure Spider-Man that they will keep his identity a secret.

And it nails home the main difference between Raimi’s Spider-Man movies and the MCU – there’s more heart. Does that come from the fact that regular people play more prominent parts in these movies? Maybe. Does it come from the fact that these movies could focus on just being their own stories without having to worry about being part of a framework of over 20 other movies? Maybe. Or maybe it’s something more quantifiable, like different priorities when casting the main and secondary roles – I don’t know, and I don’t think there’s one set answer. But it fascinates me to think about. Spider-Man 2 does everything these other movies do in a perfect way.

On the other hand, it doesn’t quite reach the same heights as this last movie, which was so groundbreaking and off-the-wall that it becomes hard to compare.

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Of course it had to be Into the Spider-Verse, didn’t it? This movie is incredible. And like all groundbreaking movies in this genre, I’m worried that already people are learning the wrong lessons from it.

First, let me say in reference to Spider-Verse and how it relates to the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home: The alternate universes element of this movie is a lot of fun. Heroic Peter Parker and Schlub Peter Parker makes for a fun contrast, and Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, and Peni Parker are great, and there are few characters in any movie who made me laugh as consistently as Spider-Man Noir. But the nice thing is that these characters don’t get in the way of Miles and Peter having a thematically fulfilling story of being a hero. The other characters don’t get much to do in their own right, but serve to satisfy the moral of the story that anyone can be a hero like Spider-Man.

This movie does a great job of creating a whole rogues gallery to combat Spider-Man and the other webslingers. Kingpin, Doc Ock, and Prowler all show up to fight our heroes, as well as a few other familiar faces. I think it’s interesting to see these characters, and they don’t overwhelm the viewer, but this is something that could go very wrong if a movie got the idea to jam in as many familiar villains as possible for the amusement of an easy-to-please audience.

Part of the novelty of Spider-Verse that the MCU doesn’t seem interested in trying to replicate – perhaps obviously – is the beautiful animation. It accurately and lovingly recreates the look of a comic book. I’m surprised we haven’t seen more movies trying to replicate this look already, although animated films do take a while. And I think they should! It’s a unique visual style. After animated movies went 3D, they all look mostly the same. This was something different, and beautiful.

I worry that the lesson that Spider-Man: No Way Home has learned from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is that by cramming as many shiny things and moving parts into a movie from a multiverse, you’ll excite the viewers enough for them to enjoy the movie. But the real appeal and strength of Spider-Verse is just how competent of a movie it is: great characters, great theme, an exciting plot, and great animation. Without all of those other strengths, I might not care about seeing a variety of multiverse Spider-Men and villains. I don’t doubt this movie will be good, but I worry it won’t be nearly as good as Spider-Verse, or Spider-Man 2. Or perhaps, even Homecoming.

How would you rank the Spider-Man movies?