Spider-Man Movie Rankings
Spider-Man is perhaps the best superhero because of how relatable he is. As an ordinary guy who is trying to balance being a superhero with having a job, friends, and school, we can all sympathize with him. When you top that off with trying to defeat murderous villains against the back drop of New York City, it makes for a very interesting movie set up. Since 2002, we have had 10 movies with the aforementioned wall crawler as the main protagonist. With two Spider-Man movies coming out in 2022 and with the mother of all Spider-Man movies having just come out, there is no time like now to rank all Spider-Man movies. Here is my own rankings of these films.
***
9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Many of the failures that caused the end of the Sam Raimi trilogy showed their ugly head here as well. Too many villians and a bad re-telling of the death of Gwen Stacy that was telegraphed months before the movie came out did not help keep the tensions levels high. Poor acting from Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx added to the problems as well as both are giving misguided performances. The only real saving grace here is the solid camera work and action sequences.
8. Spider-Man 3
Studio interference put too many cooks in the kitchen on this one. Trying to have two sub-plots with Venom/the black suit and Sandman is a lot to pull off too, but Raimi almost pulls it off. If it was not for the cringe factor being dialed to 11 in some scenes or for PETER PARKER HITTING MARY JANE IN THE FACE, it might have worked. But ultimately they bit off more than they can chew with this one.
7. The Amazing Spider-Man
A needed reboot where no one is doing their best work. It really is a pity that a great actor like Andrew Garfield did not get the chance to work with a good script for his Spider-Man movies. The Lizard is an important and personal villian for Spider-Man, but I think the writers missed the point of the villian and why he is an interesting parallel for Spidey. Spidey is someone who was given great power and has incredible control over his gifts and is driven by a desire to use his gifts for good. The Lizard in the comics is often an untamed beast with no regard for its life or the lives of others. When he faces this foe, our webbed wonder is on double duty protecting bystanders from the Lizard’s havoc and trying to actually stop his reptilian enemy. At least this movie let us see the puppy love between Emma Stone and Garfield. They’re both great in other things.
6. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Our first post-Avengers: Endgame outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe had its hands full. Trying to demonstrate the new world our heroes were reckoning with and set up Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as the new focal point of the franchise was not an easy task by any means. But letting Jake Gyllenhaal go HAM as Mysterio and giving Peter Parker just a modicum of happiness in his personal life made this an interesting outting.
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
First Tom Holland solo-Spidey movie was not a disappointment. He fully embodies that awkward and kind-hearted nature of Peter Parker while balancing the desire to do right. Michael Keaton is top-tier MCU villian as well as he reminds everyone just how difficult it is for the little guy to make it in a world where aliens come from the sky and can change your world. I do not always love the action scenes, but the brutality and emotional journey for Spider-Man in that final fight really does the character well.
4. Spider-Man
Perhaps this movie is the granddaddy of all superhero origin story movies. At least post-2000 it is. Raimi consistently finds a way to make what could very easily come off as a cringe-fest into something heart-felt and meaningful. Willem Dafoe is such a remarkable Green Goblin that people still want him to play the Joker. Particularly what impresses me is the fight scenes where Raimi is allowed to show off his horror movie chops and just goes all in with brutal punches and blows that really hurt Spidey. It’s an excellent way to start off a comic book character’s run on the big screen.
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home
You can argue all the live-long day about what the greatest superhero team-up movie is, and frankly you could make good arguments for a lot of movies. But a lot of those movies are really just about the team up: getting the team together, overcoming differences, and facing down a serious threat. Spider-Man: No Way Home does not fall into that same vein because it has something more important to do: set up the Spider-Man future in a way that fans relate to and appreciate. A lot of complaints about the MCU’s Spidey was that he had everything easy for him because of his membership with the avengers. Allowing him to lose that and have to go out into the world on his own lets him become that friendly neighborhood Spider-Man again. That is where this movie really succeeds. Plus this movie deserves some credit for letting Andrew Garfield return to the role and redeem himself as Spider-Man.
2. Spider-Man 2
The only reason this movie is not the best superhero sequel ever is because The Dark Knight came out a few years later (and that movie has an argument to be the best movie of the 21st-century). There is so much good happening here. Tobey Maguire actually gives a strong performance as Peter Parker, and supporting cast like James Franco, Kirsten Dunst, and Rosemary Harris all get some moments to shine as well. Alfred Molina totally steals the cake here with his time as Doc Ock. Up until Heath Ledger as the Joker, he again had some argument for the best performance as a supervillian as well. The train fight sequence has yet to be topped as the best Spider-Man fight in a movie.
And the best Spider-Man movie is…
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
The beautiful animation, the re-telling of a classic origin, and the stacked cast may not all be new and original items to Spider-Man movies, but wow this movie mixes them in a new way. I’ve already written a whole entry about this movie so go take a look at it. This movie is a miracle, and I am excited to see more of it its unique style later this year.