Once on The Good Place, Kristen Bell’s character, Eleanor complained about there being too many Spider-Man movies. She’s probably right? But I don’t care, I love them. There’s a reason that this character keeps getting movies made and Sony desperately tries to make his side characters into something in order to keep the character’s rights. Spidey is great! Today, Jason and I will be ranking our top Spider-Man movies in anticipation of the newest Spidey movie being released later this week – Brand New Day.
Fellow nerds, please note that we are not going to be including Avengers movies or Venom or anything like that. A Spider-Man movie has to have Spider-Man in the title for this ranking.
Before we get into it, what is the recipe that works for you with this character? For me, you need to have a big heart, good humor, and, of course, an amazing action sequence showcasing just what makes Spider-Man such a fun character to watch.
Jay – I think you pretty much nailed it. Most importantly is the humor and levity that Spider-Man brings to the screen/page. What I think resonates the most with fans and the reason WHY we love Spider-Man so much is how relatable the character of Peter Parker actually is. We often can see ourselves in him and relate to the tough choices you need to make. While that may sound ridiculous, the parallel of having to be pulled into two directions with our own lives is such a huge narrative point of the character.
Spoilers below for 10 Spider-Man movies. Folks, they’ve been making these for 25 years now.
10. Spider-Man 3
Jay – 10, Steve – 9
Steve – We had two coin flips in these rankings, and was willing to give Jason the bottom spot for Spider-Man 3 so that I could bump Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man up a notch.
Spider-Man 3 is one of the ultimate studio interference tales. Raimi wanted the villain to be Sandman, as he was really focused on the classic 60s/70s era of the character. However, the studio wanted Venom in the third film. Thus, you end up with this hodgepodge mess. It’s clear that Raimi doesn’t care about Venom, having the symbiote land on earth through a random meteorite. But even then, Sandman never feels right in this film, getting shoehorned into Spider-Man’s origin story by being revealed to be the true murderer of Uncle Ben. WHAT? It really doesn’t make sense. Poor Thomas Haden Church looks exactly like comics Sandman, but is given nothing to do.
Weirdly, I’m not horribly bothered by the “emo” dancing Spider-Man as much as most people. I use emo in quotes, because, while dark Peter Parker has emo hair, he’s not really sulking, he’s just mad and cocky. It’s certainly not good, but it’s very amusing in a campy way.
This film ends on such an odd note, it’s a shame that we never got to see how Raimi would have bounced back in his fourth film in the series. Specifically, it’s tragic that we never got to see John Malkovich as the Vulture!
Jay – What makes Spider-Man 3 so tragic and terrible is how far removed from greatness it is from Spider-Man 2, a literally perfect comic book adaptation. Almost everything feels shoehorned into this film, which makes sense given Sony’s heavy influence on the story. They were desperate to get Venom into this film franchise, and the execution and casting went horrid. Look, I love Topher Grace. Fantastic in That 70’s Show, In Good Company, Predators…but he is not Eddie Brock and even less Venom. The dancing Spider-Man sequence is the worst thing of any Spider-Man film in existence. With all this you waste Thomas Haden Church who did a pretty good job as Sandman in a movie that was never really about him.
9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Jay – 9, Steve – 10
Steve – I really did not care for the Marc Webb / Andrew Garfield era of Spider-Man. It just felt like Webb never had a handle on the character of Peter Parker and the films tried too hard to lean into the Ultimate comics in the worst possible way. The Ultimate comics are really good, but they do have some very early 2000s tropes baked into them. I would write an entire essay on my issues with the Webb Spider-Man films between the needle drops and convoluted storylines. I’d really like to talk about Peter Parker’s dad.
NO ONE CARES ABOUT PETER PARKER’S PARENTS. The comics have done some storylines involving his parents and none of them are classics. His parents don’t really matter much. That’s because Aunt May and Uncle Ben are Peter’s parents. They raised him. They instilled their values in him. His birth parents are not that important. I have heard that Peter’s dad was going to be an older clone of him or something, but do you really care?
Also, nerdy Jamie Foxx as Electro falling into a vat of electric eels to gain his powers is insane. Harry Osborn’s Green Goblin look at the end of the film sucks. This was an easy last place for me.
The Spider-Man costume looks really good in this one though, unlike our next entry.
Jay – To complete this ranking, I actually had to watch this for the first time recently and boy did I not miss much. A worse version of its successor that has so few saving graces. The story is a mess and frankly how they handle all the villains is just ridiculous. Yes, it’s supposed to be a comic book film, but at the same time I wouldn’t have done THAT. Starting off with Paul Giamatti (one of my favorite actors) in that ridiculous makeup as Rhino. I kept saying to myself “how could they do this to my poor boy” over and over again. During that whole opening sequence, the Rhino character is running over cars, killing dozens, but Spider-Man only really stops and saves Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Convenient! Steve touches on Electro’s ridiculous villain origin story. Who thought this was a good idea? Dane DeHaan also did nothing for me as Harry and looks absolutely ridiculous by the end of the film as Green Goblin.
One thing that I am thankful for is that due to the unsuccessful run of this film, we weren’t subjected to B.J. Novak’s turn as the villain Alastair Smythe in a future film. I also did not care for Peter’s parents’ storyline and thought it was all really poorly explained overall.
This is a very bad film, that really is just a 1B to Spider-Man 3’s 1A.
8. The Amazing Spider-Man
Jay – 8, Steve – 8
Steve – The Amazing Spider-Man wins the award for worst on-screen Spider-Man costume (although if we’re counting video game screens, I have a lot of problems with some of the costumes in Insomniac’s otherwise great games from the past few years). What the hell is this monstrosity with tinted eyes?
I’ll say this, I don’t like how the character is written and directed, but Andrew Garfield is a decent Peter Parker. He has really good chemistry with Emma Stone, who is really good in both films as Gwen Stacy. But this just never felt like Peter Parker to me.
I was glad they used the Lizard in this film, as I always wanted to see Dylan Baker turn into him in Raimi’s trilogy. I did not love the portrayal, however. Rhys Ifans is, frankly, a little creepy as Dr. Curt Connors. The Lizard design is weird and feels a little bit like the Ninja Turtles with noses from the 2014 movie.
Jay – Like Steve, I do really like Garfield as Peter Parker in this. I thought he had the right charisma for the role. The story is forgettable and The Lizard’s evil plot is even too over-the-top ridiculous for a comic book film. With all that, I do think they had a good foundation built here for a future franchise but did absolutely nothing with it in the end.
One positive note is I actually loved Sally Field as Aunt May. Controversial, but I think she may be my favorite Aunt May on film.
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Jay – 7, Steve – 7
Steve – I really like this movie and don’t have a particular problem with it, it just doesn’t do anything as well as the other films above it on this list. Jake Gyllenhaal is really fun as Mysterio and a clever casting nod as he almost replaced Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2 due to back issues. I really enjoyed the twist of Mysterio’s support crew being people with a vendetta against Tony Stark, including the guy that Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) yelled at way back in Iron Man. But, this is where the problem is with Far From Home, it feels like an Iron Man Jr. film in a way.
Far From Home is a solid continuation of Homecoming in that it’s a coming-of-age film. This one focuses extensively on Peter’s relationship with MJ (Zendaya), who the film desperately does not want to make strictly Mary Jane for some reason? Tom Holland and Zendaya clearly have chemistry, since they married in real life. The emerging Peter-MJ relationship is the cornerstone of this film, which ends up being breezy and fun. If I was Gene Shalit and going for a hack angle, I’d say “Far From Home is far from my favorite Spider-Man movie!”, but I legit like this one quite a bit.
Jay – I know MCU and Marvel fans don’t particularly care for this film, but I do actually quite like it. I’ll say this is the first film in this subsequent ranking that is actually good. Tom Holland is such a great Peter Parker and Spider-Man and he has so much fun with it. Mysterio is such a dumb comic character and still they were actually able to give an interesting backstory to and make him a genuine threat. Part of that is due to how good of a job Jake Gyllenhaal did with the role.
The set-pieces in Europe are so much fun and like Steve mentions both Holland and Zendaya’s chemistry is off-the-charts great, and carries much of the film.
6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Jay – 5, Steve – 6
Steve – Across the Spider-Verse is a gorgeous movie. Truly one of the best animated films that I’ve ever seen. Ultimately, this falls in my rankings due to the portrayal of the many Spider-Man variants in the film.
Miguel O’Hara as the “bad guy” of the film also feels off, but they do a great job of showing how scary Spider-Man 2099 looks from the perspective of Miles Morales as he relentlessly comes for him.
Any version of Peter Parker not looking for any possible way to solve a situation where a loved one has to die just feels wrong. I could see the Illuminati trying to let a loved one die in order to preserve a universe, or a council of most other Marvel characters. A council of Spider-people, though, isn’t right. That’s because the character of Spider-Man, and especially Peter Parker, has always been first and foremost about that moral code.
The continued development of Miles is great, though, and I can’t wait to see what they do in Beyond the Spider-Verse in (hopefully!) 2027.
Jay – This particular Spider-Verse had a bit of a tone imbalance. It’s a much funnier film than its predecessor and also real dark on the other end (Steve touches on that above). I liked the concept of “canon deaths” needing to happen otherwise a universe might collapse. It made it feel more connected to the whole “incursions” in the completely unrelated MCU.
I didn’t mind Miguel O’Hara because I’m largely disconnected from the actual comics and his character’s origin. I thought Oscar Isaac did a great job. My favorite new character in this film is most definitely Daniel Kaluuya’s Spider-Punk. Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Gwen and Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker remain a delight.
5. Spider-Man
Jay – 6, Steve – 5
Steve – I give this one so much credit for being groundbreaking. Hollywood had been trying to make a Spider-Man movie for a loooong time at that point. If you’ve never read about James Cameron’s take on the character, it is a DOOZY. Sam Raimi brings a deep love for the character in his first big screen portrayal. Raimi combines elements of Tim Burton’s Batman with the hope and spectacle of Richard Donner’s Superman, while still bringing a distinctive Sam Raimi feel to the whole affair. There is a sense of wonder that permeates the Raimi Spider-Man films that is reminiscent of Spielberg.
Spider-Man stands out for being one of the few superhero films of the era to actually put the title character in a bright and colorful costume that looks like what they wear in the comic book. The X-Men were wearing black leather, Ben Affleck’s Daredevil had on whatever you call that suit. Spider-Man had the character look like himself.
There is a ton of heart and humor and love in the first Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire really feels like Peter Parker brought to life. Kirsten Dunst and James Franco (I know, I know) are a top notch supporting cast as Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn. The real star of the show is Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn. Dafoe gave an iconic bonkers villainous performance that is up there with the greats and would be even higher if he had a better costume (damn you, Power Rangers Green Goblin!).
J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson might be the greatest casting choice of all-time.
Jay – Yep, this is the one that started the craze. Introduced us to the possibility that super-hero films could be cool! (yes, yes X-Men and Blade may have actually started it). Sam Raimi was such a risky choice that turned out great given his previous filmography was mostly comedic horror.
You know a film is memorable because of how perfectly they nailed the casting for literally everyone. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe…and Macho Man Randy Savage (okay, that one is a joke but he is my favorite wrestler). To me this was also the definitive version of Spider-Man’s origin story with Uncle Ben’s death.
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home
Jay – 4, Steve – 3
Steve – I struggled with ranking No Way Home and Homecoming. I might feel differently next week. But, this week I’m giving No Way Home the SLIGHT edge of the two Jon Watts films.
No Way Home is the best post-Avengers: Endgame MCU movie. Yes, there are some rushed moments and missed opportunities (some re-used footage due to actor availability, the fact that you fell just short of the Sinister Six), but, man, this is a big, fun movie. Having Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina back from the Raimi movies is awesome, as they are the two best on-screen Spidey villains of all-time. I really loved that Jamie Foxx got another shot at Electro. As we stated above, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sucks and Jamie Foxx plays Max Dillon like an 80s nerd. This time around he gets to be cool and fun in the role. Speaking of – Andrew Garfield also got redemption in No Way Home!
Having all three big-screen Spider-men on-screen at the same time was fantastic. Garfield shows you the hurt that he feels from the events of TASM2, Maguire brings that experience from a full trilogy and god knows how many years since SM3. But, despite all of this, Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei still get to shine. It’s a bit weird that Aunt May gets to say the “with great power” line instead of Uncle Ben in this timeline, but Tomei and Holland gave us a death scene that hit me (as someone who lost his mother) right in the feels.
Jay – No Way Home is a homage to Spider-Man more than it’s even an MCU film. The fact that they were even able to pull all this off without it being hokey is a miracle. Credit to Jon Watts who inherited a great script and was able to get all the previous Spider-Man and villain actors. It was a joy seeing Willem Dafoe being able to ham it up as his version of Green Goblin and Alfred Molina so effortlessly stepping back into Dr. Otto Octavius. SPOILER ALERT: Aunt May’s death was devastating and one of the most sad character deaths in the entire MCU.
The story is heartwarming with the introduction of PeterTwo and PeterThree and their influence on PeterOne, which all culminates in a satisfying ending. That ending’s not only devastating, but does introduce hope and inspiration in the end.
3. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Jay – 2, Steve – 4
Steve – Homecoming is one of the most underrated movies in both the Spider-Man universe and Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jon Watts took Peter Parker back to high school, drawing inspiration from classic John Hughes teen films, like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
What a turn for Michael Keaton, playing the Vulture. This is a very different take for this character, as the comics Vulture is not typically portrayed as a family man that is trying to get by. Keaton brings big dog energy to his scenes with Holland. It’s a great foil, as Holland’s Peter Parker is constantly looking for father figures, missing his (bizarrefully little mentioned) Uncle Ben.
My only quibble with Homecoming is how they took the character of Ganke Lee away from Miles Morales. Ganke is Miles’ best friend in the comics and they basically took that character, slapped the name of classic Spider-Man side character Ned Leeds on him, and made him Peter Parker’s best friend. Ganke has made it into the recent video games and kind of into the Spider-verse movies, but it’s not the same! That said, Jacob Batalon is really great in this role, and gives Peter a terrific sounding board. Guy in the chair!
Tom Holland’s first outing in his own Spider-Man movie is a really good, fun one. He brings that heart and balance to Peter Parker / Spider-Man. I really liked him in the role between this and Captain America: Civil War, until I saw him recreate one of the most iconic Spider-Man scenes, lifting himself out from under heavy machinery in a villain’s lair. That felt like it was lifted right out of the comics. Hell yeah.
Jay – Hot take: I consider this only a notch or two below Spider-Man 2. Give me your hate! To me this is a near-perfect superhero film with all the proper set-up, exposition, action and relationship building you need to execute one.
Michael Keaton’s Vulture is my second favorite villain in the entirety of Spider-Man films. They made him real AND relatable, what a concept for a villain! Jacob Batalon is fantastic as Ned Leeds. As Steve notes, his character in these films is EXACTLY like Ganke Lee in the Sony’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spiderman 2 videogames by Insomniac Games.
I loved seeing Peter Parker back in high school and not having to go through the same superhero origin story we have seen twice already on the big screen. As I mentioned before, Tom Holland exudes Peter Parker and now it will be hard to ever see someone different in this role.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Jay – 3, Steve – 2
Steve – This might be the coolest Spider-Man movie. Into the Spider-Verse brought a revolutionary animation style to the big screen. That style really got to showcase the comic book roots of the character in a way that had not been done before.
It also introduced us to Miles Morales, an excellent character created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. Miles was originally introduced as a replacement for Spider-Man in Marvel’s Ultimate universe, after Peter Parker died while fighting the Green Goblin (spoiler for a 15-year-old comic book). Since then, he’s become a frequent partner of Peter Parker in whatever universe they may be in, ans had numerous solo comic runs while cementing himself as the main Spidey in Brooklyn.
Miles’ story is a littttttle bit different in ITSV. He did not have a multiversal down and out Peter Parker to show him the ropes and his dad wasn’t a New York City police officer. Ultimately, the bones remain the same. The character is given tremendous justice in his first big screen appearance, as the film leans heavily into Miles’ distinct style as Spider-Man.
Jay – I was absolutely blown away the first time I saw this film. I was aware that the animation was unique, but it didn’t hit me until I saw it. My exposure to the Miles Morales character was extremely limited, but this film made me want to explore it more because of how well it was done.
I loved the story and the incorporation of the different Spideys I never even knew about. Seeing a variant of Doc Ock was interesting. I’ll be remiss to not mention again how much I loved Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen and Jake Johnson’s Peter. Their characters and voice-work gave the film so much weight.
1. Spider-Man 2
Jay – 1, Steve – 1
Steve – Spider-Man 2 remains the GOAT of superhero films. It has all of the heart and spectacle of the first Spider-Man, while upping the ante in every way. Alfred Molina is so good as Dr. Octopus, bringing charisma and a new dimension to a character that, while iconic, is often a screaming megalomaniac in the comics.
There are so many great sequences in SM2. There is, of course, Spidey stopping the subway. But, you also have Peter and MJ at the cafe and the camera shakes as Doc Ock approaches. There’s the great fight at the bank and Spidey saving Aunt May. My personal favorite is Doc Ock waking up in the hospital and attacking the surgeons with his arms. It feels like a sequence out of The Evil Dead brought to the world of comic books.
Jay – What else more can be said? It is the perfect superhero film and the best to feature Spider-Man. Of course it would be here! Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst really nestle into their characters, Alfred Molina is a revelation as Dock Ock. I mean, you know a scene is iconic when it’s parodied and is a cultural phenomenon in itself re: the train fight.
This film (along with others) should be essential and required viewing for all future directors and writers looking to produce a new superhero film.
