All Spider-Man Movies, Ranked: How To Watch The Web-Slinger's Best Films Online
If you had to think of one Marvel superhero off the top of your head, chances are, Spider-Man is the first hero you’ll think of. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spidey is one of Marvel’s oldest heroes and has consistently been one of its best-selling characters since his inception in 1962. Many people have taken up the mantle of Spider-Man since then, most notably Peter Parker and Miles Morales, but no matter who the web-slinger is, one thing about him is certain: As long as there is a Spider-Man, there will be Spider-Man movies.
Spider-Man has had a storied history in the realm of film and television. Whether it be through animated shows like Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994) or foreign productions like the bizarre Japanese love-action series, Spider-Man has always had some kind of presence on screen. Of course, his most notable cinematic outings have been through Hollywood feature films. With the original Sam Raimi trilogy being rereleased in theaters, now’s a great time to rank each Spider-Man movie from worst to best!
For this list, we’re only going to include movies that feature Spidey as a lead character, so his appearances in films like Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) won't be included. And if you want to watch any of these films, most of them can easily be found on Disney+.
The original Spider-Man trilogy defined what a cinematic Spider-Man movie would be like, but some consider it a bit hokey. Fans wanted a more modern take on the character, and like a monkey’s paw, they got their wish with the Amazing Spider-Man series. Unfortunately, thanks to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, that series would quickly end up a duology.
At first, it’s hard to see why. Andrew Garfield is having a blast in the role, playing probably the best interpretation of the hero ever put to film. He quips, swings around effortlessly, and genuinely cares about the performance he gives. If you’re an Andrew Garfield fan, you’ll adore what The Amazing Spider-Man 2 serves you. But it’s everything else that lets him down. The film is stuffed with numerous plot threads, most evident in the film having three separate antagonists, all competing for screentime. This unfortunately affected some of the better elements of the film, like the romance between Garfield and Emma Stone. The film failed to learn the lessons that doomed Spider-Man 3 (2007), resulting in an unfocused and bloated movie that runs close to two and a half hours.
After the excellent Spider-Man 2 (2004), Raimi had a tough act to follow. How exactly do you make a sequel to one of the greatest superhero movies of all time? The result is to listen to what studio executives want and produce a movie that tries to do everything at once, but fails at nearly all aspects.
Spider-Man 3, from a distance, has a lot going for it. The film’s special effects are impressive even to this day, and there’s a surprising amount of pathos for characters like Flint Marko/Sandman. Tobey Maguire is a fun Peter Parker, even if his Spidey is still cornier than a highway in Nebraska. However, the tone is all over the place. At points, the film will flip from dorky Silver Age humor to edgy emo angst. It almost feels like a parody of earlier Spider-Man films and tries to take itself so seriously that it inadvertently begins to have more in common with the campy tone of Batman & Robin (1997). It gives Spider-Man 3 a certain “so-bad-it’s-good” charm, making it a great watch for people who want to laugh along with something that takes itself too seriously. The film can be fun if you go into it craving melodrama ripped straight from a soap opera, but it’s hard not to see Spider-Man 3 as anything but a disappointment.
It was only a matter of time before the Marvel Cinematic Universe integrated Spider-Man into its roster of films. It was almost impossible to ignore the audience and box office appeal of the MCU in the mid-2010s, so giving Spidey a trilogy of films after the failure of the Amazing Spider-Man series made sense. If one film has to be singled out as the weakest of the three, I’m certain most fans will probably choose Spider-Man: Homecoming as their least favorite.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is a great modern high school comedy, channeling classic ‘80s films like The Breakfast Club (1985) and Back To The Future (1985). Most, if not all, of the humor revolves around the awkwardness of high school, so people who love comedies like that will find a lot to like about Homecoming. Tom Holland is also a solid Peter Parker, balancing his civilian and hero personas very well, even if he doesn’t excel at either. But what keeps this film from being higher is that it doesn’t feel like a Spider-Man movie. Half of the time, it feels like Iron Man 4. Robert Downey Jr. features prominently in the film, and while he’s a great mentor for Peter, it limits how much of this film can be solely about Peter. Fans of the MCU and RDJ will still find a lot to enjoy about Homecoming, but as a Spider-Man movie, it’s lacking.
One of the biggest reasons why The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was as disappointing as it was is that it squandered a lot of the potential established by its predecessor. I’m not here to say that The Amazing Spider-Man is a masterpiece, but it does have some elements that make it great.
If we ignore the incredibly dodgy Lizard CGI for a moment, the best thing about The Amazing Spider-Man is its leads. Andrew Garfield is still an excellent Peter Parker, but he’s complemented by an equally amazing Emma Stone, who plays Gwen Stacey. The two have great chemistry, and those looking for a solid superhero romance like Deadpool (2016) or Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) need to give The Amazing Spider-Man a shot. The two are dynamite together, and it makes total sense why they started to date in real life after the film was released. As an action movie, it’s merely okay, but as a romance, The Amazing Spider-Man is a surprisingly underrated and unconventional take on the genre.
While comic book movies today tend to take themselves very seriously, Spider-Man is anything but. Sure, it has a dramatic plot with plenty of serious moments, but when I want to catch a cheesy superhero action movie, Spider-Man is my go-to film. A part of it has to do with age. The film was released in 2002, and while I won’t say the special effects are bad, shots like Spider-Man bouncing around on parade floats are impossible to take seriously nowadays. Then, you have some decisions that, no matter what year it is, are just plain silly.
Willem Dafoe is amazing as the Green Goblin, delivering one of the best over-the-top performances of all time, where he chews the scenery at every opportunity. If you love Dafoe and haven’t seen Spider-Man, then you need to fix that ASAP. The other performances are stilted in their own unique ways, but it all feels intentional. The film evokes the Silver Age of comics wonderfully, much like the 2005 version of The Fantastic Four, which makes it stand out from its dour contemporaries like the X-Men or Blade series. Unlike Spider-Man 3, the original film never tries to take itself too seriously, resulting in a movie that is naturally funny and clearly loves the comics that inspired it.
A general rule of thumb regarding Spider-Man movies is that the more antagonists there are, the weaker the film. It was true for Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, yet somehow Spider-Man: No Way Home bucks that trend.
No Way Home takes a clear amount of inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The film creates a conflict that is all about spectacle first and foremost, and it will deliver plenty of cheers if you’re a longtime fan of the character. The cameos and returning cast members from earlier Spider-Man movies are all having fun coming back to their parts, and they occasionally offer some good closure for their characters. That being said, Spider-Man: No Way Home caters a bit too much to fans, which does, yet again, make the movie feel overstuffed. There are some great crowd-pleasing moments, but at two hours and 28 minutes, it needs to cut a few scenes. Still, if you have any nostalgia for the webhead whatsoever, then you’ll be watching No Way Home with childish wonder and glee.
Directly following Avengers: Endgame isn’t an easy task, but Spider-Man: Far From Home decided that the best course of action wasn’t to be a direct follow-up. Instead, it’s a Peter Parker character piece laced with one of the best MCU villain performances of all time.
Setting Peter up for a globe-trotting adventure is a fresh change of pace, especially given how each Spider-Man film tends to be set in and around NYC. This leads to some creative set pieces in fun locales like Venice and London that take advantage of the uniqueness of their setting. We also get a chance to see Peter grow as a person following the death of Tony Stark, with this film, probably more than the original Spider-Man, best embodying the old adage “with great power comes great responsibility.” But really, the main reason to see Far From Home is for Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, who plays the character like a cross between Jordan Belfort from The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Syndrome from The Incredibles (2004). If you’ve been searching for a great villain to hate, Mysterio is here to meet your needs.
It’s hard to judge Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse at this time because its story isn’t finished. The film is the second part of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Spider-Verse trilogy, and given that the third installment, Beyond the Spider-Verse, hasn’t been released as of this writing, a lot of its plot points won’t be resolved until 2027 at the earliest.
Taken on its own, the biggest strength of Across the Spider-Verse is its animation. The flurry of styles, colors, and tones the film shifts through on a scene-by-scene basis is staggering. Each frame is simply gorgeous. For those searching for top-tier animation reminiscent of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), look no further than here. The film also expertly balances comedy and drama, painting a story about a son and his father that is perfect for those who got teary-eyed at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (2017). Even if the film ends on a big, fat cliffhanger, and even if Beyond the Spider-Verse fails to meet expectations, at the very least, Across the Spider-Verse stands as one of the best animated films of all time for its animation alone.
For a time, Spider-Man 2 stood as the best superhero movie of all time. While its status may have diminished slightly in the decades since its release, it’s still not hard to consider Spider-Man 2 an action blockbuster achievement.
What makes Spider-Man 2 such a singular movie is how complete it feels. It’s an accessible movie that anyone can approach and instantly enjoy, regardless of how familiar they are with the first movie. Much like X2 (2003), the stakes feel more grounded and personal, leading to some of the best scenes in any Spider-Man movie, like the famous train scene. That personal touch is made all the better thanks to James Franco’s Harry Osborn and Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, both of whom are directly impacted by Spider-Man’s actions, who, in turn, drive Peter’s actions. If the original film was silly and lighthearted, then Spider-Man 2 offers a more dramatic and introspective story that helps it stand as one of the all-time best superhero movies.
There’s lightning in a bottle, and then there’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While you can make claims that several Spider-Man movies deserve to be considered classics, Into the Spider-Verse is the one film that is arguably the most revolutionary.
Nearly all aspects of Into the Spider-Verse are worthy of that moniker. From an animation perspective, Sony knocked it out of the park with a movie dripping in style and beautiful imagery. It’s no wonder that plenty of movies after it, from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) to Nimona (2023), took inspiration from Spider-Verse’s scratchy yet fluid presentation, made even better by some absolutely wonderful character designs. Then there’s the theme of how anyone can be a hero, which fans of My Hero Academia (2016) will definitely appreciate. Plus, it, alongside Black Panther (2018), helps showcase that not every mainstream superhero needs to be a generic white guy. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the one Spider-Man movie that I can easily recommend to anyone, regardless of their familiarity with the character, genre, or medium in general.
