Every Spider-Man Movie, Ranked By How Miserable He Is
Spider-Man really needs to see a therapist. Oh sure, he may seem happy-go-lucky, always throwing out quips and keeping a positive attitude, but when you stop to think about it, Peter Parker’s life is absolutely miserable. His friends and family are always in danger; he has to constantly worry about his secret identity getting exposed; and, depending on the film, he’s sometimes actively responsible for all the bad things that befall the people of New York City in the multiverse. Ask any comic book fan, and they’ll tell you that Peter Parker’s life is nothing but a continuous spiral of misery.
That may be true for the comics, but how true is it in the world of film? There are 11 films starring the old webhead, but which film really put Peter through the wringer emotionally? After all, misery is a spectrum, and there’s a lot that goes into measuring how much Peter suffers. After all, what’s worse: watching Uncle Ben die (yet again), or having J. Jonah Jameson yell at him for more pictures of Spider-Man? It’s all very apples and oranges, but we here at JustWatch will do our civic duty and make sure you know which Spider-Man film has Peter Parker at his absolute worst. And in case you want to watch him go through the motions in real time, you can find these films on Hulu, Disney+, and more!
Not all Spider-Man movies are designed to make Peter as depressed as humanly possible. Even when crafting this list, there was little doubt that Spider-Man: Homecoming would be at the bottom.
The film was designed to be a Marvel version of an ‘80s high school comedy like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), with very little trauma to be seen. Peter still has some superheroes to take care of, and it does put his friends in danger, but really the worst thing that happens to Peter is how Tony Stark treats him. He’s extremely condescending, saying how Peter can’t be an Avenger, and then forbidding him from doing any superheroics because Tony thinks he’s being reckless. And to be fair, he is, but Spidey didn’t hurt or kill anyone, and for Tony Stark of all people to say someone has poor judgment is absolutely hilarious. So Peter’s grounded. Big whoop. I guess you could also say Peter goes to prom with the Vulture’s daughter, but that’s not really emotionally taxing; it’s just awkward and kind of funny. Maybe knowing that he made the Vulture’s daughter move away after he stopped her dad made him feel bad? Probably not.
Don’t let Peter in his broody black symbiote suit fool you, because compared to every other Spider-Man film, Peter has it easy in Spider-Man 3.
The real crux of Peter’s problems in Spider-Man 3 is his relationship drama with MJ and Harry Osborn. He’s not giving MJ the time of day she needs from him, and combined with him kissing Gwen Stacy as Spider-Man as a bit of PR, the two are pretty cold. Not only that, but Harry wants to kill Peter since he thinks that Peter was responsible for his dad’s death, which is kind of true but also wildly out of context. He’s not the most pleasant person to be around because of the symbiote bonding with him, but he’s having the time of his life as Bully Maguire, eating cookies, drinking milk, and getting into slick dance numbers. He does hit MJ, which causes one heck of a brooding session, but he also manages to secure a promotion at the Daily Bugle in his darker state of mind, so it’s not all doom and gloom for him. Just only part of the time.
Spider-Man’s origins are always meant to be sad. He could have saved his Uncle Ben from dying at the hands of criminals, but he didn’t. Insert quote about great powers and great responsibilities, and BAM… Spider-Man!
The same is true in Spidey’s first big-screen appearance. Tobey Maguire really sells the sadness of losing Uncle Ben, and it’s only made more impactful since we do get to spend a few scenes with Ben before he dies and goes up to dead parents’ heaven with Bruce Wayne’s parents. But outside of that, admittingly huge dose of sadness, that’s all that really happens to Peter in the film. Sure, he’s bullied in high school, but Spider-Man doesn’t really dwell on that, and his best friend’s dad is targeting his friends and loved ones, but neither Aunt May nor MJ die as a result. In fact, a fair amount of good things happen to Peter, since by the time the film ends, Peter has a job at the Daily Bugle, and he and MJ are officially a thing. So let’s just call Spider-Man a mixed bag of emotional trauma.
Spider-Man: Homecoming made the smart decision not to deliver yet another retelling of Spidey’s origin, but you know what did? The Amazing Spider-Man, and with it comes all of the usual beats of Peter’s origin of sorrow.
Does Uncle Ben die? He sure does! Is he bullied while at school? Sure, but watching people bully Andrew Garfield of all people doesn’t hit the same way as when it’s Tobey Maguire. Is that all? Not really, because The Amazing Spider-Man adds its own unique wrinkles that give it a few extra notches on the misery scale when compared to the original film. Peter’s parents are missing, so that’s hanging over his head. Not only that, but he's technically responsible for the Lizard’s rampage, because if Peter never gave Dr. Connors his dad’s research, then none of his “I want to turn New York City into lizards” scheme would have ever happened. Once he does save the day, Gwen Stacy’s dad forbids Peter from dating her, afraid that he’ll put her at risk, which is a valid concern. Peter ignores that, but it only adds to his misery in the sequel. Speaking of…
Most, if not all, of Peter’s torment in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 comes from his relationship with Gwen Stacy. He was told to stay away from her, but did he listen? No, and now he’s reaping the consequences.
The movie starts with Gwen breaking up with him, which is definitely rough, but then watching her be killed during the climax is all kinds of messed up. You can’t even blame her death entirely on the Green Goblin, since while she was falling, it was Peter’s webs that snapped her neck and gave him the mother of all guilty consciences, making him quit being Spider-Man for months. Gwen isn’t the only one giving Peter grief, since the return of Harry Osborn is just as problematic for him. Peter gradually watches his once-best friend lose his mind and turn into the Green Goblin, blaming Peter for his transformation since Peter’s spider blood may have been able to cure the same disease that took Norman’s life. We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is that Peter sure does feel guilty about his decisions here!
Ranking Spider-Man: Far From Home on the misery scale is weird. In theory, it delivers one of the worst moments in Peter’s life so far, the effects of which had been felt in every MCU sequel since. But that moment happens only in the film’s final few seconds, and we never see the results in Far From Home.
Because make no mistake; Mysterio framing Peter for his murder while also outing him is a double-dose of suffering that simple therapy can’t solve. It throws his entire life into chaos, but it’s never explored in the film itself. Make no mistake, Peter still suffers plenty in Far From Home. He’s mourning the death of Tony Stark and is susceptible to Mysterio’s charms, easily slotting him into the mentor role that Tony left behind. Bad call, because thanks to Peter’s poor judgment, he gives Mysterio access to incredibly dangerous tech that nearly caused catastrophic damage to London, but at the end of the day, that’s still pretty low-stakes anguish for Spider-Man. However, factoring that in with Mysterio completely ruining Peter’s life makes Far From Home the perfect midpoint for this list.
The biggest question to answer when talking about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is figuring out which Spider-Man to write about. There are seven different Spider-People in the film, but only three of them have truly hard experiences.
The most obvious sadsack is Peter B. Parker, an out-of-shape has-been who got divorced from MJ and stopped being Spider-Man when Aunt May died. You know the meme of Spider-Man sitting in a bathtub crying with the shower on? This guy. Miles has his own bit of issues too, since his actions get his uncle, who he discovers is the Prowler, killed by the Kingpin, and his dad thinks that Spider-Man was responsible for it. That’s rough too, or you can be Peter Parker who, you know, gets killed in the film’s first act and all of New York City has a city-wide funeral in his honor, made even sadder with the sequence being the first posthumous appearance of Stan Lee following his death in 2018. A lot of suffering to go around, but while you can argue that things get better for Peter B. Parker, it’s all downhill for Miles, and you can’t get worse than dead for Peter Parker.
The first Spider-Verse film was all about how anyone can be a hero and Miles learning to become a hero. It’s fitting then that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is all about knocking Miles down and telling him that he’s literally a nobody and everything bad that’s going to happen is his fault.
At first, Miles has regular stress to deal with. Balancing school with superheroics, getting into arguments with his dad, nothing super out of the ordinary. Enter Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. In no uncertain terms, he tells Miles to his face that he was never supposed to be Spider-Man; that he’s responsible for his universe’s Peter’s death, the creation of the Spot, the multiversal threat he poses, the near-destruction of Earth-50101, and the crime-ridden, Spider-Man-less universe of Earth-42. That’s a lot of guilt to throw on a teenager, but to make things worse, Miguel also straight-up tells Miles that his dad is going to die and there’s nothing he can do about it. To Miles’ credit, he takes it all pretty well, especially being hunted by the Spider-Society, but it’s a lot being told that you could be responsible for the death of the multiverse.
While we’re talking about the multiverse, we might as well mention how Spider-Man: No Way Home does everything in its power right from the word go to bombard Peter with a cornucopia of misery.
It picks up right where Far From Home left off with Peter’s identity being outed and people labeling him a menace to society. He can’t live a normal life anymore, and neither can MJ or Ned, so it’s understandable why he would go to Doctor Strange to try and erase everyone’s memory. But because Peter is so indecisive, he ruins the spell, and he is quite literally responsible for everything bad that happens afterwards. If his wishy-washiness didn’t fracture the multiverse, then Aunt May probably wouldn’t have died at the hands of Green Goblin, and he maybe, MAYBE, could have had one or two people remember him. But nope, he has to remember the mess he caused and live with the fact no one remembers him. You’d feel bad for him if it wasn’t his own fault, but it is, so it propels No Way Home near the top of the list.
Spider-Man 2 was the original misery parade for Peter Parker. Upon reflection, there isn’t one single traumatic experience like the death of Uncle Ben or Aunt May, but it’s a lot of little things that become totally insurmountable.
Simply trying to write them all down has been a task and a half. There’s the normal stress from work Peter has at the Daily Bugle, but juggling that with Spider-Man isn’t easy for him. Harry hates both Peter and Spider-Man because of his dad’s death, and MJ is marrying some no-name guy. Peter’s mentor, Otto Octavius, has his entire life ruined, becomes a supervillain, and thinks Spider-Man is responsible for his wife’s death, leading him to target Aunt May. Throughout all this, Peter’s powers are on the fritz, leading Peter to actually quit being a hero to attempt to live a normal life. If it’s not one thing, it’s another for Peter, and you have to wonder how he kept sane during it all. The only thing preventing Spider-Man 2 from being the peak of misery is that he gets MJ at the end, though depending on your thoughts on Raimi’s version of her, that may only compound the misery.
