Spider-Mans

An authoritative list of all 11 Spider-Man movies from the 21st Century (so far)

I’m writing 100 Essays in 100 Weekdays.

This is 64.

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I ❤️ SPIDER-MAN

Earlier today, I discovered a good friend of mine hadn’t seen a single Spider-Man movie since the first three starring Tobey Maguire.

I needed to fix this.

So I listed, in order of release, the eight installments he hasn’t seen, including a short note of introduction for each one.

I thought to myself, this is very good work, but why stop there?

You see, Spider-Man has become the most consistently entertaining and artistically successful comic book movie franchise in history. Even as the IP has pingponged between Paramount, Disney, and Sony, and even across four different actors portraying four different versions of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, all eleven films have been, at worst, solidly entertaining, and at least a couple of them happen to be among the greatest movies of all time.

So here is my authoritative breakdown of all eleven Spider-Man movies.

You’re welcome.

1. Spider-Man (2002)

Few people remember how big of a deal this movie was when it came out. In 2001, after the Twin Towers fell, they decided to delay the release in order to surgically remove the towers from the film. There was even a teaser, in May of 2001, that ended with this shot:

When it finally came out, it broke all kinds of box office records, and I’m pretty sure every single living person loved it.

Let it be known that I do not like Tobey Maguire. But he was a great Spider-Man.

2. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Widely regarded as not only the best Spider-Man movie, inspiring comparisons to other critically and popularly adored sequels like The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, it is also often in contention as the best comic book superhero movie ever made. My own wife argues this, and who can blame her? It’s a wonderful film. This scene?

Come on.

3. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

K, this movie has a lot of problems. The main issue is that it was stuffed with way too many villains. It should have just been a movie about Venom. Cutting out the Sandman and James Goblin Franco would have easily doubled the quality, to the point that people might have even gotten on board with this:

Which, to be perfectly clear, was straight Raimi fire.

But yeah, it was a hard landing after the absolute triumph of the second movie.

4. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The choice to reboot a franchise a mere five years after it had ended was viciously ridiculed when the first trailers for this movie dropped. But this was before Warner Brothers got their hands on Batman, so…

Anyway, Andrew Garfield is wonderful, and put a spin on the character that you could argue hewed more closely to the source material than Tobey’s did. Oh and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Yes. And directed by Marc Webb, the same guy who did (500) Days of Summer. This might seem weird, but you get equal parts comic book action movie and high school romantic comedy, and it’s delightful.

5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

This one gets pretty silly. Jamie Foxx hams pretty hard, and Dane DeHaan has never done any movie any favors. But it’s still a whole lot of fun, and the end is utterly devastating.

(I won’t spoil it.)

6. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

The first one with Tom Holland was, and still is, a HUGE breath of fresh air in the Marvel movie morass. Michael Keaton chews up every scene as a wonderful, complex, sympathetic villain. This one also does its turns as a high school romantic comedy, and manages to feel like an authentic Gen Z story.

And it should be acknowledged that as good as Tobey and Andrew were, Tom seems to have been born to play Spider-Man.

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

I have to be careful not to launch directly into hyperbole over this movie. It is one of the best movies ever ma — dammit. I’m sorry, it’s true. Just unreasonably excellent along pretty much every axis. Miles Morales is an exceptional character, the whole voice cast just crushes every role, the animation was revolutionary, and the storytelling is as tight and satisfying as I’ve ever seen. The movie is hilarious, exciting, emotional, and deeply artful.

This movie came out the year my first kid was born, and eventually became his favorite movie (natch), so it played every few days for…I dunno, a year? More? I must have seen this movie twenty times, and I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter, if it’s playing in a room, I can’t tear myself away. At some point, I realized it had shouldered it’s way into my top ten movies of all time.

So yeah.

8. Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Tom Holland’s back, but I’m in love with Jake Gyllenhaal. Just try not to get lost in his sad, soulful eyes, just try. Anyway, I don’t remember a whole lot about this movie, other than that he played the villain in a very silly looking costume that was I’m told faithful to the comic book.

I mean you can’t even see his beautiful, beautiful face. What were they thinking?

I only saw it once, and it was messy. I should give it another shot sometime, but I think it ranks right around Tobey’s 3rd.

The ending is important to the Holland timeline, but also recapped in...

9. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

This is the one where they bring back Tobey and Andrew to reprise their roles as elder Spider-Men.

Dr. Strange is involved. It’s very fun, very funny, and surprisingly affecting. The script has a good handle on what makes Spider-Man such a great character, regardless of who’s playing him.

I rewatched it in preparation for the one that’s in theaters right now, with my wife and 8-year-old son, and no, my eyes did not stay dry. But you should have my kid’s face. Sheesh. What am I made of stone?

10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Remember how I said that “Into the Spider-Verse” was one of the best movies ever made?

Somehow, impossibly, this one is better. How it works is this:

The first one was basically perfect. Everything it tried to do, it basically pulled off flawlessly. The sequel was dramatically more ambitious, in almost every way, and…also pulled all of it off flawlessly.

This movie is breathtakingly good. I laugh, I cry, I jump to my feet and punch the air.

I cry some more.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to take up another spot on my Top Ten Movies of All Time, it can just share a spot with the first one.

11. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

You should go see it. Based on the trailers, based on the reviews, I went in with pretty high expectations, and they were exceeded.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think it gives Spider-Man 2, the reigning champion of live-action Spider-Man movies (it’s not fair if you include the Spider-Verse movies, which are in another league) a pretty good fight.

Tom Holland has melted into this character, and the script makes pretty much all the right moves. It’s exceptionally funny, delivers well-earned emotional punches, and showcases some of the most creatively crafted shots and sequences I’ve seen in any Spider-Man movie, occasionally on par with the animated ones, which…is really impressive.

Like I said. Go see it in theaters if you can. There are plenty of showtimes. I don’t want to hear any excuses.