Spider-Man has become one of the most prolific superheroes to appear on the big screen, going back to 2002’s Tobey Maguire-led origin story.
The web-slinging hero has been portrayed in three live-action movie franchises and one animated movie franchise, with three live-action Peter Parkers and one animated Miles Morales to show for it.
While everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man might inspire a lot of debate as to which version has been the most successful, it’s fair to argue that you’ve got plenty to choose from at this point.
With Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse still making waves in theaters, let’s swing back and rank all the Spider-Man movies so far.
Note: we won’t include movies like Avengers: Infinity War where Spider-Man happens to show up. If Spider-Man isn’t in the title, we won’t rank it.
10. The Amazing Spider-Man
While Andrew Garfield is a world-class actor, the first movie about Peter Parker didn’t exactly match his performance. Director Marc Webb jumped from (500) Days of Summer to a big tentpole Marvel movie with mixed results.
While Garfield shined and some of the set pieces were nifty, the film’s plot and use of Rhys Ifans’ Lizard failed to really capture the imagination like other films on this list.
9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
While The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn’t that much of an improvement over its predecessor, Jamie Foxx’s Electro (and the craft that accompanied it) was a big boost over how the first film used its villain.
While shoehorning in Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin didn’t really work out, Webb improved his filmmaking on this installment and at least gave audiences something a bit more memorable.
It’d all be for naught, as the character would be rebooted again two years later.
8. Spider-Man: No Way Home
The first true blockbuster smash post-COVID theater closures, Spider-Man: No Way Home was a Spider-Man schmorgesborg, but it suffered from having to follow the superior multiverse Spider-Man film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
While the film’s second act does an impressive job of tying together 20 years of Spider-Man on the big screen (and redeems Garfield’s take on the web slinger), the film still can be faulted for the same Marvel Cinematic Universe struggles with tone and faulty CGI.
It’s the weakest of the Tom Holland films, but it’s still quite good for what it is.
7. Spider-Man: Far from Home
The second Holland Spider-Man film feels almost underrated at this point by comparison to what followed it, as it was a spirited Spidey romp through Europe with Jake Gyllenhaal’s engaging take on Mysterio.
Director Jon Watt actually found some fascinating artistic flourishes here with Mysterio’s reality-bending tech, creating some dreamlike sequences not often found in MCU movies.
While this film still leaned a bit too heavily on the Iron Man of it all, it’s still got the lighter touch that made the first two Holland films such a delight.
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming
While the best use of Holland’s Spider-Man will always be his spirited introduction in Captain America: Civil War, his first standalone film remains one of the best MCU projects because of its low stakes and joyous energy.
The film was a refreshingly scaled-down take on Parker’s journey as a superhero. Even the billionaire Iron Man tech he uses, you still enjoy Parker as a scrappy underdog fighting for what he loves.
Plus, Michael Keaton is in top form as the Vulture, an MCU villain that actually had some emotional weight and understandability behind him.
5. Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi is the best director to ever take on Spider-Man, and even his divisive third installment had more artistic gusto and emotional weight than most of the films on this list.
The Venom storyline led to fascinating results; Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock was a sensational villain and his terrifying transformation remains one of the best scenes in any Spider-Man movie ever.
While some of the film is a bit goofy in retrospect, it’s still a consummate vision from a director who just understood the character better than anyone else has. Go back and give this one a rewatch; it’s much better than you remembered.
4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse contains some of the finest animation ever put to film. There are stretches that feel revolutionary, glass-ceiling breaks into a new future.
However, the film’s also a bit tethered down by its multiversal explosiveness. There is so much good stuff here that it begins to slightly weigh its story down under the towering artistry. It’s a truly stunning achievement for the artform, even if it’s just a half-step or so behind its predecessor’s storytelling. Even so, that makes it one of the better superhero movies we’ve gotten.
Multiversal storytelling is a bit like sticking your mouth under a soft serve ice cream machine and just letting it run. It’s delicious until you start feeling full and the ice cream keeps coming. The Spider-verse movies are great, but there both just a bit too extravagant.
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Perhaps the most important animated film to come out in the last decade, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a renaissance of sorts for the artform.
Five years later, it’s easy to give this the flowers it deserves for changing animation for the better. It’s the CG-house style killer that has inspired even Disney’s animation hub to reinvigorate its visuals past the 3D boom.
The final fight is everything animation can be. It’s one of the great sequences in the medium. It’s also got something it’s stellar sequel couldn’t quite muster: a sense of storytelling freshness that will always hold strong with the first installment.
2. Spider-Man
As much as 1989’s Batman gave the superhero movie its blockbuster potential, 2002’s Spider-Man is what makes any Marvel success even vaguely possible.
It’s somehow become underrated as the years have gone on, but Raimi’s first swing into the Parker story is as free-wheeling, bold and emotionally devastating as any good Spider-Man movie should be.
From Willem Dafoe’s menacing Green Goblin to the absolutely iconic Spider-Man/Mary Jane upside-down kiss, this film really did set the standard for what Marvel films should be.
1. Spider-Man 2
Not only is Spider-Man 2 the rare sequel that improves on what came before it, it’s the rare superhero film that manages to stand as one of its decade’s best overall films.
Along with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 really is a defining blockbuster of the 2000s. The stakes get higher in Maguire’s second go as Parker, and Raimi finds himself even more comfortable with the absolutely fantastic blend of superhero whimsy and body-horror tragedy of Alfred Molina’s sensational turn as Doctor Octopus.
This films cuts deep and sums up exactly why the Spider-Man story means so much to so many. It’s Parker as he should be: a hero with little more to his name than a few worldly possessions, a sharp intellect, a fierce moral compass and strong love for those he holds dear.
This is the ultimate Spider-Man movie, and it’s one of the best-ever superhero films we’ve ever gotten.
