Spidey has swung into cinemas several times over the past two decades, meaning there are several outstanding candidates when deciding on the best Spider-Man movie. We're willing to bet you already have Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as your top two choices – but what about the others?
With Across the Spider-Verse now in cinemas, we've rounded up all of Spidey's big-screen adventures below to bring you the best Spider-Man movies ever, ranked from the worst to first. That means we've ordered the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland movies below, as well as the Spider-Verse animated efforts.
To be clear, we've only included movies that are solely about Spider-Man on our list, so the likes of Civil War and Endgame are disqualified (even if they are very good). So, thwip on down below to check out the very best Spider-Man movies ever.
10. Amazing Spider-Man 2
Scraping the bottom of the Spidey barrel is Amazing Spider-Man 2, a movie that takes a solid (if unspectacular) prior movie and undoes all the goodwill built towards the rebooted series by making a flurry of baffling character choices.
Jamie Foxx’s Electro is played for laughs and, as such, never quite stacks up against Andrew Garfield’s webhead. Their showdown ultimately fizzles out into nothing more than an anti-climactic power struggle.
The inclusion of the Green Goblin, meanwhile, does lead to Gwen Stacy’s heart-wrenching death. Yet Spidey’s nemesis never quite earns his place as a top-tier villain thanks to some rushed storytelling and a tendency for the script to skip over most of his motivations. Amazing Spider-Man 2 instead feels like a pale imitation of the Raimi trilogy, which made far better use of the source material.
9. Spider-Man 3
Where did it all go wrong? Spider-Man 3 should have seen Sam Raimi’s trilogy go out in a blaze of symbiotic glory. Instead, it reads a case study into how too many supervillains can spoil a finely-poised Big Apple broth.
Sandman, Venom, and James Franco’s Green Goblin all lack their own spotlight. Instead, the movie being far more concerned with hammering home Peter Parker’s internal conflict and dark suited shenanigans instead.
Yes, Tobey Maguire’s ill-fated emo phase on-screen is now played for laughs, but it’s proof that Spider-Man 3 doesn’t know what tone it should strike: it aims to be a goofball comedy, a character study about the fine line between good or evil, and an explosive end to a fantastic trilogy. It succeeds at none of those things.
8. Amazing Spider-Man
Despite Andrew Garfield’s best-in-class portrayal of Peter Parker, the first Amazing Spider-Man never quite soars to the heights of two-thirds of Rami’s trilogy. Garfield’s Parker fizzes with teenage angst opposite Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, making for a refreshing change of pace after the MJ/Pete drama that muddled its way through all three of Raimi’s movies. Yet, it’s mired by an utterly forgettable villain in the shape of Rhys Ifans, who plays Curt Connors/The Lizard.
It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly good either. Amazing Spider-Man is about as much of a cookie-cutter, middle-of-the-road offering as you can get from Spidey. Understandably safe given the backlash to Spider-Man 3, though it’s far outclassed by the vast majority of its more stylish, swaggering peers.
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
We're getting into the good stuff. Spider-Man: Far From Home excels thanks to fresh new surroundings, plus Jake Gyllenhaal’s terrific performance as Mysterio. Director Jon Watts manages to stealthily introduce a genuinely funny European vacation movie into the MCU and have it masquerade as a superhero movie. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does. You end up caring more about certain periphery characters and, therefore, Peter’s duty to protect them. There’s even scope for some of the best use of CGI in the series.
It doesn’t quite break free of the specter of RDJ, who still casts a long shadow over this movie post-Avengers: Endgame. Still, it’s a genuinely thrilling affair – and one that comes bundled with the best cliffhanger in MCU history.
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home brings together three generations of Spider-Man movies, hoovering up villains from both Garfield's and Maguire's universes into the MCU through the power of the multiverse. The result is a movie that has incredible highs for Spider-Man fans, with plenty of Spider-Man: No Way Home Easter eggs throughout. While the plot is slightly ropey in places, the sheer charisma of an ever-improving Tom Holland holds everything together.
No Way Home is also one of the more emotional Spider-Man movies – not always a blast of fun, but takes time to deliver some sadder moments that really see Peter Parker at his lowest. Plus, the ending sets Spider-Man on a new path, and one that could be incredibly exciting – read more about our spoiler-filled thoughts on the Spider-Man: No Way Home ending here.
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Tom Holland’s debut MCU standalone flick does away from the past ills of Garfield's movies – it’s got an actually entertaining villain in Michael Keaton’s Vulture, for one thing – and delivers a breezy affair that easily convinced audiences that the franchise was in safe hands with Holland behind the mask.
Tony Stark makes for a meaningful surrogate Uncle Ben figure, and the high-school shenanigans of Peter, Ned, and MJ are fun, making Spider-Man: Homecoming a truly confident, assured effort. The highlight? It has to be Pete’s skin-crawlingly awkward night with Liz, all while her supervillain daddy tries to uncover her doting date’s secret identity.
4. Spider-Man
To understand the quality of Spider-Man, you have to take stock of what came before it. Prior to Tobey Maguire putting on the webbed suit, only X-Men and the original Batman could stake a claim to having put out a worthwhile superhero movie. Spider-Man blows them all out of the water.
It’s at once both funny and heartfelt, while also a gripping origin story. Plus, any movie that can feasibly introduce Randy Savage as a larger-than-life character (he played Spidey’s wrestling opponent Bonesaw McGraw) gets two big thumbs up.
It set the template for years to come and, whisper it, the MCU still hasn’t created a dynamic as compelling as the ones between Maguire’s Peter Parker, Kirsten Dunst’s MJ, and the outstandingly cheesy Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin.
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Across the Spider-Verse is everything we wanted from a Spidey sequel: bigger, more ambitious – and crammed with a ludicrous amount of cameos, Easter eggs, and fan service.
The jaunt across the multiverse sees Miles Morales (now over a year into his stint as New York’s one and only Spider-Man) encounter the Spider-Society, a group of Spider-People tasked with cleaning up anomalies in different universes. Miles has created a mess in time and space of his own making – coming into contact with a new villain called The Spot who can leap across worlds.
As egos collide and philosophies clash, it all amounts to a pulse-pounding sequel that sees Miles juggling family drama, dealing with what it means to be a Spider-Man, and the unsettling presence of Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac).
So, why is it not at the top? It’s still an incomplete story – Beyond the Spider-Verse hits cinemas in 2024 – and the extended runtime means it’s not as snappy or as tight as its predecessor. Still, what we do get is a genuine love letter to Spidey history – and an animation team on top of their game. We could watch this 20 times and still not see everything.
2. Spider-Man 2
For the longest time, Spider-Man 2 was the cream of the Spidey crop. And it’s easy to see why. The movie’s breakneck pace never slows, even when it has to factor in a Doc Ock origin story. Alfred Molina glowers and menaces his way through a thrilling final act that ranks right up there among the very best in action cinema.
It also features scenes that are still timeless today, such as when Peter loses his mask and is carried through a crowd or New Yorkers. Spider-Man 2 effectively juggles Parker’s own self-doubts, a brooding Harry Osborn, and a will they/won’t they relationship tug-of-war with MJ in a way that Spider-Man 3 could only dream of – all without missing a beat.
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse isn’t just the best Spider-Man movie. It’s cool. It’s daring. It’s essential. It’s a fashion statement for those who were told superhero movies were for sad acts and shut outs, all while weaving in a wonderful story about what it means to grow up as an outsider.
Miles Morales has done the impossible and potentially usurped Peter Parker as the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. He’s delightfully awkward, but still carries with him a charm that makes him bounce off the other Spiders with complete ease. It helps that each Spider-Man from the multiverse gets a chance to shine – including Nic Cage – and the kinetic ground-breaking animation lends itself to an energetic, ensemble-led affair that never once lets up.
When the dust finally settles on the superhero craze, Into the Spider-Verse will be held up as one of the genre’s shining beacons. It’s a movie that has you smiling all the way through. That is if you’re not too busy bopping along to its tune-laden soundtrack and effortless sense of style.
Spidey isn't the only show in town. Here are some of the best superhero movies to ever swing from the rooftops and leap tall buildings in a single bound.
For even more on Across the Spider-Verse, check out our spoilery deep dives on:
- The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending explained
- All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Easter eggs
- All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cameos
- All the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse alternate worlds and Spidey variants
- Is there a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse post-credits scene?
- When will Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse be on streaming?
- Our guide to The Spot
- Our guide to Spider-Man 2099
