Sony Pictures launched Spider-Man in 2002 on the big screen. It has always been a fan-favorite character, and audiences always come back to watch the Spider-Man movies in order to show their love. Before watching the upcoming film, i.e., Spider-Man: No Way Home in theatres, watching all the previous ones can benefit you. Therefore, I created this list to show the best order to watch Spider-Man movies and where to watch them. So, if you are ready to get tangled on/in the web, let’s get started.
Original Spider-Man Trilogy
Spider-Man (2002)Spider-Man 2 (2004)Spider-Man 3 (2007)The Amazing Spider-Man Reboot
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)The Amazing Spider-Man 2Spider-Man Movies in MCU
Captain America: Civil WarSpider-Man: Homecoming (2017)Avengers: Infinity WarAvengers: Endgame (2019)Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)Sony’s Spider-Man Universe
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)Upcoming Spider-Man Movies
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse SequelList of Spider-Man Movies in SequenceWho Owns Spider-Man Rights?
Spider-Man (2002)Spider-Man 2 (2004)Spider-Man 3 (2007)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Captain America: Civil WarSpider-Man: Homecoming (2017)Avengers: Infinity WarAvengers: Endgame (2019)Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Sequel
Original Spider-Man Trilogy
Sam Raimi is the OG director who launched our favorite Spider-Man character on the big screen. The series consisted of three movies that were loved by audiences and provided a solid foundation for the future of superhero movies. Tobey Maguire’s contribution to making Peter Parker a household name is equally commendable.
It is the first movie of Sam Raimi’s trilogy and covers the origin story of Spider-Man portrayed by Tobey Maguire. The story begins when a bullied teenager gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains powers like super speed, superstrength, organic web-shooting, and wall-crawling overnight. While he enjoys his newfound abilities, a robber kills uncle Ben on the streets, an event he could have stopped easily. It leads to a change of mindset, and Spider-Man dedicates his life to helping people in need.
The movie also introduces Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, a recurring character in marvel comics. His military experiment of creating a super serum goes wrong and gives him a murderous and evil split personality while amplifying his strengths. Will Spider-Man be able to stop this menace from terrorizing the city? Watch the movie to discover.
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- Willem Dafoe performed 90% of the stunts himself.
The second installment of this franchise, directed by Sam Raimi, talks about the emotional conflict of being a superhero. Peter is devastated by his struggle to fight crime and continue with his studies. He couldn’t even spare time for his love interest and ended up losing her to another guy. Meanwhile, he can’t keep up with any job and always gets fired due to an untimely need to save people. On the other hand, The Daily Bugle, a news publication, paints an evil picture of Spider-Man and gives him a hard time. All these factors take a high toll on Peter’s mental health and his civilian life. To the extent that he loses his powers and decides to give up on his crime-fighting persona.
Meanwhile, Peter’s mentor and friend, a genius scientist, Dr. Otto Octavius, becomes a supervillain named Doctor Octopus after his experiment goes wrong and kills his wife. He is now left with four AI-powered mechanical arms having neurological implants in his spine. They become sentient and try to control his mind and ask him to do everything possible to complete his experiment. His course of action brings Peter’s loved ones and the whole city at stake.
2. Alfred Molina, who plays Dr. Octopus, actually gave names to his four mechanical tentacles (Larry, Harry, Flo, and Moe). Flo was the top-right tentacle with a motherly emotion because it was the one that gave him sips from drinks and removed his sunglasses.
The final movie in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy was one of the reasons the franchise didn’t continue. It was the weakest among any other Spider-Man movie. The plot explores the hardships of your loved one turning against you. Besides, this time spidey has to deal with three villains, a break-up, and conquer himself before saving others.
The story starts off one year after the events of Doctor Octopus’ demise. Peter is managing his love life and fighting crime pretty well. But, then a symbiote from outer space attaches itself with Peter amplifying his powers and negative traits. Harry Osborn, Peter’s former best friend, decides to take up the mantle of Green Goblin and avenge his father’s death. Also, Flint Marko, who supposedly killed uncle Ben, ran away from prison and ended up in the middle of a particle accelerator. The experiment fuses his body with sand and gives him the ability to control it, making him the Sandman. The movie places Peter among his friends turning on him, his foes, and himself tearing apart.
- Thomas Church broke three of his knuckles in the subway fighting scene, unaware that the foam brick was still not placed in position.
After Marvel Studios changed the scenario of how we used to see superhero movies, Sony made a desperate attempt to reboot what it had at hand. Sony could have only made a new Spider-Man movie with minimal characters at disposal, which they did with director Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield. This series wasn’t critically acclaimed, and both films performed far lower than expectations. Still, it has got some excellent acting performances and introduced new characters to the audiences. Therefore, it’s the second franchise you should watch in the Spider-Man movie sequence.
4. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
The plans for this movie were in talks after Sam Raimi’s franchise got canceled in 2010. The film explores a similar origin story of Peter Parker again with slight twists. Instead of Mary Jane as in the first trilogy, Gwen Stacy is shown as Peter’s love interest. Both characters have been prominent figures in the comics. Peter uses web shooters now opposed to previous iteration in which web were organic.
Where to Watch
Trivia
- Dr. Curt Connors was in Sam Raimi’s trilogy as well, but they weren’t sure about making him the Lizard anytime soon.
Next in the order of Spider-Man films comes The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s the last Spider-Man movie under Marc Webb’s direction. The plot starts with a happy Spider-Man, which is quite the opposite of how the character is long shown in comics. Usually, some kind of second thoughts always come into Peter’s mind whether he is capable enough or not. In the movie, Peter’s relationship with Gwen conflicts because he vowed to her father. So, Gwen ends the relationship and reveals her plan about going abroad.
- Emma Stone wrote Gwen’s graduation speech personally. It’s the same speech that motivates Peter to go back and fight crime.
Ever since Marvel Cinematic Universe made a deal with Sony Pictures to use the character in their films, Spider-Man received the place in movies it should have earlier. MCU is the only superhero genre franchise that has made a complex universe of so many characters without breaking the continuity (and I would recommend that you watch all the Marvel movies in order). And, with the inclusion of Spider-Man in it, it feels complete. It is worth mentioning that Spider-Man has appeared in MCU movies other than the solo ones. I have mentioned all the movies in which Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has made an appearance. It is up to you to watch or skip them, depending on how much continuity of the story matters to you.
Although it’s not a Spider-Man movie, Tom Holland was introduced in this one as the titleholder for the wall climbing menace. Fans often depict Captain America: Civil War as Avengers 2.5 because it includes so many characters. Even after that, MCU gave Tom Holland a total of 8 minutes and 30 seconds of screen time, which is quite fair given the vast cast.
Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, Daniel Brühl
Captain America: Civil War is available on Disney+ in India and any country having the service.
- Sharon Carter’s speech at Peggy’s funeral is taken directly from a speech that Captain America made in Amazing Spider-Man #537
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man became an instant hit after his introduction in Captain America: Civil War. This led to Sony Pictures finalizing the solo movies under MCU’s banner while still holding the filming and distribution rights.
Cast
- Spider-Man never uses punches in his fight; he uses his web instead. He dodges, blocks, and diverts the punches or kicks the villains. But, never punch them.
Behold! It’s the greatest movie of the MCU so far. Before you judge me for not saying Avengers: Endgame, hear me out. Infinity War is the only superhero movie that ends on a sad note where superheroes lost. Besides, I like its story better than Endgame. Ok, you can judge me now.
Peter Parker’s role in this movie is short but essential. He joins the fight to save Tony from an ongoing attack and ends up on Titan with him and a few other characters. In this movie, Peter also becomes the Avenger officially. Besides, Tom Holland got a lot of praise for his work in this film.
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- Tom Holland was not allowed to read the whole script because he had revealed too many secrets for Spider-Man: Homecoming in the past.
Avengers: Endgame created hype among movie fans like never before. This movie ended the Infinity Saga and provided closure to some original Avengers. It is a direct sequel to Avengers: Infinity War and took place five years from the snap. All our existing heroes have joined forces and tried their best to avenge the fallen. Whatever it takes!
Peter’s role is limited yet pivotal for his character in this movie. He understands responsibility like every Spider-Man in previous films has learned through some challenging emotions. The movie primarily focuses on the Avengers’ attempt to reverse what Thanos did. So, it leaves very little space for Spider-Man to have much screen time.
- In Spiderman: Homecoming, Tony tries to open the door for Peter, and he thinks of it as a hug, to which Tony responds, “We are not there yet.” In Endgame, Tony pulls Peter for a hug bringing the emotion full circle.
It’s the second solo Spider-Man movie in the MCU, which picks up eight months after the events of Endgame. Tony has left some gadgets for Peter, but he doesn’t feel he can use them. He thinks he can take a break from his superhero stuff for a few weeks and go on a trip to Europe with his classmates. However, some elemental monsters are causing havoc in the continent, and it comes to Peter to stop them.
Mysterio, a long-time Spider-Man villain from the comics, portrays himself as a friend and helps stop the Elementals. We later discover that it was him behind all the havoc, and he is using special effects to make it look natural. Peter quickly trusts Mysterio and gives him control of some dangerous drones. Later in the movie, Mysterio uses them to cause public damage, and Peter thinks himself guilty. Peter has to overcome his fears and trust his senses to stop Mysterio from causing more trouble.
- Tom Holland accidentally announced this movie’s title as “Spider-Man: Far From Home” via an Instagram video.
It is the only movie to create similar hype to Avengers: Endgame, and there is no doubt why Spider-Man fans like us won’t get excited. This movie is bringing the best of all the previous Spider-Man films together. Released under the MCU banner, it primarily revolves around Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. However, many earlier villains from Sam Raimi’s trilogy and Marc Webb’s film series are returning to reprise their roles.
No Way Home sees Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprise their roles as Spider-Man, with the multiverse bringing all three of our favourites together. No Way Home makes for a spectacular watch, and for long-time Spider-Man fans, this movie is a trip down memory lane, with multiple references to Tobey’s and Andrew’s parts in the movies, as well as a neat quick reference to the extremely popular Spider-Man meme (see below).
Spider-Man No Way Home is not yet available for streaming. We will update this article when the movie is released on streaming platforms.
Marvel had to sell its character filming rights to other Studios in the late nineties because Marvel was going bankrupt. It was a time when critics didn’t respect superhero movies much, and the audience reading comics was lowering in numbers. At that time, Sony bought the rights for Spider-Man and its associated characters from Marvel. Only after the success of the first Spider-Man movie did Marvel realize the potential of such films.
It comes next in order of Spider-Man movies because it talks about a unique idea. After watching multiple Spider-Man films, I hope you are now ok with the idea of multple Spider-Man existing together. All Spider-Man films we talked about until now are similar following the coming of age story of Peter Parker. However, with Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Sony pulled something beyond our imagination.
The standalone animated movie is part of Sony’s new project, and it is so far the most entertaining Spider-Man movie you will watch. The story is about a teenage boy named Peter Parker Miles Morales. He becomes the second Spider-Man in his universe when a radioactive spider from another universe bites him. Later, he came to know about the existence of much more Spider-Man in various universes.
- If you hit pause whenever a train goes by you will find Stan Lee in it. Every animator wanted to animate Stan Lee so they decided to use the trains for it.
Upcoming Spider-Man Movies
Spider-Man is one of the characters who will be present among us one way or another. We have seen him in comic books, live-action movies, animated series, and animated movies. Therefore, creators are adding more films to the Spider-Man movie lists for you to watch. Here’s what’s hot.
An untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has been in production since 2019. It is mostly going to involve Miles and Gwen’s relationship as the new Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. More updates over Spider-Man’s animated film series are yet to come.
Who Owns Spider-Man Rights?
Spider-Man has the most complicated rights in the history of superhero characters. Still, I tried my best to put it in a way you will understand, keeping the latest deal in mind.
