Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters in Marvel Comics, and for a good reason.
While most characters introduced early in Marvel Comics were wealthy industrialists, Gods, war heroes, or brilliant scientists, Spider-Man was Peter Parker, a bullied high school student.
Making Peter Parker relatable to readers, who were mostly younger adults and kids at the time, made him a character they saw themselves in better than any of the stronger Marvel heroes.
This made it a no-brainer that movies would want to bring this brilliant character to life on the big screen.
In 2002, Sony hired cult-favorite director Sam Raimi to bring the character to theaters with the first Spider-Man movie. As of 2021, there have been seven solo Spider-Man movies, with one more coming in the holiday season.
Spider-Man has also appeared in other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, and became one of the biggest stars for the MCU.
Here is a look at every Spider-Man movie appearance, ranked by Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) – 51%
The lowest-rated Spider-Man movie based on Rotten Tomatoes scores was Amazing Spider-Man 2.
This was the second movie in the second franchise, with Andrew Garfield as an older Peter Parker, and a movie that brought in one of Spider-Man’s best stories – The Death of Gwen Stacy.
The movie had some high points, including Peter and Gwen’s relationship, but the villains dragged the movie down. Jamie Foxx is a good actor, and it was nice to see a sympathetic villain, but it never reached the heights of the previous sympathetic villain in Spider-Man 3’s Sandman.
What really dragged the movie down was Harry Osborn’s Green Goblin, which really betrayed the comic character and fell flat, even with the death of Gwen Stacy.
Spider-Man 3 (2007) – 63%
Spider-Man 3 had a chance to be a great movie, but studio interference ruined it.
Sam Raimi created yet another brilliant villain in Sandman, taking the classic Marvel bad guy and making him a sympathetic villain with a fantastic performance by Thomas Haden Church.
However, Sony demanded that Raimi add Venom to the story, and it was clear that Raimi didn’t care as much about this part of the story.
It had amusing moments, such as Peter under the symbiote’s control, but when Venom became his own character, it was nothing like what fans wanted to see.
Amazing Spider-Man (2012) – 72%
The first Amazing Spider-Man movie is better than many fans claim, and its Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t horrible, at 72-percent.
This movie rebooted the Spider-Man franchise with Andrew Garfield taking on the lead role, bringing Peter out of his awkward stage and making him more like the modern young adult Spider-Man from recent comics.
The villain wasn’t great, with a CGI Lizard rampaging, but the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, as well as her dad Captain Stacy, was well done and helped the movie remain an entertaining reintroduction to Spider-Man.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – 85%
Avengers: Infinity War was the first part of the huge battle with Thanos and the final moments of the movie changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever.
However, the movie remains the lowest-ranked MCU movie featuring Spider-Man for one big reason – it was the first part of the story and left off on a cliffhanger where the bad guy won.
Spider-Man got a huge part in the movie, though, as he was one of the heroes who was snapped out of existence by Thanos and got a heartbreaking goodbye moment with Iron Man.
Captain America: Civil War (2016) – 90%
Spider-Man’s first appearance in an MCU movie came in Captain America: Civil War in 2016.
Iron Man sought out Spider-Man and asked him to help him in his battle with the superheroes who refused to register with the United States government.
This meant Spider-Man had to fight Captain America. He held his own, grabbing Cap’s shield at one point and pinning down both Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Spider-Man’s team didn’t exactly win, but it was a huge introduction for the Wall-Crawler to the MCU.
Spider-Man (2002) – 90%
The first Spider-Man movie to hit the big screen was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man in 2002.
Raimi cast Tobey Maguire to portray the awkward and insecure Peter Parker, and the two carried this role through three movies. This first movie was an origin story that featured Uncle Ben’s death and the introduction of Mary Jane Watson.
It also had the great Willem Defoe as The Green Goblin. It was a great introduction to Spider-Man for movie audiences and is rated at 90-percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) – 91%
Spider-Man: Far From Home was the second MCU Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland in the lead role.
This movie saw Spider-Man mourning the loss of Iron Man and unsure of his place in the world with Tony Stark gone. However, he was thrown back into action against his will when Nick Fury came calling.
There were monsters attacking Earth from the multiverse and Spider-Man had to team with Mysterio to fight them, only to learn that he was fighting the wrong battle.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – 92%
The first Tom Holland Spider-Man movie was a huge success, with Spider-Man: Homecoming making the character great again for the first time in 13 years.
This was no origin story, as Spider-Man had already appeared in Captain America: Civil War. Instead, this put Spider-Man up against a great villain in Vulture.
The movie focused as much on Peter Parker as it did on Spider-Man, setting him up with a potential love interest in Liz Toomes before realizing that she was Vulture’s daughter.
Vulture was also a great villain, a good father and family man who felt he needed to do bad things to save his family after Tony Stark’s company swept in and destroyed his business.
Spider-Man 2 (2004) – 93%
The solo Spider-Man movie considered to be not only the best for that hero, but one of the best superhero movies ever made, was Spider-Man 2.
This is the movie where Spider-Man battles Doctor Octopus, a character returning in this year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
This was one of the best villains in any superhero movie, with Doc Ock as a sympathetic villain who was trying to do great things and then lost his grip on sanity when his wife died in an accident.
Sam Raimi really got a chance to cut loose in this movie and created a true masterpiece.
Avengers: Endgame (2019) – 94%
The highest-rated movie by Rotten Tomatoes critics involving Spider-Man was Avengers: Endgame.
This movie saw the snap that wiped out most heroes in Avengers: Infinity War play out with almost every hero from the MCU returning to battle Thanos.
When Hulk was able to bring back everyone who was snapped out, this included Spider-Man, who returned and had a big role in the final fight.
It also included one of the most touching moments of any MCU movie when Spider-Man had to say goodbye to Tony Stark after his ultimate sacrifice to save the world.
This list shouldn’t take include crossover movies, dumbasses