Spider-Man movies ranked from worst to best

All eight live action Spider-Man movies are returning to UK cinemas this summer, but are all of the webslinger's movies created equally?

Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spider-Man made his Marvel comic debut in 1962, and since 2002 there have been ten feature length movies made about the character: eight focussed on Peter Parker, and two animated ones with Miles Morales in the lead.

Read more: Across the Spider-Verse is a masterpiece

There were episodes of the 1970s Spider-Man TV series that were repackaged as movies and a Japanese Spider-Man movie in 1978, but this ranking will only focus on the Sony Pictures' webslinger movies that began in 2002.

Everyone has an opinion on the franchise, but what can definitively be called the best Spider-Man film?

To find out, Yahoo polled internally to try and find an answer to the question.

With great power, came great responsibility.

10 | Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The reputation of Sam Raimi's third Spider-Man film has long been defined by that gif of Tobey Maguire's emo Peter Parker dancing while under the corruptive influence of the Venom symbiote. With too many villains, studio interference, and seemingly bereft of new ideas, the crushing disappointment of Spider-Man 3 is still ringing in fans ears.

9 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Seen as a franchise trying to run before it could walk, Andrew Garfield's second Spider-Man movie failed to capitalise on the goodwill of his first entry by cramming in so many villains that it felt more like an extended trailer for the in-development Sinister Six movie than a true Spider-Man film.

Read more: The Spider-Man spin-offs that never got made

It's a shame as it the death of Gwen Stacy is a genuinely moving moment.

7 | The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Coming just five years after Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Men felt — at the time — like a contractually obligated reboot to keep the character rights out of Marvel's hands. However, under the direction of Marc Webb, and with the help of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's natural chemistry, TASM did enough to earn its place in the canon. It's just a shame the villain wasn't more memorable.

8 | Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Tom Holland's second solo outing as Peter Parker saw him facing off with fan favourite villain Mysterio, with former Spider-Man hopeful Jake Gyllenhaal as the fishbowl-helmeted conjuror.

Now part of the MCU, Far From Home was the first film out of the gate after the era-defining Avengers: Endgame, and felt underwhelming by comparison.

6 | Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

After making his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland made his full MCU debut alongside Iron Man in Jon Watts' high school set adventure. Leaning more heavily into Peter's teenager status than any film before it, and facing off with the ultimate 'girlfriend's dad' from hell, Homecoming felt fresh and kickstarted a whole new era for Spider-Man.

5 | Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Although shrouded in secrecy before release, No Way Home finally gave Spider-Man fans what they clamoured for all along: Seeing Tom Holland on screen with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, facing off against a greatest hits roster of movie villains.

Thanks to the multiverse, all three big screen Spider-Men got to swing their stuff together for a crowd-pleasing, if fan-servicing, epic which with $1.9bn at the box office, is the most successful Spider-movie yet.

4 | Spider-Man (2002)

After years in development hell, and under the surprising tutelage of Evil Dead's Sam Raimi, 2002's Spider-Man used the success of 2000's X-Men as a spring board to launch Peter Parker into the pop culture stratosphere.

With Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst as MJ, Raimi largely stuck to the established canon (except for those creepy organic webshooters) and gave Spider-Man a whole new lease of life on the big screen.

3 | Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023)

Sony's animated Across the Spider-Verse wisely followed the sequel formula of going bigger to deliver the best multiversal comic book movie to date. With jaw-dropping action sequences, a dazzling array of Spider-Man variants, and cinema's most tantalising cliffhanger since Empire Strikes Back, expect this film's stature among fans to grow in the coming weeks, months, and years.

2 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Coming a year after Homecoming and four years after TASM2, Into The Spider-Verse marked the third new take on Spider-Man in nearly as many years, and the question "Do we really need animated Spider-Man movie?" was on everyone's lips.

Read more: Into The Spider-Verse: The story so far

However, with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in control, a game-changing new animation style, and Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) finally at the forefront, Marvel's first movie foray into the multiverse redefined what Spider-Man could be, while exploring the essential nature of the character at the same time.

1 | Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Our number one Spider-Man movie is not just the best Spider-Man movie so far, it's also one of the best superhero movies bar none too. Coming four years before Iron Man kicked off the MCU, Sam Raimi's Doc Ock-led sequel benefits from not being an origin story, or being part of a wider canon, allowing the filmmakers to focus on characters and storytelling.

Backed by memorable set pieces, sensational visual and practical effects, and the best villain story of the series so far — it's been the blueprint for the superhero genre ever since.

Spider-Man returns to UK cinemas from 2 August.