After decades of reigning as one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes, Spider-Man successfully transitioned to many media, including movies, cartoons, and many others. His latest films have been runaway successes, with No Way Home selling the most pre-order tickets seen since Endgame. However, this character had much humbler beginnings.
As Marvel was finishing off its run of Amazing Fantasy, an old anthology series, Stan Lee convinced his publisher, Martin Goodman, to test the waters and place a new character in the issue. At the time, Stan Lee was getting the Spider-Man concept out of his system. After readers picked up Amazing Fantasy #15 and read Spider-Man’s origin, they fell in love. So, this final issue became the best-selling comic for Marvel that year.
With Spider-Man already a proven success, Marvel quickly agreed to create The Amazing Spider-Man series in 1963. As Spider-Man ventured into his own series, he began to build up a rogues’ gallery, starting with Chameleon. However, as the decades passed, he gained stronger and more dangerous foes, like Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin. He also gained several spin-off series, including The Spectacular Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man. However, The Amazing Spider-Man has outlasted all other versions of his comics, spanning over eight hundred issues before its reboot in 2018.
Despite the rousing success of the comics, it took several decades for any film to make it through to production. Finally, in 2002, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man hit theaters as a Columbia Pictures production.
Join us as we look back at the Spider-Man movies from the last few decades
The Tobey Maguire Era
Spider-Man
While the first whispers of a Spider-Man movie began as early as the 1980s, with three made-for-television movies appearing in the 1970s. However, none of the projects made it to the silver screen due to assorted reasons, including litigation. Finally, the license moved into the hands of Columbia Pictures, where they set Sam Raimi loose on the project.
The seasoned horror director then turned to David Koepp to create the story for the first film. Starring as the web-slinger, Tobey Maguire donned the mask while Kristen Dunst became Mary Jane. Finally, William Dafoe joined the cast as Spider-Man’s greatest nemesis, the Green Goblin.
The Plot
This film took its time in setting up the backstory of Peter Parker, giving the audience time to bond with Cliff Robertson’s Ben Parker. One day, while touring Columbia University’s genetics lab, a genetically engineered spider bit Parker. This bite irreversibly changed him, granting him amazing strength and spectacular reflexes.
After Parker’s fateful bite, he began abusing his powers for self-interest, trying to make money by wrestling. As he acted out of spite, he permitted a robber to run free after the man stole from the abrasive promoter at the underground wrestling ring. This same robber attempted to carjack Ben, killing him in the process. Thus, Parker embraced Ben’s words, “with great power comes great responsibility.”
Elsewhere, Norman Osborn felt pressure to net his company a military contract. So, he decided to test out his newest performance-enhancing chemicals himself. While the concoction granted him immense strength, he also became emotionally unstable. So, he quickly turned on his assistant, murdering him. Later, he donned a green suit to murder the members of Oscorp’s board, who planned to sell the company.
Danger hit close to home for Peter Parker after Normal learned that he was Spider-Man. As the man held Mary Jane captive, he forced Spider-Man to choose, either his love or the tram filled with innocent civilians. While Spider-Man successfully saved both, he could not prevent Osborn from unintentionally skewering himself with his own glider.
Spider-Man-2
Following the overwhelmingly positive reception to the first movie, Columbia quickly greenlit the production of a sequel. Sam Raimi stayed on to keep the series in line with his vision. After receiving several drafts for the story from Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Micheal Chabon, Raimi turned to Alvin Sargent to finalize the script.
From the preliminary stages of the script, the production team knew that they were going to introduce Doctor Octopus as Spider-Man’s next enemy. However, his role in the film changed from a man infatuated with Mary Jane to a man obsessed with science. Transforming into the eight-limbed adversary, Alfred Molina became the perfect actor to bring Otto Octavius to life. While Molina was not an expert on Doctor Octopus, he discovered that the man had a cynical sense of humor that deserved to remain in his performance.
The Plot
Picking up a few years after the first film, Peter Parker has continued to help New York City as their Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. However, his personal life was far from perfect. He had become distant from both Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn. Meanwhile, his Aunt May faced eviction from her home in Queens.
As a bright spot in his life, Otto Octavius became Parker’s mentor, gaining his admiration and respect. Sadly, as Octavius publicly presented a functioning fusion reactor, donning robotic arms to help him stabilize the reaction, disaster struck. After the reaction went critical, Octavius’s wife, Rosalie, perished in the mayhem while the damage fused the arms to Octavius’s spine.
Meanwhile, Peter’s inability to balance his life as a super-hero with his personal life took its toll. His internal conflict led up to a mental breakdown, where his powers destabilized and stopped functioning. Thus, Peter Parker became Spider-Man no more. However, his retirement is short-lived, for his powers quickly return after Octavius abducts Mary Jane.
After multiple battles with Octavius, including a brawl on a speeding subway train, Octavius delivered Spider-Man to Harry Osborn. Still distraught over the death of his father, Harry desired to kill Spider-Man until he discovered that his best friend was under the mask. After convincing Harry that Octavius threatened the entire city, Peter learned where Doc Ock was building his reactor.
Unfortunately, Spider-Man was not in time to completely stop Octavius from starting up the reactor. However, he did break through to the man by revealing his identity. As Octavius came to his senses, he decided to sacrifice himself so that the reaction would not destroy the city.
Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 2 overshadowed the original movie in nearly every way, including sales. So, it was no surprise when Columbia Pictures greenlit the third entry in the series. Once again, Sam Raimi returned to direct the film. Once again, Alvin Sargent returned to write the script for the third movie while Sam Raimi and his brother, Ivan Raimi, helped with developing the story and rewrites.
However, rather than placing full trust in Raimi’s vision once more, the producers for the film pressured Raimi to go in a direction he hated by including Venom. Initially, Raimi envisioned this film as centering around Peter Parker, Mary Jane, Harry Osborn, and the Sandman. Despite the interference, Sam Raimi himself also considered adding a third villain to the plot, such as the Vulture.
This time, two new actors joined the Spider-Man movies. First, Thomas Haden Church became Flint Marko, the Sandman. Then, Topher Grace received the distinction of becoming the man who would portray Eddie Brock, who later became Venom. For years to come, fans would remember Topher Grace’s depiction of Venom for all the wrong reasons.
The Plot
Since Mary Jane learned that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, nothing stood in the way of their relationship. So, the film began with the two in a strong yet troubled relationship. While Parker planned to propose to Mary Jane, new forces of evil began to stir.
First, Harry Osborn briefly struck out against Spider-Man, attempting to avenge his father’s death. While he used the performance-enhancing gas to gain great power, he soon developed partial amnesia. Elsewhere, the murder of Ben Parker, Flint Marko, fell into an experimental particle accelerator, which mixed up his molecules with sand. In addition to gaining a body made of sand, he developed power over the dirt. Thus, Sandman was born.
As all of this transpired, a meteorite also landed in New York City, carrying with it an alien symbiote that quickly latched onto Spider-Man. While Peter Parker slept, this symbiote fully merged with him, granting him his black suit, and enhancing his powers. In addition to gaining enhanced strength and agility, the symbiote also heightened Peter Parker’s aggression and desire to dance like a fool with Gwen Stacy.
While Peter Parker was ruining his reputation, Eddie Brock attempted to make a name for himself by presenting a faked photo of Spider-Man as a criminal. Unfortunately, J. Johan Jameson caught on to the forgery and fired Brock. So, the man passionately hated Peter Parker, who became the staff photographer in his place.
Finally, Parker realized that the suit had corrupted him, so he removed it thanks to a loud church bell. Unfortunately, Brock stood under the bell and merged with the symbiote, becoming Venom. In the final fight, Spider-Man and Osborn joined forces to defeat both the Sandman and Venom.
The Andrew Garfield Era
The Amazing Spider-Man
Unsurprisingly, the mess that was Spider-Man 3 did not sit well with audiences. So, Sam Raimi’s reign as the director of Spider-Man films ended. However, Sony Pictures knew that Spider-Man was a winning property. So, they continued their plans to produce another Spider-Man film, though they changed the strategy to reboot the series.
Taking the films in a new direction, Marc Webb became the next creative force to steer the Spider-Man franchise. Assisting him, James Vanderbelt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves helped craft the script for the reenvisioned Spider-Man.
Agreeing that Spider-Man worked best as a boy becoming a man story, Tobey Maguire decided early on not to return as Spider-Man. So, the production found a new actor to become the high-school-aged Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield. Webb also felt that Mary Jane had enough of the limelight before, so he instead used another famous Spider-girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. So, Emma Stone joined the cast as Peter Parker’s romantic interest.
Returning to Spider-Man’s roots, Webb opted to use one of his oldest enemies, the Lizard. So, he found Rhys Ifans to take on the role of Dr. Curt Conors, who tragically transformed into the Lizard. Meanwhile, Denis Leary also posed a dilemma for Parker as George Stacy, Gwen’s father. As a captain in the NYPD, George strongly opposed the vigilante, Spider-Man.
Finally, two new actors took on the roles of Ben and May Parker. Martin Sheen became Ben Parker while Sally Field portrayed his doting aunt.
The Plot
Unlike the original trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man began with characters that few have witnessed in the comics, cartoons, nor movies before: Peter Parker’s Parents. The pair quickly dropped Peter Parker off with his aunt and uncle after a burglary at their house. From that moment on, no one, especially not Peter Parker, heard from them again.
Growing up with his aunt and uncle, Peter Parker grew a strong bond with them. However, this bond was tested after Peter Parker developed spider-like abilities thanks to a spider bite. To help explore the source of his powers, Parker began to work in tandem with Dr. Curt Conors, who once worked with his father. Since Peter became so distracted with his research, he neglected his family obligations, earning the ire of his uncle.
After a heated argument with his uncle, Peter left the house to blow off steam. There, he let a robber go free because the clerk had been rude to him. However, this same robber soon encountered Ben Parker, ending the man’s life with a bullet.
After Ben Parker’s death, Peter decided to use his powers to help the innocents around the city. Unfortunately, his research with Dr. Conors gave the man the keys to genetic splicing, though flawed. Since the man longed to have the use of his right arm again. However, he also disagreed with Oscorp’s plans to rush to human trials. So, he decided to test the serum on himself, leading to his transformation into the Lizard.
As Spider-Man saved the city from becoming half-human lizards like Conors, Captain Stacy received a mortal wound from the reptilian. Before Captain Stacy passed, he made Peter promise to keep Gwen safe and out of his super-hero life.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man’s return to the silver screen also led to another financial success, even though it paled in comparison to Spider-Man 2. So, Sony quickly moved to create a sequel for the Amazing Spider-Man. Since Marc Webb knew the story he planned for Spider-Man would span more than one movie, he happily returned to direct the second film. Helping him continue the story, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner crafted the script for the follow-up movie.
This time around, they planned to introduce another villain from Spider-Man’s gallery that had never appeared in the films, Electro. Playing this electric menace, Jamie Foxx joined the cast. Meanwhile, the production planned for a second surprise villain as they included Dane DeHann as Harry Osborne. While Norman would never appear as the Green Goblin, Harry would transform into the goblin menace after Peter refused to help him with his disease. Rounding up the cast, Paul Giamatti briefly appeared as Aleski Sytsevich, the Rhino.
The Plot
Staying true to his promise with Captain Stacey, Peter Parker distanced himself from Gwen Stacey. However, he still felt strong feelings for her and longed to be part of her life. However, he agreed with her father and did not want to get her involved in his crime-fighting life.
As Spider-Man foiled Aleksei Sytsevich’s robbery of an armed truck, he stopped to save Max Dillon. From that point, Dillon became infatuated with Spider-Man, believing that someone had finally paid attention to his existence. As Dillon’s coworkers left all alone to take care of a current flow problem, he received a powerful shock that knocked him down into a tank filled with electrical eels. This event transformed his body into a near pure electrical form, leading to the birth of Electro.
Elsewhere, Harry Osborn learned of the genetic disease that ravaged the members of his family. His father, Norman, informed him of this devastating disease as he was on his deathbed. Gaining control over Oscorp, Harry became obsessed with finding the cure to his affliction. While he never found the cure, he eventually developed a serum that turned him into the Green Goblin.
As Electro recovered from his accident, he began wandering through the streets of New York City, seeking energy. Eventually, he pulled up an electric cable in Times Square, causing havoc in the area. This chaos also brought Spider-Man onto the scene. However, Electro soon found that his idol, Spider-Man did not remember him as much as he had believed.
As the film hit its climax, Electro threatened to take down New York City’s electric grid. After Spider-Man defeated him, the Green Goblin snatched up Gwen Stacy. Thus, Gwen lost her life after the Goblin dropped her down a clock tower.
The Tom Holland Era
Spider-Man: Homecoming
After the lackluster performance of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony once again decided to rework the formula for their movies. So, they quickly canceled the planned sequels, spin-offs, and Sinister Six films. As their developments floundered, the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a runaway success at the box office. However, the MCU was missing the character who had been the heart of Marvel comics for years, Spider-Man.
While Sony refused to give up the rights to the Spider-Man movies, they finally came to an agreement that would benefit both studios. They would lease the rights to use Spider-Man in the MCU for a cut of the profits. So, fans clamored when Tom Holland appeared as Peter Parker during the events of Captain America: Civil War.
To achieve this feat, Marvel agreed to let Sony Pictures finance and control the stand-alone films for Spider-Man, adding a small percentage of the production cost while getting a small bit of the revenue in return. Meanwhile, Sony would retain the rights to Spider-Man and both studios had the option to step away from the deal.
Helming the first stand-alone Spider-Man film in the MCU, Jon Watts sat in the director’s chair. Meanwhile, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers all contributed to the script. Meanwhile, Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal helped produce the film, keeping it in line with the rest of the MCU.
The Plot
Since Spider-Man made his MCU debut in Civil War, Homecoming could jump straight into the adventures of Spider-Man without setting up the character. So, this film did not return to the backstory involving Uncle Ben. To date, the MCU has made no significant references to Uncle Ben either. Instead, Peter Parker looked up to another man for heroic inspiration, Iron Man.
Before Peter Parker even began web-slinging, Adrian Toomes led a clean-up crew contracted to clean up the city from Loki’s 2012 attack. While the Department of Damage Control took over this salvage operation, Adrian Toomes kept the bits of Chitari technology that his crew already gathered up. Over the years, he adapted this technology to sell advanced weaponry on the black market.
Years later, Parker discovered two of Toomes’s men, Jackson Brice and Herman Schultz, selling this technology to local criminals. While he saved Aaron Davis, Toomes got to the drop on Spider-Man. While Iron Man saved Spider-Man, he also informed the young hero that he was not ready for real crime-fighting.
As Parker tracked down the criminal enterprise to Maryland, he and his friend, Ned, disabled the tracking and restrictions on his Starktech empowered suit. After a night locked up in the DODC warehouse, Parker realized the instability of the Chitari weaponry in Toomes’s technology.
After returning home and to normal life, Parker and Toomes both discover their hidden identities. Despite the danger to his secret identity, Spider-Man eventually saved Toomes’s life before his vulture suit exploded. Thus, Toomes refused to reveal the hero’s identity out when asked in prison.
Spider-Man: Far from Home
As audiences across the globe loved Tom Holland’s portrayal of Peter Parker, the deal between Sony and Marvel remained strong. So, they quickly moved to include Spider-Man in the Avengers’ concluding saga, the Infinity War and Endgame. Meanwhile, they began plans to continue the web-slinger’s adventures in the MCU.
Jon Watts once again returned the helm the sequel to Homecoming. This time, his writing time was significantly smaller, for only Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers worked on the story and script. While Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man would not return after the events of Endgame, his presence in Spider-Man’s life lived on. Meanwhile, Marvel granted permission to use more of their characters, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Cobbie Smulders’s Maria Hill.
Even though Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes survived the events of Homecoming, he did not reappear in the sequel. Instead, a new villain rose to torment Peter Parker. Jake Gyllenhaal joined the cast as Quentin Beck, a former Stark employee who felt spurned by Stark. So, the man took his holographic technology to become Spider-Man’s newest nemesis, Mysterio.
The Plot
After the snap, five years passed before half of the Earth’s population returned in an event that people now refer to as the blip. Any individuals that disappeared in the snap returned to the same place where they disappeared, not having aged a day. Thus, Spider-Man and most of his friends resumed their high-school lives, even though they would have graduated if not for the snap.
While Peter Parker no longer had Tony Stark around to help mentor him as a hero, the man left behind a pair of his glasses. These glasses were not only a memento from Tony but also granted Peter Parker access to the artificial intelligence, E.D.I.T.H.
Meanwhile, Quentin Beck began staging attacks from “Elementals”, holograms that he programmed to make people believe that his character, Mysterio, was a hero. Keeping up with this charade, Beck lied to Parker and S.H.I.E.L.D., stating that he had traveled the multiverse and witnessed the destruction these elementals could cause.
As Peter traveled Europe during a summer field trip, both S.H.I.E.L.D. and Beck followed him. Eventually, Beck convinced Parker to hand over the control of E.D.I.T.H. to him. Now that Beck had full access to Stark’s orbital weaponized drones, he planned to gain even more power by staging even more realistic attacks.
Parker realized the level of Beck’s deception after the man planned to hit Parker’s friends with a train. Thus, he decided to use his own ingenuity instead of relying on Stark technology to craft a suit that could defeat Beck. During the confrontation, one of the drones misfired and killed Beck.
However, the film ended as J. K. Simmons returned to his role of J. Jonah Jameson, who proudly announced that he had exclusive footage. This footage showed that Spider-Man slew Beck in cold blood.
Animated Movies
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Not content to have one successful Spider-Man series, Sony made plans to profit on their license with several other films. While they managed to scrape a success from their stand-alone, spider-less Venom film in 2018, their greatest success arrived later that year.
Over Spider-Man’s long comics career, the character has gained several alternate versions from Marvel Comics. Moreover, the Ultimate Comics created a huge wave as they killed off Peter Parker and introduced a new Spider-Man, the half Puerto-Rican African American, Miles Morales. This character’s success allowed him to survive the implosion of the Ultimate Universe to join the main-line Marvel Comics continuity.
So, Sony decided to greenlight an animated film that starred Miles Morales as a brand-new Spider-Man who was learning to use his powers. This film also featured several notable alternate versions of the web-slinger, such as Spider-Man Noir.
Helming this project were three men who all passionately loved Spider-Man. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman all helped to direct the film. Meanwhile, Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman helped pen the script for the movie.
Shameik Moore became the charming voice to New York City’s newest Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Chris Pine momentarily appeared as the original Spider-Man before he passed away. As the dimensions began to destabilize, Jake Johnson’s Peter B. Parker appeared to help mentor Miles. Meanwhile, Hailee Steinfeld appeared as Gwen Stacy; John Mulaney appeared as Peter Porker; Kimiko Glenn became Peni Parker, and Nicholas Cage joined the cast as Spider-Man Noir.
Kathryn Hahn stole the show as she portrayed Olivia “Liv” Octavius, a female version of Doctor Octopus. Furthermore, Miles had to deal with Mahershala Ali’s Prowler and Liev Schreiber’s Wilson Fisk.
The Plot
As Miles Morales began to adjust to living in a dorm for an exclusive prep school, Brooklyn Visions Academy, he snuck away to visit his uncle, Aaron Davis. To help his nephew clear his mind, Aaron brought Miles down to an abandoned part of the subway where people often paint graffiti. There, an unusual spider bit Miles.
After discovering that he had developed powers like Spider-Man, Miles returned to the subway to check for the spider. While there, he witnessed the Green Goblin beat Spider-Man to near death before the Kingpin arrived to finish the hero off. As Miles ran from the scene, the Prowler followed him in hot pursuit.
Miles’s time as the city’s only Spider-Man was short-lived, for he soon discovered Peter B. Parker at Spider-Man’s grave. The pair quickly decided to break into Kingpin’s research lab, where they had the misfortune to meet Liv. Soon after, he discovered that one of his classmates, Gwen Stacy, was also Spider-Woman from another universe.
In total, Miles discovered that five alternate Spider-Men slipped into his universe when the Kingpin momentarily activated his collider. They also discovered that the man was determined to get his lost wife and son back by searching dimensions for replacements. He cared little for the fact that his search would destroy reality.
After the death of his uncle Aaron, who turned out to be the Prowler, Miles decided that he should become his own Spider-Man. So, he finally mastered his powers before he joined the team to stop the Kingpin and send the other Spider-Men home.
Prepared to watch the latest of the Spider-Man movies in 2021
Spider-Man: No Way Home
On December 17th, 2021, the next entry of Marvel’s Spider-Man series will be arriving in cinemas. This film promises to bring back several of the iconic villains from the prior eras, including Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius. Once again, one of Marvel Studios’ characters, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will be appearing to help bridge the film to the MCU.
With the preorder sales breaking online systems, the movie has already made a commotion. So, we all look forward to seeing what comes next in Spider-Man’s adventures on the big screen.
Do you have old and used Spider-Man toys?
If you have a collection of old and used toys, you can turn those toys into cash. There is no reason to let those old toys collect dust. Contact us today to sell your Spider-Man toy collection.
Made in collaboration with:
Chris Ingledue
Contact: email
Bio: I am the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. My vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day, I work in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year. I scour the internet, like when we had the Sears Catalog of yesteryear, for the next great treasure. Then, I await the arrival of the postman as if he were Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. Every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!