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‘spider-man: no way home’: film review.

Tom Holland’s webslinger fights a bunch of familiar faces in Jon Watts’ third outing as Spider-director.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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The heroes who went clobberin’ through the pages of Marvel Comics in the 1980s were still relative kids when the mythology over at rival publisher DC started creaking under its own weight. Superman and Batman had started fighting crime in the late ’30s, for Pete’s sake, and the many iterations of their stories, not to mention those of less revered characters, had piled up in confusing or contradictory ways. The solution was a series called Crisis on Infinite Earths , envisioning a collision of alternate realities in which some characters died, others had their stories straightened out, and many (though far from all) overly literal fanboys were allowed to stop fretting if next month’s adventure contradicted one they read 15 years ago.

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That influential series solved some obvious problems. By contrast, one might wonder what issues are being fixed in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home , where Spidey and Doctor Strange open a rift between parallel dimensions, forcing Tom Holland ’s Spider-Man to face villains who starred in movies opposite Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s versions of the character.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Release date: December 17 Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei Director: Jon Watts Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers

Was the problem “there’s not enough fan service in Marvel movies”? Certainly, this outing is a textbook example of that phenomenon, in which little moments of pandering (be the moments loving or cynical) make inside jokes, throw in gratuitous cameos, or bring intergalactic bounty hunters back to life because there just aren’t enough Star Wars products out there yet for Disney to sell.

Some of the fan service plays fairly well here; some is unsubtle enough you expect an actor to look into the camera and wink at you after delivering his line. But in the end, No Way Home does use its multiversal mayhem to address the only real problem with the Holland-era web-slinger: the Iron Man-ification of the character, in which his already amazing powers keep getting overshadowed by the gadgets given to him by billionaire jerk-hero Tony Stark. This is the least fun of the Watts/Holland pictures by a wide margin (intentionally so, to some extent), but it’s a hell of a lot better than the last Spidey threequel, Sam Raimi’s overstuffed and ill-conceived Spider-Man 3 .

The story begins with the scene that closed the last film: Spidey is perched outside Penn Station when J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) exposes his secret identity. Soon, the whole world knows it’s Peter Parker under that mask, and hordes believe Jameson’s bizarre claim that Spider-Man is a war criminal. (This iteration of Daily Bugle editor Jameson is obviously modeled on real-life idiocy-promoter Alex Jones; but as is often the case these days, intended satire pales in comparison to the stupidity of the real thing.)

Life gets hard for our hero and his pals Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ ( Zendaya ), who have to deal with constant media attention and uncomfortable scenes at school. Somehow (just don’t question it), this notoriety even prevents the three brainiacs from getting into any of the colleges they apply to. So Peter Parker heads to Greenwich Village, hoping Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) can cast a spell and make his identity a secret again.

Several moments of poor judgment later, Strange has had to quash his own out-of-control magic, which threatens to summon to our planet every person, on every alternate Earth out there, who knows the name Peter Parker. But the cat’s partly out of the bag, and any viewer who has seen a trailer knows at least some of the characters who are coming to play — first, and most enjoyably, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus.

As the old villains reappear, we’re reminded that practically every one of them is a good soul gone wrong — some made monstrous by the same kind of dumb luck that made Peter a hero. So when Strange prepares to send them back to their own timelines (where, we may recall, most of them perish spectacularly), Peter balks. Urged on by his fiercely moral Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, the only woman in the multiverse who can get away with the godawful outfits these movies give her), he insists on trying to heal the villains before sending them home. Arguments between Avengers being what they are, Spidey and Strange duke it out in a magical realm where the scenery goes all Inception- y on them, then Spidey steals a magic doodad and sets off to cure the bad guys.

Rather than spoil any of the surprises the plot may have in store, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Who thought it was a great idea to tackle this material so soon after practically the same thing happened in 2018’s animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ? That rollicking, eye-popping adventure was so fresh, funny and exciting that No Way Home can really only look stodgy in comparison, relying on the novelty of faces we haven’t seen in a while and building up to the kind of operatic emotional moments the previous Watts films tended to avoid.

Yes, Peter suffers here, losing so much he’s at risk of also losing the spirit that has made Holland’s Peter Parker so winning onscreen since swinging into Captain America: Civil War . At moments, the anguish feels like the paint-by-numbers routine of superhero franchise-building: more of the same, despite the unusual circumstances.

But there’s a lightness to the movie’s final scene that makes one hopeful. What if all this colliding-multiverse stuff freed Peter from attachments, not only to his former incarnations, but to some of his more grandiose present-tense buddies as well? Would it be so bad if he were allowed to be a “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” for a while, with no obligation to fight aliens and giant monsters every other year? Let Doctor Strange explore the mystic depths for a while, and let Spidey swing.

Full credits

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Production companIes: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Marisa Tomei Director: Jon Watts Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal Executive Producers: Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, JoAnn Perritano, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach Director of photography: Mauro Fiore Production designer: Darren Gilford Costume designer: Sanja Milkovic Hays Editors: Jeffrey Ford, Leigh Folsom Boyd Composer: Michael Giacchino Casting directors: Sarah Finn, Chris Zaragoza

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Spider-Man: No Way Home review – a fun, more-is-more return to the multiverse

Tom Holland’s third outing as the puppyish web-slinger is endearing and chock-full of eye-popping spectacle

T he greatest hits approach to this climactic episode of Tom Holland ’s incarnation as the web-slinger delivers an overflowing, funnel-web cornucopia of treats for Spider-fans. But amid numerous references to Spideys past, the key influence is the one that is most likely to shape the future of the franchise, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse . While that thrillingly inventive animation remains the standout film from the Spider-canon – it’s a sleek, conceptually elegant thing compared to No Way Home ’s cluttered, more-is-more approach – here, director Jon Watts harnesses the idea of the “multiverse” (an infinite number of parallel universes, each with their own Spider-Man) and satisfyingly puts it to work in the service of a live-action version of the spider saga. It’s all very meta and self-referential; screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers hoover up memorable lines from past movies and serve them with a flourish and an exaggerated wink to the audience. It’s also a good deal of fun.

The story starts immediately after the events at the conclusion of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home ; the dying Mysterio has leaked the identity of the boy beneath the lycra. And thanks to social media-stoked suspicion and conspiracy theories, Peter Parker’s name is mud. He seeks out the help of Doctor Strange , and discovers that although Benedict Cumberbatch’s character may be able to perform magic, sarcasm remains his superpower. Meanwhile, Parker’s appeal continues to be his endearing, puppyish enthusiasm. And for all the Avengers: Endgame -style onslaught of effects and action here, it’s Spidey’s sweetness that is the USP.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home  Is Aggressively Mediocre

The one good idea that the Tom Holland–starring Spider-Man films had was a simple, obvious one: They really did make Peter Parker a kid. Tobey Maguire had been 27 at the time of his first turn as the high-school-age superhero, while Andrew Garfield had been 29. It’s not so much that those actors were too old for the material; it’s that the material could never fully utilize the character’s youth and inexperience because we as humans have a visceral resistance to watching people who clearly aren’t kids making childish decisions. Holland, by contrast, was 21 when Spider-Man: Homecoming premiered in 2017, and he looked even younger. As a result, the filmmakers for this latest Spidey cycle, including director Jon Watts and screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, have been able to sell us on some of Peter’s dodgier choices. They’ve also managed to mine the age gap between him and other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for humor as well as one meme-worthy moment of genuine pathos. (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.”)

But in most other respects, Watts’s Spider-Man films have been black holes of imagination. (The first entry featured a huge set piece at the Washington Monument — an inspired idea on paper — and did absolutely nothing interesting with it. The setting might as well have been an office building in suburban Atlanta. It probably was at some point.) This is a particular shame when it comes to Spider-Man, since previous attempts at the character, even at their worst, have often been visually spectacular. It does take a unique brand of corporate cynicism to drain any and all grandeur from the sight of Spidey swinging through the canyons of Manhattan; trapping the most cinematic of all superheroes in nondescript swirls of CGI sludge feels like its own act of villainy.

In other respects, too, these movies’ Spider shtick is starting to get old. They continue to treat Peter Parker as a child, and the ultrabuff, grown-up Holland now looks increasingly out of place. The new film begins with Peter Parker unmasked and publicly castigated and shamed for killing the previous entry’s villain, Mysterio. Among the real-life consequences of Parker’s cancellation is MIT’s rejection of his and his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned’s (Jacob Batalon) college applications. Determined to fix this problem, Parker goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and asks him — I am not making this up — to cast a spell making the rest of the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man so that his friends can get into the college of their choice. And Doctor Strange — again, I am not making this up — agrees to do so. Holland is a fine actor, but I’m not sure any actor could survive the sheer idiocy of this character’s decisions here. Peter might be a teenager, but I don’t recall him ever being this stupid, either in the comics or the movies. Anyway, hocus-pocus, things go wrong, portal into other dimensions, flashing lights, blah, blah, blah. The magic goes awry, and Potter Peter finds himself face-to-face with a whole new set of problems. It’s all so pro forma that even Cumberbatch’s Strange, called on to convey rage at how his young colleague’s dumb request has prompted him to tear a hole in the fabric of the universe, merely musters some mild annoyance.

The initial big revelations of the new film have already been shown in trailers, so I’ll discuss those first. When Strange’s magic opens a gateway to different realities, once-dead villains from previous Spidey movies suddenly return, including Spider-Man ’s Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Spider-Man 2 ’s Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ’s Electro (Jamie Foxx). Again, a potentially promising idea. And judging from the cheers these veteran bad guys’ mere emergence got at my screening, perhaps it was of secondary importance that they be given, you know, something interesting to do . But aside from Dafoe, who once again gets to have some modest fun with his character’s divided self, there’s not much going on here. Why bring back an actor like Molina, who brought so much heartbreak and sneering rage to Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2 , only to give him no sense of inner life or any good lines? The same goes for Foxx’s Electro, whose transformation from oddball engineer to blustery supervillain in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was one of that (admittedly dreadful) film’s few highlights. Here, he’s just a tired wisecrack machine. That the action scenes involving these characters are so insipid just adds insult to injury: Watching Doctor Octopus dutifully toss weightless, computer-generated concrete pipes at our hero, it’s hard not to think back on Sam Raimi’s eye-poppingly imaginative action sequences in Spider-Man 2 featuring these same two characters and maybe even shed a tear for what has been lost.

It’s not just the action and the magic that flop. Even the film’s more intimate moments fall flat. One early domestic comedy scene involving Peter, MJ, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, mostly wasted here), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) has the camera whip-panning and roaming the spaces of their apartment in a pastiche of handheld indie filmmaking, but none of the humor feels organic or earned or even all that funny. It doesn’t build or make any emotional sense. Like almost everything else in the movie, it’s just another put-on. Making Peter more of a child does allow you to play up his sincerity and naïveté, which should ideally be a breath of fresh air in a universe filled with cynical, world-weary superheroes. But for all their alleged earnestness, these last three Spider-Man films have never had any kind of identity to call their own.

And now for the heavy spoilers, which I’m not supposed to talk about … but forgive me, it’s impossible to discuss this picture’s highs and lows without doing so. So, fair warning. Seriously.

Here, I’ll even give you an extra paragraph break to click away before finding out what happens next in the movie. (Even if it’s destined to become common knowledge within a few days.)

As the infinitely superior Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse already taught us, opening up doors to the metaverse means that you might also discover other iterations of Spider-Man. So sure enough, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire return to the franchise that once helped make them stars, and the three Peters Parker now work together to try and handle this cavalcade of villains. And a film that was already engorged with fan service positively erupts with it.

That’s not such a bad thing, at least at first. It’s certainly nice to see Maguire again, and Garfield is a genuine delight. The latter’s previous turn as Spidey was a wildly uneven one. His slightly hapless, rom-com variation on Peter Parker made the first outing quite fun, but by the second entry, he had become twitchy, whiny, annoying. Here, almost as if he’s been given a second chance (a running theme in the film), he gets the goofiness just right. A scene where the denizens of this world ask Garfield’s Parker to prove he has Spider powers offers a charming bit of slapstick, and his uncertainty and insecurity pop up at opportune moments during the big climax. But this also reveals a bigger problem. Because as we watch Garfield act literal circles around everybody else, we are reminded of how lifeless and wanting the rest of the picture is. It’s like getting a new pair of glasses and realizing that your world has been a blur for the past few months. Except that whenever Garfield is off the screen, you’re forced to put your old glasses back on, which just makes everything look that much worse.

The Tom Holland Spider-Man films have been so eager to please that one does feel like a bit of a crank criticizing them. Nobody should enjoy kicking puppies. At the same time, along with the oft-rebooted Batman , Spider-Man is the one superhero franchise for which we do have proofs of concept for different approaches. And while the previous Holland films have been mediocre in modest ways, No Way Home feels downright aggressive in its mediocrity, bringing back better actors from better movies and calling back to an endlessly inventive and moving masterpiece like Spider-Verse . Is it an attempt to try and gain residual luster from associating with better work? Or is it something more cynical, an attempt to bring that better work under the big tent of its blandness? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that No Way Home was trying to make us forget that a better Spider-Man movie is possible.

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Review: Tom Holland Cleans Out the Cobwebs of Sprawling Franchise With Multiverse Super-Battle

Convoluted as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten, Holland's latest opus spins two decades and three iterations of the Spidey brand into a satisfying meta-adventure.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains spoilers.

What do you call the opposite of a reboot? The “system overload” of “Spider-Man” movies, Sony’s ninth (and almost certainly not last) feature-length riff on the friendly neighborhood superhero, “ Spider-Man: No Way Home ” seeks to connect Tom Holland ’s spin on the web-slinger with the previous live-action versions of the character by first reassembling a rogue’s gallery of all the villains Peter Parker has vanquished to date. Returning director Jon Watts — whose bright, slightly dorky touch lends a welcome continuity to this latest trilogy — wrangles the unwieldy premise into a consistently entertaining superhero entry, tying up two decades of loose ends in the process.

The mind-bending plot hinges on a convenient comic book device called the multiverse, which allows infinite iterations of Spider-Man/mineral/vegetable to exist in their own parallel dimensions. That’s a radically different strategy from the one Sony has been peddling till now, whereby the studio simply recast the character every few years (lest the rights revert back to Marvel), without offering much in the way of closure to fans of Tobey Maguire’s or Andrew Garfield’s earlier outings.

Granted, the idea should be familiar to anyone who saw 2018’s animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which introduced the thrilling possibility that virtually anyone could be Spidey. But whereas that toon suggested infinite paths for the character going forward, “No Way Home” serves to wrap up what has come before, starting by reviving Spidey’s past adversaries, forcing Holland’s Peter Parker to face off against five of the villains pulled in from the movies that preceded him.

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It all happens because Peter’s life has been turned upside down by Mysterio (the bad guy he vanquished at the end of “Far From Home” two years ago), who managed to unmask Spidey before biting the dust. Desperate to protect his family and friends, Peter appeals to all-powerful wizard Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that will make everyone forget his identity. Instead, the plan backfires, calling everyone who ever knew that Peter was Spider-Man out of their dimension and into his.

To make things a little easier for the movie to manage, it’s really only the villains who answer Strange’s calling — which is impressive enough, considering that means enlisting Alfred Molina (Doc Ock), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin), Jamie Fox (Electro), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Rhys Ifans (The Lizard) to reprise their roles. Meanwhile, to make things easier for Spider-Man to manage, none is even remotely as intimidating as we remember them.

“No Way Home” keeps the surprises coming up to (and even through) the end credits, but perhaps the most unexpected is Peter’s decision — together with girlfriend MJ ( Zendaya ) and best bud Ned (Jacob Batalon) — not to defeat these villains the way his predecessors did. Instead, Peter hopes to “cure” the goons of the mutations that are making them unhappy, even if it means defying Doctor Strange (one of several characters on loan from the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which Holland’s Spider-Man has been making now-regular appearances).

Peter’s empathy seems perfectly fitting for a movie that targets a fresh wave of idealistic teens very much engaged with questioning everything Western civilization thought it knew about crime and punishment, power and privilege. As a critic who grew up on movies in which the bad guys were routinely impaled (Tony Goldywn in “Ghost”), decapitated (Dennis Hopper in “Speed”) or otherwise made to pay dearly for their sins, it’s fascinating to encounter an escapist Hollywood offering that seeks to understand the root of these characters’ megalomaniacal behavior.

The reason, as Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers’ screenplay tries to explain, is that this version of Peter is still dealing with Mysterio’s death. In that reaction, we see the franchise trying to make the character more fully dimensional and dare I say “realistic” — much as 21st-century Bond “Casino Royale” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” did in recognizing the physical toll saving the world had on their respective protagonists.

For my money, Holland has been the least interesting of the three big-screen Spider-Men, coming across younger and less mature than Maguire or Garfield. Until now. This simple plot development makes him more than just an acrobat in spandex, juggling awkward high school experiences with flashy visual effects battles — although both elements carry through to this film, in which college acceptance carries equal weight with a big CG showdown at the Statue of Liberty. He’s further disrupting the Marvel-movie formula (which already got a massive upset with the “Infinity War”-ending “snap” and inevitable time-travel gimmick it took to reverse it) and even going so far as to redefine audiences’ collective notion of heroism in the process.

As complicated as it all sounds, “No Way Home” sticks to a relatively straightforward idea of the multiverse, taking extra care to walk us through the logical loop-de-loops its plot requires. Whenever Doctor Strange shows up in a Marvel movie, audiences ought to be prepared for some magical monkey business — the kind of rule-bending that essentially makes anything possible. Superhero movies are only as good as their villains, and it’s a thrill to be reunited with Doc Ock and Green Goblin. Though the other three baddies were relatively disappointing in their original incarnations, this film focuses on the tragic dimension of their characters and their capacity for redemption.

It’s not quite so successful at identifying the rage building in Peter Parker, whose good intentions directly result in an irreversible loss. While incendiary news reports — from conspiracy-monger J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), an unlikely constant across the multiverse — paint him as a menace, Spidey is torn between the instinct to help his adversaries and a much darker impulse to seek revenge (a watered-down version of the Jedi-Sith tug-of-war we’ve seen in “Star Wars” protagonists). Though Holland looks too much like an eager Boy Scout for us to believe he’ll go rogue, that conflict serves as a promising setup for the movie’s obvious midpoint twist — one that trailers have hidden, but reviews really ought to unpack. Be warned that spoilers will follow.

If villains can make the dimensional leap, it stands to reason that other Spider-Men can too, and sure enough, first Garfield and then Maguire show up seemingly up-to-speed on Peter’s villain-infestation problem. Because they’ve all faced variations on the same challenges — from losing loved ones to reconciling their romantic interests with a demanding day job — the movie balances easy-target comedy with more profound life lessons. What could easily have felt like one of those tacky Disneyland parades, where all the princesses are assembled to do fan service, instead finds a strong emotional foundation.

Garfield, so good in this year’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” radiates more charisma here than he ever did in his two Spider-Man installments. And the older-and-wiser Maguire, who’d gotten soft and lazy between his second and third Spider-Man movies, reminds audiences who haven’t seen him on screen in years why we found him so appealing in the first place. There’s something fundamentally worrisome about dissolving the barriers between these separate iterations of the franchise, and yet, the entire creative team seems committed to treating the multiverse not as a stunt or a crass corporate ploy (it does conveniently repair a rift in the MCU), but as an opportunity to more fully explore what Peter Parker stands for.

“No Way Home” doesn’t pretend that the earlier films were perfect, poking fun at elements we can all agree were weaknesses while also leaving room for the villains and Spider-Men alike to do some much-needed healing. The movie can be ungainly at times, and it’s much too committed to setting up even more craziness to play out in upcoming Marvel product (these aren’t stand-alone films so much as overloaded episodes, after all), but it provides enough resolution for the past two decades of Spider-Man adventures that audiences who’ve tuned out along the way will be rewarded for giving this one a shot.

Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, Dec. 13, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 148 MIN.

• Production: A Columbia Pictures release and presentation of a Pascal Pictures, Marvel Studios production. Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal. Executive producers: Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, JoAnn Perritano, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach. Co-producers: Mitch Bell, Chris Buongiorno.
• Crew: Director: Jon Watts. Screenplay: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko. Camera: Mauro Fiore. Editors: Jeffrey Ford, Leigh Folsom Boyd. Music: Michael Giacchino.
• With: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear, forcing Peter to discover what it trul... Read all With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

• Chris McKenna
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• Tom Holland
• Benedict Cumberbatch
• 6.1K User reviews
• 437 Critic reviews
• 71 Metascore
• 35 wins & 71 nominations total

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• Doctor Strange

• Happy Hogan

• Max Dillon …

• Norman Osborn …

• Dr. Otto Octavius …

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• Trivia Benedict Cumberbatch admitted to not reading the full script, wanting to surprise himself with the final product.
• Goofs (at around 13 mins) When Peter goes back to his high school and walks up the stairs, there is a mural behind him. Part of the mural contains a chemical structure, however, one of the carbons has five bonds. This is impossible as carbons cannot exceed four bonds.

Matt Murdock : You may have dodged your legal troubles but things will get much worse. There's still the court of public opinion.

[Matt catches a brick thrown through the window]

Peter Parker : How did you just do that?

Matt Murdock : I'm a really good lawyer.

• Crazy credits SPOILER: There is a scene in the closing credits: Eddie Brock and Venom from the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters are talking with a bartender. When the multiverse is restored, Brock and Venom are re-transported back to their universe, leaving a bit of symbiote behind.
• an introduction by Holland, Maguire, and Garfield
• additional scenes of Parker and May being interrogated by the Department of Damage Control
• the scene with Holland's brother Harry as a thief that was cut from the original release
• additional scenes of Parker at school; Brant interviewing Parker, his teachers, and his classmates
• Daily Bugle reports of Parker's first day back at school and the arrivals of Dillon and Marko
• additional scenes in the basement of the New York Sanctum
• a scene featuring May, Parker, and the villains in an elevator while on the way to Hogan's apartment
• an additional scene with Murdock and Hogan
• additional scenes of the three Parkers
• new post-credits scene of showing how Peter Parker has been erased from history in a new edition of "Betty's Corner with Betty Brant" begins playing that recaps their high school years with all the footage and pictures missing Peter.
• Connections Edited from Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Soundtracks I Zimbra Written by David Byrne and Brian Eno Performed by Talking Heads Courtesy of Sire Records By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

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Critic’s pick

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Review: Worlds Wide Web

This charming sequel to the 2018 animated movie expands the multiverse concept, without shamelessly capitalizing on fan service.

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By Maya Phillips

Question: How many Spider-Men does it take to make a successful multiverse sequel?

I’m not certain, but it might be the countless number of Spideys that appear in the delightful “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

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A follow-up to the appropriately lauded “ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ,” this animated movie takes place a year after the Brooklyn teen and newly minted Spider-Man, Miles Morales (voiced again by Shameik Moore), was bitten by a radioactive spider. In “Into the Spider-Verse,” from 2018, Miles learned how to be his city’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man with the help of five other Spider-heroes — all different Spidey incarnations transported from their original universes after a super collider explosion tore through the multiverse. Now Miles is 15, and though he has a handle on his powers, he’s struggling to balance academics with his extracurricular hero work, on top of the usual adolescent woes.

As Miles’s parents get increasingly suspicious about their son’s double life, he has to fend off the pesky villain Spot (Jason Schwartzman, as the perfect goober), who powers up into a “transdimensional super-being” who poses a real threat to the multiverse.

In her separate universe Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), a.k.a. Spider-Woman, Miles’s pal and quasi-romantic interest from the first film, joins a task force of multiverse-jumping heroes called the Spider Society. They chase anomalies stuck in the wrong world in missions led by the brooding Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac). But once Gwen and Miles reunite, and Miles discovers the Spider Society, he finds out he might actually be the real threat to the Spider-Verse.

“Spider-Verse” achieves the challenging task of building a sequel that not only replicates the charms of the first film but also expands the multiverse concept, the main characters and the stakes, without overinflating the premise or shamelessly capitalizing on fan service. In other words, “Across the Spider-Verse” pulls off a “ Spider-Man: No Way Home ,” the Tom Holland vehicle that also played with alternate versions of Spider-Man, better than “No Way Home” did. That includes its inclusion of clips and cameos from former animated and live-action Spider-Man media, which nicely cohere with the rest of the film.

The Spider Society, with its delightfully bizarre potpourri of spider-entities (i.e., a Spider-Cowboy, Spider-Cat, Spider-Baby and Spider-Dinosaur), offers many opportunities for the movie to show off a compelling blend of visual gags, palettes and animation styles. The eye-catching action sequences among the Spider-folk serve the delectable chaos of a meme ( yes, that pointing meme ) exploded in a big-screen format.

Each Spidey we encounter, even briefly, is fully realized, and a welcome addition to the story, even for those who might not pick up on the deep-cut references to the ’80s and ’90s comics. Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), a.k.a. Spider-Man India, is designed with nods to contemporary Indian fashion. Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), a contrarian cool-guy rocker with combat boots, piercings and a devil-may-care attitude, is drawn in the wild 2-D-collage style of album covers, concert fliers and zines from the ’80s London punk scene. And the way they move — Pavitr’s fluid web-slinging, Spider-Punk’s stomps and thrashing and Gwen’s graceful acrobatics and en pointe landings — express as much about the characters as the buoyant dialogue and highly stylized character designs.

That’s not even counting the work of the impressive voice cast. Issa Rae brings an affable tough-love vibe to her pregnant, kinky-haired, motorcycle-riding Spider-Woman Jessica Drew. And Isaac, who brings as an exacting a performance as he did in the Disney+ series “Moon Knight,” is well-cast as the slightly unhinged and self-serious Spider-Man, à la the Dark Knight.

Steinfeld’s Gwen, a fan fave, thankfully gets more spotlight in this film, which delves deeper into her tragic back story and her feelings of displacement in her world, particularly in her own home. She gets a driving pop-punk theme — part of a killer soundtrack raging with rock, hip-hop and reggaeton — and a stunning color-streaked aesthetic, with soft pinks and lavenders and heavy brushstrokes, creating an almost immersive comic book experience.

The directing team, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, builds a beautifully realistic, multicultural New York through details: a wheelchair basketball game in full swing on a nearby court, or a shelf of beef patties displayed in a Jamaican bodega.

Both “Spider-Verse” films, in what will be a trilogy, create dimension in these kinds of details, and I don’t just mean the animation. (Though, to be fair, the infinite reach of the city skyline, as viewed upside down from Gwen and Miles’s purview , is a satisfying visual callback to the first film and its own illustrative feat.) The dimension is in the thrust of the story itself.

This isn’t just another multiverse slogfest but a bildungsroman. Because what else is adolescence but a confrontation with the various possibilities in life, the infinite selves you can be? It’s about figuring out one’s identity — superhero or otherwise — and finding a place to belong. The fact that Miles and Gwen also shoot webs and swing around skyscrapers is incidental to their emotional arcs in the film.

“Spider-Verse” also asks intriguing questions about the limitations of the canon, and whether tragedy is a prerequisite for a Spider-Man origin story — the death of an Uncle Ben or Aunt May or Uncle Aaron. And whether trauma completely defines these heroes — and, if so, if they can find kinship in that.

The most disappointing part of “Spider-Verse” is the merciless cliffhanger of an ending, ushering the film into a tradition of two-parters with too much story and too little time to tell it. But “Across the Spider-Verse” is never dull, nor precious with its characters and comedy. Which I suppose just proves that when it comes to a Spidey census, two’s a team, three’s a party and hundreds is a multiverse crawling with opportunities.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Rated PG. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. In theaters.

Audio produced by Tally Abecassis .

Maya Phillips is a critic at large. She is the author of “NERD: Adventures in Fandom From This Universe to the Multiverse” and the poetry collection “Erou.” More about Maya Phillips

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All Spider-Man Movies Ranked (Including Venom and Morbius )

Spider-Man swung into theaters in 2002, cementing Marvel Comics as a viable player in the superhero movie arena, which had been dominated by DC with Superman and Batman. And though 2000’s X-Men felt the need to modernize its team, Spider-Man fully embraced its classical roots, down to the iconic outfit. That’s because director Sam Raimi was a lifelong fan who fully knew how to navigate and celebrate Spidey, from the relatable morality at the core of Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) and the shattering death of his Uncle Ben, to his stormy relationship with Mary Jane and those workplace shenanigans with hard-ass newspaper boss J. Jonah Jameson, and finally Parker’s iconic battle with the Green Goblin, whose son just happens to be Peter’s best friend.

Spider-Man arguably fights the greatest rogues gallery in all of Marveldom, and they certainly got their due on-screen in the Raimi trilogy. Doctor Octopus gets his tentacles all over Spider-Man 2 , while Sandman, Venom, and junior Goblin stack the cast in Spider-Man 3 . Though a box office hit like the others, Spider-Man 3 ‘s tepid critical and fan response was enough to kill the momentum on continuing the series.

In 2012, Spider-Man was rebooted with The Amazing Spider-Man , with Andrew Garfield as Parker. The film sought to bring in the pre-Mary Jane flame, Gwen Stacy, and pitted Spider-Man against another classic villain, The Lizard, as director Marc Webb developed a more realistic portrayal of Peter’s world, as opposed to Raimi’s comic-book overtone. The second Amazing Spider-Man fell for the too-many-villains trap (we had Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino), and the franchise shut down again.

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full motion, Marvel Studios was able to negotiate a deal with Sony, which holds the theatrical rights to Spider-Man, to get the character to jump to the MCU. Thus, Tom Holland made his debut in 2016 for the centerpiece battle in Captain America: Civil War , before starring in his own celebrated film, Spider-Man: Homecoming one year later.

It’s been good times for Spidey fans ever since, with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (the animated blockbuster that brings Miles Morales into the fold), Spider-Man: Far From Home , and No Way Home . Even his bad guys have reason to celebrate: Critics may not have loved 2018’s Venom , but audiences sure did. And Tom Hardy clearly does as well, as he returned as Eddie Brock for Venom: Let There Be Carnage . In 2022, we arrived at the meme-spawning Morbius , and for 2023, we got more frequent-flying Miles for Across the Spider-Verse . 2024 kicks off with a Valentine’s treat: Madame Web , starring Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. Can it hold on to keep from being the worst-reviewed in the Sony Spider-Man universe?

And now, we’re ranking all Spider-Man (plus movies with this pals Venom, Carnage, and Morbius) movies by Tomatometer! — Alex Vo

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 97%

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 95%

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) 93%

Spider-Man 2 (2004) 93%

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) 92%

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) 91%

Spider-Man (2002) 90%

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) 71%

Spider-Man 3 (2007) 63%

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) 57%

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) 51%

Venom (2018) 30%

Morbius (2022) 15%

Madame Web (2024) 11%

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Across the Spider-Verse review: Spider-Man sequel is even more colorful and creative, if incomplete

The long-awaited follow-up expands what we loved about 2018's Oscar-winning hit, though it can't be contained by a single movie.

Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse might be the best superhero movie of the past five years, and even if not, it is absolutely the single most influential superhero movie of recent times. That influence extends across both live-action (with the Marvel Cinematic Universe fully aping the movie's multiversal magic in Spider-Man: No Way Home ) and animation (where its energetic mash-up of different visual styles and eye-popping colors have been embraced by other recent cartoon standouts like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Mitchells vs. The Machines ). Needless to say, the bar for the long-awaited Spider-Verse sequel has thus been raised very high.

Now that it's finally here after pandemic delays, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse totally exceeds expectations when it comes to visual aesthetic and character development. Where the first movie was a coming-of-age story about how fun it is to become Spider-Man, this movie is about how hard it is to actually be Spider-Man — day in and day out, making all kinds of sacrifices to live up to the awesome responsibility of the mantle.

That's not the only thing different about the storytelling this time around, either. While Miles Morales ( Shameik Moore ) is still a major focus, the central POV of Across the Spider-Verse actually shifts over to his friend from another dimension, Gwen Stacy, a.k.a. Spider-Woman ( Hailee Steinfeld ). It's a refreshing change!

In EW's original review of Into the Spider-Verse , writer Darren Franich criticized how that movie still spent so much time on the original Peter Parker character even as it elevated new heroes like Gwen and Miles. Thankfully, that's not as much of a problem this time around. Although Peter does pop up again, still voiced by a hilariously frazzled Jake Johnson , he mostly serves as a funny parody of new parents who can't stop making everyone look at baby pictures on their phone.

Across the Spider-Verse spends much more time with Gwen, unpacking her traumatic backstory with the Peter Parker of her dimension and delving into her difficult relationship with her police captain dad (Shea Wigham), who feels duty-bound to pursue Spider-Woman without realizing he's actually hunting his own daughter. That fascinating dynamic is distinctly different from anything Peter and Miles have gone through. And while the romantic tension between Gwen and Miles (briefly hinted at in the first film) is expanded here, most notably with an absolutely romantic and balletic rooftop swing sequence across Brooklyn, giving Gwen her own arc prevents her from being boxed in as the male hero's love interest — a long-standing problem for female characters in Spider-Man movies.

Eventually, Gwen gets recruited into a multiversal superhero team. If you thought the six Spider-Heroes of the last movie were a lot, get ready to feast your eyes on a true Spider-Society, with a seemingly endless membership that includes a Bollywood-inflected Spider-Man India (Karan Soni) and even a Spider-Dino.

With such an expanded cast of characters, not everyone pops equally. While Spider-Man India is a delightful exploration of how archetypes can translate across different cultures (with impeccable timing to boot, coming off the huge stateside excitement around the breakthrough success of last year's RRR ), the motorcycle-riding Spider-Woman ( Issa Rae ) falls a little flat. She spends much more of her screentime insulting Gwen, Miles, and Peter than doing much heroism of her own, and her bike doesn't really feel connected to spiders, even if it does bring kinetic action.

What's so impressive about Across the Spider-Verse — which was directed by the trio of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, from a screenplay by David Callaham and super-producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller — is how almost every character comes with their own specific animation style. Gwen's homeworld is painted almost entirely with the neon pinks and greens of the Spider-Gwen comics she hails from, while Spider-Punk ( Daniel Kaluuya ) ripples with the loud fonts and cut-up collages of 1970s anarchist zines.

One particular highlight sequence comes early, when Gwen's world is invaded by a version of the Vulture (Jorma Taccone) from a Renaissance-inspired universe who fights with projectile weapons and flying contraptions that might have been sketched out by Leonardo Da Vinci. The collision of this Vitruvian Vulture with Gwen's neon animation and the cyberpunk tech of Spider-Man 2099 ( Oscar Isaac , first teased in the post-credits scene of the first movie) is absolutely mind-blowing to watch. Movie frames are sometimes complimented by saying they "look like a painting," but this looks like a painting thrown at a comic book holographically projected as part of a tech-art installation. It's awesome!

Not all the characters agree about the coolness of these mash-ups, however. The Spider-Society would prefer to maintain the barriers between dimensions, and its membership is laser-focused on keeping the "canon" of Spider-Man consistent across the multiverse. People don't always like being put into a box, though. When Miles initially dismisses the Spot ( Jason Schwartzman ) as a replaceable "villain of the week," his new nemesis takes it upon himself to grow his power and evolve into a truly terrible threat worthy of said "canon."

It's shaping up to be a great summer for Schwartzman, between this and his starring role in Wes Anderson's Asteroid City . His sharp line readings here pair unsettlingly with the Spot's disturbing body-horror powers. Transformed into a hairless, featureless white form by a freak accident, the Spot can now use his titular black splotches to create portals across space and time. Be careful putting your hand in one; you never know where it may stick out.

But for all the highs of Across the Spider-Verse , this critic feels responsible for reminding viewers that when the film was originally announced back in December 2021, it had "(Part One)" in the title. Although that parenthetical has been excised from the final product, the reasoning for it has not. Just when you think the movie is gearing up for an absolutely epic conclusion, it ends with a "to be continued" card.

This is now becoming a trend in blockbuster cinema, perhaps with 2021's Dune as the most recent starting point. (Even though the MCU was always teasing the next installment, each movie also told a contained story.) While this all may just be a matter of personal preference, Denis Villeneuve's Dune at least felt like a full three-act structure even if it left much of Frank Herbert's original novel for the sequel (perhaps because Herbert's books are paced oddly by modern standards).

By contrast, Across the Spider-Verse ( like last month's Fast X ) feels like it cuts off right before the climax. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is due next year, but unless that movie has some tricks up its sleeve, the outcomes all seem eminently predictable from where we leave off in this movie. It's a little sad to say that aside from certain surprises, much of Across the Spider-Verse 's contents were in the trailers. The job of a trailer is to show viewers the premise of a movie without spoiling the conclusion — but there's no conclusion here!

The result is a mixed bag. Gwen gets a complete arc, while Miles does not. The two-movie split does give the filmmakers more time with Miles' family, and his mother Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Vélez) especially pops as a warm, loving character. Too many superhero movies try to imitate Batman and his missing-parents motivation, but Across the Spider-Verse mines greater emotional depth by exploring the familial relationships of Gwen and Miles from the perspectives of both parents and children. It truly is a family movie in that sense, with relevance for viewers of many different ages. Grade: B+

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The best Spider-Man movies, ranked from worst to best

These are the best Spider-Man movies, from 2002's Spider-Man to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Looking for a guide on the best Spider-Man movies? You've come to the right place.

Below, we've rounded up every live-action and animated Spider-Man-starring film, debated which ones we think are some of the best superhero movies around (and those that aren't), and ranked them from worst to best. So, if you've been wondering where 2002's Spider-Man sits when compared to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – the newest addition to our guide on how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – you'll want to read on.

Something to note before we begin: we haven't included any team-up missions here, so don't expect to find Captain America: Civil War , Avengers: Infinity War , or Avengers: Endgame below. We haven't included any films starring Spidey's rogues gallery of villains, such as Venom , either, but that might change in the future.

Without further ado, then, these are the best Spider-Man movies, ranked from worst to best.

Best Spider-Man movies: 10 to 6

10. the amazing spider-man 2 (2014).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a messy follow-up to Andrew Garfield's first outing as the legendary wallcrawler. It's a scattered film with an unsatisfying plot, and it actually could've benefitted from a more pared-down approach like its predecessor.

It's not short on villains, packing in Electro (Jamie Foxx), the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and, to a lesser extent, the Rhino (Paul Giamatti), but none of them really stand out. Additionally, it was also a mistake for the film to try and re-tread the ground of Peter Parker and Harry Osborn's friendship – something explored so comprehensively in Sam Raimi's beloved trilogy. 

Given what came before, the two Amazing Spider-Man movies feel inessential, and the running plot thread in these two films about what happened to Peter's parents feels weirdly off-brand – not to mention boring for a Spider-Man story. 

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Still, Garfield's excellent portrayal of the wallcrawler deserved a better final movie than this. The chemistry he shared with Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy was the highlight of this duology and, save for Garfield's crowd-pleasing return in Spider-Man: No Way Home , it's a slight disappointment that his Spider-Man films weren't as good as what came before or after them. Definitely not one of the best Spider-Man movies around.

9. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 's issues are well-documented. The laughable (but meme-worthy) dancing, the overload of villains, and the film's messy structure ensured that the final instalment in Maguire and Raimi's webhead trilogy ended it on a sour note.

The film isn't a total write-off, but it lacks the strong characterization of the first two movies, which focused on a single villain with a believable motivation, and made Peter Parker's personal life fit around that to interesting dramatic effect. 

Instead, Tobey Maguire's Parker is (deliberately) harder to like, and the introduction of Venom to the series was a bit botched. It feels like a film that had too many cooks behind-the-scenes, and seemed to be the nail in the proverbial coffin for this film series overall (a fourth movie had been in the works before Raimi departed it in 2010).

Still, given how The Amazing Spider-Man movies turned out, we can't help but wish Raimi had one more roll of the dice to get Spidey back on track with a fourth movie.

8. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

A perfectly fine reboot of the webslinger's film series saw Garfield assume the mantle of Peter Parker and convincingly bring his own vibe to the webslinger. 

Unfortunately, The Amazing Spider-Man lacked a fundamentally different and interesting creative angle to the Raimi movies, and only seemed to exist at all because Sony Pictures felt that a reboot was necessary. It wasn't, in our view, but money talks.

Rhys Ifans made for a decent enough villain as Curt Connors, aka the Lizard, and Garfield and Stone's on-screen relationship fizzes and sparkles with energy. The world just didn't really need The Amazing Spider-Man , though, and the end result showed. And the less said about turning Parker into a skateboarding, semi-popular kid, the better.

7. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Spider-Man: Far From Home was the perfect post- Avengers: Endgame tonic. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) takes a school trip to Venice and tries to win the heart of MJ (Zendaya) – albeit in the deeply sanitized and un-horny way we've come to expect from the MCU.

Along the way he encounters Quintin Beck, better known as Mysterio, who (spoilers!) is essentially a con artist masquerading as a superhero, and who has an axe to grind with Tony Stark. Yep, another villain who owes their existence to the now-deceased Iron Man. Still, Mysterio is brought to life with real gusto by a fun Jake Gyllenhaal, and it's a pity that he's killed off by the film's finale.

While the way Mysterio is introduced as a hero works really well, Far From Home definitely lacks the impact of the Raimi movies on an emotional level. It treads a lot of the ground that its predecessor – Spider-Man: Homecoming – did, too, which isn't what you want from a sequel that's supposed to build on what came before.

That said, the ending reveal, which features JK Simmons reprising his role as J Jonah Jameson from the Raimi films was a big surprise to many, and set up the events of No Way Home nicely. All in all, a middling entry in our best Spider-Man movies guide.

6. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

The MCU's Spider-Man made an strong debut in Captain America: Civil War as Stark's thankless protégé, tasked with fighting a bunch of rogue Avengers in Leipzig airport, Germany. 

As a follow-up film to Civil War 's events, Spider-Man: Homecoming definitely brings the best out of Holland's Marty McFly-esque Peter Parker, and actually explores what student life is like for Spidey, which the previous movie series didn't lean into as heavily. It's also fun to explore Holland's Parker and Jacob Batalon's Ned Leeds' friendship, which hasn't been examined in live-action before the 2017 flick, either.

Michael Keaton's Vulture is a pretty solid villain with an interesting working class edge and the subject of a great twist. The brief appearances from Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, too, help to root Homecoming in the MCU further. This flick does feel a bit safe overall but, given the poor critical reception to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, playing it safe wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Best Spider-Man movies: 5 to 1

5. spider-man (2002).

Fox's 2000 X-Men movie (read more in our X-Men movies in order guide) came first and set the stage for the superhero boom in the early 2000s, but 2002's Spider-Man felt like the real start of how the genre has established itself in the mainstream over the last 23 years.

Raimi's first film set a template of putting the hero's personal life at the center of the story, with the superhero action growing out of that. Almost every MCU movie has followed a similar format since so, while 2002's Spider-Man isn't a part of that (well, it technically is now, thanks to No Way Hom e), it pioneered the formula that has made the MCU the cinematic juggernaut that it is today.

Tobey Maguire's affable Spidey was spot-on casting and, while Willem Dafoe is often mocked for a touch of overacting as Norman Osborn's Green Goblin, everything about this film felt right. It makes for a highly enjoyable re-watch almost two decades later, and will always feel like the primary on-screen version of Spidey to a certain generation. 

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

It may be the second of two Spider-Man multiverse movies to arrive in theaters (and it's not as good as the other one, which we'll get to), but Spider-Man: No Way Home is certainly the strongest of the Tom Holland era.

Holland revels in his funnier and slightly darker take on Spider-Man, utilizing his full range of emotions to deliver an extremely poignant, comical, and moving performance in what may be his final outing as the iconic hero. The return of multiple Spidey villains in Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Rhys Ifans' Lizard, and Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman may have led to No Way Home befalling a similar fate as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 . But, here, they're all given ample time to flex their muscles and feel necessary to the story.

No Way Home is an action-packed, humorous and emotional gut-punch of a movie that arguably wouldn't be in our top three even if Holland was the only Spider-Man on screen. But, with Maguire and Garfield reprising their roles as the beloved superhero – a decision that proves to be more than just pure fan service as it gives both Spider-Men some much needed closure to their own turns as the webhead – No Way Home catapults itself into our hearts and into fourth place on our best Spider-Man movies list. 

A truly breath taking film that'll have Spider-Man fans cheering wildly, laughing uncontrollably, and even shedding a tear or two.

3. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Raimi's dual focus on Peter Parker's personal and superhero lives is perfected in one of the greatest superhero movies of all-time in this 2004 sequel.

Alfred Molina's Doc Ock is a brilliantly-conceived, tragic villain – a scientist with good intentions, who ends up terrorizing New York after his wife is killed in an accident, and his brain is warped by a chip that alters his behavior. And yep, he has robot arms, which must have been a nightmare for Molina to work with but, ultimately, brought Doc Ock to life on the big screen in an identical way to how he's portrayed in the comics.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man 2 explores the idea of Parker stepping away from the limelight of being the iconic webhead when it all gets a bit too much, which is lifted from the famous 'Spider-Man: No More!' story in the comics. The film also features numerous great set pieces – most memorably Spider-Man's efforts to stop a runaway train by firing as many webs off as possible in order to stop it after a pulsating one-on-one fight with Doc Ock. 

This is probably as good as live-action Spidey movies will ever get, but No Way Home certainly gave it a run for its money.

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

As well as being one of the nicest-looking animated films ever made – that animated comic book aesthetic is right on the money – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a funny, inventive and well-written crossover movie of multiple Spider-folk. 

Here, this universe's version of Peter Parker (Chris Pine) dies at the hands of the Kingpin, and young student Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) steps up to replace the iconic webslinger.

Except he's not alone. Miles is soon joined by another universe's slightly less perfect, dadbod-bearing Peter B Parker (Jake Johnson), and other Spider-heroes from across different realities, including Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (Jon Mulaney), Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn), and Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage). The quintet, though, need to get back to their realities or they'll die in Miles' world (they can't survive in another hero's dimension), so the group team up to take Kingpin's Super Collider project down so they can return home. 

Not only is this a great, ambitious sci-fi spin on a superhero team-up movie, it's incredibly heartfelt, with terrific characterization across the board. It's one of the best animated movies ever made, and set the stage for No Way Home and the MCU in general.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

It might have seemed impossible to improve on the aesthetic, rich themes, laugh out loud humor, and emotional relatability of Into the Spider-Verse . Somehow, though, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse elevates every aspect of its predecessor.

Set 16 months after Into the Spider-Verse , the now-teenage Miles embarks on a new multiverse-spanning mission – alongside returning friend/love interest Gwen Stacy – to tackle a new threat. However, when Miles butts heads with Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099, the self-elected leader of the Spider Society (which keeps the Spider-Verse safe from interdimensional threats), things get way out of control and then some.

A delightfully darker sequel to its multi-award winning forebear, Across the Spider-Verse is a stunning piece of cinema. In our Across the Spider-Verse review , we said it "fulfils its ambitious promise to deliver an amazing follow-up to its 2018 predecessor" and "makes for an animated movie unlike anything we've seen before". If that doesn't help it take top spot in our best Spider-Man movies guide, we're not sure what will.

Oh, and once you've seen it in theaters, be sure to read our Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending explained article to see how it sets up 2024's Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse .

The TechRadar hive mind. The Megazord. The Voltron. When our powers combine, we become 'TECHRADAR TEAM'. You'll usually see this author name when the entire team has collaborated on a project or an article, whether that's a run-down ranking of our favorite Marvel films, or a round-up of all the coolest things we've collectively seen at annual tech shows like CES and MWC. We are one.

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Movie review: Intense 'Spider-Man' sequel deepens 'Spider-Verse'

LOS ANGELES, May 31 (UPI) -- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , in theaters Friday, furthers both the multiverse concept of 2018's Into the Spider-Verse and the characters it introduced. The sequel also explores vivid animation style and has many relevant themes.

Gwen Stacey (voice of Hailee Steinfeld) is recruited from her universe to join Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) and Spider-Woman Jessica Drew (Issa Rae) in returning people stranded in the wrong universe after the events of the first movie.

In Miles Morales' (Shameik Moore) universe, a new villain called The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) also sprang from the aftermath of the first movie. When The Spot figures out how to traverse the multiverse, Miles reconnects with Gwen and learns how vast the multiverse truly is.

Across the Spider-Verse introduces the idea of newcomers disrupting a universe. The very arrival of someone who wasn't supposed to exist in a given universe is a disruption, let alone if they change something that was supposed to happen.

If it were simply a matter of altering a timeline, perhaps disruption could be forgiven, but apparently disruption eventually causes the entire universe to unravel. This theory also gives every iteration of Spider-Man significance in the grand scheme.

It suggests that every version of Spider-Man needs to be told, from all the comics to even the movie that rebooted only 10 years after the first one. Take that theme a step further, and it means every story needs to be told, whether it's in our universe or another one.

But also, life doesn't always follow the plan in one universe so an anomaly in the multiverse should be inevitable and part of the ever-expanding web, as it were, of stories. Fear of the unknown may prove to be as deadly as a collapsing universe.

As in-depth as the science-fiction multiverse plot is, Across the Spider-Verse displays more recognizable human interactions than most live-action movies. That includes many live-action Spider-Man movies .

When Gwen first tries to deflect Miles' interest in the gang of Spidey multiverse police, it seems like she just doesn't want another guy intruding on something that's hers. Her reasons are actually more complex, though she would be justified in simply keeping something for herself.

Both Miles and Gwen have superhero identities they are keeping secret from their parents. Their struggles to open up, as well as their parents mistakes in shutting their kids' down, are universal to kids and parents.

Most kids don't have something quite as major as a double life to confess, but everyone has trouble opening up to their parents. Parents also struggle with making things harder when they're trying to open that communication.

Neither set of parents are ready to question their ingrained beliefs. That makes it hard for kids to trust them, but it's the new generation's place to open hearts and minds, which is nevertheless a lot to ask of teenagers.

Spider-Verse can pack a lot into the dense, intense animation style. The speedy narrative includes clever non sequiturs because it can afford to devote an extra second to a joke when it's packing so much in.

The film is well-paced and gives the audience breathers after especially intense sequences. Sometimes you may miss some dialogue as the sound mix tries to keep up with the visuals.

The visuals are less concerned with depicting reality than with conveying emotion. Gwen's universe has a watercolor background that sometimes bleeds when characters make contact.

It can be abstract and still convey the story. Text in a comic book paneling format sometimes helps the viewer follow along.

When digital visual effects can make anything look real in a live-action movie, Spider-Verse devises villains unique to the animated milieu. The Spot's powers are so bizarre, they could probably do it in live-action but it would just look weird. In animation it's funny.

The Spot can place portals anywhere, including on his own body. Physical bodies move through those portals, which gets even weirder when Spot is reaching through himself, and he can't exactly control them accurately either.

With Beyond the Spider-Verse coming next year, Across the Spider-Verse leaves the story in a satisfying place, suggesting even more possibilities. Based on the first two, there is every reason to have faith this creative team has a worthy conclusion in store.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001 a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Fun movie, but may be too intense for younger kids.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Core messages about empathy and responsibility are

Peter Parker is one of the comic book world's more

Lots of cartoon violence, with fight scenes (some

Passionate kissing. MJ wears a clingy wet T-shirt

"Ass," "damn," and one "s--tty."

Tie-in to vast quantities of related merchandise.

Parents need to know that Spider-Man 's PG-13 rating comes from a couple of swear words, a clingy wet T-shirt, and -- particularly -- a great deal of comic book-style violence. It can get very intense and includes not just fires and explosions, but people getting vaporized, shot (off-camera), and impaled…

Positive Messages

Core messages about empathy and responsibility are strong. "With great power comes great responsibility" is the lesson learned here as a new hero is born. Other themes include integrity, self-control, perseverance, and courage.

Positive Role Models

Peter Parker is one of the comic book world's more thoughtful heroes. He's all about saving people who are in trouble and learns important lessons about responsibility. On the other hand, he blames himself for one of the movie's sadder moments. The main villain is deceitful and conflicted, but wants the best for his son.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of cartoon violence, with fight scenes (some intense), fires, explosions and people getting vaporized, shot (off-camera), and in one case, impaled. A group of schoolchildren is in peril; and parents emotionally abuse their children.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Passionate kissing. MJ wears a clingy wet T-shirt in one scene.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Parents need to know.

Parents need to know that Spider-Man 's PG-13 rating comes from a couple of swear words, a clingy wet T-shirt, and -- particularly -- a great deal of comic book-style violence. It can get very intense and includes not just fires and explosions, but people getting vaporized, shot (off-camera), and impaled. Characters lose people close to them; a group of schoolchildren is in peril; and parents emotionally abuse their children. But the movie's core messages about empathy and responsibility are strong, and Peter Parker is one of the comic book world's more thoughtful heroes. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (70)
• Kids say (243)

Based on 70 parent reviews

Great film with positive message, but has scary scenes and suggestive themes

What's the story.

In SPIDER-MAN, Toby Maguire stars as Peter Parker, a brilliant and sensitive high school student who's so deeply in love with his next-door neighbor Mary Jane ( Kirsten Dunst ) that he can barely bring himself to say hello to her. On a school field trip, he's bitten by a genetically engineered spider; the next morning he wakes up with some distinctly arachnid-like qualities: He can see without his glasses, climb walls, eject webbing with the swinging power of rope and the strength of steel, and anticipate danger. Peter plays around with his newfound superpowers but quickly learns that power comes with great responsibility. Great risk comes as well: Everyone Peter cares about is put in danger because of who he is. Meanwhile, Peter's best friend's father, industrialist Norman Osborn ( Willem Dafoe ), has decided to try out his company's new product on himself. He, too, develops extraordinary power -- and a mad fury. His new alter ego is dubbed the Green Goblin for his bizarre armor-like covering.

Is It Any Good?

Maguire is just right as Peter, the supporting cast is great, and the script is excellent, striking just the right note of respect and affection for the source material. Spider-Man has a contemporary feel without being showily post-modern or ironic. The special effects are thrilling. New York City is brilliantly stylized. Peter's relationship with MJ is sweetly romantic. The movie's weakest point is that it fails in the single most important requirement for a comic book-based movie: The villain isn't unforgettably crazy or evil or larger-than-life. Dafoe is a brilliant actor, but the part of Osborn/Green just isn't interesting enough to be truly scary.

Parents who are struggling with whether this movie is appropriate for kids under 13 should know that it's at about the same level as the X-Men movies. Keep in mind that just because kids can repeat after you that "it's only pretend" doesn't mean that they fully understand what that means until they're 10 or even older. Some kids may see the movie and appear to have no problems with it but later act out in other ways. Be watchful for kids who respond by desensitizing themselves to violence or re-enacting it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Uncle Ben's influence on Peter Parker in Spider-Man . What role does he play in Peter's life?

What does "with great power comes great responsibility" mean? Can you think of other superhero movies that tackle that theme?

Also, do you agree that people "love to see a hero fail"?

How do you think this live-action film compares with Spider-Man comics or the other Spider-Man films ?

How do the characters in Spider-Man demonstrate self-control , integrity , and empathy ? What about perseverance and courage ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : May 3, 2002
• On DVD or streaming : November 1, 2002
• Cast : Kirsten Dunst , Tobey Maguire , Willem Dafoe
• Director : Sam Raimi
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Columbia Tristar
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Superheroes , Adventures , Great Boy Role Models
• Character Strengths : Courage , Empathy , Integrity , Perseverance , Self-control
• Run time : 121 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : violence.
• Last updated : February 7, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse release date, plot, cast, and everything we know so far

When will Miles Morales return?

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was originally due out earlier this year, before it was delayed indefinitely. But don't worry, that's not to say that the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2023's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is not in the works. In fact, it very much is on its way, and we've had a whole host of updates on it. 

Below, in our guide to Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, we break down all of these details. From what's going on with that postponed release date to which cast members might be back, and what might happened to Miles and Gwen in the threequel. Oh, and we've also got some juicy exclusive quotes to get into too.

So, for everything you need to know about the third Spider-Verse movie, swing your way to the below.

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse release date

Beyond the Spider-Verse was indefinitely delayed amid the WGA writers' and SAG-AFTRA actors' strike . That means it has no release date just yet, though it was previously slated for March 29, 2024.

The writing was perhaps on the wall that the threequel wouldn't be hitting its release date. Hailee Steinfeld said she hadn't recorded any dialogue for the final movie yet in June 2023. Then in another interview with Vulture, one of the film's animators said that there was no way they would be able to make the March release date .

Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller addressed the news too , telling ComicBook.com in June 2023, "I would say that just like we're going to take the time necessary to make Beyond the Spider-Verse great." Miller added to his answer, "And we won't back into a release date that doesn't fit." The film was removed from Sony 's release calendar in July 2023.

Deadline reported that voice recording for the film was set to resume in November 2023, when the strike officially ended.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse recap and ending explained

Almost the entire second half of Across the Spider-Verse sets up the events of the next movie. After Miles is brought to the Spider Society HQ, Miguel tells him that he’s disrupted a canon event by saving the police captain in Mumbattan, which will have catastrophic effects for that dimension.

Not only this, but Miguel also tells Miles that he can’t do this in his world either, as it becomes clear his father’s death will be a canon event that has to happen. This is because he’s about to be sworn in as the police captain within the next day (a vision from The Spot earlier in the movie confirmed his upcoming death too). 

Miles isn’t about to sacrifice his dad, though, so he escapes the Spider Society by hopping into the 'go home machine' to return to his dimension and save his father. However, given that the spider who bit him was actually from a different Earth, Miles ends up on Earth-42, where his uncle is alive, his dad is dead, and that version of Miles is actually The Prowler. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth-1610, Spider-Gwen has made her way there (after a quick sojourn to save her own dad from being captain) only to find that Miles is nowhere to be found. She’s determined to save him, though, so enlists some old (and new) friends together again to help find him. 

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse plot

There are no official story details out there yet for Beyond the Spider-Verse, but it seems pretty clear at least how the movie will begin. We’re expecting the story will pick up straight where it left off with Miles using his electric powers to escape the grasp of Uncle Aaron and the Prowler. We expect he'll then be navigating that world as he battles against the clock to return to Earth-1610 to save his dad. Just how he’ll go about this though remains to be seen.

Speaking about the third movie, co-director Kemp Powers told SFX magazine that the cliffhanger is very important to the third film. "I think it’s a good cliffhanger. We hope that it’s a satisfying tee-up for what’s coming in the third film because you want people to be excited about what’s coming next. And it helps that we knew going in that this was part two of a three-part story. Since you already know that that third story is guaranteed, you can tackle it a bit differently."

Co-director Joaquim Dos Santos said they were inspired by one sequel in particular too: "I was very satisfied after The Empire Strikes Back , and hopefully, this is our Empire." 

Plus, producer Christopher Miller has teased that the film "will be a very satisfying conclusion."

After Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse lost to The Boy and the Heron for Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Oscars, Miles Morales voice actor Shameik Moore tweeted : "Spiderverse has impacted ALOT of lives, we may not have been acknowledged tonight but life goes on, and BEYOND….. yea get ready."

Moore also told ScreenRant what viewers can expect in a February 2024 interview: "Action...you can expect Miles and Gwen. You can expect everything [laughs] you're expecting the continuation from the second one. You can expect to see The Spot; you can expect some action-packed energy and some dilemmas and problems to solve." 

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse cast

Well, all of the major players of Across the Spider-Verse are expected to be back for the third installment. This includes Shameik Moore as Miles Morales and Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen.

Miles’ family will be back too with Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis and Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales . After the ending of the second movie saw Miles head to Earth-42, we’ll also be seeing Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis once again too.

Other Spidey-variants expected include Jake Johnson back as Peter B. Parker ( though he doesn't seem sure he'll return ), Issa Rae as Jessica Drew , Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar , Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie/Spider-Punk , Andy Samberg as Scarlet Spider , Amandla Stenberg as Spider-Byte , and Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara .

After causing issues in Across the Spider-Verse, Jason Schwartzman will also be back as The Spot , who’s hell-bent on causing Miles to "lose everything". We’re expecting to see more of the characters of Into the Spider-Verse too given the ending, including John Mulaney as Spider-Ham and Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker .

No new cast members have been announced yet, but knowing this universe, we’re expecting there will be some cameos. Who knows, there may even be familiar faces of the Spider Society back too – here’s our breakdown of all the major members of that so far .

Then there are the long-running rumors that Tom Holland could make an appearance in this universe . Given that there were a couple of live-action moments and even some semi-cameos from Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, this does feel very possible too.

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

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.

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Imagine " Superman " with a Clark Kent more charismatic than the Man of Steel, and you'll understand how "Spider-Man" goes wrong. Tobey Maguire is pitch-perfect as the socially retarded Peter Parker, but when he becomes Spider-Man, the film turns to action sequences that zip along like perfunctory cartoons. Not even during Spidey's first experimental outings do we feel that flesh and blood are contending with gravity. Spidey soars too quickly through the skies of Manhattan; he's as convincing as Mighty Mouse.

The appeal of the best sequences in the Superman and Batman movies is that they lend weight and importance to comic-book images. Within the ground rules set by each movie, they even have plausibility. As a reader of the Spider-Man comics, I admired the vertiginous frames showing Spidey dangling from terrifying heights. He had the powers of a spider and the instincts of a human being, but the movie is split between a plausible Peter Parker and an inconsequential superhero.

Consider a sequence early in the film, after Peter Parker is bitten by a mutant spider and discovers his new powers. His hand is sticky. He doesn't need glasses anymore. He was scrawny yesterday, but today he's got muscles. The movie shows him becoming aware of these facts, but insufficiently amazed (or frightened) by them. He learns how to spin and toss webbing, and finds that he can make enormous leaps. And then there's a scene where he's like a kid with a new toy, jumping from one rooftop to another, making giant leaps, whooping with joy.

Remember the first time you saw the characters defy gravity in " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon "? They transcended gravity, but they didn't dismiss it: They seemed to possess weight, dimension and presence. Spider-Man as he leaps across the rooftops is landing too lightly, rebounding too much like a bouncing ball. He looks like a video game figure, not like a person having an amazing experience.

The other super-being in the movie is the Green Goblin, who surfs the skies in jet-shoes. He, too, looks like a drawing being moved quickly around a frame, instead of like a character who has mastered a daring form of locomotion. He's handicapped, too, by his face, which looks like a high-tech action figure with a mouth that doesn't move. I understand why it's immobile (we're looking at a mask), but I'm not persuaded; the movie could simply ordain that the Green Goblin's exterior shell has a face that's mobile, and the character would become more interesting. (True, Spider-Man has no mouth, and Peter Parker barely opens his--the words slip out through a reluctant slit.) The film tells Spidey's origin story--who Peter Parker is, who Aunt May ( Rosemary Harris ) and Uncle Ben ( Cliff Robertson ) are, how Peter's an outcast at school, how he burns with unrequited love for Mary Jane Watson ( Kirsten Dunst ), how he peddles photos of Spider-Man to cigar-chomping editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons).

Peter Parker was crucial in the evolution of Marvel comics because he was fallible and had recognizable human traits. He was a nerd, a loner, socially inept, insecure, a poor kid being raised by relatives. Maguire gets all of that just right, and I enjoyed the way Dunst is able to modulate her gradually increasing interest in this loser who begins to seem attractive to her. I also liked the complexity of the villain, who in his Dr. Jekyll manifestation is brilliant tycoon Norman Osborn ( Willem Dafoe ) and in his Mr. Hyde persona is a cackling psychopath. Osborn's son Harry ( James Franco ) is a rich kid, embarrassed by his dad's wealth, who is Peter's best and only friend, and Norman is affectionate toward Peter even while their alter-egos are deadly enemies. That works, and there's an effective scene where Osborn has a conversation with his invisible dark side.

The origin story is well told, and the characters will not disappoint anyone who values the original comic books. It's in the action scenes that things fall apart. Consider the scene where Spider-Man is given a cruel choice between saving Mary Jane or a cable car full of school kids. He tries to save both, so that everyone dangles from webbing that seems about to pull loose. The visuals here could have given an impression of the enormous weights and tensions involved, but instead the scene seems more like a bloodless storyboard of the idea. In other CGI scenes, Spidey swoops from great heights to street level and soars back up among the skyscrapers again with such dizzying speed that it seems less like a stunt than like a fast-forward version of a stunt.

I have one question about the Peter Parker character: Does the movie go too far with his extreme social paralysis? Peter tells Mary Jane he just wants to be friends. "Only a friend?" she repeats. "That's all I have to give," he says. How so? Impotent? Spidey-sense has skewed his sexual instincts? Afraid his hands will get stuck?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Spider-Man (2002)

Rated PG-13 For Stylized Violence and Action

121 minutes

Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker

Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin/ Norman Osborn

Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane

James Franco as Harry Osborn

Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker

Rosemary Harris as May Parker

Directed by

• David Koepp

Based on the comic by

• Steve Ditko

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Every Upcoming Marvel Movie: Full MCU Phase 5 & 6 List (& Beyond)

Marvel finally has the perfect way to do the spider-man story the mcu hasn't delivered, 10 marvel villains perfect for a street-level mcu spider-man 4 movie.

• Tom Holland will break a long-running Spider-Man movie trend.
• Marvel and Sony's achievement marks the start of a new era for Spider-Man in the MCU.
• Spider-Man 4 is expected to focus on new beginnings, a street-level story, and perhaps a fresh supporting cast.

Tom Holland is set to return for Spider-Man 4 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , and in doing so, the actor will finally break a Spider-Man movie trend that has lasted almost 50 years. Holland is one of the most popular stars in the MCU, especially since Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. retired from the franchise. It is easy to see why, as Spider-Man's MCU movies have been some of the franchise's best, with 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home being one of the biggest events in superhero movie history .

Spider-Man: No Way Home 's ending set up the path for Holland's future as Peter Parker , with the character seemingly set to go back to basics, leaving Stark Tech behind. That will happen in the MCU's Spider-Man 4 , with Marvel and Sony currently hard at work figuring out what should be the story for the film and who will direct it. Given his fan-favorite status, Holland's Spider-Man 4 was all but inevitable, and by bringing back the actor, Marvel and Sony will be making Holland the one to break a Spider-Man movie record.

Between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment, here is every upcoming Marvel movie release date and what we know about the projects so far.

Spider-Man Has Never Had A Fourth Movie In A Series Since 1977's Film

Tom holland will have the first spider-man 4.

While many fans might only be aware of the Spider-Man films from the Sam Raimi-directed trilogy onwards, the first movie for the wall-crawler actually came out in 1977. Serving as a pilot for The Amazing Spider-Man series, Nicholas Hammond played Peter Parker in 1977's Spider-Man , which was turned into a theatrical film overseas. Two more Spider-Man movies — two-parter episodes of the series released as a film — were also sent to theaters overseas, which included 1978's Spider-Man Strikes Back and 1979's Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge , making it the first Spider-Man trilogy of sorts.

1978 also saw the release of the Japanese Spider-Man movie. Then came the more traditional live-action films for the hero, with Tobey Maguire's character-defining Spider-Man trilogy. The actor was initially set to be the first to have a fourth Spider-Man movie; however, despite having been announced, Sony would cancel Maguire's Spider-Man 4 . Andrew Garfield led two The Amazing Spider-Man movies before it got to Holland's time to shine in the MCU. With his next solo adventure as Peter Parker in active development, Holland will be the first star in 47 years to lead a fourth Spider-Man film.

Marvel Studios finally has a way of threading new ground with Spider-Man, focusing on a different side of the character Tom Holland hasn't so far.

Why The MCU Having The First Spider-Man 4 Is Even More Important

Peter parker never stops.

The MCU will have the chance to be the first franchise with a fourth Spider-Man movie, and that is a huge deal. Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes in the world, with only DC's Batman and Superman fighting him for the fans' love. That, allied to how successful the many Spider-Man movies have been, guarantees that Holland's Spider-Man 4 will be far from the last time the wall-crawler will be seen in theaters. In fact, it will most likely not even be the final movie in Holland's MCU Spider-Man franchise .

As such, Marvel Studios beating the record is great, as it allows the MCU's Spider-Man 4 to get all the attention it deserves and keeps the shared universe's Spider-Man record growing for as long as Holland decides to continue leading Spider-Man films. While it has not been confirmed, there are rumors that the actor will be back for at least another Spider-Man trilogy in the MCU, which starts with the in-development Spider-Man 4 . Beyond Holland's Peter Parker, other actors will inevitably play Spider-Man in the future, but the MCU will always be the first to release a Spider-Man 4 .

How Spider-Man 4 Can Honor Its Record-Breaking Status

The mcu already set the perfect path.

Spider-Man: No Way Home 's ending saw Doctor Strange cast a spell that made everyone forget who Peter Parker was. The MCU's Spider-Man 4 will follow that, with Peter now living in a small apartment all by himself and not having access to Stark Tech anymore. This will bring the character back to basics, with some exciting street-level characters possibly making their way into the MCU's Spider-Man franchise, perhaps capitalizing on the MCU's growing Mayor Fisk storyline that will play out in Daredevil: Born Again .

No Way Home set up a personal, street-level story for Tom Holland's Spider-Man 4, and some Marvel Comics villains would be great for the movie.

Marvel and Sony are breaking a major franchise record with Holland's Spider-Man 4 , and the best way to honor that is to make it fit thematically. There have been rumors that Marvel wants a street-level story and Sony another multiverse event . Spider-Man 4 being a movie about new beginnings, setting up a new status quo for the MCU's Peter Parker, with a new supporting cast, and perhaps a college setting would be for the best. It would cement the start of a new era for the character in more ways than one, which is perfect for the first Spider-Man 4 .

Spider-Man Homecoming 4

Spider-Man: Homecoming 4 is the first sequel to the MCU's Spider-Man trilogy starring Tom Holland as the titular wall-crawler. After wiping his identity for the public's memory in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker continues his crime-fighting adventures without the aid of Iron Man technology or the support of his former allies.

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