Given that “No Way Home” is entangling the box office, it’s time to look back at how effectively the “Spider-Man” franchise won the big screen.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is arguably the most popular superhero, as his creativity, unbridled optimism and incredible heroism are mixed with the relative vulnerability of young adulthood. This reflected very well on his adventures on the big screen.
It’s the perfect combination of the exciting and the mundane—that’s why Spider-Man has dominated the box office since Spider-Man 2002. Since “No Way Home” has broken several modern box office records, now is a good time to look back at the critical reception of the franchise over the years through “Rotten Tomatoes.”
The New Spider-Man 2 (2014) — 51%
With over $700 million at the box office worldwide, “The New Spider-Man 2” has certainly made a lot of money, though not as much as Sony would like. It was the low end of the franchise, and there are many factors that influenced the disappointing box office of the film. Although yes, an Electro—unstable supervillain, but their motivation, in fact, “Spider-Man didn’t notice me” was questionable at best.
The sudden and frankly undeserved transformation of Harry Osborne into an uninteresting version of the Green Goblin was also perceived by fans with ridicule. Finally, the much-publicized “Rhino” fight in the trailers was the literal ending of the film, and fans saw only the beginning of it. Speaking of the finale, the movie has undergone so many rewrites and teased so many things without even creating them properly. However, it’s pretty funny how the “killer of the Spider-Man franchise” only took a few years to recover from it, and it still made a hell of a profit.
“Spider-Man 3” (2007) — 63%
“Spider-Man 3” is, to put it mildly, a controversial film. You’ll find people who genuinely think the film is one of the most horrific Peter Parker character murders of all time, and there are people defending the third installment as an unorthodox choice that revitalized the franchise in new and fantastic ways. As for everyone else, they were probably laughing at emo Parker’s crazy dance moves. “Spider-Man 3” is still a movie that gets people ranting, but Sam Raimi certainly managed to make it memorable.
The New Spider-Man (2012) — 72%
“The New Spider-Man” is the first reboot of the franchise, and at the time it was quite well received by the public, but critics were not so kind. Following Sam Raimi’s iconic trilogy was no easy task. The film struggles with yet another establishment of the origin and characteristics of Spider-Man. The image of Andrew Garfield, despite the fact that some people did not like the fact that Peter Parker was not as boring as he used to be, definitely earned the trust of fans.
Spider-Man (2002) — 90%
The success of “Spider-Man” was the highest-grossing solo Spider-Man film in the country until “No Way Home” dethroned him in 2021. The success of Spider-Man was the powder keg needed by the superhero industry to finally start turning into cinematic blockbusters. Comic book movies were no longer just a passing fad or banal appearances on television. Now they were collecting huge box office receipts. “Spider-Man,” even adjusted for inflation, became the first film to earn more than $100 million in one weekend.
It is impossible not to emphasize how important Spider-Man was for the genre. While films like X-Men and Blade did have moderate success, Spider-Man was the beginning of what would eventually become a modern superhero movie. He was not ashamed to be a comic book movie, as evidenced by the excellent performance of Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin and a lot of mannered moments. Nevertheless, he retains a strong emotional core that resonates with viewers to this day.
Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019) — 90%
The very first Spider-Man movie to break the $1 billion mark at the box office, “Spider-Man: Far from Home” introduces one of Spider-Man’s most intelligent enemies, Mysterio, to the MCU. Jake Gyllenhaal outshines everyone, and his conspiracy and fantastic sequence of nightmares easily make him one of the most memorable villains in the MCU. Peter also gets a great characterization as he adjusts to a post-glare world without Tony Stark.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) — 92%
Sony, together with the help of Disney, surprisingly quickly gets a “remake” of the Spider-Man franchise. “Homecoming” skips the plot about Uncle Ben and immediately moves on to the study of Peter Parker’s school life. Of all the Spider-Men, Tom Holland is the only one who starts the hero’s work at a very young age. In most comics, the Spider appears at the age of 15, especially in “Absolute Spider-Man”, and this film perfectly conveys this atmosphere. Peter Parker from the MCU has almost no experience as a superhero or just a person in general.
