GQ and Business Insider rank the Spider-Man movies

luca · Jul 9, 2019

Mine is a bit of a mix between the two.

1. Spider-Man
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Spider-Man: Homecoming
4. Spider-Man: Far From Home
5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
6. Amazing Spider-Man 2
7. Amazing Spider-Man
8. Spider-Man 3
9. Venom

I've always felt Spider-Man 2 was more of a bore than its predecessor (not to say it's outright boring, just maybe has a less interesting villain to me). While I agree with Business Insider that Homecoming is a better movie than Far From Home. Homecoming just does tension much better, the villain is more three dimensional, and its comedic timing hits better than that of FFH. While FFH is a more fun ride because of its explosive action and visual effects, it also has awkward humor that is more hit and miss and a villain end-goal that just doesn't work as much as that of Vulture.

While I loved Into the Spider-Verse at the cinema - and it's definitely stunning visually and has the best comedy of all of them - I've just found myself having a hard time rewatching it. I think it has to do with me never really liking the concept of multiple Spider-Men, and that the visuals can be "a lot" sometimes. I absolutely love a lot of things about Into the Spider-Verse, but it's just been a hard rewatch.

And I've always been more entertained with ASM2 than ASM1. I kind of have "somewhat" of the same feel between Spider-Man 2 and ASM1 in that I don't find the villain that interesting. But the bore bleeds much more into the whole movie in ASM1's case to me, whereas Spider-Man 2 can be very interesting. I also loved the climax of ASM2 with Gwen's fate, and the relationship between her and Peter is still the strongest of them all to me. Spider-Man 3 had a solid first hour, but then it hits the fan.

Venom is just shit.

MisterR · Jul 9, 2019

The Raimi films are all, even Spider-Man 3, better than MCU films. Those are boring, assembly line nothingness. They are at least competently made, although completely soulless, so I'll put them above the Amazing films, which are pure dreck. Haven't seen Spider-verse yet.

Siggy-P · Jul 9, 2019

I would have thought that now we have a good Tom Holland Spiderman film with Far From Home, that we don't have to pretend Homecoming wasn't self-serving shit anymore.

Elegant Weapon said:
I feel like there must be another version of Spider-Man 2 that I've never seen for it to be so massively overrated.

Spider-Man is nearly mute in the suit.
People love Molina's Ock but what does he even want in that movie? It doesn't matter! He's nothing like Doc Ock from the comics and I don't think it improved on the character at all.
The action is truly awesome but come on

It was never as amazing as people make out, but the worshiping of it is mostly a backlash to people putting it down and calling it shit just to prop up MCU Spiderman.

Like you can like your new Spiderman better, but telling people the Spiderman they loved and grew up with as a kid is bad because of some arbitrary character bullet point was missing (as many people here have been prone to do when we got a S2 thread every last week last year) is gonna get a reaction.

Radd Redd · Jul 9, 2019

Even they know those two Amazing Spider-Man movies were straight trash. I can't figure out what Sony was going for with Garfield.

Apath · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon · Jul 9, 2019

ckareset said:
You can nitpick any movie like this

Some of those are nitpicks but enough of them aren't

Why is this "one of the greatest villains ever" controlled by his arms?

In the comics, Doc Ock is simply a bad man. He's not mind controlled by this own inventions. He's a man granted great power who uses it irresponsibly; there is no need to give him a wife they kill off AND make him under the control of the unnecessary artificial intelligence from the metal arms he invented.

Really, how is he one of the greatest movie villains when he doesn't even have the agency to fully be a bad guy?

Nevermind that whatever he wants to do (create a mini-sun in the middle of NYC) is just dumb as fuck on every level.

What's even the ideological conflict between Spider-Man and Doc Ock in that movie? some contrived shit about love?

Elegant Weapon · Jul 9, 2019

Siggy-P said:
I would have thought that now we have a good Tom Holland Spiderman film with Far From Home, that we don't have to pretend Homecoming wasn't self-serving shit anymore.

It was never as amazing as people make out, but the worshiping of it is mostly a backlash to people putting it down and calling it shit just to prop up MCU Spiderman.

Like you can like your new Spiderman better, but telling people the Spiderman they loved and grew up with as a kid is bad

and that's the main reason why the film is overrated as much as it is. We all saw it as kids/teenagers and too many refuse to realize that it's not the best thing evar that's never gonna be topped.

The second time I saw Spider-Man 2 in theaters I had all these same problems, it has nothing to do with the MCU or whatever fanboy shit you want to make it about.

Siggy-P · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
it has nothing to do with the MCU or whatever fanboy shit you want to make it about.

Nah, for a lot of people it's about that. Not saying you, but others.

Ferrs · Jul 9, 2019

I really can't understand how anyone can like Tobey's Spiderman after Holland and Insomniac's PS4 take on the character. Hell, even Garfield Spidey would be better if it wasn't for Peter Parker crying every 15 mins.

sirap · Jul 9, 2019

Good list. I re-watched all of the modern ones the week before FFH and I still prefer Raimi's take over the MCU.

Gaf Zombie · Jul 9, 2019

Pretty good lists tbh. I'm looking forward to watching "Far From Home"

Daniel Westlake · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
Some of those are nitpicks but enough of them aren't

Why is this "one of the greatest villains ever" controlled by his arms?

In the comics, Doc Ock is simply a bad man. He's not mind controlled by this own inventions. He's a man granted great power who uses it irresponsibly; there is no need to give him a wife they kill off AND make him under the control of the unnecessary artificial intelligence from the metal arms he invented.

Really, how is he one of the greatest movie villains when he doesn't even have the agency to fully be a bad guy?

Nevermind that whatever he wants to do (create a mini-sun in the middle of NYC) is just dumb as fuck on every level.

What's even the ideological conflict between Spider-Man and Doc Ock in that movie? some contrived shit about love?

This is just a silly complaint. The success of Ock as a villain is how he relates to Peter's personal failures. He is everything Peter wants to be and everything he uses excuses to not try to be. The early scenes with him perfectly set up what a good and successful man he is and the rest of the movie is Peter trying to get him back to that point after his downfall.

Besides that the arms have their own rudimentary intelligence but it's clearly Ock's own paranoia and arrogance that's being played on to drive the plan forward.

rude · Jul 9, 2019

A great example of just how badly written Far From Home is, is how it handled the spider-sense thing. Peter not having it and regaining it to fight Mysterio was such a stilted non event compared to the arc Peter went through of losing and regaining his powers in 2.

The MCU stuff just isn't there emotionally.

Chaotic-Strike · Jul 9, 2019

Both lists look fairly good to me.

Thunder11 · Jul 9, 2019

Spider-Man 2 is GOAT

Servbot24 · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
He's nothing like Doc Ock from the comics

it's a ranking of movies, not a ranking of copying comics

Blader · Jul 9, 2019

I think I would rank them as:

1. Spider-Man 2
2. Homecoming
3. Into the Spider-Verse
4. Far From Home
5. Spider-Man
6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
7. The Amazing Spider-Man
8. Spider-Man 3

SM2, Homecoming, and Spider-Verse are fantastic films. Far From Home is great, my first impression would be to put it a little above the top tier, but I still thought it was really fun and adore all the Peter/MJ stuff. I wouldn't mind a movie of just Pete, MJ, and Ned navigating teenage life, superheroics be damned.

Big drop off after #5 though. Tbh even SM1 has fallen a bit in my view... it feels very dated in a lot of respects, and not just in terms of, say, the Goblin outfit, but the general characterization of Peter. His physical inability to walk to Mary Jane feels like an exaggeration of the character's awkwardness. This movie will always have a place in my heart like the 89 Batman movie, but like that film it's hard to deny that parts of it -- both aesthetically and narratively -- just don't hold up as well anymore.

ASM2 is a movie I kind of like as a whole for some reason despite its many individual shitty parts. ASM1 was a more disappointing movie to me; too much of it is bogged down in an unnecessary (and worse told) origin retread and an extremely bad rendering of the Lizard, almost as bad as the sequel's version of Electro. The Peter/Gwen stuff at the heart of these movies is imo the only thing that actually works, though that's occasionally problematic too.

I was in denial for a long time about how bad Spider-Man 3 was, lol. And while certain parts of it are fine, it's hard not to watch the ending of SM2 -- specifically the scene of Harry discovering his father's lair -- and not be bummed about how badly SM3 whiffed on all that. I know Raimi was not a fan of Venom, but I actually thought the character was a much more natural fit for the story Raimi wanted to tell with that movie. Certainly more so than a hamfisted retcon to tie in Sandman with Peter. There's so much wasted potential on basically every character's arc, the Peter/MJ story at the heart of the first two movies just doesn't work here (unlike Holland/Zendaya or Garfield/Stone, Maguire and Dunst just have no chemistry at this point anymore) and something about the overall vibe of the movie feels off in a way I can't articulate.

Barrel Cannon · Jul 9, 2019

The list is pretty close to my rankings surprisingly.

Although haven't seen 2 films on that list

MisterR · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
and that's the main reason why the film is overrated as much as it is. We all saw it as kids/teenagers and too many refuse to realize that it's not the best thing evar that's never gonna be topped.

The second time I saw Spider-Man 2 in theaters I had all these same problems, it has nothing to do with the MCU or whatever fanboy shit you want to make it about.

Your problems are mostly stupid though? Doc Ock is basically a Frankenstein's Monster. He's pushes to far and becomes a tragic villain. Tons of great villains in literature and film are the same. The rest of your stuff is just basic nitpick stuff that you personally didn't like.

Deleted member 17402 · Jul 9, 2019

Vincent Alexander said:
My son has watched Into the Spiderverse about 5 times in the last 7 days. You would think I'd be sick of it, but it holds up well even after multiple viewings.

Sometimes I light a match and let it burn just to feel something.

This line will forever be ingrained in my memory.

Ignatz Mouse · Jul 9, 2019

Durden said:
GQ list is fairly similar to mine. Except I put Rami's SM1 over Homecoming and Rami's SM3 over ASM1 and 2 (with 2 being last). SM3 is a bad movie, but at least it's a hell of a lot more memorable than ASM1 and 2.

Your list is like mine.

mugurumakensei · Jul 9, 2019

GQ list is mostly right just swap 2 and 4.

Spinluck · Jul 9, 2019

rude said:
A great example of just how badly written Far From Home is, is how it handled the spider-sense thing. Peter not having it and regaining it to fight Mysterio was such a stilted non event compared to the arc Peter went through of losing and regaining his powers in 2.

The MCU stuff just isn't there emotionally.

He's alway sort of had it.

Barry Sandwich · Jul 9, 2019

Spider-man 3 exists is on it's own level and cannot be judged against the other films.

Elegant Weapon · Jul 9, 2019

Servbot24 said:
it's a ranking of movies, not a ranking of copying comics

True, but I think a Doc Ock more like that comics would have improved on the film.

Daniel Westlake said:
This is just a silly complaint. The success of Ock as a villain is how he relates to Peter's personal failures. He is everything Peter wants to be and everything he uses excuses to not try to be. The early scenes with him perfectly set up what a good and successful man he is and the rest of the movie is Peter trying to get him back to that point after his downfall.

Besides that the arms have their own rudimentary intelligence but it's clearly Ock's own paranoia and arrogance that's being played on to drive the plan forward.

Maybe I just don't love the what they did with Otto/Dr Octopus and Peter/Spider-Man in that movie...

With Otto being talked into self sacrificing "redemption" and Peter losing his his powers because he doesn't want to be "Spider-Man no more" until his girlfriend needs saving AGAIN

TheSkullPrince · Jul 9, 2019

Business Insider got it right

Sasliquid · Jul 9, 2019

Business insider almost got it perfectly (I'd put FFH above HC)

Cross · Jul 9, 2019

My list is quite similar:

1- FFH
2- Spider-Verse
3- Spider-Man 2
4- Homecoming
5- Spider-Man
6- TASM
7- Spider-Man 3
8- TASM 2

FantaSoda · Jul 9, 2019

No lies detected on that list. Personally, I would put Spiderman 1 above Homecoming and Far From Home but that probably is just because I love Dafoe so much (and nostalgia). Y'all guys hating on Raimi's Spiderman 2 are way off the mark. My nostalgia-blind six year old is a massive Spiderman fan and that is the one that he has requested the most (Until Spiderverse came out). That movie is still good today, even for new audiences.

TheSkullPrince · Jul 9, 2019

rude said:
A great example of just how badly written Far From Home is, is how it handled the spider-sense thing. Peter not having it and regaining it to fight Mysterio was such a stilted non event compared to the arc Peter went through of losing and regaining his powers in 2.

The MCU stuff just isn't there emotionally.

But Aunt May threw a banana at Peter!

Lmao, how people can say that the MCU Spider-Man movies are better than the Raimi ones is beyond me.

rude · Jul 9, 2019

TheSkullPrince said:
But Aunt May threw a banana at Peter!

Lmao, how people can say that the MCU Spider-Man movies are better than the Raimi ones is beyond me.

TBH at this point I'm really not sure what these movies offer other than a quick afternoon time waster. The action isn't remarkable (Far From Home's illusion/virtual reality scenes are the most memorable action scenes in the ENTIRE cinematic universe so far and there's been like 12 movies), the plots/characters often feel underwritten, the jokes tread pretty much the same self referential or sarcastic territory/have the same delivery across completely different characters....

I just don't see how Spider-Man 2 (and even 1, as corny as it is) aren't revered as classics on this forum. They're about as auteur as superhero movies could be.

Sgt. Demblant · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
We all saw it as kids/teenagers

No.

A fair number of people on here are in their 30s or above. Spider-Man 2 detractors always bring up the nostalgia card based on nothing whatsoever.

MisterR · Jul 9, 2019

rude said:
TBH at this point I'm really not sure what these movies offer other than a quick afternoon time waster. The action isn't remarkable (Far From Home's illusion/virtual reality scenes are the most memorable action scenes in the ENTIRE cinematic universe so far and there's been like 12 movies), the plots/characters often feel underwritten, the jokes tread pretty much the same self referential or sarcastic territory/have the same delivery across completely different characters....

I just don't see how Spider-Man 2 (and even 1, as corny as it is) aren't revered as classics on this forum. They're about as auteur as superhero movies could be.

People apparently like their comic book movies straight off the conveyor belt. MCU movies, for the whole, are bland, soulless trifles. I think people confuse competence with excellence. They are well crafted, but basically just products, not attempts at works of art. I'll take an ambitious misfire with actual risks taken over mass produced blandness.

Kalentan · Jul 9, 2019

Siggy-P said:
I would have thought that now we have a good Tom Holland Spiderman film with Far From Home, that we don't have to pretend Homecoming wasn't self-serving shit anymore.

But it wasn't?

Elegant Weapon · Jul 9, 2019

Sgt. Demblant said:
No.

A fair number of people on here are in their 30s or above. Spider-Man 2 detractors always bring up the nostalgia card based on nothing whatsoever.

I'm 32 and saw that movie in theaters as a teenager. It is a rose tinted nostalgic movie for a lot of people because WE all saw it as kids/teens

Cort · Jul 9, 2019

Saying a movie is great 15 years ago but isnt great by today's standards is frustrating to see. Movies aren't video games. If a movie was structurally sound 15 years ago theres nothing that time can do to it.

Sgt. Demblant · Jul 9, 2019

Elegant Weapon said:
I'm 32 and saw that movie in theaters as a teenager. It is a rose tinted nostalgic movie for a lot of people because WE all saw it as kids/teens

Okay. But that's just your personal experience with that film.
Extending that to everyone else on here is just pointless.
I'm 32 as well and didn't see it until my 20s.
And I'm pretty sure most of the critics who gave it excellent reviews were way older than you back then.

The nostalgia argument just always makes me sigh. It's lazy and meaningless.

Yasuke · Jul 9, 2019

Spinluck said:
He's alway sort of had it.

It's been inconsistent since his introduction (which is sort of explained by his convo with Tony about him struggling to sort through all of his dialed up senses), and I like that FFH went to lengths to finally establish it and his mastery over it.

I'd go

1. FFH
2. Spider-Verse
3. Homecoming

Doesn't really matter after that. I prefer watching Garfield be Spider-Man to any of the Raimi films, but SM2 is the more competently made movie in general than the Amazing flicks.

Ignatz Mouse · Jul 9, 2019

I'm in my fifties, I saw Spider-Man 2:

- In the theater as an adult
- on video
- upon BluRay release
- again when my kids were old enough to enjoy it (maybe 4 years ago?)

It's absolutely a great superhero movie still, one of the very best. Nothing nostalgia-based about my love of it.

CloudWolf · Jul 9, 2019

The Business Insider list is the truth. Literally the only one I would switch are SM3 and Venom. At least Venom had Tom Hardy hamming it up big time, SM3 was just... blergh. Still better than both ASM movies though, those were just nothing movies, at least with SM3 I felt something.

EDIT: I'm actually baffled that somebody can put Far From Home at or near the top. Aside from that one (incredible) scene it's completely mediocre. No way it's better than Spider-Man 1 or Homecoming and I don't even like Homecoming that much.

Dynamite Ringo Matsuri · Jul 9, 2019

My top 3 is exactly like GQ's. Amazing that we got two fantastic Spidey films in the course of a year

Spinluck · Jul 9, 2019

Yasuke said:
It's been inconsistent since his introduction (which is sort of explained by his convo with Tony about him struggling to sort through all of his dialed up senses), and I like that FFH went to lengths to finally establish it and his mastery over it.

I'd go

1. FFH
2. Spider-Verse
3. Homecoming

Doesn't really matter after that. I prefer watching Garfield be Spider-Man to any of the Raimi films, but SM2 is the more competently made movie in general than the Amazing flicks.

Yeah. I'm glad they went this road of him actually having to discover it. It's always been sort of a plot device so I having him go against a villain that pretty much forces him to use it was great.

Yasuke · Jul 9, 2019

I don't think y'all know what nostalgia means.

Spinluck · Jul 9, 2019

TheSkullPrince said:
But Aunt May threw a banana at Peter!

Lmao, how people can say that the MCU Spider-Man movies are better than the Raimi ones is beyond me.

Someone liking different things is beyond you?

Not sure why people can't trash the MCU without coming off as dickholes.

FantasticMrFoxdie · Jul 9, 2019

Surprisingly great lists.

Deleted member 2145 · Jul 9, 2019

MisterR said:
People apparently like their comic book movies straight off the conveyor belt. MCU movies, for the whole, are bland, soulless trifles. I think people confuse competence with excellence. They are well crafted, but basically just products, not attempts at works of art. I'll take an ambitious misfire with actual risks taken over mass produced blandness.

sounds like you're having a rough go at it today

I hope you deal with this tragedy as best you can, we're all thinking about you

NameUser · Jul 9, 2019

You know, I like the new movies, but I kinda feel like being part of the MCU is hurting them. There was a sense of wonder in that Toby McGuire trilogy. Now with the new ones it feels all about Iron Man and what's going on with the world/and other heroes.

I feel like we're going to reach a point where shared universes become less important.

Lunchbox- · Jul 9, 2019

homecoming is #1 in all the real lists

BioDigital Jazzman · Jul 9, 2019

[i agree with the business insider list

Usyren said:
Ew. Homecoming should not be that high up. Second to last, only above Amazing SpiderMan 2 is the correct spot for it.

Yeah like homecoming isn't a bad movie but it benefits from the hype that everything McU gets

rashbeep · Jul 9, 2019

flyingman said:
Spider verse is overrated as fuck . Second part is boring as hell and all those explotions are tiring eyes

I agree it's overrated but it's still easily a top 3 Spidey film

GQ and Business Insider rank the Spider-Man movies

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