Spider-Man: The First Impressions of a New Fan

Spider-Man might’ve been the biggest thing in pop culture leading up to the December release of No Way Home, which may have beaten Avenger’s: Endgame for the most hyped Marvel Movie. I vicariously lived the excitement through others because, to be frank, I didn’t really care. My experience with Spider-Man as a franchise was shallow and surface level because, for me, Peter Parked only existed in the suit as merchandise. I knew the Tom Holland/MCU Peter Parker was different from the original character, but I didn’t know who the “original” Peter Parker was. So, to “prepare” for No Way Home, my sister and I decided that we’d take advantage of the 20 hour road trip we were taking to visit our uncle in New Mexico and binge the movies. Thanks to that, I have now seen all of the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland movies, and because of the relevance this topic has to current pop culture, I’ve decided to give a review of all the Spider-Man movies as a very new fan to the franchise. This article’s on the long side but I hope it’ll be fun. This contains spoilers for all the Sam Raimi, Marc Webb, and MCU Spider-Man movies.

Starting with the classics: the original trilogy directed by Sam Raimi where Tobey Maguire stars as Spider-Man. As my first “real” introduction to the character of Peter Parker, I saw him as an awkward, geeky, hormonal mess, but when he finally puts on the suit and becomes Spider-Man, I instantly saw the appeal for the hero. Between his duty to save others and wanting to still have a personal life made for an interesting story; superhero stories, especially Marvel ones, tend to shy away from the idea of a “secret identity”, so seeing the beloved character’s grounded roots was refreshing. 

My biggest critique of these movies can be summarized in three words: Mary Jane Wattson. She was by far the weakest link of the characters, which is a stretch because character was the thing she most lacked: she existed as an object to progress the development of characters like Peter and Harry, but that was about it. She was constantly found in her natural habitat that consisted of dangerous heights that were patrolled by the villain of the day and acted as the source of Spider-Man’s moral dilemma. It was disappointing, but the only way from here is up, as later “love interest” characters proved they could stand alone as heroes we could root for instead of a classic damsel in distress.

The true standouts of this trilogy were the villains; their designs were iconic and creative; their stories tragic and compelling. They acted as foils to Spider-Man which created interesting dynamics where you wanted to root for them. After all, there’s a reason so many of them were disgraced scientists with supernatural, animalistic powers. The tragedy comes when these characters who wanted to do good, either for a specific person or for humanity as a whole, risked themselves and fell into madness or lost the humanity they once had. 

Norman Osborne, otherwise known as Green Goblin, was the favorite of both me and my sister; I wanted to see him succeed and conquer his alternate persona, and his failure to do so stung even greater due to it. Doc Oc had probably the most interesting character design and a noble motivation but was corrupted by his circumstances. Sandman was the one I could sympathize with the most, a criminal with a beloved daughter whose body turned to sand in an accident. Venom broke the mold of the other villains, for its main purpose was to corrupt Peter and turn himself into his own enemy. I didn’t really enjoy Venom all that much. The symbiote made Peter’s interactions with other characters feel melodramatic and shoehorned, Eddie Brock is even less interesting, and his quick turnover from bright-but-desperate photographer to wishing death on Peter Parker felt similarly forced. Harry Osborne is built up over the three movies which makes his eventual turn to villainy and fight with Peter earned and cathartic; just as they begin to mend their friendship, Harry is killed. Despite some melodrama involving the two and MJ, I thought this dynamic stood out amongst the characters which made for an impactful finale to the trilogy.

Overall I rate the series a 7.5/10. To me it feels dated yet timeless; the classic start to the modern superhero scene. While it’s not my favorite, I can see why it charmed so many.

Marc Webb’s movies, “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its sequel, starring Andrew Garfield, were pretty amazing (wow, I’m sure no one’s used that one before). They brought a distinctly different tone than Raimi’s movies, and in general handled darker subject matters. Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man was a whole lot less awkward, but that didn’t make him feel any less real, or any less “Peter Parker”. While we saw Tobey’s Spider-Man grow up and navigate the change from teenager to adulthood, Andrew’s Spider-Man stayed in that place of adolescence. He was a “cooler” Spider-Man, acted more mischievous and playful than Tobey’s, and overall had a lot better action scenes. I enjoyed his interactions with the other characters, namely Gwen, a lot more than his past interactions; despite some definite flaws in the script, the dynamics between the major characters came off a lot more naturally.

In stark contrast to Mary Jane, Gwen Stacy was one of the highlights of this series. She held her own as a hero; her cleverness and intellect were essential to many of Peter’s victories. While at points it felt as if MJ was in love with Spider-Man and the idea of Peter, Gwen loved Peter for who he was rather than what he did. Their chemistry was spot-on, which made their relationship feel much more genuine than MJ and Peter. I was rooting for them as individuals just as much as I was for them as a couple.

The three major villains were all around less compelling than the previous five chiefly because they lacked the core parallel thematic drive that made Raimi’s villains so captivating. Starting with Curt Connors’, his goal to evolve humans through making them lizards was just bizarre, and he didn’t bring anything to the table to challenge Peter as a character. I really enjoyed Electro as the main villain of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and both my sister and I agreed that the best part about him was how unsettling yet grounded he was: a man without the greater goals of Doc Oc and Green Goblin but equally as tragic due to his accident.

There are many things I could say about Webb’s Green Goblin. What made Harry Osborne great in the original three films was that his story carried over and evolved over the movies; this Harry’s abrupt introduction leaves little room for viewers to become attached to him, and his friendship with Peter feels forced and disingenuine. In my opinion, if MJ was the weakest link of Raimi’s films, Harry was the weakest link of Webb’s. Also, I’m still mad at him for killing Gwen, but my previous points still stand.

Despite my critiques, I still enjoyed these movies a lot. Flawed as they are, they still hold together as a pretty fantastic Spider-Man story. I think I’d rate them a 8/10, which isn’t based on if they’re objectively better than the Raimi films but instead how much I enjoyed them.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man is very different. Tom Holland’s character is a vast change from the previous one, and his movies are much lighter in tone than any that came before, which is a big part of their appeal. Unlike his previous iterations, he started in an Avengers movie (Yes I know it’s a Captain America movie but it has all the Avengers in it so I don’t care) instead of his own and evolves over the course of six movies instead of two or three. MCU Spider-Man doesn’t exist in a vacuum the way his predecessors did; his experiences in the Avengers movies affect not only his solo movies but also other characters’ movies: Iron Man is his father figure that is key to his first two movies, and Doctor Strange is a massive player in No Way Home, to name a few examples. In some ways, this is to the detriment of his character, and in others, it only makes him stronger. 

Peter was still awkward, that will never change, but he was sweet and had great dynamics with his supporting cast. They felt like teenagers, and MCU Peter did what a teenager would do with the ridiculous amount of power he’d been given: make seemingly harmless selfish decisions without the true understanding of the consequences. These movies got us to care more about Peter’s friends and classmates more than the others ever did. He also got to do cooler things and had tons of new tricks and gadgets that made his fight scenes really entertaining.

Michelle Jones was not the initial first “love interest”, which was a change of pace, but she was the undisputed partner of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. I loved MJ’s personality more than either of her predecessors; her cynical personality, sarcastic humor, and street smarts made her very refreshing. Plus, her relationship with Peter was adorable and heartfelt. Ned was another standout: the essential “guy in the chair” was lovable and generally improved any scene he was in.

MCU Spider-Man doesn’t have the emotionally resonant villains that the others do, but that doesn’t make his villains any less fun. Personally, I think Vulture is just super cool, as he kind of fits the Norman role of Spider-Man battling the father of a friend before realizing their real identity. He feels almost more like an anti-hero than a villain because of his relationship with his family and respect for Peter’s identity. I kind of hate Mysterio because he annoys me; he’s an arrogant jerk who has beef with Spider-Man because of Tony Stark rejecting his inventions, which is just immature. At first, I thought Mysterio was a really stupid superhero fighting enemies. I couldn’t care any less about him, but he subverts that expectation, and his whole world ending threat being something completely fabricated was an incredibly interesting concept. 

How do I even begin to talk about No Way Home? The movie was hype, the fights were fantastic, the energy was electrifying, it was an emotional rollercoaster and I loved every minute. Even being a short term fan, the catharsis of the return of so many beloved characters felt earned, and they were each handled well. It’s not perfect, Lizard, Sandman, and Electro lack the depth their characters once had, but Doc Oc and Green Goblin are just as compelling as ever. 

The best part of the movie was the way some of the loose threads of past Peter Parker’s were solved. The best example of this (and my favorite moment in the movie) was when Andrew’s Peter saved MJ from falling to her death. By saving her he’s saving Gwen in a way by  preventing his other self from experiencing the pain of his own greatest failure. At the end, Peter Parker ends up in a very similar place to where he began; what I mean is, MCU Peter Parker ends where Raimi’s Peter began in Spider-Man 2. Physically, he’s in an apartment with a creaky door and the entirety of New York city to protect. Character wise, he’s starting fresh without the Avengers, MJ, or Ned but carries the weight of his experiences with them as he moves forward. It’s a clean slate for the character, and I am so excited to see what comes next for him.

I rate the first two overall a 7/10, because while I really loved MCU Peter Parker for the fun that he brought in all his movie appearances, as an individual Spider-Man he lacked some depth. That was, until No Way Home, which might be the best of all the Spider-Man movies; it takes the multiverse concept and ties it in perfectly. If you include No Way Home, the trilogy gets an immediate 9/10. 

To sort of wrap it up, I think being a late fan to the series allowed me to view the movies without the bias of nostalgia. I could appreciate the successes and critique the failures of all three Spider-Men, but also enjoy them just as much. At the same time, I lacked that experience of seeing Spider-Man evolve over a long period of time, and instead, my transition from each interaction was the span of a few hours (or months if you count me seeing Homecoming and Far From Home in the months before my movie binge). Each series of movies had something I absolutely loved about them. For the Raimi movies it was the villains, for Webb’s it was Peter Parker as a protagonist, and for the MCU it was his dynamic with his supporting cast. Overall, I’m glad I finally decided to watch these movies, though now I think I might have to borrow my cousin’s copy of Spider-Man PS4 when I get home for the summer.