Across more than two decades and four separate film universes, Spider-Man has swung from Sam Raimi’s earnest live-action heroes to Sony’s revolutionary animated Spider-Verse. That breadth raises an obvious question: which films actually hold up, and which ones dropped the ball? We pulled every mainline Spider-Man and Spider-Verse movie, averaged the Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores, and ranked all ten from best to worst. Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse sit at the top for a reason, while the Amazing Spider-Man 2 landed at the bottom with critics calling it unfocused and overstuffed.
How we ranked the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man films
We limited the list to the ten main theatrically released films that center on Peter Parker, Miles Morales, or the broader Spider-Verse multiverse. Each title was scored using two aggregator sources: Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. The final ranking averages both scores into a single composite, so a film that critics love on both sites outranks one with a big split between audience and critic reception. The list spans the Sam Raimi trilogy, the Marc Webb reboot duology, the MCU Spider-Man trilogy, and the two Spider-Verse animated features.
The animated Spider-Verse films are in a league of their own
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) earned a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and an 87 Metacritic, making it the highest-rated Spider-Man film ever made. The animation alone redefined what a superhero movie can look like, but the film also gave Miles Morales a story that felt personal rather than derivative. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) followed with a 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and an 86 Metacritic, improving on the original’s emotional stakes and visual ambition. Both films won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, and both score higher than any live-action Spider-Man film on either aggregator.
The Sam Raimi trilogy peaks with Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 (2004) is widely considered the best live-action Spider-Man film, and the numbers back that up. It holds a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and an 83 Metacritic, with critics praising Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and the film’s surprisingly emotional exploration of Peter Parker’s divided loyalties. Spider-Man (2002) launched the franchise with a 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 73 Metacritic, proving that a big-budget superhero film could also be heartfelt. Spider-Man 3 (2007) fell hard, earning a 59 Metacritic and a 66 percent Rotten Tomatoes equivalent after critics attacked its overcrowded villain roster and the awkward introduction of Venom.
The Marc Webb reboot experiment
Sony’s attempt to revitalize the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) landed in the middle of the pack. It earned a 71 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 66 Metacritic, with Andrew Garfield’s performance widely praised even as the film retread familiar origin-story ground. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) dropped to a 50 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, making it the only film on this list to fall below the 60 percent threshold. Critics called it overstuffed and narratively unfocused, and Sony quickly pivoted to a Marvel Studios partnership.
The MCU Spider-Man era
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), which earned a 92 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 75 Metacritic. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) followed with a 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score and a 69 Metacritic, blending teen comedy with multiverse-adjacent stakes. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) became a cultural event, earning a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Its Metacritic of 71 reflects a more mixed critical consensus compared to its audience score, but the film remains one of the highest-grossing Spider-Man entries ever.
The full ranking: every Spider-Man and Spider-Verse movie
The table below lists all ten main Spider-Man and Spider-Verse films, their Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores, and the composite average that determined their rank.
| Rank | Film | Year | Metacritic | Rotten Tomatoes | Franchise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse | 2018 | 87 | 97% | Spider-Verse |
| 2 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | 2023 | 86 | 95% | Spider-Verse |
| 3 | Spider-Man 2 | 2004 | 83 | 93% | Sam Raimi |
| 4 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | 2021 | 71 | 93% | MCU |
| 5 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | 2017 | 75 | 92% | MCU |
| 6 | Spider-Man: Far From Home | 2019 | 69 | 91% | MCU |
| 7 | Spider-Man | 2002 | 73 | 90% | Sam Raimi |
| 8 | The Amazing Spider-Man | 2012 | 66 | 71% | Marc Webb |
| 9 | Spider-Man 3 | 2007 | 59 | 66% | Sam Raimi |
| 10 | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | 2014 | 52 | 50% | Marc Webb |
What the ranking tells us about the Spider-Verse era
The two Spider-Verse films outperforming every live-action entry is not an accident. Animated superhero movies can exaggerate motion, color, and perspective in ways that live-action cannot, and the Spider-Verse team used that freedom to make every frame feel like a comic panel. More importantly, the films center Miles Morales, a younger Afro-Latino Spider-Man, which gave Sony a protagonist with a fresh emotional register compared to the familiar Peter Parker story. That combination of formal innovation and narrative specificity is why Into the Spider-Verse remains the gold standard.
The live-action entries cluster in the 70 to 93 range, with the MCU Spider-Man films benefiting from ensemble cast synergy and the Sam Raimi trilogy benefiting from directorial personality. The Marc Webb films proved that rebooting an origin story without a new angle is a hard sell, which is exactly why Sony eventually handed the keys to Marvel Studios. If you are a casual viewer trying to catch up before the next Spider-Verse chapter, start at the top of this list and work your way down.
Want more deep dives on Marvel and superhero cinema? We also covered Tom Holland’s rumored role in Avengers: Doomsday and our essential MCU watch list ahead of the 2026 event.
