55% Of Marvel Fans Agree This Is The Worst Spider-Man Movie
A de facto mascot for Marvel Comics, Spider-Man has long been one of the most iconic and adapted superheroes of all time. The character has a long, illustrious history as both a TV and a movie star, but of course, that doesn't mean that every one of his big-screen adventures is equally venerated by fans. In his various theatrical incarnations, Spider-Man has seen his share of highs and lows in the eyes of the people who will go see any movie starring the wall-crawler regardless.
An unscientific online poll of comic book movie fans narrowed the question of the worst "Spider-Man" movie down to three finalists widely considered the weakest among fans: 2007's "Spider-Man 3," the oft-maligned final film in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire; 2012's disappointing "The Amazing Spider-Man"; and 2014's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," both starring Andrew Garfield.
All three of these movies have their defenders, and the Garfield films in particular have seen a resurgence of appreciation following the multiversal adventure of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (leading to speculation that a third film in the series might be produced). But the poll also shows a decisive result to which one is the worst.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took the dubious honor
279 people chimed in on the question u/playboi17 posed on r/comicbookmovies. Of the three options, "The Amazing Spider-Man" got the fewest votes, with only 22, while second place went to "Spider-Man 3," with 103 votes. But the decisive winner — or loser, as the case may be — was "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," with 154 votes. As pollsters are always reminding us, opinion polls merely provide a snapshot in time. And at the time and place of this poll, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," Easter eggs and all, was considered the worst.
Why? As u/Classical_Fan explained, "I wanted to see them run with the conspiracy stuff they set up in the previous movie and give us something new that still felt like Spider-Man. Instead, ... they made Electro into some chump who becomes a villain due to a random accident, and they killed off one of the best characters for no good reason. That's all true to the comics, but it wasn't true to what they set up in the first movie. It just felt like one big missed opportunity." This is in line with IndieWire, which cites Jamie Foxx's bizarre characterization of Max Dillon, aka Electro, and the film's emphasis on setting up sequels and spin-offs that we now know are not likely to happen as particular flaws.
Even Andrew Garfield has some opinions on what went wrong with "Amazing Spider-Man 2." In a 2014 Daily Beast interview, he blamed studio executives for cutting the thematic threads that ran through Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci's script, resulting in a compromised finished product.
The other two Spidey movies in the poll have both defenders and detractors
This particular poll was slanted from the start, not even allowing fans to vote on anything other than these three movies for the designation of Spidey's worst cinematic outing. And of course, there are some voices of dissent in the comments, like u/wreckieXD, who declared, "'Spider-Man 3' is the most rewatchable movie from the trilogy." Despite that, it was a strong runner-up in the poll, with over a third of voters citing it as the worst Spidey movie yet.
If you spend any time on social media, you're probably familiar with the jokes and memes to have come from some of the more unusual creative choices in "Spider-Man 3." Peter Parker's cheesy dance moves and dark hairstyle adopted while under the influence of the Venom symbiote have taken on a new life online.
But it can be jarring to see these wild tonal swings in a superhero movie, and the film's controversial place among fans (with a 51% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes to match) is a reflection of that. And as was the case with "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," the untold truth of "Spider-Man 3" is that it's also a film tainted by creative interference from the studio, which mandated that Venom be included in the film despite Sam Raimi's lack of interest in the character.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" performed relatively well in the poll, with less than 10% of the votes. That film has a healthy 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, so it makes sense that it doesn't really seem to be in the conversation about the worst Spidey movies.