There have been six Spider-Man movies to date, but ask yourself this: have any of them really, truly, been great adaptations of the hero? There are certainly some good movies in the mix (and some bad ones), but the character himself has never really been portrayed very well. It isn’t easy to adapt a comic book character to screen, though as with decades of source material and millions of comic book fans, you can’t meet everyone’s expectations. That said, there are some extremely important qualities that shouldn’t be changed when it comes to characters and their histories, things that define who the character is and how they see the world. In Spider-Man’s case, one would expect to find a lot of humor and trash-talk towards bad guys. Everyone knows Peter’s origin story, so you wouldn’t expect any major changes there. His powers, one would think, are also a given. Even certain relationships are so vital to the character, like Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, or Mary Jane. And yet, somehow, the movies manage to mess up on these basic things.
That’s why, over six solo movies and two MCU team-ups, there hasn’t been a perfect Peter Parker. Each take on the character has managed to portray certain aspects of the character very well, but suffered in other places. Whether it is a case of an actor who was too old for the role, too good-looking for the role, or simply too many unnecessary story changes, movie makers have managed, time and again, to ruin Spider-Man in ways both extremely subtly and obnoxiously obvious. Here are 20 that we could find, but we’re sure there’s more.
20 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: USING MARY JANE INSTEAD OF GWEN
In the comics, Peter Parker’s first real love interest was Gwen Stacy. In the Sam Raimi trilogy, Parker’s main squeeze is Mary Jane Watson. While Mary Jane is the quintessential girl-next-door in the comics, she doesn’t appear until after the tragic passing of Gwen Stacy -- a defining moment in Spider-Man’s history.
In the movies, Gwen Stacy was shoved into the third chapter, but her character and story arc bore little resemblance to the comic. Ultimately, this changes a lot about who Spider-Man is -- without experiencing the guilt that comes with blaming himself for the demise of Gwen, the Spider-Man of this original trilogy lacked some of the depth that fans of the character were hoping for.
19 AMAZING: COOL PETER
While Tobey Maguire’s performance may not have worked, the way the character was written should have, for the most part. When James Garfield took on the role for the reboot, his character was written to be more of a romantic comedy lead than an awkward nerd.
Aside from never seeming to really know what he wants to say to Gwen Stacy, Peter is a skateboarder who is pretty good looking and manages to approach most situations with great confidence. He is generally pretty well-liked and popular. The Peter Parker of the comics was written to be a nerd and an outcast; while the movie tells us that this is the case, it shows us a very different picture.
18 HOMECOMING: IRON MAN JR.
Spider-Man hasn’t ever really needed a super suit. His basic suit doesn’t offer him any extra abilities. Aside from his web-shooters, he’s always gotten by with his strength, reflexes, spider sense, and wall-crawling. The Venom symbiote increased those abilities, but didn’t really give him any new ones. However, when Peter Parker was brought into the MCU, Tony Stark immediately gave him a new Starktech-equipped suit.
The costume has its own voice-activated AI system and a ton of gadgets and special features that Spider-Man hasn’t even begun to explore. Once Spider-Man was heading into space in Avengers: Infinity War, Stark called in the Iron Spider suit, which came with robot arms, among other new abilities. While cool, the extra tech kind of cheapens what Spider-Man is.
17 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: EMO PARKER
One of the parts of the third chapter in Sam Raimi’s trilogy that angered fans the most was the way that the Venom symbiote was handled. In the comics, the symbiote caused Peter to act aggressively, angrily, and violently. In the movie, the effects of the symbiote were portrayed a bit differently. Peter’s dark side did his hair up like the frontman of an emo band and started pelvic thrusting all around the city.
What could have been one of the deepest Spider-Man movies ended up being one of the worst. Fans of Venom were particularly disappointed, but they’ll get their chance at redemption when Venom gets his own movie this October.
16 AMAZING: CURT CONNORS
The Amazing Spider-Man was built on the ruins of the previous Spider-Man franchise, and it is for this reason that the Lizard ended up being the main villain. Curt Connors, after all, had been present in the previous franchise and so fans assumed he’d be appearing as the villain at some point.
Apparently, he would have been the villain in the fourth movie, but when that didn’t happen, Sony decided to keep the Lizard for their next attempt. Unfortunately, Spider-Man had no established relationship with the new Curt Connors, who was reintroduced in the reboot. As a result, the impact of Peter having to fight the character was lessened. What should have been his mentor played like any other mad scientist.
15 HOMECOMING: LACK OF SPIDER SENSE
One of the powers that Spider-Man relies on the most is his spider sense. It gives him a reflex that borders on precognition and warns him of impending danger. While one could argue that his heightened reflexes are themselves indicative of his spider sense, it was much more clearly displayed in both the original trilogy and the reboot series.
We didn’t see the spider sense in the MCU until Spider-Man’s third movie, and even then, it was just a subtle raising of the hair on Peter’s arm. Perhaps his powers are evolving and growing over time? Hopefully we’ll see this power explored further Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers 4.
14 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: THE UNCLE BEN SITUATION
The movies have told the story of the Uncle Ben tragedy several times, and for good reason. It’s a pivotal moment in the history of Spider-Man. However, neither version of the story was true to the comics. In the comics, Peter hunts down the man who took his uncle from him and ultimately shows mercy, capturing him and turning him in to the police.
In Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Spider-Man tracks down him down and the criminal falls out of a window to his own demise. Even worse, in the third Sam Raimi film, it’s revealed that it was actually the Sandman who did it in the first place. In Marc Webb’s 2012 reboot, the perpetrator is never found, and so Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man never gets closure on this particular issue.
13 AMAZING: HARRY AND PETER'S RELATIONSHIP
Harry Osborn is Peter Parker’s best friend in the comics, and his relationship with Peter was handled fairly well in the original Sam Raimi trilogy. However, when Harry was finally brought into things in the second movie in the reboot series, his friendship with Peter was skimmed over. They have a few short scenes together, and we’re told that they have a history together, but we’re never shown that history.
Why didn’t they plant the seeds of this relationship Garfield’s first Spider-Man movie? Who knows. The first movie did very little to build a universe, while the second spent too much time trying to build one. As a result, many of the new characters and storylines felt rushed and undeveloped.
12 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: GREEN GOBLIN'S ULTIMATUM
In the comics, Green Goblin knocks Gwen Stacy off of a bridge and Peter Parker has to try to save her; Parker fails, and loses his first love, Gwen Stacy, forever. In the first of Sam Raimi’s movies, Green Goblin sets up a similar situation for Spider-Man to try to resolve.
In one hand, he has a gondola filled with people about to plummet to their doom, in the other, he has Mary Jane. Spider-Man, however, doesn’t have to choose -- he’s able to rescue both, which is a huge departure from the comics. As we said before, taking Gwen Stacy out of Parker’s early life and removing her passing from Spider-Man’s history drastically changes his development as a hero.
11 HOMECOMING: THE "NEW UNCLE BEN"
In the Sam Raimi trilogy and the Amazing Spider-Man reboot, we get to see Peter’s relationship with Uncle Ben. The MCU, electing to skip over retelling the origin story for a third time, replaces Peter’s father figure with Tony Stark. It’s clear that Peter looks up to Tony as both a scientist and a superhero, and Peter spends much of his time trying to prove himself to Stark.
However, it’s ultimately Stark who loses Peter, rather than the other way around. It definitely works for the sake of the MCU, but tying Peter so closely to Iron Man so early into his career seems like an odd move. There’s a lot of Spider-Man history yet to explore.
10 AMAZING: HIS... PARENTS?
Once again, there are comic roots for this particular story, but in the traditional Marvel canon, Peter’s parents have long past. In the Marc Webb movies, it turns out that Peter’s parents were actually super genius scientists who conducted research for Oscorp and went on the run to prevent their research from being used for evil.
Their research would have apparently led into spin-off movies starring the Sinister Six, but this storyline fell flat for audiences and really changed the origin of Spider-Man as a character, making his spectacular story more or less destiny. It felt like a case of the reboot trying too hard to separate itself from the original trilogy, and it simply didn’t work.
9 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: THE HUMOR
One of the things that makes Spider-Man so iconic is his sense of humor. His quick wit and snarky comebacks are part of what makes reading the character so much fun. While some of this has been attempted, it’s never really been captured very well, but the worst culprit was absolutely the original Spider-Man trilogy.
When Peter Parker gets to be Spider-Man, he is at his most confident, and the jokes roll off his tongue. With Tobey Maguire, the jokes felt forced. So far, Tom Holland’s wall-crawler hasn’t really been much of a comedian, either, but he’s young yet, so maybe there is time for him to grow into the comedian that we’re all familiar with.
8 HOMECOMING: CHEAP TWISTS
In another instance of misusing a character for the sake of a movie plot, the character of Liz, Peter’s crush in Spider-Man: Homecoming, is not a character the Peter ever really had feelings for in the comic. While the comic version of the character had feelings for Peter, he was dating Betty Brant at the time and had no interest in Liz.
Even worse, the Liz in the movie turns out to be the daughter of the Vulture, something which is not the case in the comic. The whole twist is revealed before the homecoming dance, and is essentially just a set up for the most awkward conversation ever to happen between a guy and the father of his date.
7 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: ORGANIC WEB SHOOTERS
In the original Sam Raimi trilogy, Spider-Man’s webbing is organic, formed by his body and shot out of his wrists like a spider’s spinnerets. However, while there are comic universes in which Spider-Man’s webbing is organic, this is a departure from the standard version of the character, who used his genius intellect to create his own web-shooters.
This may not seem like a big deal on its face, but it lessens the emphasis on Parker’s intelligence and ability to invent new gadgets. The later movies fixed this issue, showing Peter hiding web fluid in strategic places around his school and running out of web fluid.
6 AMAZING: UNCLE BEN'S STORY
We already mentioned how The Amazing Spider-Man changed bits of the hero’s origin story, but there are several other details we haven’t mentioned yet. For example, the criminal who shoots Uncle Ben in this version of the story had just robbed a corner store.
Unfortunately, Uncle Ben decides to step in and try to take on the armed robber himself, losing his life in the struggle. Because the robber didn’t actively choose to shoot Ben, and because Ben wasn’t an innocent bystander who got shot, the crime itself is somehow less emotionally impactful, and Peter becomes a darker, more jaded vigilante, rather than a hero who is accepting his responsibility to help people.
5 HOMECOMING: YOUNG AUNT MAY
Why is it that Aunt May keeps getting younger? In the original trilogy, she was an elderly woman. In Amazing Spider-Man, Aunt May was played by Sally Field, who was younger than her predecessor, but old enough to still clearly be his older Aunt. In Captain America: Civil War, Aunt May is played by Marisa Tomei, who looks younger and more vibrant than any version of the character that we’ve seen before.
Even Tony has to remark on how lovely she looks. She’s youthful enough to teach Peter how to dance in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it completely changes his relationship with her- while he answers to her, she seems like more of a friend and less of a parental figure somehow.
4 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: MJ AND PETER'S RELATIONSHIP
While Mary Jane is the focus of Peter’s love life in the Sam Raimi trilogy, there is very little reason for us to really hope that they get together or stay together as we see in the movies. Peter’s pined after MJ for years and she never really wanted anything to do with him; he was essentially stalking her, overhearing conversations and taking pictures of her.
She ultimately leaves her fiancée for him, but he ends up hitting her and making sure she sees him dancing with another girl. There’s really not much to root for here, other than the knowledge that we’re just kind of supposed to.
3 AMAZING: NO JONAH
In Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter begins selling photos of Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle. This is no surprise, as it's the primary way Peter makes an income in the comics. However, one of the most prominent characters in the Daily Bugle is J. Jonah Jameson, the loud and opinionated Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle.
The movie basically skips over the Daily Bugle and we don’t really see the characters at all. It’s possible that the makers of the film didn’t want to try to recast the character after J.K. Simmons masterful portrayal in the original trilogy, but something just feels like it’s missing if you don’t have Jonah yelling to Spider-Man’s alter ego about what a menace Spider-Man is.
2 ORIGINAL TRILOGY: THE CASTING
When Tobey Maguire first played Spider-Man, he was 26. In his first movie, Peter Parker was a high school senior and the age disparity was extremely obvious. There’s truthfully never been a teenage actor playing the superhero.
Tom Holland comes closest, but he was 20 in his first outing as the wall-crawler. Still, Tobey Maguire was a few years into his 30s when his last flick as the web-slinger came out. It made for an outrageous character, and Tobey Maguire failed at handling some of the more emotional moments, as well as some of the delivery of his lines while in costume.
1 AMAZING AND HOMECOMING: "WITH GREAT POWER..."
In what is almost certainly another case of the movie studios choosing to put some distance between themselves and the clichés of the past, the classic Spider-Man quote, “With great power comes great responsibility” is nowhere to be found in the Amazing Spider-Man or MCU movies. In the MCU, Peter says, “When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”
Amazing Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben says, “If you [can] do good things for other people, you [have] a moral obligation to do those things.” While both have the same message, we think fans everywhere would agree that the movies should just stick to the classic line.