Hiya!

In just a few days, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is coming out. I am surprisingly hyped for it and I don’t know why. In the past, I wasn’t super excited for the other Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films. There’s just something about Brand New Day that feels different. Maybe it’s the mystery of who the main bad guy is going to be because none of the trailers have shown who he or she is. There are theories and predictions on who it’s going to be but, right now, I’d rather not speculate and just see who it is. I want Marvel to actually surprise me.

With my excitement for Spider-Man: Brand New Day hitting a boiling point, I did something I don’t really do that often: I rewatched an entire movie franchise to refresh my memory. I booted up my Disney+ and, over the weekend, I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home. It wasn’t that big of a deal; there are only 3 films, after all. While this didn’t really calm me down, it did get me to realize there were some things I liked and didn’t like about the franchise. So, while I do have Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man on the brain, let me go rank the trilogy and explain my answers.

#3 Spider-Man: Far From Home

The 2nd film in the franchise, Spider-Man: Far From Home takes place some time after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Peter Parker/Spider-Man takes a class trip through Europe. Peter hopes to use this time to confess his feeling to Michelle Jones-Watson/MJ. During the trip, a new threat known as Elementals, seemingly from another dimension, start wrecking havoc. Peter Parker is recruited by Nick Fury to work with Mysterio, an alleged interdimensional warrior, to take down the Elementals.

Spider-Man: Far From Home, to me, is the weakest of all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man movies for several reasons. I could enumerate them but I would just like to state the biggest issue I have with it: Mysterio. Even someone like me, who’s not all that familiar with Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, knew Mysterio is a villain. I distinctly remember one of my friends trying to convince me before Far From Home was out that maybe Marvel was going to subvert our expectations and make Mysterio an actual heroic character. That didn’t happen, did it?

So, for the entire time I was watching Far From Home all the way back in 2019, I was just waiting for the “big reveal” at how Mysterio, Marvel’s Master of Illusion, was using illusions to create the Elemental threat. When that inevitably happened, I remember groaning out loud while in the movie theater. Did Marvel really think this was going to fool anybody, especially comic book fans who are familiar with Mysterio?

Even with this blatant “non-twist”, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy Far From Home. The action scenes were all pretty good. That one scene where Peter is using his webbing to fix a building while flipping all around was awesome. I also do like how they progressed Peter Parker and MJ’s relationship here as well. Still, the idea of Marvel thinking they can trick fans by making Mysterio seem like a good guy at the start just nags at me, making me kind of hate Far From Home. I don’t actually hate it but it is enough to really annoy the heck out of me, making it the worst entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man movies.

#2 Spider-Man: No Way Home

Taking place some time after Far From Home, No Way Home has Peter Parker dealing with the fallout of his secret identity being known to the world. He goes to Doctor Strange to see if he can cast a spell to make the world forget it. As Doctor Strange casts the spell, Peter starts making requests to make it so his loved ones remember who he is but all these last minute requests corrupt the spell, leading to people from other realities who know Peter Parker’s secret identity, both friend and foe, to enter this reality. Peter Parker and his friends must now try to fight off these new foes and bring them back to their own dimensions.

Spider-Man: No Way Home was a treat to watch. I grew up watching all of the live-action Spider-Man movies so seeing the villains and heroes from those movies appear in this one was just a blast. I was particularly happy to see Willem Dafoe‘s Green Goblin because, as a kid, I was both amazed and frightened by the character. This was way before I understood what “hamming it up” meant but, as an adult, I can fully appreciate Willem Dafoe doing just that back then and still doing it in this movie.

Of course, the highlight has to be watching all of the previous versions of Spider-Man appear on screen. While I’m still a little shaky on Andrew Garfield‘s version of the Web-Head (he comes off as too obnoxious for my tastes), seeing a much older version of Tobey Maguire‘s Peter Parker was super exciting as I grew up on this version of Spider-Man. Seeing all three of them interact with each other was just a unique experience.

While No War Home could have taken the top spot among the trilogy, there was one particular thing which kept me from doing so: the ending. It was just so much of a downer! I get the entire “with great power comes great responsibility” spiel but having Peter Parker come to the conclusion that the best way to protect his friends is to never reveal himself to them was just too much for me. I know Peter Parker isn’t supposed to be too happy but this felt like they were going overboard to make him suffer. So, as much as I love No Way Home, I have to give it the 2nd spot, which means…

#1 Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming takes place after the first Avengers movie and Captain America: Civil War. Peter Parker wants to join the Avengers but Tony Stark/Iron Man tells him he’s not ready. When Peter Parker discovers a crew selling and using alien tech salvaged from the Battle of New York, he takes it on himself to stop them to prove he has what it takes to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

At first, I felt this isn’t my Spider-Man because I grew up with Tobey Maguire as my Spider-Man. There were also a lot of little things I actively disliked when I first saw this. For one, there was no Mary Jane Watson nor Gwen Stacy. What we got instead was Liz Allan. Also, the MJ that we got here wasn’t the MJ we were all familiar with. I guess this was Marvel subverting our expectations (which is what they should have done with Mysterio in Far From Home).

However, all of these changes worked in Spider-Man: Homecoming’s favor because, unlike all of the previous Spider-Man movies I’ve seen, I didn’t know what was going to happen! This wasn’t going to be anything I expected because Marvel switched things up. I was honestly surprised with the big reveal that Liz Allan’s father was The Vulture in this movie! They actually added a last minute twist to the character which I did not see coming because there was no way I could see it coming!

There have already been other Spider-Man movies before this but this one was the only one which genuinely surprised me. While I still would put the first couple of Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films over Homecoming as he still is my Spider-Man, this was a fantastic first outing and the best Spider-Man movie out of the other Marvel Cinematic Universe films… until Spider-Man: Brand New Day, at least.

Byee!

What’s your favorite Spider-Man movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let me know in the comments section below!