Almost 17 years ago, Spider-Man arrived in theaters and Willem Dafoe blew us all away with his incredible performance as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. Since then, the actor has made the leap to the DC Extended Universe to play the heroic Vulko in Aquaman but during a recent career retrospective, Dafoe looked back on his time working on Sam Raimi's movie.
"Sam Raimi did a miracle thing," he explained. "He made kind of a personal film out of a fairly big-sized, partly effect movie. It was early in the game of movies made from comic books, that sort of thing, so there was no template"
"I loved in Spider-Man particularly playing the double role. Everybody thinks about the Green Goblin and that was fun, but the more interesting role was probably the father, Norman Osborn. Because you could play these scenes where it would switch from comedy to drama in a line."
Dafoe went on to talk about where he looked for inspiration to take on the role and explained that Raimi actually gave him Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to read before shooting the scene where he argues with himself in the mirror.
"[It] was fun, and we basically did it in one take. I think, in the final thing, for whatever reason, they cut it. But we always shot it in one take, and it became a beautiful game, because I had to switch those things, and also for the camera to be in the mirror the correct way, and I had to dance with the camera a lot on that scene."
Do you think another actor will ever be able to top Dafoe's take on the Green Goblin?
For a ranking of every live-action Spider-Man costume
from worst to best, hit the "View List" button below!
15. The Amazing Spider-Man's Homemade Costume
One of the first official images released from The Amazing Spider-Man, this shot generated a predictably sizeable backlash. It's not hard to see why either; the rebooted Peter Parker's first attempt at a costume was sunglasses, a balaclava, a ski hat, and a jacket! It was admittedly something a teenager could create, but also uninspired and dull.
The fact that the young hero went from this to his much more advanced final costume was another ridiculous jump, but one which Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is also guilty of to be fair. Regardless, this costume sucks and I wouldn't mind betting that you had completely forgotten about it before seeing it here (I know I had anyway).
14. Spidey Super Stories
"Spidey Super Stories" was a segment on a PBS children's series in the 1970s, and dancer/puppeteer Danny Seagran was the one suited up as the wall-crawler. Held back by a minuscule budget and the technological restrictions of the times, it looks like the guy is wearing the cheapest fancy dress costume ever, and it really doesn't seem as if they made any sort of effort here.
The spider symbol and oddly deranged looking eyes don't help matters either, and when it comes to the actual Spider-Man costume, this is easily the worst version to date. If Spidey was real and swinging around looking like this, I think we'd all be on the J. Jonah Jameson hate wagon!
13. The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman are among the best-known superhero TV shows from the 1970s, but the wall-crawler also made his presence felt on the small screen for a time. Surprisingly faithful to the source material, this costume was much better than the version in "Super Spidey Stories", but still not great.
The webbing pattern was better (as was the material), but what in the hell is going on with those eyes?! The hero having mirrored lenses in his mask may have carried over into his big screen adventures, but it looks like someone stuck a couple of actual mirrors on his face here. For the period in which it was created, this was ok, but it's still a long way off from perfect.
12. The Japanese Spider-Man
The 1970s were a big decade for Spider-Man, particularly in the Far East. The Japanese Spidey shared nothing in common with his comic book counterpart (he was a motorcycle racer who got his powers from an alien that crash-landed on Earth, a la Green Lantern), but this costume is perhaps the best in a very bad bunch.
While it still looks like it was made by a partially sighted cosplayer, the colours are spot on and the eyes seem to be at least somewhat Ditko inspired. That gauntlet isn't a web-shooter by the way; it's controlling his giant robot Leopardon. As I said, this wasn't one for fans of the source material, but he does at least still look like Spider-Man for the most part anyway!
11. Peter Parker's Wrestling Outfit
You may think it's odd to put this homemade costume before those more faithful - but still terrible - takes on Spider-Man, but I liked this one. Sure, it's just a ski mask, a jumper, and jogging trousers, but the fact that Peter actually stencilled a logo on the damn thing illustrates at least some effort on his part to become Spider-Man.
This was also the costume in which we first saw the wall-crawler swinging between buildings in pursuit of his Uncle's killer, a moment which isn't as fondly remembered as it arguably should be (those special effects in 2002 were groundbreaking). Anyway, as homemade costumes go, this was a good one, but it's fair to say that Marvel Studios ended up topping it.
10. The (Not So) Amazing Spider-Man
Sony clearly felt the need to differentiate their rebooted Spider-Man from what came before, hence why we ended up with this costume. To be honest, it took a while for it to grow on me, and I did end up liking it, especially in action. However, those trainers and the lack of a utility belt (giving Spidey a weird elongated look) still bother me, even if the former were likely put there simply to emphasise the fact that Peter made this costume himself.
While the golden lenses were an interesting creative decision, they ended up looking pretty cool, and I like that you could see the hero's eyes through them. Ultimately though, this suit was far from perfect and needed some big changes.
9. The Scarlet Spider Inspired Homemade Costume
On the surface, this costume doesn't really take much in the way of inspiration from the comic books because Peter Parker has never really worn anything like this. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the Scarlet Spider suit is what led to Marvel Studios dreaming up this homemade suit for Peter Parker and it looks pretty damn cool.
First glimpsed in Captain America: Civil War and later highlighted in Spider-Man: Homecoming, it was a bold decision by Marvel to have Peter wear this while doing battle with The Vulture in the final battle. However, seeing him lift that rubble while decked out in the hoodie made it clear that it's more than just the suit that makes the (spider) man.
8. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Stealth (?) Suit
I don't want to jump the gun here (especially as we've only seen a few photos of this suit) but what appears to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. issue stealth suit will play a big role in Spider-Man: Far From Home when the wall-crawler attempts to hide his identity from his fellow classmates as he battles Mysterio overseas.
The design here is extremely interesting and it's clear that the costume is inspired by the Spider-Man Noir version of the character, someone I think it's fair to say none of us ever expected to see in a live-action setting. With any luck, this will move up the ranks following an officially released image.
7. Spider-Man (2002)
Considering the fact this it was created for Spider-Man's live-action debut, it's hard to fault this costume. However, now that I'm looking back on it, the drabness of the colours definitely hold this one back from true greatness. The blue parts have become navy here, and the silver webbing doesn't really do the red any favours here (the lack of black means it fails to really pop off the screen).
The limitations in technology at the time also mean that the mask is a problem; I'm not a fan of the very sharp and triangular style of the eyes, but worse than that is how stiff the whole headpiece looked when Peter was talking in there; there was no movement, making it look very static.
6. Spider-Man 3's Symbiote Costume
There's no denying that, for the most part, this take on Spider-Man's black costume was something of a disappointment. However, it was still cool to see it on the big screen and while it would have been nice to see the white logo make an appearance, this actually worked really well in the Raimi-verse.
Basically a black version of the regular red and blue version, this still managed to look superb on screen and director Sam Raimi arguably made a wise decision to give the suit some texture rather than making it smooth all over like its comic book counterpart. Honestly, this costume worked better than most fans give it credit for and it deserved a little more screentime.
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Comic Accurate Suit
I had a lot of issues with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (let's not go down that route again, eh?), but there's no denying that Marc Webb and company nailed the character's costume here. A massive improvement over the one which preceded it, this was classic Spider-Man through and through and has an advantage over Raimi's version due to the brightness of the material used.
What I'm not so keen on is that elongated spider and the actual fabric, especially as it appears to be the same weird shiny spandex from The Amazing Spider-Man. That aside, though, and this is a hard one to find fault with, especially as it also incorporated the much larger eyes absent from past versions.
4. Iron Spider
While this may be a departure from the Iron Spider suit seen in the comic books, it still managed to look spectacular on screen and seeing those extra arms in action was a definite highlight in Avengers: Infinity War. Created entirely by CGI, it's hard to judge a costume brought to life via VFX in a list full of practical ones but there's no real way a suit like this could have really been done justice.
Chances are this was a one and done but it was the right choice to have Peter Parker wear this in the superhero ensemble and it's responsible for some of the movie's most memorable visuals.
3. Spider-Man 2/Spider-Man 3
Going into Spider-Man 2, Tobey Maguire's costume didn't undergo a huge amount of changes, but some improvements were made in the overall design and colour scheme. In fact, had Sam Raimi figured out a way to make those eyes move, I dare say that this costume would be at the top of this list!
Heading into Spider-Man 3, it was no great surprise to see that no significant changes had been made to the costume because there's really no need to alter perfection. For a lot of fans, this suit is nothing short of iconic and symbolises everything that this character should be on screen. If you're not a fan of the MCU's version, just go ahead and place this at #1!
2. The Stark Suit
I know a lot of fans aren't happy with this suit (mostly because of those black lines and the fairly prominent web-shooters) but for me, it's definitely classic Spider-Man even if I would prefer a slightly different logo. That may seem like a lot of negatives for a suit that's placed so highly here but there's something which obviously distinguishes this one from the rest in a big way.
I am, of course, referring to the moving eyes, an element absent from every other suit on this list that finally gives the wall-crawler the chance to convey emotion in the same way as his comic book counterpart. In action, it looks amazing and I think it's going to be remembered as the best "classic" costume by far in years to come.
1. The (New?) Stark Suit
I may be jumping the gun here but, honestly, this suit looks damn near perfect. The red and black colour scheme is a great nod to some of the character's earliest appearances, while the contrast between them helps it to really jump off the screen (well, set photos). Throw in the fact that the web-shooters are smaller now and I honestly think Marvel Studios has got this costume just right.
The white logo on the back is something new, while the one on the front is a definite improvement over the Homecoming version and I can't wait to a) see this in action and b) learn how it's created.
Which of these Spider-Man suits is your favourite? Do you agree with this ranking from worst to best? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts on that in the comments section down below.