While it's fair to say we all had our fair share of complaints about The Amazing Spider-Man movies, the character is clearly one Andrew Garfield loves. Despite any missteps made by the creative team, it's his love for Peter Parker which made the actor's return in Spider-Man: No Way Home a cause for celebration.
While Spider-Man 3 was a disappointment, Sam Raimi's trilogy is still widely loved by fans. For some, though, Garfield is their Spider-Man...even if The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel weren't as spectacular as they could be! Both movies were rife with issues, but there were also a lot of great ideas, moments, and characters that actually did this beloved superhero justice.
So, rather than taking another look back at what didn't work in the 2012 origin story and 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, we're celebrating Garfield's 40th birthday by shining a positive light on his and filmmaker Marc Webb's short-lived time with this character.
We think you'll be surprised by some of the points made here, especially as there were ideas we'd argue were better than what both Raimi and the MCU have delivered. To take a look through this feature, all you need to do is click on the "Next" button below...
10. The Costume
No, we're not talking about the costume in The Amazing Spider-Man (though it certainly wasn't the worst redesign for the wall-crawler's iconic suit in fairness). The one in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, however, is still widely considered to be Peter Parker's best big screen look and is 100% comic-accurate.
Not even the Marvel Cinematic Universe could say that until Spider-Man: No Way Home's closing moments, and this one still looks truly amazing in action.
Garfield donned this outfit once again in 2021 and that was a smart move on Marvel Studios' part. Sometimes, it doesn't really matter when a costume is changed from what we're used to seeing on the page (Captain America, for example), but with Spider-Man, taking an "if it ain't broke" approach is for the best, and this sequel did that.
9. Spider-Man Protects New York City
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, it was established that the MCU's webbed wonder is a "neighbourhood" superhero. He does a great job protecting Queens, but never really ventures into New York City. Clearly, Marvel Studios was looking to get away from the familiar imagery of Spidey swinging through the Big Apple, but that was still sorely missed.
In the sequel, we did see a little more of Spider-Man in Manhattan, but with most of his adventure taking place overseas, that didn't really happen until those final few minutes.
In The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, Peter was very much a hero protecting his city, and that led to some astonishing moments. Whether it was using those cranes to get to Oscorp in the first movie or just the sight of him hanging out atop a skyscraper to keep an eye on Gwen Stacy (still creepy), this Spidey felt like a hero who was needed in New York.
8. Web-Slinging
Sam Raimi mastered those epic web-slinging scenes in his Spider-Man trilogy, but The Amazing Spider-Man movies deserve some credit as well. Marc Webb definitely made good use of the comic books for inspiration, recreating some iconic poses and doing an impressive job of making us feel what it would be like to actually be Spider-Man.
We're still not sure why those highly touted POV scenes were ditched, as they would have been incredible in 3D (which was still pretty popular back in 2012).
Despite that, if you didn't get a buzz watching this Spider-Man swinging through New York City in the sequel's opening, well, are you even a fan of Marvel's most iconic superhero? There's a lot that didn't work in these movies, but if you can find a compilation on YouTube, we're sure you'll agree with this point!
7. "The Untold Story"
On the one hand, there's no getting around the fact that Spider-Man never needed an overly complicated origin story involving his parents. Making it so that Peter only gained his powers because his father used his own DNA in those spiders was goofy as hell, but this whole "Untold Story" aspect did add an interesting new element to the mythos in other ways.
While it was disappointing to see the wall-crawler seemingly abandon his mission to find Uncle Ben's killer by the time The Amazing Spider-Man 2 rolled around, that subplot with him learning more about his father's relationship with Oscorp made for an entertaining, albeit unnecessary, subplot.
Moving forward, there are some interesting places this could have gone, but as bad as the sequel was, it did make up for the lack of answers about Richard and Mary Parker in that first instalment. Norman Osborn eventually returning to target Peter because of the power inside him feels very Ultimate Spider-Man-esque, and, in some respects, it's shame that didn't pan out.
6. Peter's Dynamic With Aunt May
The Amazing Spider-Man movies didn't exactly put the freshest of spins of Peter Parker's dynamic with his Aunt May, with those hints that she knows he's secretly Spider-Man as hit-and-miss as they were throughout the course of Raimi's trilogy. Some fans appreciated that, though, and Peter's relationship with his aunt was otherwise a solid part of these movies.
Garfield and Sally Field had a tonne of chemistry, and that emotional scene in the sequel where she talks about him being her boy...well, in a mostly bad movie, that's a moment we can't really fault.
There was also a lot of humour in this relationship; in the first movie, May mostly spent her time fretting over how badly beaten her nephew was. However, in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, their squabble over the washing machine felt like a pitch-perfect take on how they should interact on screen.
5. Gwen Stacy
We're still not thrilled with how Gwen Stacy's story ended because it was a very underwhelming take on "The Night Gwen Stacy Died." Simply put, the character deserved better, and this iconic comic book moment simply didn't resonate the same way in a clock tower that felt entirely out of place.
The emotion in the scene was superb, though, so we're not going to fault Garfield's performance. Stone was also brilliant as the character, growing increasingly frustrated with the way Peter seemingly couldn't make his mind up about whether being with her was the right thing to do (tragically, Captain George Stacy's warning proved to be completely accurate).
By no means a damsel in distress, this fierce, intelligent Gwen was a pleasure to spend time with, and up there as one of Spider-Man's best big screen love interests. Sony dropped the ball by the time all was said and done, unfortunately, but this part of the franchise should be appreciated.
4. Amazing Action (Even When The Villains Weren't)
The Amazing Spider-Man movies had a real issue with its bad guys, with overly complicated or downright dreadful origin stories for characters like the Green Goblin, Electro, and The Lizard.
Despite that, one thing we can't fault is the action scenes. That battle with The Lizard in the library was nothing short of epic, while the fight in the school hallway was also expertly choreographed. Electro sucked, but we loved seeing him clash with the webbed warrior as well, and Webb proved himself a dab hand at action over the course of these two hit-and-miss movies.
In the first instalment, Sony tried to up the level of non-CGI web-slinging, which was only partially successful. The fight scenes, however, were primarily CG in both, and never disappointed.
3. Battle-Damaged Spider-Man
One of the coolest things about Spider-Man is that, when he gets beaten up, his costume usually winds up in tatters. That made the final battle between Spidey and the Green Goblin in 2002's Spider-Man all the more enjoyable, while both of these movies had fun putting the iconic hero through the wringer.
Maybe it's just me, but seeing Spider-Man bloodied, battered, and with a torn-up costume is always fun, and Webb did an effective job of showing what would happen to this teenager when the odds are stacked against him.
Ultimately, this is a minor part of the franchise, but like the MCU, it showed that this superhero is different to the likes of Thor and Iron Man and doesn't emerge from his fights mostly unscathed. Those scratches from The Lizard ended up being a cool part of The Amazing Spider-Man's marketing campaign, too.
2. A Wise-Cracking Spider-Man
Raimi's Spider-Man movies were superb (well, the first two were, anyway), but Maguire's Peter Parker never really became a wise-cracking superhero when he suited up. That added confidence has always been a big part of the comic book character's personality, and The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was the first to embrace that.
Garfield's Peter was perhaps a little too confident and sure of himself, but in the suit, he had a swagger, arrogance, and level of humour that felt wholly appropriate for this version of the masked menace.
Whether it was him hitting that guy in the nuts with his webbing in the first movie or mocking Aleksei Sytsevich in the follow-up, this side of the character just worked. Hopefully, this attitude carries over into this Spider-Man's return because it made spending time with him a lot of fun.
1. A True Hero
This feature isn't about comparing The Amazing Spider-Man movies to the wall-crawler's MCU adventures because, ultimately, the latter would win hands down every time. However, there are times when it feels like Holland's Peter only heads into action when something happens; in other words, he's more reactive than proactive.
Over the course of these movies, Garfield's Spider-Man proved himself a true hero, which was most evident during his interactions with children.
In the first movie, Spidey unmasks in front of a child about to plummet into the water below in order to reassure him. The follow-up, meanwhile, sees the hero fend off some bullies and walk a kid home after fixing his science project; this just feels right for Spider-Man, and showed a different side of the character we hadn't seen before, and arguably haven't since.