How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order (including Venom)
Knowing how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order has become a sticky, webby mess. There have been three major iterations of the hero on the big screen, and each one now links up thanks to the multiversal movie Spider-Man: No Way Home. In fact, to truly appreciate the latest Spider-Man MCU installment, you have to have watched almost a dozen other movies.
That's a whole lot of wall-crawling, and you may be a bit lost when it comes to a Spider-Man watch order. And, of course, that's why you are here. Below, we break down how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order. We have split the films into distinct sections to make watching them as easy as possible. We start with the Tobey Maguire's trilogy, the Andrew Garfield's duo of movies, then Holland's films, including the Avengers movies that he appears in – and for a full rundown of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which Holland's movies take place, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
We have also included Tom Hardy's Venom movies, as Venom is a Spider-Man villain with ties to the main web-head. Soon, we will also have a better understanding of Morbius, the Jared Leto-led movie which also takes place in the Spider-Verse, and we will add that to this list after its release. Plus, though it's an animation, we've thrown Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse into the mix! Here's our guide. Now, get me those pictures of Spider-Man (sorry, had to be done...).
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Tobey Maguire's trilogy
Tobey Maguire appears in three of his own Spider-Man movies. Released between 2002 and 2007, the trilogy – directed by Sam Raimi – marked the first major big-screen appearance from Spider-Man, and in the process, the movies broke box-office records. These are simply some of the best superhero movies ever released and introduced us to all the classic components to the Spider-Man story.
- Spider-Man
- Spider-Man 2
- Spider-Man 3
A fair warning: the first two Spider-Man movies are excellent, mainly thanks to their villains: Green Goblin and Doc Ock. However, Spider-Man 3 is one of the worst Spider-Man movies, thanks to being overloaded with villains – Sandman, a new Green Goblin, and Topher Grace's Venom – and the plot just generally being a mess. It's not one to skip, though, as there are just so many excellent memes. If you laugh along, you'll be just fine.
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Andrew Garfield's movies
Andrew Garfield drew the short straw when it came to his time playing Spider-Man. The actor is excellent as Peter Parker, yet the movies' plots are both too tangly for their own good. The first one has its moments, but the second really can be a slog. However, as with Spider-Man 3, there's no getting around watching it, and the defining moment in Garfield's time as Peter takes place near the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Just ignore the setup for The Sinister Six that never came to be.
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Tom Holland's movies
Thinking of skipping the other Spider-Man movies? Think again! Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker skips the outright origins story, with Marvel and Sony presuming that you've probably already seen Pete being bitten by a radioactive spider in the Maguire and Garfield movies. However, Holland's Parker is younger and more naive than the other two incarnations, and we see the character living out his high-school life. There's a lot of fun to be had.
- Captain America: Civil War
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
Now, you will have noticed a few things. First: there are non-Spider-Man movies in the list. That's because Holland's Spider-Man was actually first introduced in Captain America: Civil War, and to fully understand the character's relationship to mentor Tony Stark, you're going to need to watch that film and the Avengers movies. You may be a bit lost otherwise.
Second: we have not included Spider-Man: No Way Home here. That's because that movie brings together a bunch of characters from Maguire and Garfield's movies, and you're also going to want to watch the Venom movies, too. Speaking of Venom, the first of Tom Hardy's movies was released between Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. So you can watch it there, or watch the Venom movies separately as we would recommend.
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Tom Hardy's Venom movies
The Venom movies are part of Sony's ever-growing Spider-Verse, and become almost inexplicably linked to the wider Spider-Man movies. There's also a good chance this will link to Morbius, another Spider-Man villain being brought to the big-screen in a solo adventure.
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Spider-Man: No Way Home
This one's the most complicated of the lot. You're going to have want to have watched absolutely everything above to fully appreciate what's going on in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Director Jon Watt's conclusion to the Homecoming trilogy sees the multiverse being ripped apart, and characters from all across the Spider-verse being dragged into the MCU.
If you really cannot be fussed to watch every Spider-Man adventure before heading into No Way Home, then Holland's movies are probably the bare essentials. However, you won't understand the motivations behind Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and the other returning characters. This really is a massive cross-over movie, and you'll thank yourself for taking the time to watch the other Spider-Man movies before seeing this.
How to watch the Spider-Man movies in order – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
This one's an outlier – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is our pick for the best Spider-Man movie, yet doesn't fall neatly into the watch order. This one's an animated movie, which doesn't share any plot threads with any other movie. Like Venom, this was released in late 2018, and can be watched in-between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame if you want. But really, this can be watched at any stage in your Spider-Man run-through, and it's just an incredible movie that's worth watching if you haven't. It also introduces the concept of the multiverse in a very straightforward way, which may be helpful for No Way Home, though not necessary as there is no crossover.
And that's how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order. That's a lot of web-slinging! For more, check out our guides on how to watch the X-Men movies in order and how to watch the DC movies in order.
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