20 Years of Spider-Man 2

[Slimybug]

This year marks 20 years since Spider-Man 2.

Does anyone else remember the overwhelming praise this movie got? At the time it was near-universally regarded as the greatest superhero movie ever made (because there were like 10).

20 years, and literally dozens of superhero movies later, we’ve had masterpieces like The Dark Knight, the Spider-Verse movies, and Joker, and an entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Does SM 2 even crack the top 10 now? Does it even hold up? Where does it fall on your list?

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[choptop]

Still the best spiderman movie

[Frobisher]

I used to be on a forum where they convinced themselves it was terrible via groupthink. Peter Parker, brilliant but lazy.

[Android 17]

Still the best spiderman movie

Hands down.

Still remember seeing it in real time in a theater that was PACKED. My favorite Spidey movie 20 years later by far.

[Tuck]

Second best superhero movie after Superman: The Movie.

[BeastieRunner]

I think it's the best adult Spider-Man movie and the second best Spidey movie of all time. Into the Spiderverse is the best IMHO.

Crazy that it's been 20 years.

[godisawesome]

I still think it's the second best in its own continuity - I still love Doc Ock, love about half of Peter's stuff and hate the rest, and I still hate the tripe of the MJ storyline.

Green Goblin's still better, the first movie handles the character arcs and romance better from a character standpoint, and cringe comedy still sucks.

[Surf]

For years after it's release I considered it the best superhero movie ever to date, nuff respect to X2 and Superman The Movie. That was a long time ago.

Now, I think it might be bottom of top 5, maybe, definitely still in the top 10.

Still second best Spider-Man movie to me, Across the Spiderverse I love. Doc Ock was Doc Ock and most of that was just the visualization, which was great but Molina made Octavious way more charming than I had ever read. Even when he would push up on 616 May I was always like 'yuh right'. Still love the Bacharach sequence.

... Now that I think about it, it's a top 2 Rami movie, only behind ED2.

[Powerboy]

Still the best Spider-Man movie although the Spiderverse and No Way Home are contenders.

Overall, still in the top 5. The only serious competitors are Superman: the Movie, the Dark Knight, Iron-Man, and Wonder Woman, plus the already mentioned other Spider-Man movies and, for me personally, Captain America: the First Avenger. Really, the only one I would put above it is Superman: the Movie.

Yes, there has been a deluge of superhero movies in recent years but quantity is not always quality.

One of the biggest selling points of S2 for me was that it showed you can do a superhero movie that feels like it's about the characters and their situations for a huge amount of the movie and not be action, action, action, no substance, to sell tickets.

[Jokerz79]

I'm going to go against the grain here but while the Best Raimi Spider-Man film narrowly beating Spider-Man 2004 for me I like No Way Home (Which granted is so good due to the foundation previous films like Spider-Man 2 built) I like it and Far From Home slightly more than Spider-Man 2 and like all the previous mentioned films along with Homecoming more than any of the Spider verse animated films

[ChrisIII]

For years after it's release I considered it the best superhero movie ever to date, nuff respect to X2 and Superman The Movie. That was a long time ago.

Now, I think it might be bottom of top 5, maybe, definitely still in the top 10.

Still second best Spider-Man movie to me, Across the Spiderverse I love. Doc Ock was Doc Ock and most of that was just the visualization, which was great but Molina made Octavious way more charming than I had ever read. Even when he would push up on 616 May I was always like 'yuh right'. Still love the Bacharach sequence.

... Now that I think about it, it's a top 2 Rami movie, only behind ED2.

Yeah, a lot of Otto's writing in the comics kind of comes off as more stereotypical old-fashioned supervillain/Mad scientist than the Goblins or a lot of the rest of his rogue's gallery (Who generally are mainly in it for the $$).

Kind of what made Superior so fun.