Sony
With “Venom” now in theaters, and unexpectedly breaking box-office records, it marks the latest addition to the long-running “Spider-Man” franchise.
Of course, “Venom” is nothing like any previous “Spider-Man” movie — it doesn’t even feature the famous wall-crawling superhero. Instead, it tells the origin story of one of his classic villains, as reporter Eddie Brock (played by Tom Hardy) is taken over by an alien parasite and transformed into the anti-hero Venom.
The path for the “Spider-Man” franchise has been anything but steady. What began in 2002 as a phenomenon with Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” derailed when the film studio Sony rebooted the character in 2012 with “The Amazing Spider-Man,” just five years after Raimi’s disappointing “Spider-Man 3.”
After Sony and Marvel Studios struck a deal, the character was rebooted yet again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this time to better results with “Spider-Man: Homecoming” last year. But Sony still maintains distribution rights and creative control, and can therefore develop its own films based on the character — including “Venom.”
With the character arguably more popular than ever on screen thanks to the MCU and “Venom,” more films will be coming. “Homecoming” sequel “Spider-Man: Far From Home” arrives in theaters next year, and Sony is developing more villainous spin-offs like “Venom,” including Kraven the Hunter and Morbius films.
Below is every Spider-Man movie, ranked from worst to best:
