6. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Perhaps the most controversial placement on this list, but hear us out. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues the story of Andrew Garfield’s wallcrawler, introducing new villains and expanding the character’s horizons considerably. With Jamie Foxx (Day Shift) appearing as Electro and Dane DeHaan (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) as Harry Osborne/Green Goblin, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 brings two of Spidey’s most iconic enemies to the screen.
There are a few design elements of the film that really don’t work particularly well and one or two more that don’t come off as intended. Still, Garfield’s performance as Peter Parker is perhaps the most dramatic and emotionally charged to date, and there’s a tease for a Sinister Six spin-off/sequel that hints at a future that sadly never came to be. Though it teased a sequel that wasn’t made, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is certainly ambitious, and that’s something that deserves a certain amount of respect.
We won’t argue that it’s the best Spider-Man movie or that it doesn’t have disappointing elements, but there’s a great deal of potential in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It enriches the world of the first movie in a way that’s genuinely intriguing, and looking past some of the film’s superficial issues reveals an original take on the character’s story that really deserves to be told. Though these plans will seemingly never come to fruition, the depth of the future stories teased by The Amazing Spider-Man 2 makes for an enticing prospect, which surely is a sign that it’s nowhere near as bad as its reputation suggests.