5. Spider-Man Dodging The Green Goblin’s Glider – Spider-Man (2002)
Nowadays, when it comes to Spider-Man and franchises, you can essentially take your pick. However, back in the ’00s, there was just the one, and it was a self-contained, Tobey Maguire-led affair. What’s more, when it comes to moments that changed their franchise forever, it has a great example in its very first film.
After spending a while circling one another’s secret identities, Peter Parker and Norman Osborn – A.K.A. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin – face off once more. Their final showdown is one that highlights Osborn’s fractured psyche, as he shows no regard for the boy he once considered like a son. After Spider-Man gets the upper hand, Osborn shines through, only for the hero’s Spidey sense to alert him to danger. He leaps to safety, and the Green Goblin’s glider impales Osborn, killing him.
Osborn’s death, accidentally self-inflicted though it might be, hits his son Harry pretty hard. Blaming Spider-Man for his father’s death, Harry takes control of his father’s company, funding Otto Octavius’s dangerous experiments and eventually becoming the Green Goblin himself. In other words, both the stories of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 are the direct result of Spider-Man dodging the Goblin’s glider.