Spider-Man Final Battles Ranked
Once again, another Spider-Man related ranking. Over the past few days I’ve been doing several different rankings, today is the final battle. Let’s get started!
NOTE: This post will contain SPOILERS for every single movie on this list. So PLEASE be careful what you read, I wouldn’t want to spoil a movie for you.
9. Spider-Man Homecoming: As much as I love this movie, and think that it’s the best Spider-Man movie. The final battle of the movie is actually one of the weaker aspects of the movie. To be clear, I don’t think this final battle is bad by any means. It’s something new and different from a Spider-Man final battle. It’s a nice bookend to the relationship between Peter and Adrian. But I’ve always thought that this action sequence feels a bit like a middle act action sequence. While it’s not bad, it’s not super memorable. And maybe part of that is that there isn’t a lot of fighting going on. All you have is Spider-Man trying to stop the plane from crashing. Spider-Man and The Vulture don’t really get into much of a fight here. And one of my biggest issues with Spider-Man Homecoming is that the action of the movie isn’t super memorable, and could have been handled much better.
8. The Amazing Spider-Man: I think this is a fun little sequence to book end the movie. It’s fun seeing Spider-Man teaming up with Captain Stacey to defeat The Lizard and something that we haven’t seen in a Spider-Man movie before or after this one came out. And I enjoy the whole crane sequence there and it’s nice to see the people of New York City helping out Spider-Man. And you do get some nice funny moments here and there that do work for me. Now, there are two things that hold this sequence back for me. First up, I don’t think the death of Captain Stacey was earned. I think they tried to give him a redemption arc as you went into the third act. And I don’t think it works, you don’t feel anything when he does die. Second, the sequence is set in night time and Spider-Man and The Lizard are darker in their colors so it’s a bit hard to see what is going on in the sequence. But I do enjoy this final battle a good bit and think it’s a good one.
7. Spider-Man: The very first cinematic Spider-Man final battle is a good one. It’s a nice small little sequence with some classic Spider-Man images. But the key word in that sentence was SMALL, it’s a small action sequence and very short. Like from when Spider-Man shows up to save the day to when Green Goblin is defeated is under 10 minutes. So there’s not a lot here to talk about, everything in this scene is solid. It’s a sequence that doesn’t have high highs or low lows. So in a lot of ways, it is a bit of a forgettable sequence. Now it is nice seeing Norman reveal his identity to Peter, and him telling Peter not to tell Harry who he really is. And it does evoke a number of solid emotions from it. And whenever I’ve talked about this movie I’ve said I like that it is a classic telling of the character with classic Spider-Man images. And this sequence has a number of them. While this one isn’t bad by any means, it’s not a great or super memorable sequence.
6. Spider-Man 2: A final battle that I truly think is better than the original movie. And one that worked as a whole a lot better than the previous one did. It’s nice seeing Peter dawn the Spider-Man costume once again and fight Doctor Octopus. And you get a lot of revelations with M.J. finally learning that Peter is Spider-Man, that one shot is great. It doesn’t say any words but you know everything that you need to know. And I do think that the best thing about the final battle are the character moments. Like I said, you have M.J. learning about Peter’s identity but you also have Doctor Octopus learning about Peter’s identity. And getting a bit of a redemption arc where he realizes what he is doing is wrong, and sacrifices himself. Similar to the final battle in Spider-Man, this sequence is pretty short. Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus fight one another for 30 seconds, and the sequence as a whole is only like 5-10 minutes long. While this sequence is good, it’s not as good as it could have. To be honest, if I included the train sequence as part of the final battle this sequence’s placement would be much higher on the list.
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2: I would say this is the weakest of the Spider-Man movies, but the third act of the movie is handled very well. And I think the whole action sequence with Electro in the electricity plant and them using “Itsy Bitsy Spider '' doesn't work, it’s too cartoonish for this movie. And I don’t think it really fits, and you don’t feel anything. But once Electro is defeated and Green Goblin joins the fight is when it gets a lot better. And you start to feel the danger of Gwen Stacey and wondering if she was actually going to die in this movie. And when she does you feel it you feel the gut wrenching emotion you are supposed to feel. And part of what helps it out is the acting by Andrew Garfield. I think it’s safe to say that of the three Spider-Men, Garfield is the best actor of the bunch. And he brings all of his acting skills to this scene and it’s done so well. So put all of it together, and you get a really good finale to not a good movie.
4. Spider-Man 3: While this is one of the weaker Spider-Man movies, the final battle of the movie is really quite good. It’s probably safe to say that this is the largest scale of the final battle in the Sam Raimi trilogy. There is plenty of action in this movie and it’s long. Seeing Spider-Man and Harry hitting a giant Sandman with the glider and stuff like that is really cool. Also, it’s nice seeing Spider-Man and Venom get into a duel. But I think what elevates this sequence is they close out the live hate relationship between Peter and Harry, and give a satisfying end to Harry’s character arc. Also, Danny Elfman’s score is played several times in this sequence and it’s great. On the negative, Venom as a character is one of the weaker aspects of the movie. The CGI with him isn’t good, and I don’t like how they keep on pulling the symbiote back on his face so we can see Topher Grace. Also, Sandman doesn’t do much here and it’s a bit unclear as to why he is there. So with a deeply flawed movie, the final battle isn’t one of them.
3. Spider-Man: Far From Home: Possibly my biggest positive of this movie is the action, and the third act delivers on some big and epic action that is really cool. It’s just fun to see Peter fight this hologram of a monster created by Mysterio and the visuals of the movie are fantastic. This might be the best looking live action Spider-Man movie that we have gotten. And this is one of the best looking scenes in any of the Spider-Man movies. But it might also be the funniest of the finales where there are so many great jokes in this finale that make me laugh. I love that Happy tries to secure a shield in a museum like Captain America but it doesn’t go well. The two teachers on the trip have some great chemistry with one another. And it’s great to see the relationship between Peter and M.J. start in the finale of the movie.
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: Now I don’t love this movie the way most other people do, but I think the third act of the movie is handled very well in this movie. And it pays off a lot of the great themes and arcs in the movie. The big one being the conclusion to Peter B. Parker’s arc in the movie and he is teaching Miles to take the leap of faith. Take the extra step to be a hero, but that is also what Peter needs to learn and what he needs to do. And that moment is handled very well in this finale. It’s also really weird with the way the action plays out, and of our Spider-Men…Spider-Woman…and Spider-Pigs get some great moment in the finale that is memorable and stands out and pops as being a great moment for them. It also has a certain level of emotion with what they do with Kingpin and the pay off to that is done so well. And I love the way that Miles defeats him. So put it all together and you get a great finale to a really good Spider-Man movie.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home: For me this is easily the best Spider-Man final battle that we have gotten. Because this sequence has a little bit of everything going on. It is just so fun and satisfying to see Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield swinging around together fighting classic Spider-Man villains. It’s great to see that happen and so much fun. I love the banter between the three of them with them arguing on how Peter 2 and Peter 3 are. Or even them joking about their backs being stiff from swinging around so much. You get great action, and it’s some of the best Spider-Man action that we have gotten. It’s so epic and ambitious in scale. But you also get some great heartfelt moments with a bunch of characters. Just seeing Andrew Garfield catch M.J. after him failing to catch Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is so satisfying and somewhat emotional to watch. So put all of the different pieces together you get a fantastic final battle that has everything to offer to its fans. So easily, without question this is number 1 Spider-Man final battle.
There you have it, my ranking of the Spider-Man final battles! What is your favorite Spider-Man final battle? Thanks for reading!
Comments