Two decades after its release, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man remains one of the few foundational movies that set the stage for the MCU. Peter Parker's web-slinging adventures and his growing understanding of the correlation between "great power" and "great responsibility" in Spider-Man may seem like standard superhero fare, especially since Spider-Man: No Way Home creates its own version of the same narrative. However, back in the mid-aughts, when superhero movie franchises rarely exceeded two to three films, Sam Raimi tapped into an unfamiliar sub-genre by highlighting the lonely yet awe-inspiring heroic endeavors of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Towards the end of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Peter Parker does not go through a typical superhero rite of age. Instead, he accidentally murders a scientist he looked up to, is afraid of accepting Mary Jane's love, and his best friend is about to turn his back on him. Yet, despite this mess, his character arc becomes a testament to the greatness of Spider-Man's crime-fighting philosophy, which he learns from his late Uncle Ben. It is this touch of realism — among other elements — that makes Peter Parker’s origin story in Spider-Man so impactful and influential to the degree that it is often used as a template for MCU films.
Spider-Man's Peter Parker Sets Up A Superhero Standard
Spider-Man's Peter Parker is initially a regular teenager who shies around his high-school crush, gets bullied by jocks, and misses his bus to school. His day-to-day snags are nowhere as catastrophic as Tom Holland's Spider-Man, who begins his journey by ing forces with Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. However, it is the emotional resonance of the daily struggles of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker that make his character a lot more tangible than most other superheroes. Even when he first acquires his superhero abilities, he lacks the confidence and self-awareness to fight crime. He goes out and does what any teenager with newfound superhuman abilities would do: earn money.
This is when things take a grim turn for Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker and force him to realize that great power comes with great responsibility. With what follows, he willingly sacrifices his teenage years for the greater good. Owing to the comion with which Sam Raimi narrates this dichotomy between Peter Parker and Spider-Man, the struggles and victories of Tobey Maguire's character feel personal. Time and again, MCU has attempted to emulate the same origin story formula, but most superhero movies fail to balance spectacle with tenderness the way Raimi does.
Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin Created An MCU Villain Template
Spider-Man arguably has never had a better villain than Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. As macabre as Willem Dafoe's portrayal of Green Goblin may seem, there is always a thin line of morality that separates him from Spider-Man. While Peter Parker gets the right guidance from Uncle Ben at the right time, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin loses all control over his powers because he gets too consumed by his dream of taking over the city. Raimi applies a similar villain formula in the installments that follow and, in Spider-Man 3, shows how Spider-Man himself eventually gets devoured by his own strengths.
MCU's best villains, like Thanos and Killmonger, seem to represent something similar by embodying a skewed reflection of their hero counterparts. While Thanos has an idealistic view of the universe, Killmonger gets blinded by his lust for revenge. Their opposing heroes, Iron Man and Black Panther, falter like Raimi's version of Spider-Man when their own strengths distort their sense of judgment. However, similar to Spider-Man, they learn from their blunders and eventually make heroic sacrifices to save the world.
Raimi's Spider-Man Had Groundbreaking Stunts And VFX
Only a few action scenes and their aftermaths are nearly as optimistic and poignant as the iconic and much referenced train scene from Spider-Man 2, where a few New Yorkers discover Peter Parker's real identity but assure him that his secret is safe with them. Action scenes like these in Sam Raimi's trilogy effectively place the spotlight on the audience and portray them as heroes despite their lack of superpowers. Even in the first Spider-Man movie, Sam Raimi pulls off something similar when a mob throws stones at Green Goblin before the climactic showdown.
The groundbreaking VFX in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is visually pleasing even to this day. However, what makes it even better is how Raimi uses his action scenes as narrative devices. For instance, Spider-Man's final arc has a scene where the Green Goblin presents Peter Parker with a moral conundrum: save Mary Jane or let her die and rescue a group of innocent citizens. To show how Green Goblin's malevolent riddle puts the conflict between Spider-Man's duality on full display, Raimi uses Spider-Man's eyes as mirrors to reflect his choices. Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man eventually manages to save both, only to accidentally kill Norman Osborne's Green Goblin in the action scene that follows.
Despite using action scenes as a looking glass for Spider-Man's overarching themes, Sam Raimi does not take them too seriously. Everything from Parker's first wall climb to Norman Osborne's chilling transformation has a goofy and flawed aesthetic that plays out like a teenager's fever dream. Instead of destroying the serious narrative semblance of the film, Spider-Man's over-the-top action adds more heft to it and makes it more palatable for those familiar with comic books. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man also throws in newspaper motifs that not only bring new life to New York City, but also give the movie a rigid comic-esque template.
Spider-Man Brought New Life To Hero Romances
Captain America's dance with Peggy in Avengers: Endgame is somewhat reminiscent of Spider-Man and MJ's upside-down kiss. Both scenes exude the warmth of old-school romance and highlight how selfless all-sacrificing heroes like Spider-Man and Captain America need a break sometimes. Although it is uncharacteristic of the two heroes to break out of character and pursue "selfish" romantic endeavors, seeing long-suffering heroes have more tender moments helps to balance the narrative and the characters. Spider-Man: No Way Home appears to take this as a cue, and uses nostalgia to give Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man the romantic redemption he deserves.
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Casting Changed Marvel Heroes & Villains
In retrospect, Tobey Maguire seems like the perfect choice for playing Spider-Man in the early 2000s. However, back in the day, Sam Raimi had to defy many previous superhero casting norms to have him play the role. After watching him in The Cider House Rules, Raimi was convinced that even though Tobey Maguire did not match the stereotypical image of an action movie star, he was the right fit for playing Spider-Man. Raimi had a clear vision of how he wanted Peter Parker's timid demeanor and innocence to contrast Spider-Man's strength and power. Owing to this, he insisted on going against traditional wisdom and casting Maguire as the movie's lead.
Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane was also an incredible addition to Spider-Man's cast, considering how she perfectly portrays Parker's girl-next-door crush and represents his teenage dreams. In the sequels, Dunst also does a spectacular job at playing out Mary Jane's dual life after she learns about Spider-Man's real identity. Moon Knight uses mirrors to display Oscar Isaac's ingenious take on his character's contrasting personas, but Spider-Man did it first with Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. Almost effortlessly, The Lighthouse star goes from calm to fierce as he switches between Norman and Green Goblin and adopts all the mannerisms expected from Spider-Man's ferocious nemesis.
Sam Raimi Seamlessly Blends Genres In Spider-Man
On the surface, Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie can come off as another run-of-the-mill superhero action drama that walks viewers through a battle between good and evil. However, in all of its action, there are moments of comedy, like when Parker first learns to spin webs out of his wrists. There is also some obvious romance that later develops into a love triangle. Thanks to Sam Raimi's love for horror, Spider-Man also has flashes of terror when a radioactive spider bites Peter Parker and when Norman Osborn goes back and forth between his two personas.
Combining so many genres into one film is no easy feat, yet, Sami Raimi executes it with perfection. Many MCU movies tread a similar path and try to merge disparate storytelling devices into one movie to capture the comic books' essence. However, only a few come close to Sam Raimi's multi-genre narrative coherence from Spider-Man.
