May 3rd marks 20 years since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man first swung into theaters. Starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, the movie was a box office smash that changed the way audiences viewed what a superhero movie could be.
Rewatching Spider-Man now, it's easy to see all the ways that the movie changed the narrative of superhero movies and the ways it's still inspiring comic book movies now. With Sam Raimi returning to the world of superhero movies for the first time since Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, fans are eager to see what the innovative and iconic filmmaker has up his sleeve (and whether he can start any more new trends).
Marvel Making Movies
The opening credits may seem just like any other Marvel movie now but Spider-Man marks the first time Marvel's now-famous flipbook logo card made an appearance. Now synonymous with the MCU and Marvel Studios, in 2002 it was more an acknowledgment of where studios had purchased characters like Blade and Spider-Man from.
Starting with the success of Blade, when Spider-Man became a phenomenon, Marvel became even more emboldened to take control of their characters and tell stories their way, laying the groundwork for the massive juggernaut that is the MCU today.
Including The Origin Story
Over 45 minutes have ed in the movie before Tobey Maguire dons his Spider-Man suit for the first time, a deliberate decision made by Sam Raimi and screenwriter David Koepp. While previous superhero movies often started with the superhero already established, Spider-Man spent a large part of its runtime showing Peter learn how to use his newfound powers through trial and error.
An important part of the superhero journey, showing audiences who these heroes are before becoming the hero we know is a key way to endear them to the audience, something that the MCU fully understands today with the origin story being a large part of their movies including: Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel.
$100 Million Opening Weekends
Even adjusting for inflation, Spider-Man is the first movie ever to $100 million at the Box Office's opening weekend (via History.com). While Blade had been a success in 1998, nothing prepared the industry for how successful Spider-Man was. Far suring all expectations, the movie quickly changed the way Hollywood perceives success.
Now, if a tentpole DC or Marvel movie doesn't make at least $100 million in its opening weekend, it's studied as an abject failure with insiders wondering what went wrong.
The Stan Lee Cameo
An MCU tradition up until his death in 2018, fans always eagerly anticipated where comic book legend Stan Lee would appear in his cameo. Spider-Man was arguably Lee's favorite of all the characters he had a hand in creating over the years so it's only fitting that his first Marvel movie cameo would come here.
Originally filmed as a cameo incorporating references to 20th Century Fox's X-Men movie, instead, Lee appears as a bystander during a Green Goblin attack, who saves a young girl from falling debris. Since Marvel and comic book movies weren't household names yet, the inclusion of Lee was even more of a nod to hardcore comics fans.
Let The Director Be Themselves
Sam Raimi himself has mentioned that he was hardly the studio's first choice to direct the movie but once he got the job, they let him add a surprising amount of his personality to it. Scenes like a Green Goblin pumpkin bomb turning its' victims into skeletons retain the campy elements that made his Evil Dead movies such beloved cult classics.
Now, one of the biggest strengths of superhero movies is when they bring on new directors to inject their life and personality into them. There's no better current example of this than the groundswell of fan that led to Warner Bros. ultimately deciding to #ReleaseTheSynderCut.
Practical Makes Perfect
It's no secret that superhero movies rely on tons of special effects and CGI to create the epic fight scenes but in Spider-Man, almost as much attention is paid to practical effects. With CGI technology still in its' infancy, much of the movie's success hinged on creating believable, practical effects.
Now the pendulum has swung the other way, with practical effects being used to help avoid superhero movies from becoming a mess of CGI effects that are impossible to tell apart. Practical effects are just as important to any superhero movie.
Using CGI As A Compliment
Sam Raimi is an old-school director who likes to use as many practical effects as possible but when it comes to superhero movies, it's impossible to avoid needing CGI for more fantastical sequences.
While many of the movie's shots contain CGI effects, no scene is 100% computer-generated, a deliberate choice from Raimi to help keep everything as believable as possible. Blending CGI and practical effects isn't something every superhero movie gets right all the time but it is something that almost every superhero movie released now attempts.
Tell A Good Story
One criticism that superhero movies often endure is that they focus on spectacle over story, with Spider-Man the opposite is true. Screenwriter David Koepp spent months working with Sam Raimi to develop a story that audiences could connect to. By building the larger set pieces and action sequences around the story, the movie is able to connect on a deeper level.
There's a reason that after 20 years, Spider-Man is still one of the most beloved superhero movies and why audiences were so excited to see Tobey Maguire return to the role for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Be Stingy With Your Villain
Willem Dafoe's role as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin is one of the actor's most famous and still stands as one of the best villain performances in the superhero movie genre. Part of what makes it so impactful is the film's sparing use of Dafoe, who only has about 20 minutes of screen time throughout the movie.
A trick also used by Christopher Nolan with the Joker in The Dark Knight, taking a less is more approach with your villain allows them to come and go more sporadically, giving them the ability to cause maximum mayhem every time they come on screen.
Plenty Of Easter Eggs
With every MCU property or DC movie released these days, fans watch and re-watch everything looking for hidden easter eggs left by the filmmakers to tease future storylines or just offer fun inside references for eagle-eyed fans. Rewatching Spider-Man, fans can look out for all sorts of references to previous comic book storylines, references to other heroes in Marvel's history, and plenty of Raimi's references to his old movies and frequent collaborators.
When Spider-Man first hit theaters in 2002, audiences had never seen anything quite like it before. Now, its legacy and impact are felt in just about every superhero movie to be released since then, a testament to the magic that Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and everyone else was able to capture.
