Spider-Man in film

Spider-Man, a superhero character created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for American comic books published by Marvel Comics, has appeared in virtually every form of media, including film since the 1970s. CBS's television film pilot for the program The Amazing Spider-Man in 1977 represents the first Spider-Man film adaptation. Marvel Comics spent the 1980s pursuing plans for a feature film, in a tumultuous development involving multiple directors, writers, and financiers. After protracted litigation over the Spider-Man copyrights, Sony Pictures and its subsidiary Columbia obtained the film rights for $7 million from Marvel in 1999.

In the 2000s, Columbia developed a trilogy of films starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, which includes Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007). The original film, in particular, greatly influenced Hollywood's conception of superheroes. This was followed by a reboot series featuring Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, consisting of The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Sony then licensed the rights to Marvel Studios in a renewed agreement, yielding a succession of films that incorporated the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The MCU features a version of Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016). The animated Spider-Verse centers on a cast of Spider-Men led by Miles Morales, the main protagonist voiced by Shameik Moore. Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) operates with a loosely shared continuity to all existing Spider-Man film franchises but does not explicitly feature the character. Amateur films about Spider-Man explore a range of interpretations from ordinary people.

The mainstream Spider-Man films have been highly successful and make up the second highest-grossing film franchise of all time, collectively grossing over $13 billion worldwide. Critical opinion of films skew positive, and some have garnered Academy Awards recognition for achievement in visual effects and animation.