Spider-Man (film)

Trilogy of films starring Tobey Maguire as the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. All were directed by Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame. Pretty highly successful in both the critical and box-office record departments (save for the third movie's mixed reviews and fan backlash). Three movies have been released. The franchise was rebooted with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 and rebooted again (as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017.

Also stars Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn, J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, and Bruce Campbell in various cameos.

Spider-Man

The first movie is an origin story, telling the tale of Peter Parker, a nerd who is bitten by a genetically-engineered spider and gets the powers of the arachnid - web shooting, high jumping, wall-adherability, enhanced strength/endurance and sensing vibrations in the air. At first he attempts to use these powers for profit, but when his actions accidentally lead to the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter decides to use his abilities to fight injustice, under the name Spider-Man. This comes in handy when the father of his best friend, Norman Osborn, becomes the villainous Green Goblin after using a performance-enhancing chemical vapor that grants him super strength, but also makes him mentally unstable and dangerously psychotic.

Spider-Man 2

In the second movie, Peter is struggling to find balance in his life, as the increasing burden of being Spider-Man gets in the way of his relationship with his friends, family, and the woman he loves. Once the stress begins to cause his powers to work inconsistently, he decides to give up being Spider-Man once and for all. This comes at a bad time, since the brilliant scientist Dr. Otto Octavius is caught in a Freak Lab Accident that not only kills his wife, but also attaches four mechanical tentacles to him. Going insane, he becomes the evil "Doctor Octopus" and is determined to retry the failed experiment on a much bigger scale, For Science!, of course. With the city in danger and his relationship with Mary Jane in doubt, Peter is forced to "get back to work".

Spider-Man 3

In the third movie, Peter Parker's life has finally reached success. New York doesn't seem to be gunning for him, he's with the girl of his dreams, and he's managing to balance his normal life with the life of Spider-Man. But his happy complacency is spoiled once Harry Osborn, having discovered Pete is Spider-Man, decides to take his father's Goblin serum and comes hunting for Peter. Meanwhile, escaped convict Flint Marko is turned into the shapeshifting Sandman after entering a particle accelerator, and is revealed to have been involved with the same criminal who killed Peter's Uncle Ben. As well, a mysterious alien organism crashes to Earth and bonds with Peter, enhancing his powers but also influencing his behavior for the worse. When this symbiote is abandoned, it finds refuge in a rival, Eddie Brock, Jr., who becomes the maniac Venom.

Tropes used in Spider-Man (film) include:

Unique to Spider-Man

  • Arc Words: "Don't tell Harry." Also "Thank God for you, Peter."
  • The Atoner: This is the main reason why Peter Parker became a superhero, he doesn't want anything like Uncle Ben's death to happen to him again, or to anyone for that matter.
  • Attempted Rape: The thugs who attack MJ in an alley.
  • Awesome but Impractical: The General clearly prefers Aeroquest's cumbersome flightsuit over Oscorp's Human Performance Enhancers... before it promptly gets annihilated by The Goblin in a single shot.
  • Axe Crazy: Norman Osborn ends up like this after taking the Goblin formula.
  • Badass Bystander: Averted, the man who earlier cheated Peter out of his prize money, points out that Peter could have "taken that guy apart" but he instead let the robber pass. Peter replies "I missed the part where that's my problem".
  • Beeping Computers
  • Berserk Button: Green Goblin threatens to have a "hell of a time" with MJ. Spidey responds by dropping a brick wall on him, and after subsequently tackling him, he repeatedly punches Gobs in the face and knocks him down only to be propped back up for another hit to the face.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: The famous upside down in the rain scene.
  • Bill, Bill, Junk, Bill: "Crap ... Crap ... Megacrap."
  • Blatant Lies: Most of Jameson's ideas for stories about Spider-Man are one of these.
  • Board to Death
  • The Cameo: Lucy Lawless as the redheaded woman in the "man on the street" segment, as a favor to Sam Raimi (who was the Executive Producer of Xena: Warrior Princess).
  • Celebrity Paradox: Aunt May briefly tells Peter "You're not Superman, you know!", and Peter half-jokingly yells out "Shazam!" and "Up, up, and away!" when he's trying to figure out how to fire his web. This seems to imply that DC Comics exists in the movie's universe--but it makes you wonder what it would look like in a world without Marvel Comics. Would they have a running rivalry with a different company? Would they change their superhero characters to accommodate changing tastes in the 60s? Did Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ever get into the comics business? If not, did DC ever publish New Gods?
  • Comically Missing the Point: J. Jonah Jameson's response to Peter's complaints about the Daily Bugle's portrayal of Spider-man:

Peter: Spider-Man wasn't trying to attack the city, he was trying to save it. That's slander!
JJ: It is not! I resent that. Slander is spoken. In print it's libel.

Woman: (about Spider-man) He has those tights and that tight little--
(Hard Cut to a man playing the old TV series theme song)

Announcer: The Human-Spider, that's it, that's the best you got?
Peter: Yeah.
Announcer: Oh, that sucks...

  • Famous Last Words: "Don't tell Harry."
  • For the Evulz: The Green Goblin gives no clear motive in the movie other than messing with Spidey and generally acting like a homicidal maniac.
    • He does say he exists to fulfill Norman Osborn's dreams, but aside from killing the Oscorp board members, it is very unclear what he hopes to achieve.
  • Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Radioactive spider --> genetically-engineered spider.
  • Genre Savvy: Arguably, the Green Goblin. His dialogue suggests that he's treating Spider-Man like someone who wants to play comic book superhero and is trying to prove to him that heroic actions are foolish and self-defeating.
  • Hammy Herald: The deliciously hammy wrestling announcer, played by Bruce Campbell.
  • Heroic Bystander: Stan Lee's cameo. In both this and the second movie, he pulls people away from pieces of falling buildings.
    • A whole bunch of these help out Spider-Man at the climax by tossing junk at the Green Goblin to keep him busy while Spider-Man saves Mary Jane and the people in the cable car.
  • Heroic Second Wind: After Green Goblin threatens to "Have some fun" with Mary Jane, Spider-Man gets back up after a brutal beat-down and absolutely beats the flying pig-shit out of the Goblin.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Green Goblin impales himself with his Goblin Glider
  • How Do I Shot Web?
  • Ironic Echo: "I missed the part where that's my problem."
    • "Don't tell Harry." is also a line repeated throughout the movie.
    • Also "Back to formula".
  • Idiot Ball: So Green Goblin has Spidey unconscious. Instead of taking his mask off and learn his secret identity he later finds out by pure accident.
    • There was no reason for the Goblin to take off his mask. Given that they were in New York, the odds that Spider-Man was someone that he could recognize just by seeing his face were incredibly small.
  • I Surrender, Suckers: The Goblin.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Green Goblin tries attempts this multiple times with his glider. This is ultimately what kills him.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Peter's basis for not dating MJ at the end of the movie.
  • Jerkass: Flash Thompson is a textbook example.
  • Jerk Jock: Flash Thompson is your typical athletic bully.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold/ Even Jerk Has Standards: Jameson, the man who has no problem defaming Spider-man, lies in the face of injury or death so as to protect Peter from the Goblin.
    • The novelization looks deeper into his motives: Jameson always protects his sources, and has gone to jail twice for doing so in the past.
      • Considering that this is related to a strict code of journalistic ethics and integrity, it is a little surprising since he shows no scruples about libeling Spider-Man.
  • Large Ham: J. Jonah Jameson, The Green Goblin (And at times, Norman Osbourne outside of the suit), Bonesaw, and the wrestling announcer are all quite hammy characters, and it's clear that their actors (J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe, Randy Savage, and Bruce Campbell respectively) are having the time of their lives.
  • Like a Weasel
  • Match Cut
  • The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: At least one Norman Osborn / Green Goblin dialogue/monologue is done via this.
  • Nonchalant Dodge: When Flash Thompson tries to pick a fight with Peter, Pete's new Super Reflexes are depicted by showing everything except him in slow motion, allowing him to dodge the punch, look at Flash in surprise and confusion, then back to the fist.
  • Odd Friendship: Harry and Peter who are best friends despite coming from complete polar-opposite backgrounds.
    • Subtext would indicate that they bonded over having lost parents and being respective outcasts among their peers, Harry being the Lonely Rich Kid and Peter being a Hollywood Nerd.
    • Harry also implies in the second film that Peter initially may have been his tutor, as he credits him with "single-handedly getting me through High School Science."
  • Oh Crap: Or in Osborn's case: "Oh."
    • Also the look on his assistant's face when, after turning around, finds a single hand clenched around his face and realizes that that hand belongs to a very, very pissed off Norman Osborn, who until just recently was believed to have suffered a terminal heart attack.
  • The Paragon: Spider-Man's efforts got ordinary citizens to help in the climax.
  • Parting Words Regret: Norman to Peter regarding Harry.
  • Pet the Dog: New York's citizens are generally giant jerks to Spider-Man until the scene where Green Goblin tries to kill a bunch of children, then stop Spider-Man from saving them. The assorted crowd on the bridge throw pipes and assorted debris at him. Similarly, J. Jonah Jameson is all Bad Boss around everybody until Green Goblin flies in through the window looking for Peter just after Peter's left the room. Jameson insists that Peter's never even gone to the Bugle office even as the Goblin is strangling him.
  • Pro Wrestling Is Real: The first film depicted wrestling as real as a direct adaptation of his origin story. In that world, Spider-Man beat a wrestler named Bonesaw McGraw, played by the late Randy "Macho-Man" Savage.
  • Rain of Blood: A part of how Norman Osborn deduces that Peter is Spider-Man.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: The film was delayed thanks to the need to remove an extended scene involving the World Trade Centre judged inappropriate after the 9/11 attacks. The reaction to these was also responsible for adding the aforementioned scene in which New York citizens rally together to verbally attack the Goblin.
  • Roof Hopping: The scene is so iconic, even Kick-Ass used the same set as a direct homage.
  • Rousseau Was Right: The moment when the citizens of New York prove the Green Goblin wrong once and for all by not turning against Spider-Man was the true dramatic climax of the film. After that point, the final fight with the Goblin was pretty much all a Foregone Conclusion.
  • Sadistic Choice: Goblin. The Trope Namer.
  • Save the Day Turn Away: Ends on a really textbook example of one
  • Scare Chord: A scene with Norman talking to the Goblin's spirit features a chord that's rather jarring in its loudness.
  • Split Personality Makeover: Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. The difference between the two is huge, but it's done entirely with facial expression, vocal mannerisms, and body language!
  • Stalker with a Crush: As sweet and innocent as Peter's crush on Mary Jane appears to be, in real life, Pete would be considered somewhat of a stalker. If this movie were set in real life, Mary Jane would most likely be slightly creeped out by Peter's behavior toward her.
  • Staring Kid: The kid gawking at falling debris that Spidey had to save during his fight with the Green Goblin.
  • Stripped to the Bone: What happens to the victims of the Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs.
  • Sword Limbo
  • Take a Third Option: The bridge scene. And it works too.
  • Talent Double
  • Talking to Themself: A literal example with Norman Osborn talking to his Green Goblin half in the mirror.
  • Thematic Theme Tune: "Hero", written by Chad Kroeger and sung by him and Josey Scott.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: Norman's reaction to getting impaled by his glider.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The kid at the Festival, who stands like a deer in headlights as the large globe falls towards him. Even Peter shows irritation that he's not running.

Peter: C'mon move kid!

Unique to Spider-Man 2

  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot / Psycho Prototype: The tentacles - they tend to do things that protect themselves and Octavius, but are extremely twisted in their ways, and are more keen to destroy to get what Otto wants rather than anything else.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version uses a song called "Web of Night" by T.M. Revolution.
  • Antagonist in Mourning
  • Anti-Climactic Unmasking: Played straight and then averted. The first time Peter loses his mask, the crowd of people don't know who he is. The second and third time it's taken off, Harry, Dr. Octavius, and Mary Jane recognize him.
  • Anti-Villain: Dr. Octopus. Now, when he's bad, he's really bad. But his whole nature is still so tragic, and he does redeem himself in the end.
  • Artistic License Physics:
    • Nuclear fusion really is the process by which the sun generates energy. But a nuclear fusion reactor won't look like the sun unless it's as big as the sun (over a million kilometers across). The reason the sun has prominences and a photosphere and sunspots and all the rest is because there are thousands upon thousands of kilometers of hot gas that aren't undergoing nuclear fusion, sitting on top of the core and obscuring it from view.
      • And, worse, the reactor in the movies doesn't just look like the sun, it looks like the sun filmed in X-ray light and shown in false color so that we mere humans can see its surface structure.
      • On top of that, you'd think that dipping small piece of the sun into a large body of water to quench it down would provoke a devastating explosion of steam, if not outright plasma from all the ionized hydrogen and oxygen.
    • Peter stops a train by creating bungies either side of it with webbing, and then using his own body to hold it all together at the front of the engine, risking tearing himself apart. A completely unnecessary risk, as the webbing would still break if it wasn't strong enough to stop the train. The fact that it doesn't break shows that he could have just created a bung of safety nets out of webbing and let it stop the train on its own.
  • Badass Bystander: Everyone in the train when rise up against Octavius to protect Spider-Man... they don't succeed, but it takes some stones to stand up to a villain with 4 mechanical arms.
    • Peter does this earlier in the film, when sans powers, he runs into a burning building to rescue a trapped child. He gets her out safely, but unfortunately, then finds out that there were more people trapped on the fourth floor that didn't make it.
  • Badass Grandma: Aunt May! When she is captured by Doc Ock, she lets the Doc know that she's not going down without a fight...by jabbing the end of her umbrella toward his eye.
  • Big No: Octavius lets a particularly narmful out when he sees the murder and destruction his tentacles have wreaked while he was unconscious, and then lets another one out as he is dragged underwater with his overloading fusion machine. The second one manages to be fairly tragic, as he had just made his Heel Face Turn and his last comment was a pledge not to die a monster, only to immediately be dragged to his death.
    • Not quite as tragic as that. It wasn't that Octavius wasn't willing to die; he wasn't willing to die a MONSTER--that is, as a murderous bastard only concerned with his own desires. He died a hero.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: The tentacles have a blade inside them.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Trope Namer.
  • Casual Danger Dialog: In the final scene, where Peter is unmasked and rushes to save MJ from a falling object.

Peter: Hi.
Mary Jane: (somewhat disbelieving) Hi.
Peter: ...this is really heavy.

  • Call Back: In the first film, Spider-Man attempts to save a woman from a burning building, but it turns out to be Green Goblin wrapped in a blanket. In this film, Peter (temporarily powerless) braves another burning building to save a child who is wrapped in a blanket, which happens to be Green. Get it?
  • Combat Tentacles: Doc Ock.
  • Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: JJJ spends a scene trying to figure out what to name the new supervillain on the block. "Doctor Octopus" is almost immediately a suggestion, but it gets turned down just as quickly.

That's crap.

  • Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Doc Ock uses one to hide his tentacles when he robs a bank.
  • Continuity Cameo: Doctor Curt Conners appears as Peter's professor (the one who threatens to fail him for being Brilliant but Lazy).
  • Crucified Hero Shot
  • Cut the Juice
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Octavius' tentacles.
  • Disposable Fiance: John Jameson.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: JJJ is finally convinced that Spider-Man is a hero and was really fighting for the good guys this entire time...up until Spidey takes back his superhero suit from JJJ's office, causing him to accuse Spider-Man of being a thief which is funny, given that Jonah pretty much scammed the suit off the guy who found it.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Peter's emotional crisis causes him to lose his web-shooting ability. It happens to a lot of guys.
    • Also "You can't get off if you don't get on." When MJ is telling Peter they can't just pick up where they left off.
  • Drowning My Sorrows
  • Evil Hand: The tentacles have an advanced AI.
  • Foreshadowing: "My Rosie's dead... my dream is dead... and these monstrous things should be at the bottom of the river... along with me."
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Doc Ock during most of the film.
  • Genre Savvy: Robbie Robertson, who pointedly gives Peter a look that he's noticed that Spider-Man just happened to be at the same place as he was.
  • Glad I Thought of It: JJ "christening" Octopus.
  • Go Through Me: Civilians try to protect the injured Spiderman from Doc Ock. They fail.
  • Hand Wave: A major one. In reality, it would take Dr. Octavius thousands of years and a solar system's worth of space to create a protostar, not a few moments. Secondly, the heat generated from the protostar would kill everyone within a short radius instantly, but since this is Fiction Land, all the writers need is a scoop of Unobtainium to avoid accusations of Critical Research Failure.
  • Held Gaze: Peter and Mary Jane continually throughout the movie. In one notable instance that Doc Ock destroys their mutual Held Gaze presages an Almost Kiss.
  • He's Back: Subverted once, although it was easy to see coming, and then played straight.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Dr. Temperance Brennan will not pay for late pizza.
  • Holding Out for a Hero
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Appropriately enough.
  • I Have This Friend: Peter recounting his loss of powers about his...sorry, his friend's dream of being Spider-Man and losing his powers to his doctor.
  • Ironic Birthday
  • Lampshade Hanging: Courtesy your friendly, neighborhood J. Jonah Jameson.
    • "Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs. What are the odds?"
      • Although to be fair a guy with the name Octavius would be far more likely to build something based on the number eight.
  • Last Second Chance
  • Morality Chip: On the robotic arms. Predictably, it gets destroyed.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Octopus.
  • Morally-Bankrupt Banker
  • Multi-Armed Multitasking: Dr. Octopus does this when he builds the new sun-generator machine, with his long metallic tentacles.
  • Mythology Gag: Possibly, with Dr. Octopus holding Aunt May hostage. In the earlier comics, May (true to form at the time) was blissfully unaware that Dr. Octopus was a bad man, in this movie however, it's pretty clear.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Aunt May, especially when she has an umbrella.
  • New Era Speech
  • No Sympathy: MJ continually drags poor Peter through the mud for missing her play, being too self-absorbed to realize that an impoverished student already has too many balls in the air without also moonlighting as a crimefighter. True, he did promise her that he'd come, but sometimes in life people have no control over whether or not they can keep their promises. Grown-ups get that.
    • Especially since he still presumably had the ticket as proof that he didn't blow her off if he chose to show it to her.
    • Octavius' reputation is totally destroyed and Harry even acts like he's a crackpot later on in the film, despite the fact that his experiment for the most part actually worked and for a few minutes he actually created a fricking Sun.
  • Oh Crap: A nice group example, seconds before "...it's a web!!"
  • Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Octavius is brilliant nuclear physicist who has nearly perfected a viable source of infinite power from nuclear fusion. On the way, he has also made revolutionary breakthroughs in robotics and software engineering to create his intelligent arms. Not only that, but he must have developed an extremely effective power source even before the fusion reactor just to power the extremely strong arms.
  • Panty Shot: Near the end as that wall's about to fall on Mary Jane and just before Peter catches it. Mary Jane falls backards, the wind blows her skirt up, giving the audience a quick view of her white panties.
  • The Paragon: Aunt May points out to Peter that Spider-Man is a symbol of hope to people who are in the face of despair and that you trust him when he'll tells you to hold on for a minute longer, and that even the boy across the street wants to be Spider-Man when he grows up.
    • This saves Peter at the end when the people on the train rally against Octavius to protect an unconscious Peter, seeing him unmasked and realising that the hero putting himself in harms way to save them is "just a kid, no older than my son".
  • Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Peter loses his powers due to being unconsciously conflicted about whether or not to keep being Spider-Man.
  • Rooftop Confrontation: Subverted. A fight between Spider-Man and Octavius begins on the roof of a building, but they end up chasing each other all over the city.
  • Runaway Bride: MJ leaves a note to let the groom know he's been abandoned at the altar.
  • Shallow Love Interest: MJ seems like this in this movie more than the others. While the first film and especially the third showcased her own life and problem, here all of her scenes exist solely to provide romantic angst for Peter.
    • To be fair, she did pour her heart and soul out and tell Peter she loved him at the end of the last movie... and he still wanted to just be friends. Given that her father was abusive, her last two boyfriends (Flash, and Harry) treated her poorly actually gives her serious cause to have trust issues when it comes to men, particularly as to why the only good man she's ever known and who clearly loves her keeps bailing on her.
  • Shaky POV Cam: It's a Sam Raimi movie, what did you expect?!
  • Sinister Shades: the ones Otto wears when he abducts Mary Jane
  • Thirty Minutes or It's Free: played straight with the opening sequence
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil
  • Trainstopping - Peter uses webs as a stretch net to brake the train to a stop
  • Traintop Battle - including runaway train; quite ironically, the entire train fight is a case of Chicago doubling, as the scene was filmed on Chicago's 'L' system (there are no subways in New York City that have trains fitted out with fold-in doors)
  • Unobtainium: Osborn's tritium.
    • Although it is an unusual example, since tritium is a real substance and is used in some fusion experiments. However, real tritium is nothing like the substance portrayed in the movie, and it effectively functions as Unobtainium that just happens to have a semi-accurate name.
  • Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Provides the page image. One of the funniest examples too.
  • Under the Truck: Spidey is chasing two crooks in a car and naturally, a truck pulls out in the way. Rather than slide under, Spidey swings through the gap between the cab and trailer.
  • What Could Possibly Go Wrong? with that nuclear experiment.
  • When Things Spin, Science Happens


Unique to Spider-Man 3

  • Action Survivor: Mary Jane in the final battle.
  • Advertised Extra: Venom, though a possible subversion as well. Venom was only in the movie for about ten minutes, but he surprisingly did a lot in ten minutes: He teamed up with Sandman and kidnapped Mary Jane, which led to Peter and Harry's reconciliation, which led to Harry's death, which led to Peter and Mary Jane's reconciliation. Basically, the plot couldn't have wrapped up without Venom taking action.
    • This really depends on whether you think of Venom as the combo of Eddie and the symbiote, or just the symbiote. From the idea that Venom is really the symbiote, only needing Eddie as a tool for revenge, then Venom has a lot of scenes, just no dialogue.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Harry.
  • Anti-Villain: Sandman, who became a criminal in order to steal money to save his sick daughter.
  • Bash Brothers
  • Big Damn Heroes
  • Big "Shut Up!": Harry to Peter after Peter tries to explain that he didn't kill Harry's father.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Leans more towards the positive side: Harry is dead, and Peter has to come to terms with having acted like a colossal jerk, but he's managed to overcome his dark side, forgiven the man who (accidentally) killed his uncle, and it's implied that his rocky relationship with Mary Jane will heal, and they'll be back together again.
  • Cannot Spit It Out
  • Chekhov's Gun: Peter discovers that amplified sound (i.e. standing next to a ringing church bell) disrupted the symbiote long enough for Peter to remove it. He uses the same tactic during the final battle.
  • Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Venom is never named at all.
  • Crowd Song
  • Deus Ex Machina: The butler suddenly revealing the true nature of Norman's death to Harry. Word of God states that he's a hallucination, representing Harry's good side..
  • Easy Amnesia
  • Evil Costume Switch
  • Evil Tastes Good: Harry gets a scene relating to this.
  • Four Lines, All Waiting: One of the more common complaints about the movie was the fact that the presence of three major villains, each of whom has their own plot, as well as the romance plot, left the movie rather crowded.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: After Harry tells Peter that he's "The other guy":

Waitress: How's the pie?
Harry: So goood.


Tropes used in multiple movies

  • Adaptation Distillation: Classic moments, images and arcs from 40+ years of Spider-Man stories are squashed down to their best bits to fuel the films.
  • Big Bad: The Green Goblin in the first film, Doc Ock in the second, and the alien symbiote in the third (with Venom serving as the Final Boss.)
  • Big No: Octavius discovering his new condition, Brock before dying.
  • Blind Without'Em: Pete before getting his powers, and when they start failing.
  • Building Swing
  • Burning Building Rescue
  • Bus Full of Innocents: A tram car in the first, a train in the second.
  • The Cameo: Stan Lee and Bruce Campbell, in all movies. Stan Lee protects a little girl in the havoc created by the Green Goblin in the first film. In the second, he pulls a woman out of the way of falling debris while Spider-Man fights Doc Ock; "Look out!" is his only line. In the third, he has a much more substantial cameo as a man who talks to Peter on the street. "Y'know, I guess it's true what they say: one person really can make a difference. 'Nuff said."
    • Bruce Campbell appears once in every film as someone who actually helps develop Peter's plot in some small way. In the first movie, he plays the ring announcer who introduces Peter as Spider-Man instead of "The Human Spider" as Peter originally wanted. In #2, he plays an usher at the theater who refuses to let Peter in because the doors have already been closed. Finally in #3, he is a french Maître d' at a restaurant who gladly helps Peter with his plans to propose to Mary Jane (though it doesn't exactly work out).
  • Cash Cow Franchise
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: The immortal "this is really heavy" in movie 2.
  • Cheap Costume
  • Chest Insignia
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Harry.
  • Civvie Spandex: Used in the second and third films. Dr. Octopus wears a trenchcoat and a suit. The Sandman, meanwhile, sticks to a pair of khakis and a green striped shirt while in Flint Marko form.
  • Clothes Make the Maniac
  • Composite Character: Mary Jane has some traces of Gwen Stacy in the first two movies.
    • Mary Jane also has a strong basis in Liz Allan. Like Allan, MJ in the movies is a classmate and longtime crush of Peter's who is much higher on the social ladder and dates Flash Thompson. In fact the only real similarities MJ has with her comics counterpart are her being Peter's neighbor, her coming from an abusive household, her brief relationship with Harry Osborn and her aspirations to be an actor.
  • Confused Bystander Interview: There are a few examples of this throughout the series.
  • Da Editor: J. Jonah Jameson.
  • Deadly Dodging
  • Death by Adaptation: Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Venom.
    • All of whom have died in the comics, they just ended up coming back afterward.
      • To be fair, how many major comic book characters haven't died at some point or another?
  • Death by Secret Identity: Green Goblin is impaled soon after he discovers Peter's secret. In the second film, a big part of the movie marketing was that Harry would learn Peter's secret, but Harry's death wouldn't come until he made the full transition to baddie in the third movie. Peter also reveals his identity to Doc Ock, probably knowing that this trope would spell death for the doctor. In the final movie, this works against Eddie Brock/Venom, but actually leads to the redemption of the Sandman. If this trope is truly in full swing, then all those people on the subway in S2 better look both ways before crossing the street...
  • Development Gag: The second film has a couple of playful jabs at Tobey Maguire's back problems, which nearly forced him to drop out. This includes the "I'm back, I'm back! ... My back, my back!" scene, and a Freeze-Frame Bonus Bugle headline claiming link between back pain and brain shrinkage.
  • Damsel in Distress: Mary Jane gets kidnapped by the villain in all three movies.
  • Female Gaze: Well, of course. We're talking about a muscular young dude who wears a skintight outfit and is unbelievable agile.
  • Foreshadowing: In the first film Harry Osborn says of his father "If I'm lucky I'll be half the man he was". Come the third movie, we find out what exactly is meant by this. There are other foreshadowing moments involving Harry, such as the green bowtie he wears during the wedding scene in 2, and "They're my best friends ... I'd give my life for them".
  • Freak Lab Accident: Origin of all villains save Venom.
  • Girl Next Door: Mary Jane. Supplies the page image.
  • The Glasses Come Off: See Blind Without'Em.
  • Gollum Made Me Do It: Green Goblin in the first movie, the tentacle AI with Otto Octavius in the second, and Peter bonded with the symbiote in the third.
    • Although one could argue that each one could have put a stop to it at any time.
  • Harassing Phone Call
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Peter wants Mary Jane.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Doc Ock and Harry.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity
  • I Have Your Wife: Mary Jane, of course.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
  • Ivy League: Although Peter Parker attends the fictional Empire State University (modeled after New York University) in the comics, the Raimi films make him a student at Columbia.
  • Large Ham: All the villains but Sandman. Also, J. Jonah Jameson and Bruce Campbell's cameo appearances.
    • Special mention has to go to Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. When he is fighting Peter, he is having the time of his life, complete with evil cackles and poor one-liners.
    • Evil Is Hammy: In addition to the villains, Maguire was having FAR too much fun being Emo-Jarkass-Peter in the middle of the third film.
  • Load-Bearing Hero
  • Made of Iron: Spidey is a given; his powers allow him to shrug off huge amounts of punishment. But especially notable is Ock in the second film. He's an out-of-shape scientist who shouldn't be standing after one of the super-strong Spider-Man's punches. Even if Spidey pulls his punches, Ock takes a web-slung bag of coins to the face at one point without a mark to show for it, and also keeps fighting after being slammed through the floor when Spidey catapults himself from the roof.
  • Marquee Alter Ego: Spider-Man's mask being destroyed, Venom removing his.
  • Meaningful Funeral
  • Megane: Peter himself before he got his powers and turning back to normal. Doesn't wear glasses in the third movie.
  • Moment Killer: And how!
  • Mr. Fanservice
  • Mythology Gag: The old TV series theme.
  • Neutral Female: Mary Jane and Aunt May do some subversions.
  • Never My Fault: Harry and Eddie Brock.
  • Nice Guy / Nice Girl: Ben and May Parker.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Parts 1 and 3.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: The trailer songs.
  • Once an Episode: Cameos by Stan Lee and Bruce Campbell, an in-movie performance of the 1960s TV show's theme.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: J. Jonah Jameson and his assistant Hoffman. Also Peter's landlord and his daughter.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: Parts 1 and 2, and some of Part 3 in regards to the Symbiote.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: Green Goblin and Doc Ock.
  • Redemption Equals Death
  • Reflective Eyes
  • Running Gag: Jameson keeps yelling for "HOFFMAN!" who keeps appearing faster and faster as the movies progress, much to Jonah's confusion, eventually culminating in Jameson screaming his name while turning around, only to be face to face with Hoffman before he finished saying his name.
  • Say My Name: The entire trilogy could be summarized through one name: "MARY JAAAAAAAAANE!"
  • Secret Identity: Peter's secret identity as Spider-Man.
  • Shapeshifter Baggage: Where does Peter get the mass for all those webs his body produces without being an extreme Big Eater?
  • Shirtless Scene
  • Shout-Out:
    • Peter opening his shirt like Superman; Doc Ock climbing NY buildings like King Kong; "Symbiote Night Fever".
    • Shouting "Shazam!" and "Up, up and away, web!" in the first movie, which was an ad-lib by Maguire.
    • In the novelization of the first movie, the wheelchaired and bald Oscorp Board Member, Maximillian Fargas, is compared to the "professor character in that mutant movie."
    • Aunt May telling Peter that he's not "Superman."
    • When Jonah and Hoffman are discussing what to call Octavius for the paper headline:

Jonah: What are we gonna call this guy?
Hoffman: "Doctor Octopus?"
Jonah: That's crap.
Hoffman: "Science squid"?
Jonah: Crap.
Hoffman: "Doctor Strange"?
Jonah: That's pretty good... But it's taken!

Green Goblin: We are who we choose to be, now choose!

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