Netflix Gets The Greatest Superhero Trilogy Of All Time
These days, superhero fatigue has fully settled in to crowds all over the world, leaving franchises like Marvel and DC to scramble to create something new and innovative in order to get back on track. Long before comic book movies became an over-saturated market, auteur filmmaker Sam Raimi perfected the art of the superhero film, with his landmark Spider-Man trilogy from the early 2000s. The Spider-Man trilogy, which famously stars Tobey Maguire over the course of 3 epic films, is now finally available to stream on Netflix.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man On Netflix
Like many film franchises in the modern streaming era, the Spider-Man trilogy has bounced around on a number of streamers in the past several years. Now, as of July 1, all three films, which premiered in 2002, 2004, and 2007 respectively, have been uploaded to the Netflix platform, allowing subscribers to easily binge through the entire set. The trilogy offers one of the first-ever mainstream takes on a live-action comic book adaptation, providing the blueprint for nearly all modern Marvel and DC outings.
Despite the fact that these three movies are nearly all 20 years of age or older, the groundwork for a live-action Spider-Man film actually began as far back as 1975. During the 1970s and 1980s, Marvel Comics began licensing their individual characters and story lines to multiple studios, in a move which eventually led to franchises such as X-Men, Iron Man, and the Spider-Man trilogy all being produced by different competing companies.
Over the course of several decades, the rights to Spider-Man specifically bounced from one studio to the next, until Sony Pictures procured the IP in 1999.
A Legendary Run Of Films
Eventually, Sony hired legendary screenwriter David Koepp to finalize the script and Sam Raimi to direct, and the rest is history. Koepp previously held screenwriting credits on such classic films as Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, and Panic Room, whereas Raimi’s biggest pre-Spider-Man trilogy credits include The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and The Gift. The additional films in the Spider-Man trilogy enlisted the writing of Wednesday creator and showrunner Alfred Gough as well as Raimi himself.
A Strong Start, But Deserved A Better Ending
If you were a big fan of the Spider-Man trilogy as it was first making its rounds, you likely already know that Sam Raimi faced heavy studio interference with 2007’s Spider-Man 3, and was ultimately never able to bring his planned fourth installment to fruition.
As a result of this studio meddling, the third film has developed a reputation for being the worst of the bunch, complete with a messy, unfocused plot with too many villains crammed in, and a cringe-worthy Spider-Man jazz dance montage that has become the stuff of legends.
A Fourth Film Would Be A Great Idea
While there are certainly issues with Spider-Man 3, modern fans have returned to the installment with fresh eyes in recent years, leaving many to declare that the film was reviewed too harshly on impact. Stripped of its context, the movie is still a really fun adventure that does an excellent job of capping off the Spider-Man trilogy Sam Raimi constructed.
Today, many fans have demanded that Raimi be given the option to finally bring a fourth Spider-Man movie to the big screen, especially after the resurgence the original trilogy has received following Tobey Maguire’s return to the red and blue spandex in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Greatest Superhero Trilogy Of All Time
If you haven’t re-watched the original Spider-Man trilogy in a while, or somehow never caught it in the first place, now is the perfect time to pull up the classic Tobey Maguire films and stream them on Netflix. Despite being campy, dated, and a little over-the-top, many comic book fans still consider this trilogy to be the greatest live-action superhero movies to ever hit the big screen.
