With Great Power

This definitive history of Spidey on film has been updated with a brand-new chapter on Spider-Man: Brand New Day, featuring interviews with Tom Holland and director Destin Daniel Cretton!

Spider-Man's legacy dates back to 1962, with his unusual origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15, helmed by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Since then, this wisecracking crimefighter has dominated pop culture, expanding from comics to Spidey-centered television shows, video games, toys, theme park rides, and—most successfully—blockbuster movies.

But Spider-Man suffered the bumpiest ride through Hollywood's production cycle. Marvel helped create squabbles at rival studios over character rights. Filmmakers like as Roger Corman and James Cameron stalled out on big-screen Spider-Man adaptations. It was a struggle getting Sam Raimi's Spider-Man off the ground in 2002. And launching that franchise was only the beginning.

Veteran film reporter Sean O'Connell covered every Spider-Man film as they happened. With Great Power digs deep behind the scenes to unearth stories fans have never heard about Raimi's original trilogy, Sony's Spidey spinoffs, the MCU, and beyond.