Long before talk of The Avengers, conversations about the Ayer-cut and controversies surrounding the influx of superhero movies, the genre was seen as the poster-child for the burgeoning cinema of the 21st century. Aside from the X-Men, it was Spider-Man who was embraced by Hollywood studios, with Sam Raimi helping to establish the identity of the emerging genre in 2002.
Thanks to his spectacular web-swinging skillset, Spider-Man became the ideal cinematic character to take the medium into the 21st century, swinging around the New York City streets with a striking presence. Perfectly toeing the line between the spandex superheroes of old and the newfound craving for more grounded heroic tales, Rami’s film achieved great commercial success with the film making way for two sequels in 2004 and 2007 respectively.
