Spider-Man (film)

## More Information

*"Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: "With great power comes great responsibility." This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man."*
―Peter Parker
***Spider-Man*** is a 2002 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. This is the first installment in the Spider-Man Trilogy.

The movie was directed by Sam Raimi and it stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, James Franco as Harry Osborn, Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker, Rosemary Harris as May Parker and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.

The film was followed by *Spider-Man 2* and later *Spider-Man 3*. Using the concept of the multiverse, the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie *Spider-Man: No Way Home* features the return of Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe as Spider-Man and Green Goblin respectively.

## Synopsis

Average Teenager Peter Parker is transformed into an extraordinary superhero after he is accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider. When his beloved uncle is savagely murdered during a robbery, young Peter vows to use his powers to avenge hi death. Deeming himself ¨Spider-Man¨, he sets about ridding the streets of crime, birging him into conflict with malevolent super-villain ¨Green Goblin¨.

## Plot

The film opens with a socially inept high school student named Peter Parker as he tries to catch up to his school bus, due to the field trip he is attending. However, he is instead ignored. Eventually Mary Jane Watson, her next-door neighbor and love interest, asks the bus driver to stop. This allows Parker to board the bus. However he is immediately made the laughingstock and while he is walking he is tripped over by one of the cronies of school bully Flash Thompson. They eventually make it and Parker meets Norman Osborn, the father of his best friend Harry Osborn. While there, though, Parker is bitten by a spider. This causes him to go sick as he returns to his home where both his aunt May Parker and uncle Ben Parker are. However, Parker passes out in his room and his DNA sequence is altered as a result. Meanwhile at Oscorp, Norman Osborn and Mendel Stromm present General Slocum the Green Goblin Armor and the Goblin Glider.

However this is not enough to impress Slocum and he demands to know about the performance enhancers, which according to Stromm are not ready yet. However Osborn suggests they are ready. Slocum asks him to get them ready for human testing, otherwise he will pull out of their funding and give it to their rivals at Quest Aerospace. That night, Norman begins testing much to Stromm's reluctance. However the performance enhancers fail and this leads to Norman becoming aggressive and killing Stromm all by himself.

Following his accident, Parker feels fine and realizes he no longer needs glasses and that his body has changed. He leaves the house and sees Mary Jane being yelled at by his father. She leaves her house upset and Parker rushes towards her, trying to comfort her but she instead leaves with her friends. Parker then tries catching up to the bus and notices he can stick to things. Meanwhile at their house Harry wakes his father Norman up, and Norman doesn't remember what happened and how he ended up like that. At school Parker realizes by accident he has the ability to shoot organic webbing from his wrists. Flash approaches him and tries to beat him once Parker accidentally starts a fight. However, Parker surprisingly wins, much to Harry and MJ's shock. Parker then runs away to some alleyway, and decides to see if he can climb buildings. This works and Parker then jumps from building to building until he meets a dead end. Parker then tries utilizing his webbing but to no avail; he instead crashes into a billboard in the way. Parker then decides after seeing MJ being impressed by Flash Thompson's new car that he had to work in order to get money.

Parker competes in an underground wrestling match in order to do so and leaves, ignoring his uncle's speech on how with great power comes great responsibility. Parker wins the match against Bone Saw McGraw. However, the promoter cheats him of his winnings, and as payback, Parker lets a robber escape with the cash. This, however, takes a wrong turn as his uncle is found dead outside. Parker decides to catch the robber and tries to kill him which he succeeds in doing. However, Parker then realizes his uncle was right and returns home in sadness. Before graduation, the Green Goblin bombs Quest Aerospace, killing Slocum.

Upon graduating, Parker stitches a new suit and operates as the masked vigilante known as Spider-Man. Using his photography skills, Spider-Man is able to take pictures of himself and submit them to J. Jonah Jameson of *The Daily Bugle* as Peter Parker. Jameson uses these pictures in the news and claims Spider-Man is a menace to society, much to Parker's frustration. After, Osborn is fired by his board of directors due to Quest's offer for Oscorp. Meanwhile, Parker finds out that Harry is dating MJ, which frustrates him.

The Green Goblin uses the World Unity Festival as an opportunity to get revenge on the board of directors so that they do not fire him. Parker comes to the rescue and saves everyone else, including a falling Mary Jane. After this though, Osborn and the Green Goblin agree that instead of fighting the Spider-Man he could become a potential ally of them and decides to go to the Bugle's office to find out who takes his pictures, believing they will get them closer to Spider-Man. However, Spider-Man instead shows up to rescue Jameson and the Green Goblin gives him the offer and leaves. After at a fire, the Green Goblin asks for his choice but instead Spider-Man refuses. After both Parker and Norman attend thanksgiving with May, MJ and Harry. Osborn notices a similar cut on Parker that happened to Spider-Man and deduces he is Spider-Man. The Green Goblin then attacks May after.

Eventually he kidnaps Mary Jane and gives Spider-Man the option of letting kids die or let MJ die. Spider-Man rescues both and confronts the Green Goblin at a warehouse. Norman reveals himself and acts as if he is no longer controlled by the Green Goblin but sends the Glider after Spider-Man. Spider-Man dodges it but it ends up killing the Green Goblin. As he dies, he asks Spider-Man not to tell Harry. Spider-Man returns the body at his mansion, but is caught by Harry who promises to get revenge on Spider-Man. At Norman's funeral, MJ reveals her feelings towards Parker and asks him if they can be together. However, Parker declines, believing that he must protect his loved ones by not associating him with them. He accepts his responsibility as Spider-Man and continues to protect the ones he loves.

## Cast

* Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
* Willem Dafoe as Doctor Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
* Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson
* James Franco as Harry Osborn
* Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker
* Rosemary Harris as May Parker
* J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson
* Gerry Becker as Maximilian Fargas
* Bill Nunn as Robbie Robertson
* Jack Betts as Henry Balkan
* Stanley Anderson as General Slocum
* Ron Perkins as Dr. Mendell Stromm
* Joe Manganiello as Flash Thompson
* Michael Papajohn as Carjacker
* K.K. Dodds as Simkins
* Ted Raimi as Ted Hoffman
* Bruce Campbell as Ring Announcer
* Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brant
* John Paxton as Bernard Houseman
* Tim DeZarn as Phillip Watson
* Taylor Gilbert as Madeline Watson
* Randy Savage as Bone Saw McGraw
* Sally Livingstone as Girl on Bus
* Macy Gray as Herself

## Appearances

### Locations

* Earth
	+ New York City, New York
		- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
		- Oscorp Labs
		- Parker Residence
		- Osborn Penthouse
		- Watson Residence
		- Midtown High
		- Quest Aerospace Labs
		- Peter Parker and Harry Osborn's Apartment
		- The Daily Bugle Tower
		- Times Square
		- Queensboro Bridge

### Events

* Green Goblin's Rampage
	+ Attack on Oscorp Labs
	+ Bombing of Quest Aerospace Labs
	+ Attack on World Unity Festival
	+ Ambush on The Daily Bugle
	+ Ambush on May Parker
	+ Battle at Queensboro Bridge

### Items

* Goblin Glider
* Green Goblin Armor
* Goblin Formula
* Pumpkin Bombs
* Spider-Man Suit
* Peter Parker's Camera

### Organisations

* Oscorp Industries
* Quest Aerospace
* *The Daily Bugle*
* New York City Police Department

### Mentioned

* Doctor Curt Connors
* Shazam!
* Superman
* *Evil Dead II* (poster)
* Cinderella
* *The Producers* (poster)
* *Beauty and the Beast* (poster)
* *A.I. Artificial Intelligence* (poster)
* Eddie Brock
* Caroline Mulder
* Richard Parker
* Mary Parker

## Production

Production of the filming took place in Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York. During pre-production, director Sam Raimi was given ideas from the crew to add Doctor Octopus in the story alongside the Green Goblin, but Raimi refused, knowing it would make the story complicated and had just the Green Goblin in it. However, he agreed to add Doctor Octopus as the main villain in the sequel.

## Music

* *Spider-Man - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack*

## References

The Spider-Man Trilogy Wiki has a collection of images and media related to **Spider-Man (film)**.

## External Links

* Spider-Man (film) on Wikipedia
* Spider-Man (film) on IMDb
* Spider-Man (film) on Disney+