All 6 Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Movies & Appearances in Order
Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes ever created, and just like others, this character had several adaptations for the big screen. It started with the original ‘Spider-Man’ movie directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in 2002. After the critical and commercial disappointment of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2,’ Sony and Disney made a deal to bring Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Thomas Stanley “Tom” Holland was honored to play the newest live-action web crawler.
Since Tom Holland debuted as Spider-Man in the MCU in 2016, some fans immediately named him the best Spider-Man actor, although the debate about the best Spider-Man actor is still ongoing among the fans. However, whichever Spider-Man actor you consider the best one, there’s no doubt that Holland left a deep mark in the history of comic book adaptations. He was the first Spider-Man that was part of the bigger universe and, therefore, the only Spider-Man that got to hang out with the Avengers. He was also the only live-action Spider-Man whose origin story wasn’t repeated when he was first introduced on the big screen. So, in this article, we’ll take a look at all the movies in which Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has appeared so far.
Editor’s Note: This post is regularly updated to bring you the most recent news regarding the franchise.
How many movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man are there?
So far, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has appeared in six movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He debuted in 2016 in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ before he reprised the role in his solo movie a year later. After that, he appeared in two sequels to his solo movie and two ‘Avengers’ movies that were the crossover events and the climax of Infinity Saga.
Movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in order (at a glance)
When he was cast as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland signed a contract that bound him to do six MCU movies. Besides his own ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy, Holland was introduced as the guest character in the third Captain America movie and appeared in two Avengers movies. Here’s the exact order of the MCU movies featuring Spider-Man that follow the entire character development of Tom Holland’s web-slinger.
- ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016)
- ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017)
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
- ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)
- ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ (2019)
- ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
Spider-Man’s character arc is well-written throughout these six movies, and his next MCU appearance could show us the true Spider-Man that he was always meant to be. The ending of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ only teased that the ending of this story is just the beginning of another one.
Are movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man connected? Do you need to watch them in a specific order?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for being closely connected, even though some movies and TV shows can be watched separately. However, the story of Spider-Man is written throughout the six movies mentioned in the previous paragraph. So, yes! The MCU movies that feature Tom Holland’s Spider-Man are connected, and the best way is to watch them by release date.
True, you can watch Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy separately. Still, the number of references, mentions, and guest appearances is too big, so watching that trilogy without any MCU knowledge isn’t recommended at all. Also, while Spider-Man’s story in the MCU starts with Captain America: Civil War, you’d need knowledge of some previous MCU movies like Age of Ultron to fully understand the movie’s context. The same thing can be said for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, for which you’d need the knowledge of the first Avengers movie and Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, etc. In short, it’s probably for the best to watch almost the entire MCU.
What is the best way to watch movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man?
The MCU fans are still arguing whether it is best to watch the franchise chronologically by release date. And the truth is, it doesn’t matter because even if you watch the franchise by release date, you will be familiar with everything you need to know before each movie. For example, the Captain Marvel movie takes place in the 90s, but there’s no need to watch that movie among the first ones because there’s no need to know anything about that character before ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
If we only look at the MCU movies in which Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appears, the good news is that the order of those movies by release date and chronologically is the same. If you watch these six movies by release date, you are also watching them chronologically, so there’s no need to overthink the best way to watch them because there is only one way.
Movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in order
1. ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (2016)
The events of Captain America: Civil War are the follow-up to the events of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ The United Nations signed the Sokovia Accords, a document that would forbid the Avengers to act independently to save the day. While Tony Stark agrees with that, Steve Rogers disagrees, which breaks the Avengers into two teams and turns Captain America and his teammates into criminals and fugitives.
When the final showdown starts, Tony Stars recruits Peter Parker/Spider-Man, who was already bitten by the radioactive spider, to join his team. Stark also provided Peter with the new Spider-Man suit, and that was Spider-Man’s first chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
2. ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ (2017)
Following Captain America’s Civil War events, Peter Parker returns home. While Tony Stark is telling him to keep a low profile and help ordinary citizens, Peter believes he’s ready for another real mission with the Avengers. Spider-Man will soon encounter a new villain called the Vulture, who steals the alien technology to create powerful weapons for the black market.
After hacking the suit and going after Vulture behind his back, Tony Stark takes back the suit from Peter. However, after discovering that the Vulture is the father of his school classmate and love interest, Liz, Peter takes his handmade suit and stops the Vulture from hijacking Tony Stark’s plane that was transporting the high-tech stuff from the Avengers tower to the new Avengers facility. Tony then offers Peter a place on the team, but Peter declines, realizing what Tony was trying to teach him all along.
3. ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
Peter continued to balance the life of a high-schooler and a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man until Thanos’ children, aka Black Order, attacked New York in search of Infinity Stones. Spider-Man joined Iron Man in a fight against Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian to protect Doctor Strange’s Time Stone, eventually bringing all three heroes to Maw’s Q-Ship. After defeating Maw, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Strange meet the Guardians of the Galaxy on Titan, where they wait for Thanos’ next move.
After Doctor Strange gave up the Time Stone in exchange for Iron Man’s life, Thanos teleported himself to Wakanda, where he took the Mind Stone, completing his collection and shaping his fingers to wipe out half of the universe’s population, including Peter Parker.
4. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)
Spider-Man didn’t have a large role in Infinity War’s direct sequel since he appeared only for the third act when everyone that Thanos dusted off in ‘Infinity War’ returned. Of course, he still had two great scenes; one in which Iron Man hugged him after seeing him alive, and the second one when he said farewell to Iron Man after his ultimate sacrifice. And we still remember how the theater loudly cheered when Spider-Man appeared during the Portals scene.
5. ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ (2019)
After the death of Iron Man, Peter Parker returned to school, and the next chapter for him was to go on a school trip to Europe. Of course, when you’re Spider-Man, you don’t need to find trouble; the trouble usually finds you.
The trouble we’re talking about in this movie is a new villain called Mysterio, who basically wanted to pretend to be a hero like the Syndrome from The Incredibles. Although there was no Iron Man here, this movie also had a special guest star in the form of Samuel L. Jackson, an MCU veteran who still plays Nick Fury (or a Skrull Talos while he’s playing Nick Fury, who can tell?).
6. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
Following the cliffhanger in ‘Far From Home,’ in which Mysterio exposes Spider-Man’s identity to the world, Peter starts to look for a way to make things right again. After asking for Doctor Strange’s help, a door to the Multiverse will open, and it will bring some known characters, which makes this movie a fan-service festival for every Spider-Man fan.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will team up with two more Spider-Men that we watched on the big screen long before the web-slinger joined the MCU to defeat Green Goblin and several other very known villains played by known actors.
Where to watch movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man?
The MCU movies featuring Spider-Man that were made solely by Disney’s Marvel Studios (‘Captain America: Civil War,’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’) are available to stream on Disney+.
However, Spider-Man solo movies were made in co-production between Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and Sony Pictures distributed them. Sony doesn’t have its own streaming service, so it’s hard to find those movies on streaming services. They can be streamed on STARZ or rented on Amazon Video, Apple TV, or similar services.
Will there be more movies featuring Tom Holland’s Spider-Man?
There will be more Holland’s Spider-Man movies. Tom Holland’s initial six-movie contract expired with the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, shortly after the release of ‘No Way Home,’ Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios revealed that they’re working on another sequel (of course they are, No Way Home has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide). Some reports say that Tom Holland negotiated another contract that should bind him to one Spider-Man trilogy and occasional appearances in MCU movies. However, we’re still waiting for the official word on that one.
We know that the untitled Spider-Man 4, starring Tom Holland, is still in early development, with no release date set. Of course, it is also expected that Spider-Man will be part of the upcoming crossover movies ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ in 2025 and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ in 2026.
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