Back in the pre-quarantine days when you couldn't walk into a movie theater without tripping over a floor display for the latest MCU movie, it was almost hard to recall the time when Marvel had a reputation for stumbling in its attempts to bring its superheroes to the big screen. (Remember movie theaters? You'd sit in a dark room in a chair with a modestly reclining back and a slightly sticky cupholder armrest, and watch a movie on a giant screen with a bunch of strangers while munching on ten-dollar popcorn? Apparently they existed two months ago?) Long before Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Thor successfully swaggered their way onto screens, Marvel had a lot more misses than hits in trying to translate characters like Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and The Fantastic Four to film.

However, amid the sea of Marvel's misfires were at least a few diamonds in the rough. Blade and X-Men both managed to buck the unfortunate trend, but they were only precursors to the crown jewel of pre-MCU Marvel movie fare: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. Until 2002's Spider-Man, the classic hero had been reimagined for numerous television shows, including the animated Spider-Man in 1967, and the character's first live-action appearance in 1977 with The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond, but the wall crawler had yet to receive the feature film treatment.

Since 2002, we've been treated to a slew of cinematic Spideys, from various reimaginings of the original web-slinger, Peter Parker, to alternate universe variations on the classic hero. But which is the best Spidey to have ever graced movie screens? With so many Spider-Men -- or I suppose, more accurately, Spider-Folk, since a couple of the AU Spideys are definitely not men -- there are a lot of choices to pick from, all of them good. However, I'm of the mind that having exclusively good options only makes ranking even more fun, if also more contentious.

Below, I rank every actor who has ever portrayed Spidey on the big screen, from those who spent years donning the character's friendly neighborhood spandex, to one who only had a few fleeting seconds of animated screen time, and everyone in between. Keep in mind this is not a reflection of the quality (or lack thereof) of the movies they appeared in, but of how well they slipped into the web-head's red boots. It's also worth noting that while Hailee Steinfeld's Spider-Gwen is fantastic, she won't be appearing on this list because she is neither Spider-Man nor an alt-universe version of the character. She's her own thing.

Jorma Taccone's Impression of Paul Soles as the 1967 Animated Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

The Paul Soles animated Spidey is a classic, and has the honor of being the first version of the character to have ever made the leap from page to screen. While the show itself isn't streaming anywhere, one scene from the episode "Double Identity" has found new life on the internet in recent years as a popular meme, which depicts two Spider-Men aggressively pointing at one another. The post-credits stinger of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse pays homage to the ridiculous moment in Spidey history when it sends Spider-Man 2099 back to "the beginning," where he reenacts a version of the scene with the "original" animated Spider-Man.

However, instead of Paul Soles returning to reprise his voiceover role, comedian Jorma Taccone stepped into the role for those few priceless seconds. It's a fantastic gag and an amazing callback, but as far as cinematic Spideys go, Taccone's version still goes on the bottom of the pile. His impression isn't quite close enough to pass as Soles' voice, and while the joke is hilarious, it's mostly just copying the existing scene, not putting a fresh new spin on the character. However, keep in mind that there are no bad Spideys on this list, so even coming in last is still pretty good.

10. Oscar Isaac as Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man 2099 in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

It brings me no joy to place Oscar Isaac this far down in the Spider-Man rankings, but the hard truth is that he simply didn't get much to do during his brief appearance in Into the Spider-Verse. Isaac's character, Miguel O'Hara a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099, appears in the post-credits stinger, in which he uses a futuristic device to travel through the multiverse back to 1967, seemingly for the sole purpose of getting to reenact a viral meme.

It's a great introduction to a character with a lot of storytelling potential, but with only that single scene to go on, it's not enough to elevate Isaac above all of the other big-screen Spider-Folk. He makes the most of the material he's given, but that material is less than two minutes long, and doesn't offer much for Isaac to sink his voice-over chops into. It's pretty much just surface-level banter, which, to be clear, Isaac is great at, but isn't enough to set him apart from other Spideys who had more opportunity to show their range. However, should Spider-Man 2099 return in the Spider-Versesequel (which, let's be clear, he absolutely should), I fully expect Isaac's Spidey to climb at least a few spots in my mental version of this list.

9. Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker/SP//dr in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Into the Spider-Verse is a veritable smorgasbord of intriguing AU Spider-People, and every one of the alt-Peter Parkers who shows up to help Miles along his journey is amazing in their own right. However, the member of the multi-dimensional superteam that gets the least chance to shine is also sadly Kimiko Glenn's Peni Parker and her awesome mechanical friend SP//dr.

Don't get me wrong; Peni and SP//dr are ridiculously cool -- it's kind of impossible to top a girl with a giant robot that she controls through a psychic link with a radioactive spider -- but of all the various Spider-folk that team up in Spider-Verse, Peni Parker draws the short straw. We simply never get to know her very well, and as such, it's hard for her to distinguish herself from the others. Hopefully Sony will find a way to work Peni and SP//dr into their upcoming all-female Spider-Verse spinoff, because they really deserve a larger opportunity to bask in the spotlight.

8. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 'Spider-Man' Trilogy

I realize it's a bit scandalous to put the original movie Spidey all the way down at spot #8 on this list, but the truth is that while Tobey Maguire's take on Peter Parker was instrumental in ushering in the current golden age of superhero movies, he merely set the bar for the character, one which most of the actors who have followed him have managed to clear -- some by leaps and bounds. Still, Maguire had the distinction of being the first to step into the role in a feature film, and he will always be the one associated with several iconic Spidey moments -- Upside-down kiss! Stopping the train! Car in the coffee shop! Some truly unfortunate dancing! -- which are now synonymous with the character.

Into the Spider-Verse even nodded to Maguire's Spider-Man in its opening sequence, heavily implying that the Peter Parker that we meet at the beginning of the animated film is, in fact, the very same one that Maguire portrayed for his three films. It's a visual gag that only works because Maguire's Spider-Man was so formative to our understanding of what a movie Spidey should look like, and in many ways, he still shapes our expectations for cinematic web-slingers.

However, despite all of that, Maguire never fully captured the spirit of the Peter Parker from the comics as well as others who have since donned Spidey's distinctive red spandex. It was hard to buy him as a high school student, and Peter's signature quippy humor and teenaged lightheartedness never sat quite right with Maguire's more serious style. He was a good Spider-Man, but looking back, his tenure in the role was more about laying groundwork than offering a definitive take on the character -- walking so that those who followed after him could run.

7. John Mulaney as Peter Porker/Spider-Ham in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

While an entire movie centered around Spider-Ham would probably have been way too much, bringing in the porcine spin on Spidey as a supporting character in Into the Spider-Verse was a stroke of genius. Part superhero, part Looney Tunes character, Peter Porker is a bizarre anthropomorphic riff on Spider-Man, and his diminutive presence in Spider-Verse was the perfect way to deliver consistent laughs while also leaning hard into the inherent weirdness of the multiverse.

Comedian John Mulaney was the perfect choice to voice the parodic hero, delivering his lines with a slightly surprised tone which suggested that not even he was entirely sure what he was doing in a movie alongside more traditional superheroes. Anyone familiar with Mulaney's standup knows that he tends to play up his own apparent youthfulness, which translates surprisingly well to voicing a whimsical cartoon spider-pig, even though he's not physically on screen. Mulaney's Spider-Ham may not be leading man -- er, pig -- material, but as a supporting character in another Spider-Man's movie, he was nothing short of comedic gold.

6. Chris Pine as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Before the multiverse splits wide open in Into the Spider-Verse, we get to spend a few delightful minutes with the classic Spider-Man we've all known and loved for years as the film respectfully tips its hat to Tobey Maguire's performance in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy -- right before it kills off that version of Peter and sprints off in a brand new direction. Murdering the OG Spider-Man right at the start of a family film is a big swing, but it pays off in spades, and that's largely due to Chris Pine's voice performance.

Granted, it would have been pretty neat if Maguire had returned to reprise his character one last time, but swapping him out for Pine works surprisingly well. Pine is currently in his blockbuster prime, headlining the Star Trek franchise while also co-starring in the Wonder Woman films. Casting a star of his caliber as the animated version of Raimi's Peter Parker effectively communicates not only the importance of that trilogy to both the character of Spider-Man and superhero films as a whole, but also the fact that Spider-Man himself is as A-list as they come in the world of comics. It also makes it even more of a shock when he dies -- killing Raimi's Spider-Man, as played by leading man Chris Pine? Unthinkable!

But even aside from Pine's star power, he just gives a legitimately great performance during his brief stint as Spider-Man. His idealized version of Peter as a tenured Spider-Man encapsulates everything we love about the character -- he's funny, earnest, a little self-deprecating, and above all, stunningly heroic. We don't get Pine's Spidey for long, but he owns the character enough that his death carries the tragic weight of feeling like we've just watched the entire Spider-Man legacy die.

5. Nicolas Cage as Peter Parker/Spider-Man Noir in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Perhaps it's a contentious choice to rank what is essentially an extended gag in the top five cinematic Spider-Man performances, but when trying to determine where to place Nic Cage's uber-dramatic performance as Spider-Man Noir, I just kept circling back to one question: Is there a single actor in existence who could have played that part better than Nic Cage? And the answer is no.

It's no secret that Nic Cage's oeuvre is all over the place, but one constant that spans pretty much all of his work, from his most critically acclaimed performances to, uh, The Wicker Man, is that Nic Cage commits. There is no gimmick too weird, no monologue too intense, no concept too high for Nic Cage. He will go running full-tilt at literally any role you give him, and he will tear that role to shreds, for better or for worse (and let's be real; with Nic Cage, there's always at least some degree of better, right?).

It makes him an absolutely transcendent pick for Spider-Man Noir, who doesn't receive a huge amount of lines, but when he does speak, he gets to deliver lines like, "I like to drink egg creams and I like to fight Nazis. A lot. Sometimes, I let matches burn down to my fingertips just to feel something, anything." Every single word Nic Cage utters as Spider-Man Noir is a ridiculous, over-the-top, yet completely sincere gift, and we're just lucky to live in a world where we got to experience it.

4. Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 'The Amazing Spider-Man' Films

Listen, The Amazing Spider-Man films had their fair share of issues, and I'm not here to defend them. However, in spite of the many questionable story and character choices those movies made, Andrew Garfield managed to turn in a legitimately inspired performance as Peter Parker. Yes, much like Tobey Maguire, he could never completely sell the idea that he was a high school student (although with his lanky build and his commitment to physical awkwardness, he did an admirable job trying), but he made up for it by really embracing the other core aspects of the character.

Garfield's Peter may not have looked like a kid, but he felt like Peter Parker, capturing the character's nervous energy balanced with his steadfast determination to do what is right. What's more, he managed to convey just how scary it is to be Spider-Man, and how Peter often feels like he's in over his head, but keeps pressing on anyway. Yet despite taking his great power and great responsibility extremely seriously, Garfield's Spidey never lost Peter's characteristic wit and charm, keeping the character lovable and fun even when his circumstances seemed pretty dire. It's really too bad that his movies never managed to live up to his performances in them, because if they had, they might actually have been, well, amazing.

3. Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker/Spider-Man in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Jake Johnson probably isn't the first (or fiftieth) actor to come to mind when you hear the word "superhero," which is why he was the ideal pick to play Peter B. Parker in Into the Spider-Verse. The older, washed-up, down-on-his luck version of Peter reluctantly stumbles into the limelight when his younger, robust counterpart abruptly dies, and finds himself faced with the task of mentoring a younger Spider-Man in a profession he thought he'd abandoned.

It's a fascinating spin on a character that had previously felt so familiar, it was hard to imagine there could possibly be any new takes left to explore. But after Spider-Verse kills the classic Peter, it basically hangs a sign that this is not your typical Spidey story, and this is not your typical Peter Parker. Even his middle initial -- B -- indicates that this is a second-string Spider-Man, the one no one ever envisions putting in the game unless you are left with no other choice.

Johnson shines as a Spider-Man well past his heyday, forced to pull on his threadbare spandex for one last battle, imbuing the character with a despondent world-weariness that fails to completely hide the funny, optimistic young hero he once was. It's not a typical Peter Parker performance, but it's one that helps crystalize who Peter is underneath all the superpowers and jokes, honoring every version of the character who has come before, while still managing to add new layers of complexity to a character we thought we knew inside and out.

2. Shameik Moore as Miles Morales/Spider-Man in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Peter Parker may be the original Spider-Man with the longest comics history, but he's not the only teenager to have ever held the title. Making his comics debut in 2011, right before Andrew Garfield rebooted the character of Peter Parker, Miles Morales was a half-Black, half-Latino teen from Brooklyn who found himself with spider-powers similar to Peter's, but whose personality and life experience lent themselves to a fresh new take on the character.

In Into the Spider-Verse, Shameik Moore was able to bring Miles to life on screen in an explosive way. Despite starring alongside seven variations of Peter Parker, each highlighting different aspects of the beloved character, Moore managed to make Miles feel almost as familiar in his first on-screen appearance as the many Peters did in their fourth. As the story of Spider-Verse unfurls, Moore takes Miles through the full gamut of emotion, from joy to fear to love to betrayal and everything in between, and his heartfelt performance serves to ensure that we feel every single one.

It helps that Moore actually sounds like a teenager, and is thus able to convey the uncertainty, hope, and teenage innocence that's always been a big part of Spider-Man's character in the comics, but had mostly been missing from the films. He may have only had one movie (so far), but one was all it took to skyrocket Miles (and Moore) to the top of the list of the best Spideys of all time.

1. Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the MCU

When Marvel announced that Spider-Man -- and specifically, Peter Parker's version of Spider-Man -- would be joining their cinematic universe, I'll be honest, my first response was, "ugh, why." It's not that I didn't love Spider-Man or Peter Parker; in fact, Peter is one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters. It's just that we'd had so many Peters by that point that I couldn't envision any version of the character that wouldn't feel stale. Yet another cinematic Peter Parker felt redundant and boring, and I couldn't foresee any casting or writing decision that might change my mind.

Enter: Tom Holland. Since his debut in Captain America: Civil War, he's appeared five times in the MCU, but I was eating crow after the very first one. In hindsight, I realize that I'd previously been settling before for Spideys that were too old, too self-assured, too controlled. Not so with Holland's Peter Parker, who was the first live-action web-slinger to actually feel the way the character does in the comics. He was smart, lighthearted, kind, funny, and -- I cannot overemphasize this -- young. When he fought alongside and against the Avengers in Civil War, it was the first time a movie Spider-Man had ever truly felt like a kid going toe to toe with adults, triggering all the feelings of pride and nervousness and protectiveness that I'd never really felt before with Maguire or Garfield's Spideys.

As Holland has continued in the MCU, he's only further cemented that he is the definitive cinematic version of Spider-Man. While Holland himself is not actually a teenager, he's completely believable as one, and whether he's facing down the Vulture or struggling to outwit Mysterio, he does an excellent job conveying not only the high stakes of the battles he's fighting, but the emotional toll they take on a kid who's still figuring out who he is. He's the first Peter Parker to ever really drive home the idea that all of this great power and responsibility rests on the shoulders of someone whose brain hasn't even finished developing yet. His attempts to navigate crushes and friendships and schoolwork often feel just as potentially cataclysmic as any world-threatening bad guy, which is pretty true of how it feels to go through high school. Through it all, Holland's Spidey continues to exhibit courage, compassion, and a deep loyalty -- even when it seems impossible, and even when he's in situations that feel beyond what any teen should have to bear -- that help drive home exactly what makes Peter Parker such a great character in the first place.