Spider-Man: 10 Greatest Betrayals In The Sam Raimi Trilogy, Ranked
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy remains hugely influential to the modern trend of comic book movies. The director's signature style separates these films from others in the genre as does the unique storytelling which deals with over-the-top dramatic elements including a lot of backstabbing and treachery.
From friends turning to enemies to romances being torn apart to villains who should never have been trusted in the first place, Raimi certainly liked seeing these types of storylines play out within the superhero world. While some worked better than others, they did make for some fun moments in the Spider-Man trilogy.
10 Mary Jane Leaves Fiancé At The Altar
Peter and Mary Jane had plenty of ups and downs in their relationship throughout this trilogy. At the beginning of Spider-Man 2, she is with astronaut John Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson. Despite clearly still having feelings for Peter, Mary Jane agrees to marry John.
However, by the end of the movie, Mary Jane discovers Peter is Spider-Man and can no longer deny her feelings. As nice as it is to see those two finally get together, it's hard not to feel sorry for John, who is abandoned on his wedding day.
9 Fighting Promoter Doesn't Pay Peter
A big part of Peter's journey to becoming a hero is in the scene where he attempts to become a wrestler. Donning a disguise, Peter enters a competition where he fights the wrestler Bonesaw for a cash prize.
With his new superpowers, Peter obviously wins the match, but the seedy fight promoter only pays him a small percentage of the fee. He uses some weak loophole to get out of paying the rest. After the promoter is robbed, Peter lets the thief go and it's hard to feel sorry for the promoter.
8 Harry Dates Mary Jane
The friendship between Peter and Harry Osborn is a big part of the trilogy. Despite them seeming to be the best of friends, there is a lot of shady things going on even before secret identities and superpowers enter into the equation.
Harry is well aware that Peter has a crush on Mary Jane and even teases him about it. But that doesn't stop Harry from eventually dating her. And as proof that Harry knows it is wrong of him to do to his best friend, he doesn't even tell Peter about it.
7 Norman Kills Dr. Stromm
When Norman Osborn is introduced, he is the head of Oscorps, whose work on a super-soldier serum is getting a lot of negative feedback from investors. Norman is working on the top-secret and dangerous project alongside Dr. Stromm who openly tells the investors the project is not ready.
Refusing to give up, Norman uses the formula on himself to speed up the process. This turns him into the Green Goblin and he immediately uses his new super-strength to murder Stromm, someone who seemed to genuinely care about him.
6 Norman Attacks Aunt May
While Spider-Man and Green Goblin are fighting each other all over New York City, they are both unaware that they know each other outside of their respective costumes. Norman was becoming a mentor figure to Peter and there seemed to be mutual respect between them.
However, when Norman discovers that Peter is actually Spider-Man, he quickly uses his closeness with Peter to get to him. Norman attacks poor Aunt May in her house even after she cooked Thanksgiving dinner for him.
5 Harry Blackmails Mary Jane
In the most soap opera storyline of the trilogy, Harry Osborn suffers a head injury that gives him temporary amnesia. This allows him and Peter to become friends again as Harry forgets their bad blood. However, when his memory returns, he goes after Peter again.
Harry pays Mary Jane a visit and threatens her, forcing her to break up with Peter and tell him that she is actually in love with Harry. It is an extremely evil thing to do to Peter, but even more evil for Mary Jane, whom he used to date and has no part in this feud.
4 Harry Tries To Kill Peter
After discovering that Peter is Spider-Man, he finds his father's Green Goblin equipment and serum. Gaining his own super-strength, Harry goes after Peter to get his revenge.
It seems that all the history these two shared together immediately disappears as Harry is out for blood. He is ruthless and relentless in his attack. Not only was he trying to kill Peter, but Harry also almost made Peter lose the engagement ring he planned to give to Mary Jane.
3 Peter Tries To Kill Harry
Spider-Man 3 finds the heroic Spider-Man suddenly turning evil as he is infected by the symbiote. While this storyline results in some very silly moments, the confrontation between Peter and Harry is pretty great.
This time around, it is Peter who comes at Harry and he seems genuinely gleeful beating up his former friend. While Harry was literally asking for this fight, Peter is brutal both physically and emotionally, telling Harry that his father never really loved him before blowing half of his face off.
2 Peter Hits Mary Jane
Part of the reason the evil-Peter storyline doesn't quite work is that there is way too much dancing. After Peter does his cringe-worthy emo shuffle down the streets of New York City, he decides to visit Mary Jane following their breakup at the jazz club where she works.
Peter brings along Gwen Stacy to make Mary Jane jealous and proceeds to dance all over the place and cause a disturbance. In the midst of the raucous, Peter strikes Mary Jane. It is a violent moment that shocks both of them.
1 Harry Sends Octavius After Peter
After Norman Osborn is killed, Harry blames Spider-Man and swears revenge. This pursuit enrages Harry and has him lashing out in some scary ways. But the moment he really goes too far is when he sends a murderous supervillain after his friends.
Doc Ock visits Harry looking for materials for his experiments. Harry agrees to give it to him if he brings him Spider-Man and tells Doc Ock that Peter Parker will know where the wall-crawler is. This gets Peter attacked and Mary Jane abducted.