The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) is a superhero film adapted from Marvel Comics, directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. The film is part of the Sony Spider-Verse and was released by Sony Pictures. Runtime: 2h 22m. Rated PG-13. Audience rating: 6.6/10.
What is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) about?
Peter Parker faces multiple threats — the electricity-powered Electro and his old friend Harry Osborn becoming the Green Goblin — while uncovering the truth about his parents.
Released in 2014, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was directed by Marc Webb and produced under the Sony Pictures banner. The film occupies a significant place within the Sony Spider-Verse — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, among others, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in Marvel Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Webb and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
Its 6.6 rating reflects a film that divided audiences — appreciated for its ambition and spectacle by some, criticized for pacing and execution by others. Its place in the genre remains a frequent discussion point.
What happens in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)? — Full Plot
We open with a flashback. Peter Parker's parents — Richard and Mary — escape a destabilized small plane mid-flight. Richard records a video confession revealing he had been engineering Peter's bio-modified DNA for years before his birth. Peter is a 'Spider' — born to be Spider-Man. The plane crashes. Peter never sees the recording until much later in the film.
Cut to: present day. Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) are now in a serious relationship, both about to graduate high school. Peter is haunted by his promise to Gwen's late father to leave her alone. Gwen, increasingly independent, plans to study at Oxford. Peter has been intermittently breaking up and reconciling with her.
Peter encounters Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) — a schlubby, lonely OsCorp electrical engineer who idolizes Spider-Man. Max is electrocuted by an experimental power-grid accident and transforms into Electro, a fully-electrical living being capable of consuming and projecting electricity. Max, having been embarrassed by his social isolation, becomes obsessed with destroying Spider-Man.
Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) — Peter's childhood friend, son of the dying Norman Osborn — returns to New York. Harry is suffering from his father's hereditary disease, which is killing him. He needs Spider-Man's blood to synthesize a cure. Peter refuses (fearing the blood will have unpredictable effects on a non-bio-modified body). Harry's anger drives him toward OsCorp's experimental serum — which transforms him into the new Green Goblin.
Electro and Green Goblin form an alliance. They attack New York. Spider-Man fights Electro in a fully-electrified Times Square sequence — one of the most-memorable visual setpieces of any 2014 superhero film. Peter and Gwen, working together, defeat Electro by overloading him with reverse-polarity electricity. Gwen has used her physics knowledge to save the city.
Harry Osborn — now Green Goblin — arrives at the scene. He has put together that Peter is Spider-Man (after seeing Peter's web-shooters on Gwen's research). He kidnaps Gwen and dangles her from the top of a clock tower. Peter and Harry fight across the clock-tower interior. Gwen falls. Peter shoots a web at her mid-fall. He catches her — but the deceleration snap of his web breaks her neck. Gwen dies on the cobblestones below.
Peter, broken by Gwen's death, retires from being Spider-Man for several months. Harry is committed to a mental hospital. A new criminal — Rhino — emerges in Manhattan. A young child stands up to him in a Spider-Man costume. Peter, watching from the rooftops, dons his costume and returns to action one more time.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 grossed $709 million globally on a $200 million budget — slightly below the original but still commercially successful. The film's mixed critical reception and decline from the original led to Sony's eventual abandonment of the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man universe. A planned Sinister Six film and additional Amazing Spider-Man films were canceled. Sony eventually negotiated the MCU co-production deal that produced Homecoming (2017). Andrew Garfield returned to the role only in No Way Home (2021).
Who stars in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)?
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What are some facts about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)?
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 released in 2014, placing it within the 2010s era of comic book cinema — a decade that saw superhero films become the dominant force at the global box office.
Directed by Marc Webb, the film was produced by Sony Pictures and adapts source material from Marvel Comics.
The principal cast features Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, with key supporting roles played by Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti.
The film belongs to Sony Spider-Verse — Sony Pictures' Spider-Man adjacent film universe.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 carries an audience rating of 6.6 — a middling reception but one that hasn't prevented its cultural footprint.
The Marvel Comics source material for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Modern superhero films like this one use a mix of practical effects and digital VFX, with entire sequences often shot against volume walls or LED stages pioneered by shows like The Mandalorian.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 162 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
