The Amazing Spider-Man series (2012, 2014)

When Spider-Man 3 left fans cold, Sam Raimi’s planned Spider-Man 4 was scrapped, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst left the franchise with him. In its place, Sony took Peter Parker back to high school for a new version of the webslinger’s origin story. The Amazing Spider-Man saw Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Emma Stone assume the roles of Parker and first love Gwen Stacy, and while the film didn’t wow fans the way Raimi’s 2002 original had, it performed well at the box office ($758 million worldwide) and earned mostly positive reviews. Thus, its sequel was intended to be the launching point for a shared universe of Spider-Man, which would extend to sequels, spin-offs and a villain team-up based on the comics’ Sinister Six. All of those plans were ultimately cancelled, as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 proved to be the least successful installment in the franchise to date. Never fear, true believers, because Spidey is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in next year’s Captain America: Civil War.