Movie Smarts

Spider-Man Quiz: Put Your Movie Sense to Work

The big scenes are easy to remember. How many of the little details stayed with you?

Published 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-10-24 15 questions

Spider-Man: With Great Power Comes a Very Awkward Schedule

Peter Parker is trying to survive school, family worries, and a crush that never seems to get easier. An unexpected change gives him abilities that could solve a few problems and create many more. As he learns what to do with them, a dangerous new figure starts making trouble across the city. Saving people is demanding work, especially when your ordinary life still expects you to show up on time.

Stick around. Fifteen questions are hanging over your score.

1. Who directed Spider-Man in 2002?
- Marc Webb
- Sam Raimi
- Tim Burton
- Jon Watts
Raimi, a lifelong fan who had made the Evil Dead films and Darkman, got the job after years of the rights being tied up in lawsuits. It was the first film to take more than 100 million dollars in a single opening weekend, and Raimi directed both sequels.
2. Who plays Peter Parker?
- Jake Gyllenhaal
- Tom Holland
- Andrew Garfield
- Tobey Maguire
Maguire was an unlikely action lead, known for quiet parts in The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys, and Raimi cast him over the studio's doubts. He stayed for two sequels and came back, two decades on, to share No Way Home with Holland and Garfield.
3. Why does Peter let the robber who goes on to kill Uncle Ben run straight past him?
- The promoter he robbed had just cheated Peter out of his prize money
- Peter mistook him for a security guard
- The man was armed and Peter froze
- Peter didn't yet know he had powers
The promoter pays Peter a hundred dollars instead of the advertised three thousand, so when a thief empties the office cash box, Peter lets him go and tells the promoter he missed the part where that was his problem. The same man then shoots Ben for his car.
4. What gives Peter his powers?
- A damaged power line
- A genetically engineered spider bite
- An experimental vaccine
- A radiation spill
The class is touring a genetics lab at Columbia, where one of the engineered spiders has slipped out of its case, and it bites Peter's hand while he is photographing Mary Jane. The radioactive spider of the 1962 comic became a genetic one for the film.
5. Who becomes the Green Goblin?
- Norman Osborn
- Flint Marko
- Otto Octavius
- Harry Osborn
Osborn tests Oscorp's performance-enhancing formula on himself to save a contract and comes out stronger and unhinged, with a second voice in his head. Harry is his son and Peter's roommate; Octavius and Marko are the villains of the next two films.
6. Who plays Norman Osborn?
- Alfred Molina
- Chris Cooper
- Willem Dafoe
- Michael Keaton
Dafoe did many of the stunts in the Goblin suit himself, unhappy with how doubles moved in it. The mask hides his face for most of the film, so the mirror scene, Norman arguing with his own reflection, is where the performance lives.
7. What newspaper buys Peter's photographs?
- The Daily Planet
- The New York Bulletin
- The Daily Bugle
- The Gotham Gazette
The Bugle's offices are in the Flatiron Building, which plays itself in the exteriors, and Jameson buys Peter's pictures because nobody else can get near Spider-Man. The Daily Planet is Superman's paper and the Gotham Gazette belongs to Batman.
8. Who plays J. Jonah Jameson?
- Stanley Tucci
- John C. McGinley
- Bryan Cranston
- J.K. Simmons
Simmons wears the comics' flat-top and cigar and plays Jameson as a man who shouts in complete paragraphs. He was so definitive that he was brought back as Jameson in the Tom Holland films, a different continuity entirely.
9. What name does Peter first suggest for his wrestling act?
- The Web Warrior
- The Amazing Acrobat
- The Red Phantom
- The Human Spider
The ring announcer, Raimi regular Bruce Campbell, decides the name is terrible and introduces him as the Amazing Spider-Man instead, so the hero is christened by a wrestling emcee. Campbell has a cameo in each of Raimi's three films.
10. Who is Peter's opponent in the wrestling cage?
- Jackhammer Joe
- Crusher Hogan
- Bonesaw McGraw
- Thunderbolt Jones
Bonesaw is played by the wrestler Randy Savage, Macho Man to a generation of WWF fans, and the cage comes down around them to Peter's surprise. He wins in two minutes, and Crusher Hogan, among the wrong answers, is the opponent in the original 1962 comic.
11. What does the Green Goblin force Spider-Man to choose between on the Queensboro Bridge?
- Mary Jane and a cable car full of children
- Harry and Aunt May
- A busload of tourists and a ferry
- Mary Jane and the antidote to the Goblin formula
The Goblin drops both at once, telling Spider-Man this is why only fools are heroes, and Peter catches MJ with one hand and the cable with the other until a barge can take the children. New Yorkers on the bridge pelt the Goblin with debris.
12. What kind of vehicle does the Green Goblin ride?
- A jetpack
- A powered glider
- A rocket motorcycle
- A hover car
The glider is Oscorp military hardware, developed alongside the formula, and Norman steals it along with the armor. It carries the pumpkin bombs that turn the Oscorp board to skeletons at the festival, and in the end it's the glider that finishes Norman off.
13. How does this version of Peter produce webs?
- From a chemical belt
- From his wrists naturally
- From his gloves' batteries
- With mechanical web shooters
The organic webbing came from James Cameron's 1990s treatment for the film, which Raimi kept, arguing that a teenager inventing the stuff was the harder sell. The comics, and later the Andrew Garfield films, use mechanical shooters Peter builds himself.
14. Where does the famous upside-down kiss happen?
- In a rainy alley
- Under a bridge
- Inside a subway car
- On a school roof
Spider-Man drops in to see off MJ's muggers and hangs upside down from a web while she peels the mask back to his nose. The rain ran straight into Maguire's nostrils while he was inverted, so a famously romantic moment was shot with the actor half drowning.
15. Which band's frontman sang "Hero," the film's theme song?
- Creed
- Linkin Park
- Nickelback
- 3 Doors Down
Chad Kroeger of Nickelback sang 'Hero' with Josey Scott of Saliva, and it ran over the end credits and up the charts in 2002. Aerosmith's cover of the 1967 cartoon theme follows it, and the score was by Danny Elfman, who fell out with Raimi on the sequel.

All the answers

1. Who directed Spider-Man in 2002?

Sam Raimi

Raimi, a lifelong fan who had made the Evil Dead films and Darkman, got the job after years of the rights being tied up in lawsuits. It was the first film to take more than 100 million dollars in a single opening weekend, and Raimi directed both sequels.
2. Who plays Peter Parker?

Tobey Maguire

Maguire was an unlikely action lead, known for quiet parts in The Cider House Rules and Wonder Boys, and Raimi cast him over the studio's doubts. He stayed for two sequels and came back, two decades on, to share No Way Home with Holland and Garfield.
3. Why does Peter let the robber who goes on to kill Uncle Ben run straight past him?

The promoter he robbed had just cheated Peter out of his prize money

The promoter pays Peter a hundred dollars instead of the advertised three thousand, so when a thief empties the office cash box, Peter lets him go and tells the promoter he missed the part where that was his problem. The same man then shoots Ben for his car.
4. What gives Peter his powers?

A genetically engineered spider bite

The class is touring a genetics lab at Columbia, where one of the engineered spiders has slipped out of its case, and it bites Peter's hand while he is photographing Mary Jane. The radioactive spider of the 1962 comic became a genetic one for the film.
5. Who becomes the Green Goblin?

Norman Osborn

Osborn tests Oscorp's performance-enhancing formula on himself to save a contract and comes out stronger and unhinged, with a second voice in his head. Harry is his son and Peter's roommate; Octavius and Marko are the villains of the next two films.
6. Who plays Norman Osborn?

Willem Dafoe

Dafoe did many of the stunts in the Goblin suit himself, unhappy with how doubles moved in it. The mask hides his face for most of the film, so the mirror scene, Norman arguing with his own reflection, is where the performance lives.
7. What newspaper buys Peter's photographs?

The Daily Bugle

The Bugle's offices are in the Flatiron Building, which plays itself in the exteriors, and Jameson buys Peter's pictures because nobody else can get near Spider-Man. The Daily Planet is Superman's paper and the Gotham Gazette belongs to Batman.
8. Who plays J. Jonah Jameson?

J.K. Simmons

Simmons wears the comics' flat-top and cigar and plays Jameson as a man who shouts in complete paragraphs. He was so definitive that he was brought back as Jameson in the Tom Holland films, a different continuity entirely.
9. What name does Peter first suggest for his wrestling act?

The Human Spider

The ring announcer, Raimi regular Bruce Campbell, decides the name is terrible and introduces him as the Amazing Spider-Man instead, so the hero is christened by a wrestling emcee. Campbell has a cameo in each of Raimi's three films.
10. Who is Peter's opponent in the wrestling cage?

Bonesaw McGraw

Bonesaw is played by the wrestler Randy Savage, Macho Man to a generation of WWF fans, and the cage comes down around them to Peter's surprise. He wins in two minutes, and Crusher Hogan, among the wrong answers, is the opponent in the original 1962 comic.
11. What does the Green Goblin force Spider-Man to choose between on the Queensboro Bridge?

Mary Jane and a cable car full of children

The Goblin drops both at once, telling Spider-Man this is why only fools are heroes, and Peter catches MJ with one hand and the cable with the other until a barge can take the children. New Yorkers on the bridge pelt the Goblin with debris.
12. What kind of vehicle does the Green Goblin ride?

A powered glider

The glider is Oscorp military hardware, developed alongside the formula, and Norman steals it along with the armor. It carries the pumpkin bombs that turn the Oscorp board to skeletons at the festival, and in the end it's the glider that finishes Norman off.
13. How does this version of Peter produce webs?

From his wrists naturally

The organic webbing came from James Cameron's 1990s treatment for the film, which Raimi kept, arguing that a teenager inventing the stuff was the harder sell. The comics, and later the Andrew Garfield films, use mechanical shooters Peter builds himself.
14. Where does the famous upside-down kiss happen?

In a rainy alley

Spider-Man drops in to see off MJ's muggers and hangs upside down from a web while she peels the mask back to his nose. The rain ran straight into Maguire's nostrils while he was inverted, so a famously romantic moment was shot with the actor half drowning.
15. Which band's frontman sang "Hero," the film's theme song?

Nickelback

Chad Kroeger of Nickelback sang 'Hero' with Josey Scott of Saliva, and it ran over the end credits and up the charts in 2002. Aerosmith's cover of the 1967 cartoon theme follows it, and the score was by Danny Elfman, who fell out with Raimi on the sequel.