

Full disclosure: Spider-man is hands down my favorite superhero. I've always found Peter Parker to be a much more interesting and sympathetic character than Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent, arguably the only two heroes that match or eclipse Spider-man in popularity. I also love the webslinging, wisecracking, and the general radness of his superpowers.
The Amazing Spider-man 2 delivers on both of these in a huge way. In this installment of the rebooted Spidey universe, Peter Parker (
The Social Network's Andrew Garfield) freshly graduated from high school, is still struggling to come to terms with his parent's sudden disappearance, and his being Spider-man putting the woman he loves, Gwen Stacey (
Easy A, and
The Help's Emma Stone) in danger. His Aunt May (
Forrest Gump and
Lincoln's Sally Field) is struggling to find a way to send her beloved nephew to school and care for him in the absence of her husband. Peter's troubles are only intensified when his childhood friend, Harry Osborn (
Chronicle and
Place Beyond the Pines's Dane DeHaan) returns from boarding school to visit his dying father, Norman (
The Muppets and
American Beauty's Chris Cooper) and New York is threatened by a new villain, the once overlooked technician Max Dillon turned sentient lightening bolt, Electro. (
Ray and
Collateral's Jamie Foxx) We are also introduced to The Green Goblin and Rhino here.