Film guide · 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2Complete Guide

The parts that are hard to follow from the film alone, explained with a story summary, a character map and key terms.

Released
2014
Runtime
142 min
Set in
Alternate universe

Good to know before watchingNo spoilers

A direct sequel

It follows straight on from The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), so watch that first.

The promise

At the end of the first film, Peter promised to keep Gwen out of danger.

Answers about his parents

The mystery of Peter's parents from the first film is answered.

About the mid-credits scene

It's footage from a different film (X-Men: Days of Future Past), not part of this story.

Character mapSpoilers

Who's who in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), with Peter at the center.

Because of copyright, we can't use stills, posters or any other images of the characters as they appear in the film. All face photos are freely licensed photos of the actors themselves (non-human characters are original illustrations made for this site; people without a photo are shown with initials).

Drag to move, pinch (or scroll on a computer) to zoom. Tap a person to read about them.

All characters

About the images

Face photos are freely licensed photos of the actors from Wikimedia Commons, cropped to a square and resized. Non-human characters are original illustrations made for this site, and people without a photo are shown with a placeholder (initials).

StorySpoilers

Read the story (spoilers up to the ending)

1. The plane

Peter's parents are attacked aboard a private plane.

2. Graduation day

Busy as Spider-Man and haunted by his promise, Peter breaks up with Gwen.

3. Max's accident

An accident at Oscorp turns Max into living electricity.

4. Harry's request

The sick Harry believes Spider-Man's blood could cure him.

5. The power plant and the clock tower

With the city blacked out, Peter and Gwen team up to save it.

Read the detailed scene-by-scene story

Key terms

Electro
A man whose body has become pure electricity. He grows stronger by draining the city's power.
Ravencroft
An institute linked to Oscorp where dangerous people are locked up and secretly experimented on.
Harry's illness
A deadly hereditary disease in the Osborn family. Harry's father Norman is dying of it.
Dad's hidden lab
A secret lab Peter's father Richard built in an abandoned subway station.

Confusing parts, explainedSpoilers

Contains spoilers about the ending.

Why did only Peter survive the spider's power?

Richard used his own DNA in the spider research, so only someone of the Parker bloodline could bond with it safely.

What happens to Harry?

Refused Spider-Man's blood, Harry injects himself with Oscorp's spider venom and transforms into the Green Goblin.

What happens to Gwen?

When Gwen falls in the clock tower fight, Peter's web catches her a moment too late, and she dies. It mirrors a famous moment from the comics.

Who's the man in the mechanical suit at the end?

Aleksei Sytsevich, the thug from the film's opening, returns in a rhino-shaped battle suit as the Rhino. The film ends as Peter goes to face him.

Easy-to-miss details

Times Square

Spider-Man meets the transformed Max in Times Square, a turning point in Max's descent.

Gwen's speech

Gwen's graduation speech takes on new meaning at the end of the film.

Link to No Way Home

What happens here becomes this Peter's deep wound, revisited in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The ending and post-creditsSpoilers

After the end credits

The mid-credits footage is from a different film, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

What to watch next

More Marvel movie guides