Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was built to share the screen. Ever since he swung into Captain America: Civil War, the biggest hook of his solo films has been the guessing game over which Marvel name shows up next. Four movies in, Peter Parker has fought alongside — and occasionally against — a long list of heroes, and the results swing wildly. Some pairings reshaped the whole franchise. Others barely registered. Here is how each one stacks up.
| Tier | Team-up (movie) |
|---|---|
| S | The three Peters — Maguire and Garfield (No Way Home); Iron Man (Homecoming) |
| A | Punisher (Brand New Day) |
| B | Bruce Banner / Hulk (Brand New Day) |
| C | Doctor Strange (No Way Home) |
| D | “Nick Fury” / Talos (Far From Home) |
How this was ranked: Placements weigh how well the guest hero was used, the strength of their dynamic with Peter, and pure entertainment value. This reflects the lineup through Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
S tier: The pairings that defined the franchise
Two team-ups sit at the top, and they bookend Holland’s run so far. One is the moment fans dreamed about for two decades. The other quietly wired Peter into the entire Marvel machine.
The three Spider-Men (No Way Home)
Bringing back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to swing next to Holland — and take on five villains from their own pasts — is the clear number one. It was the worst-kept secret in movies back in 2021, and it did not matter. Three Spider-Men fighting atop the Statue of Liberty is a spectacle nothing else on this list can touch.
What lifts it beyond fan service is that it serves Peter 1’s arc. Meeting his variants is how he finally understands what being Spider-Man really costs. It also gives the other two room to grow — Maguire’s Peter has clearly matured past his Spider-Man 3 low point, and Garfield’s Peter saving MJ helps heal the wound of losing Gwen.
Iron Man (Homecoming)
Reimagining Peter as Tony Stark’s protégé annoyed plenty of comics fans, but it was a smart long game. The surrogate father-son bond gave the character somewhere to grow, and Homecoming is where it locks in. Every later mentor — Fury, Strange — is measured against Tony and comes up short.
Infinity War and Endgame deepened the relationship to heartbreaking levels, but Homecoming is the film that makes Tony and Peter one of the MCU’s best double acts. If No Way Home had not blown open the multiverse, this would sit at the very top.
A tier: The unlikely bromance
Punisher (Brand New Day)
Spider-Man and Frank Castle have a long, mostly adversarial history in the comics, thanks to their opposite views on crime-fighting. Brand New Day flips that into a genuinely fun partnership, and it becomes the most delightful thing in the movie. Jon Bernthal gets to add lighter shades to a character who has been grim since Daredevil Season 2 in 2016.
It helps that Holland and Bernthal have known each other since Holland was 17, and even helped one another with their audition tapes for Peter and Frank. That real friendship reads on screen. The idea of the two teaming up to take on the Hulk a decade later would have sounded absurd once, which is exactly why it lands.
B tier: A brief, brutal alliance
Bruce Banner and the Hulk (Brand New Day)
The old, rampaging Hulk returns in Brand New Day — good news for fans, a nightmare for Bruce Banner. Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey uses her psychic powers to reawaken the green giant Bruce spent years suppressing, and it leaves him traumatized enough to end the film checked into a psychiatric facility.
Mark Ruffalo gets just enough to do in a crowded ensemble, and the movie earns points for the cruel “be careful what you wish for” twist. It is not the most meaningful pairing for Peter, but bringing back the real Hulk at the cost of Bruce’s sanity is a memorable beat.
C tier: More plot device than partner
Doctor Strange (No Way Home)
The odd-couple energy between an eager Peter and an unamused Stephen Strange worked beautifully in Infinity War, so it made sense to bring it back. The problem is that No Way Home has a much bigger team-up going on, and Strange gets reduced to a device that kicks off each act.
He casts the spell that drags in the legacy villains, Ned swipes his sling ring, and his second spell wipes Peter from the world. The film pins the fallout on Peter, but a Master of the Mystic Arts really should have known better than to hand a troubled teenager a magical quick fix. Tony would have found another way.
D tier: The team-up that was not real
“Nick Fury” (Far From Home)
Far From Home is a good movie, but its crossover element feels the thinnest. With Mysterio positioned as Peter’s new mentor for most of the runtime, Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury does not have much to do beyond some enjoyable banter and his usual welcome presence.
Then the post-credits scene lands the killer blow: this was not Fury at all. The real spymaster spent the whole film on vacation in space, and Peter had been dealing with Talos the Skrull the entire time. It sits at the bottom because Peter never actually teamed up with the man he thought he did.
The pattern is clear enough for whatever comes after Brand New Day. The best team-ups give the guest hero real stakes and a genuine bond with Peter, whether that is a mentor, a rival turned friend, or two other Spider-Men who understand exactly what he is carrying. If the Punisher returns for Spider-Man 5, ideally with Matt Murdock in tow, Marvel would be smart to lean into what already works.