The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows Peter Parker as he juggles life as Spider-Man in New York, his high school graduation and his relationship with Gwen Stacy. Peter is enjoying the job, but he is haunted by a promise he made to Gwen's late father to stay away from her, and he keeps digging into why his own parents vanished years ago.

Meanwhile, his old friend Harry Osborn returns to the city to be with his dying father, Norman, the head of Oscorp. Across town, Oscorp engineer Max Dillon, a lonely man who idolizes Spider-Man, has a lab accident that begins to change him.

If you want the story in order across every actor and universe, the Spider-Man movies in order guide shows where this film sits, and the first film, The Amazing Spider-Man, is the natural place to start.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker fights Electro, Harry Osborn's Green Goblin and the Rhino while losing Gwen Stacy, who dies in a clock tower fall. The film opens with Richard Parker recording a message about why he had to disappear, before he and his wife are killed when their jet is attacked.

Years later Peter, as Spider-Man, stops the criminal Aleksei Sytsevich and then attends his graduation, where he and Gwen split up because of his guilt over her father. Harry returns to find Norman dying of an inherited illness, and when Norman dies Harry takes over Oscorp.

Max Dillon falls into a tank of engineered electric eels and becomes Electro. He causes a blackout in Times Square and is locked away in the Ravencroft facility. Harry learns that Spider-Man's blood might cure him, but Peter refuses to give it, and Harry is then pushed out of the company by executive Donald Menken. Harry frees Max and the two join forces, and Harry injects himself with a venom-like serum that warps his mind and body.

Peter discovers his father's message, which shows that Richard left Oscorp because he would not help build biological weapons. Gwen is offered a place at Oxford, and Peter decides to follow her to England. Max attacks a power station, and Peter and Gwen overload him with electricity, which kills him.

Harry arrives in an armored glider suit, works out that Peter is Spider-Man, and takes Gwen to a clock tower. Peter beats Harry, but Gwen falls to her death. Devastated, Peter stops being Spider-Man for months, until a video of Gwen's graduation speech inspires him to return as Sytsevich, now in a mechanical suit as the Rhino, rampages through the city.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released in US theaters on May 2, 2014, a date confirmed by The Numbers. The UK release is reported as April 16, 2014 by TMDB, and Australia as April 17, 2014 by Box Office Mojo, so audiences abroad saw the film more than two weeks before the US opening.

Box Office Mojo lists a slightly different UK date of April 18, which is why the UK and Australian dates carry a "reported" label rather than a "confirmed" one. No premiere date, city or venue has been confirmed, so the first confirmed public date is the US theatrical release.

In release order, this is the fifth Spider-Man film, and it is followed by Spider-Man: Homecoming, which moves the series into the MCU.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ends with Peter Parker returning as Spider-Man to fight the Rhino after Gwen Stacy's death. After the clock tower fight, Peter gives up the suit and withdraws from the world for five months. Harry, meanwhile, is held at Ravencroft, where he tells a man to free Sytsevich and supply him with Oscorp weapons.

Sytsevich becomes the armored Rhino and tears through the city. Peter, moved by Gwen's recorded graduation speech, puts the suit back on and goes to face him, which sets up the villain team plans for later films.

Peter's father's message adds a second layer. Richard Parker left Oscorp because he would not help build biological weapons, and Peter finds that out before the clock tower, though the film leaves the parents' story as backdrop rather than resolving it.

No third film followed; the next Spider-Man film in release order is Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), which belongs to the MCU. So, if you wonder why Andrew Garfield is not the lead in later main films, the series order shows this film as the end of the Webb universe, with the Rhino as its last story beat.

Opinion: in my opinion, the strongest choice the ending makes is to let Gwen's death land for real instead of undoing it. Her fall follows from decisions Peter, Harry and Max all made earlier, so it reads as the cost of the whole plot rather than a shock tacked on. The jump from grief straight to a Rhino tease is the weaker note, and it could be argued that this is the film's central tension: it wants to be a tragedy and a franchise setup at once.

Yes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has one mid-credits scene: a clip from X-Men: Days of Future Past. The clip shows Mystique, Havok and Toad fighting William Stryker and his soldiers.

It is a promotional tie in from a deal with 20th Century Fox, according to Slashfilm, and it is not a Spider-Man story point. The film's own villain setup comes from the Rhino ending, not from the credits.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was shot entirely in New York State, and it was described as the first comic book adaptation shot exclusively there. Principal photography ran from February 4 to June 25, 2013.

The opening car chase involving a big rig, an armored truck and police cars was shot in Rochester, New York, because New York City speed limits restricted the chase. Main Street in Rochester also stood in for New York City. Times Square in Manhattan got about four hours of real location filming, and a replica of Times Square was built on a backlot on Long Island.

On Long Island, stage work took place at Grumman Studios and Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage. In Brooklyn the crew filmed scenes in Dumbo and did stage work at the Marcy Armory, and a night shoot took place in Chinatown, Manhattan. The Motion Picture Association described the project as the largest production in New York history.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 cost $200 million and grossed about $710 million worldwide, according to The Numbers. That total splits into roughly $204 million domestic and $506 million international, so the film earned more than three times its budget. Box Office Mojo's title page includes a later re-release in its totals, so The Numbers figures are the ones used. For the full series comparison, see Spider-Man box office.

The best piece of production trivia is the character who is missing. Shailene Woodley filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson, but the character was cut in June 2013 to focus on Peter and Gwen, which is why Mary Jane does not appear in the finished film. For the character's wider story, see Mary Jane Watson Spider-Man.