The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy.

Peter Parker fights to stop scientist Dr. Otto Octavius from recreating a dangerous experiment, while also dealing with a personal crisis.

It received acclaim from critics, who praised its emotional weight and visual effects, as well as Maguire and Molina's performances and Raimi's direction, and grossed $795.9 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of the year.

Harry uses OsCorp to fund the development of a fusion power machine by nuclear scientist Otto Octavius, who befriends and mentors Peter.

During a public demonstration, Octavius wears a harness with four powerful mechanical tentacles controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) to interact with the machine.

Overwhelmed by stress, exhaustion, and his conflict between wanting a normal life and his responsibilities as Spider-Man, Peter's powers begin to fade.

Embracing civilian life, Peter excels at university and sees Mary Jane perform in an off-Broadway play, much to her delight.

Octavius sabotages the train, forcing Peter to use all his strength to stop the runaway vehicle from plunging into the New York Harbor.

On her wedding day, Mary Jane abandons the ceremony and runs to Peter's apartment, telling him that she chooses to be with him despite the risk.

As with the previous film, Bruce Campbell has a cameo appearance, this time as an usher who refuses Peter entry for arriving late to Mary Jane Watson's show.

[21] Dylan Baker portrays Dr. Curt Connors, one of Peter's college physics professors and a colleague of Octavius,[17] while Willem Dafoe reprises his role as Norman Osborn, Harry's deceased father who appears to him as a hallucination.

[25] Elya Baskin portrays Mr. Ditkovitch, Peter's landlord, (whose name is a reference to Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko) and Mageina Tovah plays his daughter Ursula.

[43] Entitled The Amazing Spider-Man, after the character's main comic book title,[44] the film was given a budget of $200 million[45] and aimed for a release date of May 7, 2004.

When he injures two muggers on a date, this horrifies Mary Jane and in the resulting battle with Spider-Man his tentacles are fused together, and the fusion begins to kill him.

[47][48] Raimi sifted through the previous drafts by Gough, Millar, Koepp and Chabon, picking what he liked with screenwriter Alvin Sargent.

[40] Raimi changed much of the character's backstory, however, adding the idea of Otto Octavius being a hero of Peter, and how their conflict was about trying to rescue him from his demons rather than kill him.

[58] Several actors were considered for the part of Doctor Octopus, including Ed Harris, Chris Cooper, and Christopher Walken;[59][60] Molina was cast as Octavius in February 2003 and underwent physical training for the role.

[63] Although he was not familiar with Doc Ock, Molina found one element of the comics that he wanted to maintain, the character's cruel, sardonic sense of humor.

The helmet Maguire wore under his mask was also improved, with better movement for the false jaw and magnetic eyepieces, which were easier to remove.

The reaction resembles the sun, complete with solar flares, and poses a threat to its immediate environment through its strong gravitational pull, which can draw surrounding objects directly into it and disintegrate them.

[84] Promotional partners included Burger King, Dr Pepper, Kraft Foods, Major League Baseball, Kellogg's, and Embassy Suites Hotels.

[85] In March 2024, Sony announced that all of their live-action Spider-Man films will be re-released in theaters as part of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary celebration.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Boasting an entertaining villain and deeper emotional focus, this is a nimble sequel that improves upon the original.

"[116] William Arnold, of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave it a positive review, saying, "Forget Raising Helen and The Notebook, this is the movie summer's most touching young romance.

"[118] Roger Ebert gave Spider-Man 2 four stars out of four, calling it "the best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with Superman (1978)", and praising the film for "effortlessly [combining] special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving.

"[121] IGN's Richard George felt "Sam Raimi and his writing team delivered an iconic, compelling version of Spider-Man's classic foe... We almost wish there was a way to retroactively add some of these elements to the original character.

[134] At the 77th Academy Awards, Spider-Man 2 won Best Visual Effects (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier), and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger) and Best Sound Editing along with The Polar Express, but lost to Ray and The Incredibles, respectively.

[136] It was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards for Special Visual Effects and Sound, but lost to The Day After Tomorrow and Ray, respectively.

[154] In 2021, Molina was announced to return as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and directed by Jon Watts.

Molina later clarified in April that the character would be the same iteration as depicted in Spider-Man 2[155] and his story arc would continue directly from the film's ending.