Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse holds a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 97%, based on 399 professional reviews with an average rating of 8.8 out of 10. This exceptional score places it among the highest-rated superhero films ever reviewed on the platform, reflecting near-universal critical acclaim from film critics and industry professionals.
The 97% score means that the vast majority of critics—all but 13 reviewers out of 399—gave the film a positive review, a remarkable achievement in the competitive superhero genre. What makes this score even more remarkable is that the film initially achieved perfection.
- Table of Contents
- How Does Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Compare to Other Superhero Films?
- Understanding the Rotten Tomatoes Methodology Behind This Score
- The Journey from Perfect Score to 97%
- Using Rotten Tomatoes Scores to Choose What to Watch
- Why Animated Superhero Films Often Achieve High Critical Scores
- The Audience Score Distinction
- What This Score Means for Future Spider-Man Projects
- Conclusion
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When it first arrived on Rotten Tomatoes, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse maintained a perfect 100% rating before a single negative review brought it down to its current 97%.
This near-perfect critical reception reflects the film’s innovative approach to superhero storytelling and its groundbreaking animation technique that set it apart from competitors like the MCU’s Spider-Man films and DC’s animated efforts. The 97% Tomatometer score differs from audience ratings in ways worth understanding.
While critics overwhelmingly embraced the film, the distinction between the professional critic consensus and general audience reception tells an important story about how different viewing communities evaluate animated superhero films.
Table of Contents
- How Does Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Compare to Other Superhero Films?
- Understanding the Rotten Tomatoes Methodology Behind This Score
- The Journey from Perfect Score to 97%
- Using Rotten Tomatoes Scores to Choose What to Watch
- Why Animated Superhero Films Often Achieve High Critical Scores
- The Audience Score Distinction
- What This Score Means for Future Spider-Man Projects
- Conclusion
How Does Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Compare to Other Superhero Films?
spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s 97% rotten Tomatoes score places it at the very top of superhero film rankings, ahead of most MCU entries and DC animated films.
For context, films like Black Panther achieved 96%, while The Dark Knight garnered 94%. This 97% represents one of the highest consensus scores for any superhero adaptation, demonstrating that the film transcended typical genre limitations and earned respect from critics who might normally be skeptical of comic book movies.
The achievement becomes more impressive when considering the film’s budget and studio backing compared to massive franchise entries. While films like Avengers: Endgame achieved high critical scores, Into the Spider-Verse accomplished this with a smaller budget and less established franchise momentum at the time of release.
The film’s unique visual style—blending animation, comic book aesthetics, and motion capture—likely contributed to critics’ fresh perspective on the superhero genre, distinguishing it from live-action entries they’d reviewed countless times before.
Understanding the Rotten Tomatoes Methodology Behind This Score
The 97% score represents a consensus, not an average. Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer measures the percentage of critics who gave a “fresh” (positive) review rather than a “rotten” (negative) one. With 399 reviews, this means approximately 387 critics rated the film positively while only 12 gave it a negative assessment.
The 8.8/10 average rating indicates that even among positive reviews, critics tended toward the higher end of the scale.
One important limitation to understand is that Rotten Tomatoes’ rating system is binary—a review is either fresh or rotten—which can mask nuance in critical opinion. A critic who rated the film 6/10 would still contribute to the positive percentage, as long as the score exceeded the fresh/rotten threshold.
Additionally, the Tomatometer doesn’t weight reviews equally by critic prominence or publication size, meaning a review from a major film publication carries the same influence as a smaller outlet. This methodology generally benefits films with broad appeal across diverse critical voices, which Into the Spider-Verse clearly achieved.
The Journey from Perfect Score to 97%
When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse first launched on Rotten Tomatoes, it achieved a remarkable perfect 100% score. This perfect rating existed for a period before one negative critical review was added to the aggregation, dropping the score to 99%, and eventually to its current 97% as additional reviews accumulated.
The film’s path from perfection to 97% reflects the natural evolution of critical consensus as more voices weigh in on a film over time.
This decline from 100% provides a specific example of how Rotten Tomatoes scores can fluctuate, particularly for films with exceptionally high initial ratings. Films that start at 100% often settle lower as more reviews are aggregated, simply because it becomes statistically more difficult to maintain a perfect score with larger sample sizes.
The fact that Into the Spider-Verse settled at 97% rather than dropping further demonstrates sustained critical support over time.
Using Rotten Tomatoes Scores to Choose What to Watch
For casual viewers, a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score serves as a reliable signal that a film has earned strong critical consensus, though it doesn’t guarantee personal enjoyment.
Unlike numerical averages that can feel abstract, the Tomatometer’s percentage format clearly communicates “97 out of 100 critics recommend this.” This makes it particularly useful when deciding between multiple superhero films or animated features competing for your time.
However, the score works best when combined with other information.
Reading a few of the actual reviews behind that 97% can reveal what critics specifically praised—the animation, the story, the voice acting—helping you determine if those elements matter to you.
For instance, if critics consistently praised the film’s innovation in animation but you primarily watch superhero films for action sequences, their consensus might not perfectly align with your preferences. The 97% tells you the film succeeded critically, but your viewing experience depends on what aspects of cinema matter most to you.
Why Animated Superhero Films Often Achieve High Critical Scores
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s 97% score reflects a broader pattern: animated superhero films frequently receive higher critical ratings than their live-action counterparts. One reason is that animation allows for visual innovation that critics recognize as artistically significant.
The film’s unique aesthetic—combining cel-shading, comic book panel layouts, and traditional animation—gave critics fresh material to discuss beyond tired superhero tropes.
A warning worth noting: high critical scores for animated films don’t always predict box office success or cultural staying power compared to live-action franchises. Into the Spider-Verse succeeded on both fronts, but some highly-rated animated films have faded from cultural consciousness while lower-rated live-action entries remained box office juggernauts.
The 97% represents critical quality, not necessarily cultural impact or commercial viability.
The Audience Score Distinction
While critics gave Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse a 97% Tomatometer score, the film also received strong audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, though typically slightly lower than the critical consensus.
This gap between critic and audience scores is common but not universal—some films see audiences rate them higher than critics do.
The distinction matters because critics evaluate films within professional frameworks of filmmaking craft, innovation, and artistic merit, while audiences prioritize entertainment value and personal satisfaction. For Into the Spider-Verse, the relatively small gap between critic and audience scores suggests the film achieved the rare feat of being both critically acclaimed and widely enjoyed.
This alignment is noteworthy because many acclaimed superhero films experience larger gaps between critical consensus and audience reception.
What This Score Means for Future Spider-Man Projects
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s 97% Rotten Tomatoes score set an exceptionally high bar for future Spider-Man films and animated superhero projects generally. The success of the first film, reflected in its critical reception, led directly to greenlit sequels that faced the challenge of matching or exceeding this standard.
Subsequent films in the Spider-Verse franchise have pursued increasingly ambitious storytelling, partly motivated by the critical success of the original. Looking forward, the 97% score serves as a case study in how animated films can achieve critical parity with or superiority over live-action entries.
As superhero studios continue developing both animation and live-action projects, Into the Spider-Verse’s critical success demonstrates that innovation in storytelling and visual presentation—rather than franchise scale or budget—ultimately drives critical consensus.
Conclusion
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, based on 399 reviews with an 8.8/10 average rating, represents one of the highest critical consensus scores for any superhero film on the platform.
The score reflects the film’s innovative approach to animation, storytelling, and the superhero genre itself, earning respect from professional critics who recognized something distinctly different from typical franchise entries.
The film’s journey from an initial perfect 100% to its current 97% demonstrates how critical consensus solidifies over time while remaining exceptionally high. When using this score to evaluate whether to watch the film, remember that 97% indicates strong critical recommendation but works best alongside other information about what specifically critics praised.
The score tells you that professional film critics overwhelmingly found value in Into the Spider-Verse, making it a dependable choice if you enjoy animated films, superhero stories, or visual innovation in cinema.
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