The only info I could find was from Wikipedia, which did not cite their source, but states that two years pass between the events of Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). No passage is stated for the time between Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) but it feels like less time than passed between 1 and 2.
3 Answers
Spider-Man 2 takes place two years after the events of Spider-Man. Peter has left Midtown High and is in his first year at Empire State University.
Granted, he knew he had responsibilities. He had learned that lesson all too cruelly when, two years ago, he had stepped aside and allowed a thief to escape from the scene of a robbery. He had done so in a fit of pique and with a sense of poetic justice: The thief had stolen from a wrestling promoter who had screwed Peter himself over money owed him. As the thief had fled, the promoter shouted in Peter’s face, livid over his lack of action. Peter had said with the sort of smug confidence that comes with being truly self-righteous, “I missed the part where that’s my problem.”
Aunt May also dates the film for us.
Spider-Man 3 takes place a few months after Spider-Man 2. He's finished his first year of university and is right at the start of his second year. During the summer break he appears to have done some PR work and dramatically improved his image with the City which is why it probably feels like more time has passed.
Everything that Peter had done in the past two years to atone for his great sin was simply an endless pursuit in the face of an existence that had suddenly become terribly, even blindingly unfair.
and
Peter, seething with barely contained rage, said between clenched teeth, “I don’t think you’re doing your job. I watched my uncle die, and we went after the wrong man. And now you’re saying”—his voice began to rise in pitch and volume—“you had suspicions for two years? Witnesses? Why weren’t we told about that?”
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Having rewatched it recently, I remember that when Peter visits his aunt, during his birthday, she mentions something like: "Can you believe that it's two years, next month, that he was taken". Seeing that in the first movie, his uncle got killed before he receives his high school diploma, I guess it's slightly less than two years, but yeah, it's accurate. Oct 2, 2021 at 13:01
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You see the twin towers in Spider-Man (2002) Meaning it must've taken place before the September 11 attacks probably about a year before the movies release so in the summer of 2001 shortly before that horrible day.
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1Hi, welcome to SF&F. This is interesting, assuming that 9/11 happened in the Spider-Man universe too, but it's only part of an answer. (Mostly because this introduces a contradiction with the existing answers it needs a bit more weight to tip the scales in its favour.)– DavidWOct 2, 2021 at 4:02
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It's worth noting that there used to be a commercial with Spider-Man and the twin towers, but it was "deleted" in some way after the events. The twin towers you barely notice in the back (when Peter is trying out his newfound powers for the first time) are considered as an oversight by some people in the comments on Youtube. Oct 8, 2021 at 10:32