Owned both. Worked on a lot of both for others as well. For me, Spidey is smoother with better flow. LOTR is great with awesome rules and great theme integration. LOTR is also the only game my wife has ever asked me to re-purchase. Both are hard to go wrong with. Iād probably lean LOTR for a few reasons. But, honestly would probably vary dependent on when I was asked and what else I owned at the time.