Some Spider-Man Fans Have A Pretty Hot Take On Tobey Maguire's Acting
When discussing the history of Marvel Comics movie adaptations, the efforts of Marvel Studios and its Marvel Cinematic Universe tend to dominate the conversation. After all, Marvel-based film efforts before the MCU came along rarely hit the mark, with the likes of "Howard the Duck" and "Daredevil" making it difficult to justify such projects as commercially viable. However, one of the few success stories to come out of this time period came from the delightfully campy mind of Sam Raimi, who brought Spider-Man to the big screen in 2002 and made comic book movie history.
To call "Spider-Man" a pop culture phenomenon would be a massive understatement. From its score to its visual style, the movie earned endless praise upon release and remains a favorite decades after its debut. It was a merchandising juggernaut, bolstered the already immense popularity of the titular web-head, and worked wonders for most of its actors. Not the least of all was Tobey Maguire, who took on the dual role of Peter Parker and Spider-Man and quickly became a household name because of it. He'd go on to star in two more "Spider-Man" installments and return to the character via 2022's "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
Years after he donned the red and blue spandex for the first time, Maguire's take on Spider-Man is still beloved across the globe. Although, that hasn't made him immune from criticisms, such as this potentially hot take.
Some fans think Maguire is the weakest Spider-Man actor
Though he may have been the original silver screen Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire is far from the only one. Five years after the release of 2007's "Spider-Man 3," Andrew Garfield became the new wall-crawler for the "Amazing Spider-Man" franchise, and a mere four years later, Tom Holland would wear the Spidey mask next in the MCU. As one could imagine, fans have pitted the three Spider-Men against each other and offered their opinion on which incarnation is the best among them. When it comes to the actors themselves, however, Redditor u/MainSeparate2964 and many of their contemporaries feel Maguire is the weakest of the bunch.
"Andrew and Tom do way better in the category of being a nerdy, but also awkward and charismatic kid," they wrote, adding that Maguire was also just too old for the part — not allowing his status as the first Spider-Man at the movies blind their perception of his performances. Several others then chimed in, either with similar comments or to simply agree with the post. Meanwhile, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland themselves can't help but disagree. The former gushed over Maguire to Vanity Fair in February of 2022, and the latter has shared how starstruck he was to share the screen with Maguire as well as Garfield in "No Way Home" (via Deadline).
Tobey Maguire's take on Spider-Man may not be everyone's cup of tea, for one reason or another, but there's no denying his place in comic book movie history. Besides, without him, who knows where the genre would be today?