Collage of all three Spider-Mans (Left to right: Toby Maguire, Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield) provided by golf digest.
Tobey, Andrew and
Tom; three different actors, three different portrayed personalities, one
Spider-Man.
Although they all
started at the same origin (the Marvel comic books), each of their movies took
creative liberties in their interpretation of who Spider-Man is and what he
goes through. The short time frame in which the three interpretations were
produced has caused many to compare these actors and raise the question of who
played the best Spider-Man.
Tobey Maguire,
the O.G. Spider-Man, starred in Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man in 2002. Maguire
perfectly portrayed Peter Parker's nerdy and awkward side; whether socially or
romantically, viewers could count on the original Spider-Man to awkwardly
stumble through any situation and provide a good laugh. This movie rocked the
early 2000's and released two sequels in 2004 and 2007. At the time, people
loved Maguire (despite his ugly crying faces) and never questioned his
eligibility to play Spider-Man.
"Like you, I
blanched at the thought of Tobey Maguire playing Spider-Man and wondered how
the scrawny actor would fill out that amazing red-and-blue Spider-Man
outfit," said New York Daily Review writer Jack Matthews in a review.
"But the actor pumped some iron, and Raimi's effects geniuses and stunt
men did the rest. Whoever's in that suit looks good."
In 2012, just
five years after the last Maguire Spider-Man movie, Columbia Pictures came out
with The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield. Why did they come out
with another interpretation less than a decade after their last set of
Spider-Man movies? According to my brothers, The Amazing Spider-Man and The
Amazing Spider-Man 2 follow more closely to the story line of the comic books,
which I personally like. Kirsten Dunst made a great Mary Jane in Spider-Man,
but those movies treated Gwen Stacy like Peter's side chick as opposed to the
woman that Peter loved as he did in the comic.
Emma Stone as
Gwen Stacey is attracted to Garfield's Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man,
who is much less awkward that Maguire's character; but maybe he's too smooth.
Maguire plays a strong, witty, attractive Spider-Man who just might
inaccurately portray Marvel's web-slinging superhero-turned super geek.
Garfield's Spider-Man is hilarious, but humor doesn't make a film great,
especially if it is a remake intended to stick closer to the comics. It is in
this way that Maguire's character was superior, though I still like The Amazing
Spider-Man movies better.
"He's not
the sort of kid you picture winning the science fair," wrote PluggedIn
critic Paul Asay. "But rather a guy you'd expect to see in the principal's
office every other week or so."
Last year, the
Spider-Man story was changed completely with the release of Columbia Pictures'
new movie Spider-Man: Homecoming starring Tom Holland. In this, Spider-Man met
the Avengers and changed the entire story line. A creative film, Spider-Man:
Homecoming seems to be well-loved, with 91% good reviews according to Google
Users. It in itself doesn't qualify to compete against the prior two
interpretations, though. Marvel fans will be inclined to love Spider-Man:
Homecoming more just due to the past Marvel movies and Holland as Spider-Man's
role in the series.
"The
breeziest, most convivial Marvel movie in ages, Spider-Man: Homecoming boasts a
high-school Peter Parker with no trendy superhero angst," wrote Vulture
critic David Edelstein.
Even in reviews,
people refer to the movie as an amazing Marvel movie as opposed to an amazing
Spider-Man movie. Though it might be someone's favorite movie out of all three
series, it isn't fair to judge Holland as the best Spider-Man. It is for this
reason that I believe, despite his attractive and less than nerdy character,
Andrew Garfield played in the best Spider-Man movies which followed so closely
to the comics, as that is who Spider-Man really is.
This has been my Daily Bagel.
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