Who is the best Spider-Man?

According to the internet (bear with me), Sony and Marvel’s next instalment in the Spider-Man franchise might see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprise their respective roles as Peter Parker, alongside hero-of-the-moment Tom Holland. And while Sony has not confirmed the rumours, this ‘multiverse’ theory, which once seemed like no more ludicrous fan-casting, continues to hold strong. The premise is an exciting one, but it inevitably got me thinking: in a world where all the Spider-Mans exist, who is the best?

We’ve seen several versions of Spider-Man over the years, from 30-year-old Tobey Maguire’s run over the course of Sam Raimi’s three films (the last of which was released in 2007), to Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2012 and 2014 respectively, to Tom Holland in the MCU’s iteration of (a more appropriately aged) Mr. Parker, and finally, to Miles Morales, an Afro-Latin American re-imagining of the traditional Peter Parker in the breakout 2018 film, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. 

I’m going to start by ejecting Garfield’s portrayal from the equation. It’s nothing against Garfield as an actor (in fact, I think he’s very talented), but there was simply no reason why these films needed to happen, and in my opinion, they did nothing to contribute to the world that Raimi had established just years earlier.

I’m also excluding Miles Morales from this contest. It’s not because he’s not brilliant, because he is, and so is the film. In fact, if any past iteration of the Spider-Man character makes sense for a 2020 landscape, it’s Miles Morales. However, Into the Spiderverse is a standalone masterpiece (and an animated one, at that), and its energy, creativity, poignancy, and visual flare are so singular that it doesn’t really lend itself to comparison with the other contenders.

The real competition then, as I knew it would be, is Maguire v Holland. Raimi’s films and Maguire’s performance certainly have a distinct, cult following and hold an important place in many people’s hearts (mine included), but when Spider-Man: Homecoming previewed in 2017 to roaring success, many were won over by Holland’s puppy-like energy, comedic awkwardness, and affable boyish charm.

I really enjoy Holland’s performance; however, Maguire is undeniable, he simply is Spider-Man. Despite his age, Maguire captured something  elusive in the modern hero figure. He’s good as Spider-Man but even better as the hapless every-man Peter Parker, bringing a reluctant underdog energy and genuine sensitivity in his approach to heroism. Raimi’s films also feel most in keeping with Spider-Man lore, particularly one defining moment when Uncle Ben tells his nephew, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ This line single-handedly guides the films and defines Peter’s complex moral philosophy, and as a result, anything that Spider-Man says or does can be read as a reaction to these words.

Maguire’s portrayal is powerful because you get the sense that Spider-Man is not larger than life. He is a deeply uncertain and fallible young man, forever bound by the weight of responsibility and by a sense of guilt for those he has failed in the past or those he fears he might fail in the future. Ignoring the fact that Maguire’s Spider-Man has been subject to extreme meme-ification, his performance nonetheless carries real emotion, and the chemistry between Maguire and many of the supporting cast members, like James Franco as his best friend Harry Osbourne and Kirsten Dunst as the infamous girl-next-door Mary Jane Watson, buoy the film with complex and enduring relationships that the newer MCU films typically lack.

But perhaps that kind of weighty complexity is just not what the MCU is going for. Holland’s Spider-Man is less a tortured soul and more an awkward, angsty teen navigating high school and the problems that young people face. By creating a new age of Spider-Man films starring Holland, Marvel was able to breathe some levity and new life into what many felt might be a declining (or at least stagnating) franchise to create a series of what are ultimately fun and funny teen movies, and that’s no easy task.

Truthfully, I don’t know if my nostalgia and long-term allegiance to Raimi’s films are skewing my perception of the Spider-Man franchise(s). If I was a generation or two younger and Tom Holland’s portrayal was the first that I ever saw, my perspective might be entirely different. I might tell you that Maguire was too old, that his greased hair and impromptu dance moves in Spider-Man 3 were plain embarrassing. But I guess we’ll never know for sure.