8 Perfectly Cast Superhero Movie Actors Who Don’t Get Enough Credit

2) Tobey Maguire

The question of who’s the best Spider-Man is a thorny one and not something that we’re going to answer today. Instead, we’re going to stand in the corner of one of the actors who’s often criticized by a subset of comic book fans. In the wake of the arguably more authentic Spideys Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire sometimes gets a bad rap – which is completely unwarranted considering how good he is in the part.

Some fans might think that Maguire isn’t a perfect version of the comic book Peter Parker, which is fair enough. What Maguire is, though, is perfectly cast for Sam Raimi’s interpretation of Spider-Man. This version of Peter Parker does have some of his smart aleck edges sanded off, but Maguire nails the role of the driven hero who feels the burden of his powers on him better than either of the subsequent actors (who emphasized and excelled at different parts of the character).

Across the trilogy, Maguire consistently delivered a great dual performance as the good-guy science nerd/photographer Peter Parker and the battle-weary hero who just wishes he could live a normal life. Yes, it’s hard not to cringe when watching those dancing scenes in Spider-Man 3, but those minor blips shouldn’t undermine the strong work Maguire pulled off in the grand scheme of things.