Being the first person to play a role that goes on to be recast multiple times often ends up with the actor or actress in question viewed as the definitive and therefore greatest interpretation of that character, because the part didn’t come with any baggage or association to anyone else and the blank canvas provided the best opportunity to put their own stamp on it.
Sean Connery is regarded by the majority of James Bond aficionados as the best 007 ever, Michael Keaton’s take on Batman tends to only be rivalled by Christian Bale when fans are discussing the greatest live-action Dark Knight, and Bela Lugosi is still the first name that comes to a lot of people’s minds when they think of Dracula, and he first played the iconic vampire back in 1931.
However, the debate over who made the best Spider-Man appears to be a lot more open-ended, with all three incumbents of the spandex boasting a huge number of supporters. Tobey Maguire was ideal for the world Sam Raimi’s trilogy was set in, Andrew Garfield was massively let down by the scripts and stories that he was forced to deal with, and Tom Holland’s youthful exuberance turned his Spidey into one of the MCU’s most popular figures in no time at all.
The original vintage found himself trending recently, though, as fans praised Maguire’s performance as Raimi’s Peter Parker, and you can check out some of the reactions below.
I saw Tobey McGuire slander on the TL. Guess I gotta spit facts for yall once again pic.twitter.com/rIs8WN2Swk
— Krisp (@TheKaptainKrisp) January 12, 2021
the only tobey that matters pic.twitter.com/LMh3rPPyBk
— jazz (@jazz_thekid) January 12, 2021
Getting tired of Tobey slander on my TL pic.twitter.com/ot7VPbYM2P
— Your name 💚🤍❤️ (@Altariaya) January 12, 2021
Can’t believe people ACTUALLY don’t think that Tobey Maguire is the best Spider-Man/Peter Parker.
— Sebby (@__sebby__) January 12, 2021
https://twitter.com/TofuClipart/status/1348809905298427904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1348809905298427904%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fmovies%2Fnews%2Fwhy-is-tobey-maguire-trending-spider-man-3-most-popular%2F
One day I'll open this app and not see any Tobey Maguire slander when y'all discussing the Spider-Men pic.twitter.com/kYnwJbimti
— Spider-Man Jr. is fresh out of honey 🍯 (@CaprisunTheeGod) January 12, 2021
im 5 mins into spiderman 1 and its so far waaaaaay better than anything the mcu has produced ever. get sam raimi back to direct spiderman with tobey maguire
— Kyle (@Panda_Mi1key) January 12, 2021
Of course, there’s an entire generation who won’t even associate Tobey Maguire with Spider-Man these days, but they’ll hopefully discover what he can bring to the role when he teams up with Garfield and Holland in the MCU’s upcoming multiversal blockbuster as everyone’s expecting to happen.
