We’ve had three different actors playing Spider-Man in live-action in less than two decades, and a whole lot more if you count the multitude of names that lent their vocal talents to the animated Into the Spider-Verse, but for a lot of people, the youthful exuberance and wide-eyed wonder of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker marks him out as their favorite iteration of the iconic web-slinging superhero.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield each did a solid job in bringing something different to the character but found themselves let down by their final outings due to circumstances out of their control, with both Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s respective franchises being cut short thanks in part to disappointing reviews and the grubby fingerprints of Sony’s heavy-handed interference.
Holland has already appeared in the same number of movies as his predecessors combined, and at this point it would be hard to imagine anyone else having debuted under the costume in Captain America: Civil War. The 24 year-old instantly became one of the MCU’s major focal points, as well as the off-screen protege of Robert Downey Jr., and from watching his audition tape up above, you can see he was the perfect choice for Spider-Man long before he’d even gotten the opportunity to suit up in the classic suit.
There were countless other candidates rumored to be on the shortlist for the MCU’s Spider-Man, of course, including Logan Lerman, Dylan O’Brien, Freddie Highmore, Asa Butterfield, Nat Wolff and Timothee Chalamet, all of whom have gone on to have solid careers in their own right, but Holland’s infectious enthusiasm and endearing personality marked him out as the obvious candidate. It also helps that the trained dancer and gymnast was more than capable of pulling off some of the superhero’s signature acrobatics without the use of wires, never mind a stunt double.
