Tobey Maguire – My Love

Let me take you back two decades – a time when Spider-Man changed the true meaning of what it meant to be a superhero. We had our knees clasped to our chests as our unblinking eyes watched the alluring Tobey Maguire save New York City with a 3-0 record. The debate on who is the best Spider-Man may seem nuanced and controversial at first, especially with the recent surge of Spider-Man spirit via the release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but we are simply all just brainwashed by the recency of Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield that we forget who truly is the strongest, kindest, and best Spider-Man: Tobey Maguire.

When we consider the strength of the three Spider-men, many would suggest Holland’s Spider-Man is the strongest; after all, he did manage to keep a sinking ship together. Well, holding anything together becomes immensely less challenging when you are in a suit produced by Stark Industries, whereas Maguire demonstrated his strength by literally breaking through the product of his suit. Yes, that’s right; when a subway full of innocent people was zooming 55 mph towards the open water, Maguire managed to stop the train, but not before ripping his suit with his massive biceps, establishing that Maguire’s Spiderman strength is not enhanced by his suit, but rather his strength breaks the own limitations of his suit. Not only is Maguire the strongest Spider-Man, but he is also the only Spider-man of the three who doesn’t rely on web-shooters. Unlike Garfield and Holland, who create their web fluid in a lab, Maguire generates web fluid inside his own body – as a spider would.

A hero is defined by his greatest villains, and it isn’t even a debate that Maguire’s villains surpass those of Garfield and Holland. Norman Osborn is a scientist who lost his sanity in an experiment. The audience fears him yet feels sympathetic for him, for he is Peter Parker’s best friend’s dad who watched over Parker, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t stop the Green Goblin from corrupting his mind. The sympathy continues with Doc Ock, Sandman, and Harry Osborn in the following films of the series, and they all have stories and initiatives for their evil much more enticing than the narcissistic lizard and the pissed-off battery-man Garfield faces.

We all saw Holland’s Spider-Man lose his nerve as he raised the Green Goblin’s glider to kill him, and Garfield’s Spider-man admitted that he “stopped pulling his punches” after Gwen’s death. However, after all the pain Maguire’s Spider-Man has faced, he has never lost his nerve. In fact, he was able to forgive Sandman for the death of his uncle and of course, he was there to stop Holland from killing the Green Goblin. The size of his heart and the content of his character make Maguire’s Spider-Man genuinely understand that “with great power comes great responsibility.”

And if that hasn’t persuaded you enough, Maguire won Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards.