Poll: Best Cinematic Spiderman?

[thejboy88]

Within the span of just a few years, we have seen a trio of differing movie versions of Spider-Man, one of the most iconic comic book superheroes of all time. We've had Tobey Maguire for the Sam Raimi trilogy, Andrew Garfield for the Amazing series, and most recently we've been given Tom Holland as the official Spider-Man of the MCU.

But which is the best of these three? Which one truly embodies the iconic wall-crawler on the big screen?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

It's the basic ***** opinion but it's the Raimi movies, for sure. They are no masterpieces but they... well, they felt like real movies a lot more than the two Amazing movies and that MCU stuff. They felt self contained and had proper conclusions and arcs that close in the same movies they start in. They are wonderful action movies. Even the third one. Never got why people don't like it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

They are wonderful action movies. Even the third one. Never got why people don't like it.

Because they threw way too much shit at you, the CGI action is wonky, it introduces an amnesia plotline, Venom was crowbarred in by way of a random meteor crashing, the actors started to look old and bored, it retconned Uncle Ben's killer, it replaced Danny Elfman as score composer.. It was just garbage.


OT: I like both Maguire's and Holland's Spider-Man/Peter Parker, but as a movie overall I prefer Spider-Man 2. Though Homecoming was the refresher this movie franchise desperately needed.

 

[Saelune]

The current one. It got Spider-Man himself the most right.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I never understood the appeal of Maguire. He never looked the part, never acted the part. He never had the quick wit of Spiderman, never had the nerdy shy part either. He was just in love with the red-head. That was his entire character arc for three whole movies. And it never once felt believable, and never once felt like Spiderman.

Garfield got the quick wit right, but little else. the stories were absurd, and while I enjoyed the blonde's love story over the red heads, it never really went anywhere.

Holland is clearly the best. He has the quick wit, and the shy nerdy part, and actually feels like Spiderman.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I think Holland gets more of being both Spidey and Peter right. His wide eyed innocence comes across as less of a caricature than Maguire does. And I was never of Garfield but those two movies were just full of problems

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Homecoming was the refresher this movie franchise desperately needed.

I disagree. I thought that it was the weakest of MCU movies. It was too much Disney and too little Marvel. Like it was made using some kind of generic Disney formula. Apart from being generic, it was also entirely predictable and with the signature Disney forced humor. It was still a competent movie, but nothing remarkable at all. Quite forgettable, actually. Other MCU movies had an advantage because they're the first or at least the first good movies about those characters so they felt new and fresh. But with Spider-Man it's a different story, so they should have tried harder.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Spiderman 2 is by far the best Spidey movie so far.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Homecoming was the refresher this movie franchise desperately needed.

I disagree. I thought that it was the weakest of MCU movies. It was too much Disney and too little Marvel. Like it was made using some kind of generic Disney formula. Apart from being generic, it was also entirely predictable and with the signature Disney forced humor. It was still a competent movie, but nothing remarkable at all. Quite forgettable, actually. Other MCU movies had an advantage because they're the first or at least the first good movies about those characters so they felt new and fresh. But with Spider-Man it's a different story, so they should have tried harder.

It stepped away from the iconography the previous movies latched on to -- what has turned Spider-Man too iconic to really be considered the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man anymore. Homecoming strips this from the character and presents him as a Spider-Man who doesn't know he's Spider-Man. The fact that it didn't try harder works in its favour -- There's no epic music while swinging through Manhatten, no death of uncle Ben (again), no super villain trying destroy New York. It's just a kid superhero taking on arms dealers. It kept it small for a reason.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The first two Raimi movies.

 

[Natemans]

I like Tom Holland as he captures the younger aspect of the character, but my personal favorite is Tobey Maguire. Really nails the awkward, shy geek of Peter Parker and the fun as Spider-Man.


As for Andrew Garfield, he's a good actor, but his Peter Parker was just really poorly realized. Not helped by bad writing and direction.

 

[Natemans]

Homecoming was the refresher this movie franchise desperately needed.

I disagree. I thought that it was the weakest of MCU movies. It was too much Disney and too little Marvel. Like it was made using some kind of generic Disney formula. Apart from being generic, it was also entirely predictable and with the signature Disney forced humor. It was still a competent movie, but nothing remarkable at all. Quite forgettable, actually. Other MCU movies had an advantage because they're the first or at least the first good movies about those characters so they felt new and fresh. But with Spider-Man it's a different story, so they should have tried harder.

It stepped away from the iconography the previous movies latched on to -- what has turned Spider-Man too iconic to really be considered the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man anymore. Homecoming strips this from the character and presents him as a Spider-Man who doesn't know he's Spider-Man. The fact that it didn't try harder works in its favour -- There's no epic music while swinging through Manhatten, no death of uncle Ben (again), no super villain trying destroy New York. It's just a kid superhero taking on arms dealers. It kept it small for a reason.

Sadly I found Homecoming a mixed bag for me. I get the appeal that its more small scale, but I just didn't feel any real emotional weight to the character or the story.

In terms of positives, I like the cast, some of the small scale stuff was neat, I only got 2 laughs (mainly the golf course bit and Michelle flipping off Peter), I like Michael Keaton's performance (I don't like the villain at all, but that's more of the writing to criticize). The rest of it suffers from a rather weak script, bland direction, the action was lackluster, most of the humor didn't work personally and overall just didn't leaving me feel excited or felt like fun.


If you like it, cool. More power to you.

 

[Squilookle]

I'll stick with the Raimi movies, thanks. I have no interest in watching a reboot made solely so that a big studio could retain the film rights to a franchise. That's just about the worst motivation to start a project ever.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

I'll be another Homecoming vote. Tom Holland is one of those casting miracles that franchise films stumble across every now and then.

Don't get me wrong; I loved the Raimi films. I actually thought they were great films with especially great casting. But Tom Holland is just...he has Peter Parker locked down. Dude is Peter Parker. It's like Christopher Reeves as Superman; he did it, everyone went "yep, that's it," and now it's impossible to imagine anything other than it, such that all subsequent attempts to be it are judged based on how they compare to that it.

Of the Amazing Spider-Man films - I will say nothing, other than to ask why the hell are they even in this poll, are you insane, they were fucking awful

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

I don't like the new Spiderman at all, but that's probably more to do with how the character is being written than Tom Holland's performance; but I'm very old school when it comes to Spiderman, and don't care much for modern Marvel comics and what they have done to the character. I think Tobey Macguire was the best Peter Parker, and Andrew Garfield was the best Spiderman (even if the movies themselves weren't great).

 

[McElroy]

Turkish.

Holland could be the best, but the MCU ruins it.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Holland, for the time being. Not that I didn't enjoy Macguire at the time, but I feel Homecoming captured a lot of the comedy aspects of Spider-Man that previous iterations failed to, while also capable of being serious when needed.

I do hope that he starts to grow out of the hero worship of Tony Stark in the next film- the joke is starting to wear thin at this point- and that despite having already cast Mysterio as a villain we have a bit more gravity than in Homecoming. My initial pick for the next one was Morbius, but we'll see how it goes.

PS: I don't see a Poll anywhere.

 

[thejboy88]

PS: I don't see a Poll anywhere.

Yeah, for whatever reason, the poll bit just isn't showing up at the moment.

 

[vallorn]

While I enjoyed Homecoming and High School era spiderman a lot, and it had some amazing scenes like the one where Peter figures out that the big bad is his love interest's dad... I still have to give this to Toby Maguire. There was a LOT of cornball stuff in Spiderman 1, way more than people remember, but Spiderman 2 is still probably both my favourite Spiderman game and movie.

Homecoming and the recent Spiderman game are excellent but I'll admit they don't grab me the same way as 2 did in either medium.

I'll stick with the Raimi movies, thanks. I have no interest in watching a reboot made solely so that a big studio could retain the film rights to a franchise. That's just about the worst motivation to start a project ever.

Glancing in the direction of Fant4stic

PS: I don't see a Poll anywhere.

Yeah, for whatever reason, the poll bit just isn't showing up at the moment.

Polls have been broken for a while. You can usually ask a mod to place a link to where the poll is hosted on this website, but then you may as well just use a Strawpoll.

 

[rosac]

Maguire, mainly because I prefer his movies. To me it kind of seems that the following movies have shied away from having green goblin or Doc Oc as a main villain (GG was in Amazing 2, but as a side villain) due to the powerhouse performances. Also, there were lots of standout scenes from the 3 movies (yes, even the 3rd one) such as Spiderman wrestling and Uncle Bens death, Green goblins introduction, the train scene, Doc Ocs death, Sandmans creation.

It will take a lot to top the train scene. For me, it showed Spiderman in his mid career comic book wise - despised by the press, loved by the people. Gave me a "death of peter parker" from the ultimates vibe too. Add in that it showed a villain was clever enough to make use of circumstance/situation and that Spidey is willing to go beyond his physical limits to save people and you have an iconic moment.