In 2002, the first movie in the Spider-man trilogy was released, featuring Tobey Magiure. Then, in 2012 the story of Spider-Man was retold with The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this time starring Andrew Garlfield. Finally, Tom Holland took his take on the superhero with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, the three different actors were all casted together to join forces for one big spidey takedown. This caused many old fans to reconnect with their love for the old Spider-Mans or newer fans to go back and introduce themselves to the originals. After seeing them all together, people propose the debate of who played Spider-Man the best and which series shines above the others. 

To start off, Tobey Magiure was the original and starred in the first live action movies of Spider-Man. This leaves him holding a very special place in most people’s hearts, especially the older generations that were able to watch the trilogy when it first came out. Tobey Magiure’s acting has a lot of good, but also some bad, elements. Out of the three, Magiure does the best job at portraying the nerdy and shy side of Peter Parker. He created a character that people could relate to and feel for. However, when it comes to relating to Spider-Man, I think he falls a little short. Although Spider-Man can be hard to relate to, Andrew Garlfield and Tom Holland do a very good job at showing the emotions Spider-Man has to go through outside of his regular high school life. Magiure, on the other hand, centers Spider-Man’s emotions around Peter Parker’s feelings, which can make Spider-Man give off a lack of emotion. Garfield and Holland seem to create a better blend of both of their emotions. 

One of the main ideas of all the Spider-Man movies is not wanting to wrap the people they love into their superhero life. All of the actors do this in a different way, however Garlfied shows this struggle the best. Maguire does a very good job at showing that he doesn’t want to be with Mary Jane in fear of her getting hurt. Holland also does a very good job at this, especially at the end of Far From Home. Nevertheless, Garlfied does a superior job at showing a real side to the struggle. He shows that even though he needs to keep Gwen safe, sometimes he falls back into the pattern of wrapping her into things. He battles with loving her and protecting her. This gives off a realistic idea of how people might actually deal with this problem. 

When comparing all three different versions of Spider-Man there are also other factors to consider, besides just how the actors portray the character. One of the biggest differences is the inclusion of The Avengers in Tom Holland’s trilogy. This brings his movies in a little bit of a different direction. People’s opinions might vary on whether or not the addition of The Avengers adds or takes away from the story. However, I believe it adds to it, especially if you are a big Marvel fan. Tom Holland makes appearances in a few other Marvel movies which can be really exciting. People could also propose the argument that it takes away from the actual story of Spider-Man and pulls him away from the shy highschooler he was written to be. Nonetheless, it definitely adds an interesting twist to the story. 

At this point in time, if I were to sit down and put on one of the Spider-Man movies, I would probably lean to The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garlfield. However, it all really depends on what mood you are in. There is an argument for any of them being the best and it’s really hard to come to one definite conclusion. All this aside, no one can argue that the Spider-Man movies, no matter what version, aren’t awesome and definitely worth the watch.