The anticipation over Spiderman: No Way Home this past December reignited a multi-decade debate for superhero fans: which actor is the best? The difficulty in picking an actual “best” Spiderman is that every single person has nostalgia tied to the movies they grew up with, so while I do understand personal favorites, here’s my interpretation. For clarification, this was my position before No Way Home, but after I rewatched all the old movies. 

I believe that Tobey Maguire is the worst of the three. I enjoyed the script, villains, and most of the cast– yes, that does mean JK Simmons– of his movies, but I felt like Maguire himself wasn’t a good fit, with the most obvious reason being the acting itself. Looking at the originals he seemed fairly limited in his performance, especially with things as simple as facial expressions. I don’t think that the entire cast has to be incredible for a movie to be good, but something about Maguire’s performance took me out of the movie instead of being immersive. That was only intensified because many of the other characters were much more compelling. Even ignoring the acting, Maguire doesn’t quite fit the character. His Peter Parker is somehow too awkward for an already awkward character, and his portrayal of Spiderman seemed flat when the character is typically charismatic and witty. 

With that, next up for me is Andrew Garfield. This is where nostalgia plays in for me, but memories aside, the second version of the character felt a lot more authentic. Aside from the acting not being an issue, Garfield understood the character in a way that Maguire didn’t. His Peter Parker was dorky and a little insecure without being overly embarrassing and you could see the confidence grow as Peter embraced his alter ego. While I do think his portrayal didn’t lean into the character’s awkwardness enough, I think it was a more accurate representation than Maguire’s. As for his Spiderman, I think he does an amazing job, pun intended. The mannerisms and quips that were lacking with Maguire are abundant without seeming forced, and he seems to embody the hero instead of playing a part, which makes him the best Spiderman in my eyes. 

That being said, I think Tom Holland is the overall best actor. His Peter finds the balance between awkward and confident and finally gives us the character’s nerdiness in a way that doesn’t seem fake. While I don’t think his Spiderman is as good as Garfield’s, the consistency between Holland’s Peter and his Spiderman makes the character’s duality more realistic and, in my opinion, is a greater testament to acting ability than playing just one side well.