Is Tom Holland or Tobey Maguire the best Spider-Man ever?
Audiences are still caught (up) in Spider-Man’s web, as “Spider-Man: Far From Home” — starring Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zendaya and Marisa Tomei — opened Fourth of July week with $195 million in its first 10 days in North American theaters; it’s global tally so far in the same time period is $588 million.
Ahead of the superhero debut, at least three noteworthy “Spider-Man” stories were posted, two, courtesy of the Washington Post and Variety, ranking the eight “Spider-Man” films from worst to best, and another, by Men’s Health, ranking the leading men who have donned the skin-tight red-and-blue costume.
For the record, the two esteemed media outlets’ lists are at odds — one ranked the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018) as No. 1, the other 2002’s original with Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and Willem Dafoe as the best — while both agree that 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” is the runner-up.
In terms of the actors who’ve portrayed Peter Parker/Spider-Man — Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland and Chris Pine/Jake Johnson/Shameik Moore — well, they all brought strengths to the characters. Yes, call me Switzerland because I can be. The pick by Men’s Health? It was neck-and-neck between Maguire and Holland, with the nod going to Holland.
And all of this begs the question: Who’s the best leading lady in Spider-Man’s Spider-Verse — Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone or Zendaya? Or even the animated Hailee Steinfeld or Zoe Kravitz?
Aunt May, we can’t decide — these rankings are tearing us apart.