As amazing as Marvel’s new movies are, you can never forget about the classics. Before any of The Avengers broke movie records, the famous web-slinging hero made his debut on the big screen. Back in 2002, Tobey Maguire made Marvel history as Spider-Man.
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Though there have been a couple reboots of the famous hero, no one can argue that Tobey Maguire is the original Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland may have stolen the superhero spotlight later on, but Maguire’s the first to discover his powers. He is the first Peter Parker to take up a life of fighting crime, saving anyone and everyone he can along the way.
The Festival: Celebration Turned Deadly
The first of all the Spider-Man movies is famous simply for being created. However, there are many aspects of the film that make it great. This movie has an alter in the vaults of superhero history because of wonderful action sequences, a fantastically terrifying villain (Willem Dafoe), and some of Maguire’s best saves as the famous hero.
A fun celebration turns into a nightmare when the Green Goblin, one of the toughest Spider-Man villains, comes flying in to crash the party thrown by OSCORP (the company that just fired him). Peter Parker, who is a photographer at the event, runs to help the terrified members of the crowd. Keeping people from being crushed by falling concrete and catching Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) as she falls from a crumbling balcony are some of the best rescues during the scene.
Ultimatum: The People or the Love of His Life
When the Green Goblin discovers Spider-Man’s secret identity, he goes after the people the hero loves the most. After hospitalizing his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris), the Goblin kidnaps Mary Jane. Desperate to stop the villain and save the woman he loves, Peter sets out to confront the Goblin. But when he arrives, he finds himself facing a more dire situation than he anticipated. The Green Goblin has also kidnapped a trolley full of people, and tells Spider-Man he must choose; save the people or save the love of his life.
The Goblin drops both the trolley and MJ from the top of a bridge. Peter races after MJ, then swings around and catches the trolley before it can hit the water. MJ climbs down to join the other hostages, but the Goblin is quick to attack Spider-Man. Aided by the civilians on the bridge above him, Spider-Man manages to withstand the Goblin’s attacks and gets both the people and MJ to safety, pulling off another spectacular save
Norman Osborn: Fixing the Past
Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s epic cameos were made even better by the extensive number of references made to all the different Spider-Man films. While some references were more obvious (classic quotes and the famous scene where MJ (Zendaya) is caught by Garfield’s character), others were more subtle. One of the best of the subtleties was when Maguire’s hero stopped Tom’s from killing the Green Goblin.
The tense final fight between Holland’s Spider-Man and Dafoe’s Green Goblin ends with the Goblin on the ground, and Holland moments away from killing him in an act of vengeance. Maguire’s character steps in at the last second and stops Holland from killing Norman Osborn. Though this act is really meant to save Holland’s character from the darkness that comes with taking a life, Maguire also saves the Green Goblin. During his own fight against the villain, Maguire’s character walked away alive after the Goblin was killed by his own glider in the original Spider-Man film. When Maguire stops Holland from exacting his revenge, Norman Osborn is given a new chance at life. Maguire saves his old enemy and finally fixes a past that has haunted him for many years.
Inferno: The Return of a Hero
Many fans consider Spider-Man 2 (2004) to be the best film out of the original trilogy. Perhaps one of the most intriguing parts about the movie is that Peter Parker is not a hero the entire time. Struggling with balancing his personal and superhero lifestyles, Peter decides to give up his mask and instead focus on himself. Peter ignores the ailments of his city for quite a while, but when he sees a building going up in flames, he can no longer abide by his passive attitude.
When Peter hears that a kid is still trapped inside the burning building, he races into the blazing structure. Despite having no suit (and a block on his powers) Peter rescues a little girl from the inferno and returns her to her parents. This save is especially important because helps Peter realize that he cannot simply stand by and live out his own selfish desires; he will always be Spider-Man, and he will always protect the people of his city.
The Train: Off the Rails
Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker has made many amazing saves during his twenty-year reign as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. When Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) breaks the brakes on a packed train, he sends the passengers hurtling toward their doom. Spider-Man has to abandon his fight with the villain and race to save everyone aboard.
After a few failed attempts at slowing the vehicle down, Spider-Man attaches a series of his webs to the passing buildings and uses them as an anchor. Pulling as hard as he can, Spider-Man narrowly manages to stop the train from toppling off of incomplete tracks. The nail-biting train sequence is one of the web-slinging hero’s best saves.
The Love Interest: Saving Mary Jane
Maguire’s Spider-Man has saved Mary Jane on multiple different occasions. Peter Parker’s first rescue of MJ occurs at the beginning of the original film. When MJ slips in the school cafeteria, Peter’s newly enhanced reflexes send him jumping up to save her from an embarrassing fall. Further along in Spider-Man, Peter sees muggers sneaking up behind MJ under the cover of the rainy night. Decked out in his suit, Peter fights off MJ’s assailants and is rewarded with the famous upside down kiss.
Spider-Man 2 sees Peter’s personal life becoming increasingly difficult to manage. But even his complicated relationship with MJ does not stop him saving her time and again. In his final battle with Doctor Octopus, Peter saves his love interest not once, but twice. Mary Jane, kidnapped and bound in iron chains, is being pulled toward the deadly fusion reaction Doc Ock recreated. Peter leaps after MJ and keeps her from being sucked in. When Doc Ock, no longer controlled by his machine, tries to drown his disastrous project, the building starts to collapse around the trio. MJ is about to be crushed by a giant piece of metal, but Peter steps in to save her, making this rescue the best out of his many saves as Spider-Man.
