Tobey Maguire’s ‘Spider-Man’ 20 Years Later – Like All Things 2002: A Little Cringe but Iconic
Tomorrow is the Spider-Man 20th anniversary. Does the 2002 blockbuster Marvel film hit differently after the events of No Way Home?
Tobey Maguire’s iteration of Peter Parker has made us all a little uncomfortable as we’ve gotten older. But the line between ‘cringe’ and ‘nostalgic’ is just a matter of perspective. What once felt embarrassing to us has only recently acquired enough distance to be kind of endearing. Although sometimes, perspective just reveals that your biological web-fluid is still pretty weird.
No Way Home & the Spider-Man 20th Anniversary
It’s fitting that Spider-Man should turn twenty just months after the release of No Way Home on streaming. The film pulled a major heartwarmer by bringing veteran Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield into the MCU. Garfield’s appearance gave him a chance at redemption by allowing him to save MJ from a deathly fall. And Maquire? We got to see that Spidey survives to adulthood, makes a life for himself, and still manages to stay quippy and lighthearted. Which is no small feat, especially in the more realistic universe built around the character.
Courtesy of Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures
In the months before No Way Home, the rumors circulating around Andrew Garfield’s and Tobey Maguire’s reappearances made us all go back and revisit each actor’s version of the wall-crawler with a kinder eye.
Spider-Man Changed the Game
It could be easily argued that the modern MCU wouldn’t exist were it not for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. It was much more serious and true-to-life than previous superhero films. The success of Blade and Tim Burton’s Batman showed that superheroes could eek through into the public consciousness in fantastical settings. But the idea of a superhero flick grounded in a world that looked like ours was virtually unheard of.
In a special anniversary interview, former Columbia Pictures president Amy Pascal told Variety:
“Nobody said you need superhero movies. People didn’t talk like that. We fell in love with Peter Parker. I am not a comic book person. I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, my God, all my life I’ve wanted to make comic book movies.’ What I was thinking is ‘This is a really fantastic character.'”
The creative team approached Peter’s tale as a dramatic story first and a comic book movie second. And while the seriousness is certainly a marker of action-packed movies of the day, after all this time, the movie still has its warm and fuzzy moments.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
2002’s Spider-Man was a Mood
Now that this movie is old enough to be considered vintage, we can truly appreciate the CGI designs in the opening credits. We can also laugh lovingly at the “what this character is thinking about” montages. There’s a lot from this movie we can now lovingly roast.
The use of overly-cliched high school tropes acted by 28-year-old actors is good for a chuckle. That top-40 Nickleback jam that rolls through the post-credits is now both iconic for being so cringe. And the knowledge that Peter will go full-emo by the end of the trilogy gives us all an opportunity to make peace with some of our flippiest haircuts of the era. There’s a healthy chunk of nostalgia we feel for this super-powered nerd.
On a more subtle note, Spider-Man’s transition from bookworm child to super-powered man has always been a parallel for adolescence. Naturally for a cis-male character, that ‘coming of age’ vibe and puberty are bound to be a source of jokes. Peter’s low-key below-the-belt check after he wakes from his Spider-sleep and a homophobic joke aimed at the Bone Saw certainly remind us of a time when performative masculinity was much more bro-like.
We’ve Gotta Talk About Mary Jane…
The “nice girls only date jerks, never nice guys like me!” mentality has aged poorly, and this movie has a lot of that energy. The film’s biggest missed opportunity still lies with Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Parker, who does her very best with a script that’s just determined to treat her like a kicked puppy. The fact that Dunst was still able to bring a measure of determination and straight-talk to this co-dependent, less-inquisitive version of Watson speaks to her charm. Years down the line, I’m able to appreciate how much she did with some limited material.
This could have been the face of another fictional girl journalist I worshiped as a kid, but 2002 wasn’t ready for that moment.
Some Spider-Man Moments are Timeless
Thankfully, it’s easy to look past the film’s cringier moments to enjoy the ride. For one, it served as a perfect introduction for the modern world to comic book mythology. That feeling that draws crowds to superhero movies was practically born in the margins of this movie – and you can feel it here, too.
The performances in 2002’s Spider-Man match the text, which is a little dramatic, but all in good spirit. Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of Norman Osborn is a little cartoonish, but not nearly as cartoonish as you may remember. In fact, it’s genuinely terrifying in all the right places. An impression that has lasted over the years.
Yikes! No thank you, Mr. My-Best-Friend’s-Dad, I’ll make the much-less-dangerous walk home through the dark streets of New York.
Plus, what’s not to love about this movie’s incredible cameos? Randy Savage and Bruce Campbell really make the most of their roles in this underground wrestling ring. Joe Manganiello is a precious little baby bully in his big breakout role. And who can forget that Macy Grey music and fashion moment! 2002 was such a fun time.
Spider-Man 20th Anniversary – An Iconic Snapshot in Time
Five years ago, we still weren’t sure how we felt retrospectively about the non-meme Tobey Maguire Spider-Man moments. By the time we finished No Way Home, it’s now safe to say that we would all die for either of the past Spideys because they’re precious little jellybeans. But Tobey’s redemption was particularly satisfying because it showed us an adult Spider-Man who maintained that big, Peter-Parker heart.
And despite its bizarre post-millennium moments, Tobey and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man film still has plenty of heart. Peter’s sense of responsibility for the fates of everyone around him survives through each on-screen adaptation that has followed this film. So do his sassy quips.
And so, of course, does the indestructible spirit of J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson. No, we didn’t forget that he was basically born here. How could anyone forget that legendary moment?
