Credit: Inside the MagicSpidey speaks out!
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The well-known story of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man and its central moral lesson that “with great power comes great responsibility” has gained a special kind of recognition worldwide. Over the years, multiple individuals have taken on the iconic role in various Spider-Man movies inspired by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics. Tobey Maguire portrayed the character in Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man, followed by Andrew Garfield’s interpretation in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Tom Holland, who joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Captain America: Civil War in 2016 and headlined his own film Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, has also become a beloved portrayal.
The State of Spider-Man
In the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man is essentially missing.
The MCU’s version of the superhero is left without a home, family, or friends. Because of a mistake in a spell done by Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), the entire MCU world has forgotten about Peter Parker’s existence. For all intents and purposes, this spell has essentially undone the big surprise at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) where the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson (played by JK Simmons), tells everyone that Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker.
Related: Marvel Star Addresses New Sam Raimi ‘Spider-Man 4’ Movie
Spider-Man Ranks Spider-Man
Now, the Spider-Man himself is speaking his mind about which Spider-Man films are the absolute best — in his opinion, of course.
Twitter user @capeshitsucks shared the following clip from Buzzfeed Celeb’s interview with Tom Holland himself. Here, the actor is asked which of his Spider-Man films is the best, and Holland gives his (somewhat divisive) opinion in rather quick succession — which tells us that Holland has definitely thought about this and come to this definitive conclusion on his own terms:
Tom Holland thinks Homecoming is the best in the trilogy
he knows ball 🤷🏾♂️
Tom Holland thinks Homecoming is the best in the trilogy
he knows ball 🤷🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/u67ggFc8Sv
— ❓ (@capeshitsucks) August 19, 2023
Here, Holland rattles off that he believes that the first film, Homecoming to be superior to the other two, with the third movie No Way Home also starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Spidey from their respective universes, with the Mysterio-centric (Jake Gyllenhaal) second film primarily grappling with Tony Stark/Iron Man’s (Robert Downey Jr.) death post-Endgame ranked as the last of the trilogy.
Naturally, fans had a lot to say about this. Twitter user @CanWeGetSomeToast made some key observations here as to why Holland believes this
I get why he’d pick Homecoming as his favorite. It’s his first, his baby (and he met Zendaya there 👀).
It’s 3, 1, 2 for me. No Way Home is one of my favorite Spider-Man movies, ever. Andrew and Tobey popping up just made it that much better.
I get why he’d pick Homecoming as his favorite. It’s his first, his baby (and he met Zendaya there 👀).
It’s 3, 1, 2 for me. No Way Home is one of my favorite Spider-Man movies, ever. Andrew and Tobey popping up just made it that much better. https://t.co/m1CUnS8U7N pic.twitter.com/AZ4Q8orH1Y
— CanWeGetSomeToast (@CanWeGetToast) August 19, 2023
This began a conversation about the MCU’s webslinger
Users like @Rebellion_128 in fact prefer the movies in reverse order — with the most recent being the best, and the introductory film being the worst:
3,2,1 for me… ill never understand why people think Far from home is not a good movie
3,2,1 for me… ill never understand why people think Far from home is not a good movie
— RBL (@Rebellion_128) August 19, 2023
Meanwhile others like Mirko Ambrosi had a more detailed take, clarifying (and agreeing with Holland), that they thought Homecoming was overall the “best written and built”:
Frankly “Homecoming” is the best written and built. A promise betrayed. “Far from home” is horrible while “No way home” for me is “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.5” since at every re-watch I jump directly to the moment in which Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker appears.
Frankly "Homecoming" is the best written and built. A promise betrayed. "Far from home" is horrible while "No way home" for me is "The Amazing Spider-Man 2.5" since at every re-watch I jump directly to the moment in which Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker appears.
— Mirko Ambrosi (@ambrosimirko44) August 19, 2023
After the events of Far From Home in and the world-altering consequences of Doctor Strange’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appears to have been somewhat overshadowed. The recent success of Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2023), suggests that the Spider-Man franchise truly has legs — even if Holland’s own version is currently “on hiatus” for the time being. With a healthy appetite for more webslinging shenanigans, audiences will also be able to look forward to Marvel Studios’ very own animated take on a whole other Variant of Spidey — in Spider-Man: Freshman Year coming to Disney+ (Disney Plus) in 2024.
At some point, Holland is sure to return to the MCU, albeit probably in a different way than before with his “Home” trilogy. And presumably before 2025’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and 2026’s Avengers: Secret Wars. Perhaps, there’ll be another whole trilogy of new Spider-Man movies to rank eventually.
Do you agree with Tom Holland’s ranking of his Spider-Man movies? Share your thoughts in the comments below!