When you think of Spider-Man, which actor comes to mind? For many, the answer is Tobey Maguire, the first actor to play the role on the silver screen. For the young folks today, it’s Tom Holland, who met his now-wife on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming almost 10 years ago. And for that slice of people in between who hover between the millennials and zoomers, it’s Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man duology. These three are so recognizable as Peter Parkers (Peters Parker?) that they joined forces in the multiversal epic Spider-Man: No Way Home.
But there’s much more to Spider-Man than just this arachnid trilogy. They’re neither the first nor the last actors to take on this role, and the foundations of their performances — the very fabric of Spider-Man as we know it — contribute just as much as the faces on the movie posters. In fact, more than 20 actors have portrayed the hero, and that’s not counting the Spider-Verse variants. Inverse spoke to two different Spider-Man actors, one from the past, one from the present, to break down just what makes this character tick.
