The movie that gave the fledgling MCU that their superheroes line up could soar if handled right.It is easy to overlook just how big Spider-Man was at the box office and superhero movies could be fun.Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is the high school student people make fun of. He has always liked his next door neighbour Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) but she hardly notices him.His best friend is Harry Osborn (James Franco) whose father is industrialist Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe.)On a school field trip to Oscorp, Peter gets bitten by a genetically modified spider and soon develops special arachnid based powers.After the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter soon realises that to really be Spider-Man. He has to learn that with great powers come great responsibilities. He saves people as Spider-Man while Peter Parker gets a job with the Daily Bugle as a freelance photographer.Norman Osborn loses the grip in his company and so tries out one of his inventions. He becomes the crazed Green Goblin and comes after Spider-Man.Director Sam Raimi better known for his horror movies, makes a family friendly film with dark edges and humour. He is aided by Dafoe's maniacal performance. Raimi also knows how to handle the CGI special effects and makes good use of the New York locations.Maguire has the right amount of boyishness, there is the now iconic scene as the upside down Spider-Man kisses Mary Jane with his lips showing.
There are even a few references to Superman. Peter Parker takes off his clothes while running just like Clark Kent. It is a nod that the modern superhero genre started with Richard Donner's Superman.
We don’t all have a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but we can watch one on screens big and small. Spider-Man is one of the iconic superheroes, and he’s certainly gotten his fair share of movies, video games, and more. We’ve seen a lot of different variations on Peter Parker. In fact, these days Peter Parker isn’t even the only Spider-Man out there! Here are the actors who have slung some webs and gotten under J. Jonah Jameson’s skin. Pour one out for Uncle Ben and get to the list!
Sony, Columbia
For many, Maguire was the first actor they saw as Spider-Man. He was the star of the first significant film series dedicated to the web-slinger. The star of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, Maguire and company really put the character on the map from a superhero movie perspective, well before the Marvel Cinematic Universe took off. Then he danced in “Spider-Man 3.” Let’s forget about that.
Sony, Columbia
After the relative lack of success for “Spider-Man 3,” the Raimi series came to a close. Not too long after that, though, Sony decided to reboot the franchise. Maguire was a little too old, so they decided to bring in Garfield (who was also admittedly probably a bit old to be playing a high school student). Maybe it was a little early for a reboot, though, because Garfield only got to star in two films, and they’ve been mostly forgotten.
Sony, Columbia
Another run at Spider-Man? This time it made sense, though, because Marvel and Disney got the rights to put the character into the Marvel Universe, even though he remains a Sony character. Holland, unlike Garfield, could pass as a high school student, and also this time they skipped the whole origin story, which was really appreciated. Holland is en route to becoming the most-successful Spider-Man yet. Thank the MCU for that.
Columbia
Before those three cinematic Peter Parkers, there was Hammond. The actor starred in the live-action ‘70s show “The Amazing Spider-Man,” which unlike the old “Batman” or “Wonder Woman” show has not maintained an audience. He also starred in three movies, though they were only released theatrically in Europe. In classic Quentin Tarantino style, Hammond was given a part in “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood” playing Sam Wanamaker.
Toei Company
Spider-Man was big in Japan. He had his own TV series, though instead of Peter Parker he was Takuya Yamashiro. Also, he had a giant robot. The TV show lasted for 41 episodes, and then they made a movie, both of which starred Todo in the lead role.
Matt Sayles - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images
The hook of the animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is that the various Spider-Folks from different dimensions all come together in one place. This includes Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, and a few Spider-Men. One of those is played by Johnson, who is probably best known for playing Nick Miller on “New Girl.” He plays a Spider-Man who has seen better days.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for FIJI Water
Famously, Cage always wanted to play Superman. He actually got the chance in the film “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.” However, he’s also got to voice a Marvel character. In “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” he portrayed Spider-Man Noir, a version of the character with a hit of Phillip Marlowe to him.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
One more Peter Parker from the “Spider-Verse.” When the film begins, in the dimension the movie takes place in there is a Spider-Man already. Tragically, this one dies (spoiler?) but he dies a hero. He’s played by Pine, who knows a thing or two about dying a hero in a film. After all, he played Captain Kirk in three films, including “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
Michael Tran/Getty Images
Unsurprisingly, there have been many animated versions of Spider-Man. The most notable actor of that bunch, in terms of quantity and fame outside the role, is probably Bell. You may know him from his days as a Nickelodeon star, but after he grew out of that he started voicing Spider-Man in “Ultimate Spider-Man” from 2012 through 2017, plus several other TV projects. He’s also voiced him in a couple of video games.
Benjamin Diskin's Twitter
Diskin did a bit of acting as a kid, including in “Kindergarten Cop,” but mostly he’s done a ton of voiceover work. Amongst that work has been a couple of Spider-Man projects. Usually, he’s voiced other characters, such as Venom or Spider-Man. However, in “Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Assemble” he got his chance to finally voice Spidey himself.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Soles is a classic voiceover artist, having had roles in projects such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Yes, the famous one from the ‘60s. In the ‘60s, he was also the voice of Spider-Man in the first cartoon dedicated to the character, which began its run in 1967.
Wikipedia Creative Commons
You probably know Gilvezan best as Bumblebee from the original “Transformers” cartoon from the ‘80s. However, before that, he got his start in voiceover with the role of Spider-Man in “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.” Those friends included the likes of Firestar and Lightwave. A whopping 25 years later, he would get the chance to voice the futuristic Spider-Man 2099 in the video game “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
In the flesh, you would recognize Barnes as Greg Brady from the parody “Brady Bunch” films from the ‘90s. “Sure Jan,” etc. His voice is likely best remembered as Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid.” When Spidey got a chance at a new animated show in the ‘90s, though, they brought Barnes in, and he voiced him for 65 episodes. Also, he played Greg Brady in an episode of “Wings,” which is weird.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
Yes, that Neil Patrick Harris. Doogie Howser himself. The guy who has hosted…every Tony Awards? When did he portray Spider-Man? Well in the aforementioned video game “Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions,” it’s Harris who voices Peter Parker and his alter ego.
Suzi Pratt/Getty Images
Keaton has voiced all sorts of superheroes in his extensive voiceover career. This includes a few runs as Green Lantern and The Flash. However, it’s not all DC projects for him. He tackled the task of voicing Spider-Man for “The Spectacular Spider-Man,” which ran from 2008 through 2009.
Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images
Daymond’s primary career work has been in video games and dubbing anime, but he’s done some other work as well. He first voiced the web-slinger in “Avengers Assemble,” where he also voiced Bucky Barnes. After that, he continued the role of Spider-Man in Disney XD’s “Spider-Man.”
Disney
There are a lot of actors who dub Japanese animation in English. Sometimes, it goes the other way around. In the Japanese dub of “Ultimate Spider-Man,” Kawada steps in for Bell to provide the voice of Peter Parker. He did the same thing in the “Shattered Dimensions” video game.
Pocket Universe Productions
Here’s an unusual one. In 1996, the BBC produced a 50-episode radio show version of Spider-Man. The show was co-produced by Brian May of Queen, and he wrote the theme song as well. May did not voice Spidey, though. Instead, that went to Dufris, who primarily spent his career reading audiobooks, and apparently winning awards for it.
Recording Academy
Remember the disastrous Broadway play “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark?” How could you forget? It was a legendary fiasco, and many actors were injured in the process. In the end, Carney played Spider-Man, a run that lasted a few years. Since then he’s been playing Orpheus in “Hadestown” and you may have seen him on “Penny Dreadful” as well.
IMDb
While Romano’s runs on “Extreme Ghostbusters” and “Godzilla: The Series” went well, his show “Spider-Man Unlimited” only lasted 13 episodes. However, it wouldn’t be the last time Romano got to voice the character. He reprised the role in two video games in the early 2000s.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Starting as a child actor on the soap opera “All My Children,” Marquette would get into voiceover work and star in shows like “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” Now, he’s back in the live-action world, popping up in shows like “The Goldbergs.” He has done a little video game work, including in the “Kingdom Hearts” series. And of course, there was his role as the lead character in the game “Ultimate Spider-Man.”
Jennifer Lourie/FilmMagic
Taylor’s incredible voiceover career is too lengthy to go into in-depth. We’ll just note he’s the voice of Ratchet of “Ratchet and Clank” fame and also Obi-Won in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” However, we’re here for Spider-Man content. His TV work has primarily involved him voicing The Flash on the superhero front, but he’s been Spidey in a few different video games.
YouTube
Vaughn isn’t as notable as others on this list. He doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page. That being said, he has voiced Spider-Man in the 2008 video game “Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.” So, he has that.
Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
If you’ve watched the popular web series “Critical Role,” you know Riegel. He was also the voice of Donatello of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the “TMNT” show that ran from 2003 through 2007. On the video game front, he voiced Peter Parker and his superhero persona in “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its sequel.
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
At this moment, arguably the video game is “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales” for the PlayStation 5. While Morales is the star, obviously, Peter Parker shows up as well, and he’s voiced by Lowenthal. He didn’t just voice the character, though. He also did the motion capture performance. It wasn’t his first time playing Spidey either.
Monica Morgan/WireImage
We just mentioned the “Miles Morales” game, and it’s Jeter who voices him there. It’s the third game where he has both voiced and done the motion-capture work for Morales in a game. On top of that, he voices Miles on “Spider-Man,” the recent Disney XD show. Since Jeter is only 24, this is just the beginning of his career.
Matt Petit - Handout/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images
In the world of film, the first Miles Morales version of Spider-Man appeared as the star of “Into the Spider-Verse.” While it’s an animated version, it was still notable. The voice of Morales was provided by Moore, who likely will get a chance to reprise the role given the success of the first adventure of his Spider-Man.