10 Tobey Maguire Spider-Man Movie Moments That Still Haven’t Been Topped

Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man has had many unforgettable moments that no other Spider-Man film has outdone. Maguire became the first big-screen Wall-Crawler with Sam Raimi’s 2002 movie Spider-Man, and though his tenure seemingly ended after Spider-Man 3, Maguire returned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2021 mega-hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, teaming him up with Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland’s Spideys. Though that film brought Maguire’s Spidey back into action, his journey in the original Spider-Man trilogy was hardly forgotten.

Maguire’s live-action Spider-Man certainly had his share of clunkier and sillier moments, most notably Peter Parker’s notorious emo dance in Spider-Man 3, but these remain vastly outnumbered by his moments of Spidey greatness. Whether in his web-slinging action scenes or quieter moments of emotional power, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man has been at the center of many unforgettable moments. Here are 10 great Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie moments that have not been topped in subsequent Spider-Man films.

10 Maguire’s Spider-Man Movies Showcased The Struggle Of Being Peter Parker

Spider-Man 1 – 3

Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland’s Spider-Men each embody a different side of Peter Parker, with Maguire’s Peter (or Peter #2, as Spider-Man: No Way Home dubs him) focusing on the difficulties of Peter’s life. Maguire’s Peter goes through school bullying and the loss of his Uncle Ben all before he fully becomes Spidey, while Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 show how much the burden of being a superhero impacts Peter’s personal life and relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). More so than any other big-screen Web-Slinger, Tobey Maguire’s Spidey showed that it’s not easy to be Peter Parker.

9 Peter Letting The Robber Go

Spider-Man (2002)

In the original Spider-Man movie, Peter Parker comes to learn that with great power comes great responsibility when he lets Dennis Carradine (Michael Papajohn) run right past him after he robs a wrestling promoter at gunpoint. After Peter gets cheated out of his winnings by the wrestling promoter for winning too fast, the promoter sneers “I missed the part where that’s my problem.” Peter simply throws that line right back at him when he asks why Peter didn’t stop Carradine, which helps frame Peter’s decision as an emotional and rash one, but not one that says anything inherently bad about his character.

8 Maguire’s Peter Forgiving Sandman

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 makes the surprise reveal that Uncle Ben was actually killed by Flint Marko (Thomas Hayden Church), only for Peter to learn the truth at the end of the movie. Flint was an accomplice of Carradine because he needed money to save his dying daughter, and he accidentally shot Uncle Ben after being startled by Carradine. Peter’s drive for vengeance is one of his most human impulses, but after getting all the facts, Peter is finally able to let go of his anger and tell Flint “I forgive you“, which is still one of the most heartfelt, moving scenes in any Spider-Man movie.

7 Peter Mourning Uncle Ben With Aunt May

Spider-Man

The death of Uncle Ben is a staple of the Spider-Man mythos, and the first Spider-Man movie really captures the pain and heartbreak of a teenager having to witness the uncle who raised him die on the street in front of him. After Uncle Ben’s funeral, Peter and his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) reminisce about how much Ben Parker meant to them, with Peter still carrying guilt over his outburst at Uncle Ben before his death. Aunt May is there to remind Peter that he and Uncle Ben still loved each other, which helps Peter greatly in dealing with his pain in one of Spider-Man‘s most powerful scenes.

6 Sandman’s Transformation Is Still The Best Spider-Man Villain Origin Scene

Spider-Man 3

Villains getting their powers is just as pivotal to any superhero movie as the hero getting theirs, and Spider-Man 3 has one of the all-time greatest when Flint Marko is trapped in a particle accelerator and merged with the sand inside of it. Marko’s struggle to turn himself back into human form and his strained efforts to reach the locket with his daughter’s photo underscore what a tragic series of events led him to this point. Moreover, the sand effects still stand as some of the best in any Spider-Man movie, with the Sandman’s transformation remaining the best villain origin scene of the Spider-Man franchise on film.

5 Maguire’s Peter Learning To Leap & Shoot Webs

Spider-Man

Peter Parker’s origin story as Spider-Man is a well-known tale of a high school student bitten by a genetically altered spider in a lab and gaining arachnid abilities, and Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man emphasizes how much fun Peter has once he first grasps the extent of his powers. Crawling up buildings and leaping from one rooftop to another, Maguire’s Peter is full of infectious joy. Spider-Man also makes a slight adjustment to Peter’s powers by giving him organic web-shooters, and his first investigation of this new-found power combines just the right amount of fun along with just a little caution about the hazards inherent to web-slinging.

4 Peter Catching M.J. In The Lunchroom

Spider-Man

The first Spider-Man movie is home to what remains one of the most impressive practical displays of a superhero’s powers ever filmed when Peter’s spider-sense alerts him to Mary Jane slipping in the school cafeteria. With his newfound superhuman reflexes, Peter not only catches M.J., but her lunch tray and everything on it. Of course, the movie makes Spider-Man’s tray catch look far easier than it really was. Even with glue placed on Tobey Maguire’s hand, it still took 156 takes and an entire day’s worth of filming to pull off, but with the scene being such an unforgettable and practical Spider-Man rescue, it was definitely worth the effort.

3 Peter Making Peace With Harry As He Dies

Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3 is the movie where Peter Parker and his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) become enemies, with Harry becoming the New Goblin to avenge his father’s death, but he eventually teams up with Peter to stop Sandman and Venom (Topher Grace). Harry ends up sacrificing himself to save Peter, and spends his final moments reassuring Peter that all is forgiven between them and that “You’re my friend.” Harry’s story is as important to the Raimi Spider-Man films as Peter’s own, with his death scene a reminder of that and the bond that Peter, Harry, and M.J. will forever hold. RELATED: Tobey Maguire Spider-Man Trilogy Ignored One Major Plot Hole

2 Peter Saving MJ & The Cable Car

Spider-Man

In the first Spider-Man film’s finale, Spidey is placed in a challenging situation where he must save both Mary Jane and a cable car full of children from being dropped off a bridge by Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Though Peter succeeds, it’s still arguably the most tense rescue scene of any Spider-Man movie, with the Green Goblin attacking Peter on his glider as he holds the cable car and Peter’s web-line just barely clinging to the bridge. Spidey fortunately gets some help from the New Yorkers on the bridge, but it’s still a nail-biting climax with Peter, M.J., and the cable car’s occupants literally hanging on for dear life.

1 New Yorkers On The Train Seeing Spider-Man Unmasked

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Spidey pulls off perhaps his most painful big-screen rescue in Spider-Man 2 when he has to manually stop a runaway train from crashing by shooting out several web-lines and bracing his body against the front. Peter immediately passes out afterward, but what really gives the scene impact is the fact that Peter does it all with his mask off, with one passenger commenting “He’s…just a…kid. No older than my son.” The real power of this moment comes when Peter wakes up and realizes that his mask is missing, only to see that the people he’s saved will respect his secret.

A pair of kids (played by Maguire’s real-life half-brothers, Jopaul and Weston Epp) return the startled Peter’s mask to him, assuring him they will not reveal that they’ve seen who Spider-Man is under the mask, and the look on Peter’s face says it all. For as much of a crisis of faith as Peter experiences in Spider-Man 2, he’s reminded of how important what he does is to the people of New York. In the words of one of the kids, “It’s good to have you back, Spider-Man.“