Warning! This article contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #90
While Spider-Man is battling the all-new incarnation of his greatest villain, the Green Goblin, Marvel Comics pays tribute to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire’s version of Peter Parker has seen a resurgence of popularity after his inclusion in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While this latest appearance has sparked new excitement for Maguire’s Spider-Man, he has long been thought of by fans as being the best version of the character. Marvel Comics seemingly shares the opinion that Maguire did an amazing job playing Peter Parker as it added an easter egg referencing his Spider-Man in the latest Amazing Spider-Man issue.
In Amazing Spider-Man #90 by Patrick Gleason and Mark Bagley, Peter Parker is back in action after suffering debilitating injuries by the hands of the U-Foes. After some time training with Black Cat and Captain America, Peter decides he is ready to get back out there and be a superhero again, and his timing could not have been more optimal. At that moment, the new incarnation of the Green Goblin, a villain known as Queen Goblin, is attacking M.J. and Spider-Man doesn’t waste a moment to go save her.
Spider-Man’s fight with the Queen Goblin is as epic as his many previous battles with the Green Goblin with mid-air fighting and brutal blows given and received from both sides. The one aspect of their fight that stands out the most, however, has nothing to do with either of them, but a clear tribute to Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man. During the battle, Spider-Man and Queen Goblin fly through a billboard of Spider-Man, and the font used to spell out “Spider-Man” on the billboard is the same used for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga, a version of Spider-Man which was, of course, played by Tobey Maguire.
The reason there was a Spider-Man billboard at all within this world is because of what has become of Spider-Man as a hero, and as a product. The Beyond Corporation bought the rights to Spider-Man, making the in-world hero its legally owned intellectual property. With Peter Parker having been hospitalized for some time, his clone Ben Reilly took over as Beyond’s personal Spider-Man hero. As a way to advertise its own popular superhero, Beyond made a billboard showing off its product as a reminder to everyone that Beyond is the true reason Spider-Man is out there saving the day.
While it makes sense that Beyond would want to put its hero on full display, the font used to write “Spider-Man” on the billboard was a deliberate choice made by the creative team behind this issue. Marvel Comics pays tribute to Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man with an easter egg referencing his Spider-Man film franchise.
