Spider-Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

So the new Spider-Man is up and coming in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will appear for the first time in "Captain America: Civil War", however, this will be the hero's third time on the silver screen and his third re-cast in Tom Holland after Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

I wanted to talk about why this third iteration needed to happen, and why there is now a third chance for a new Spider-Man lore to be restarted on the big screen.  To do this, we'll evaluate Spider-Man throughout Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's time as the web-crawler, and pose the question...why so many Spider-Men?  It should be noted as well that these are all different Spider-Men (Maguire - Original, Garfield - Amazing, and Holland - Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Tobey Maguire

The first iteration of Spidey was introduced in 2002 by Sam Raimi and his actor of choice, Tobey Maguire.  Although Raimi's casting of Peter Parker was on point, the acting in this nerd turned hero flick felt a little off.  As it was the first time we saw Spider-Man in a film setting, and as much of the audience was a bit younger, it didn't feel much so at first.  In fact, at the time of it's release, Spider-Man was an innovation and considered a good superhero film and one that has been credited for the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe before it was even a thing.

Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man from "Spider-Man"

Spider-Man 2 was then released in 2004 and did even better than the original, and grew the web-slinger's ever growing fanbase.  All was going well for Maguire, however, the criticism started to flood in.  Maguire was criticized for mumbling when he talked on camera and also for his horrible facial expressions.  This, coupled with the unsuccessful run of Spider-Man 3, lead a lot of investors and studios wary of Maguire's Spider-Man having any future in the Cinematic Universe.  Spider-Man 3 spelled the end for Maguire's Spider-Man due to its poor performance, but demand would soon rise from the geek culture for a new Spider-Man.  One who would do justice for the franchise.  After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

Andrew Garfield

The second iteration of the human spider hit theaters in 2012 with high expectations.  With the new Amazing Spider-Man on the scene, everyone was excited that Spider-Man would have a cinematic run that would live up to his name in the comics.  However, that wasn't the case.  Through no fault of Andrew Garfield, the The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 were doomed from the start.  For the second time in Spider-Man history, the wrong actor was chosen to play the hero.

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man from "The Amazing Spider-Man"

Tobey Maguire played an excellent Peter Parker, but his Spider-Man acting felt weird, and Andrew Garfield was quite the reverse.  Garfield wasn't meant to play a nerd, and as a result, wasn't meant to play Peter Parker.  This put many of the comic fans off, and the movie suffered because of it.  Another aspect of the Amazing Spider-Man films was the poor directing.  The first one not so much, but in similar fashion to the original Spider-Man run, the final film in the series was the final nail in the coffin.  That, coupled with the fact that Garfield badmouthed Fox (with good reason) and was fired as a result.

There seems to be a curse with the Spider-Man franchise that the last film in a franchise is an atrocity, and curses the series to mediocrity.  With Andrew Garfield out of the picture, and Captain America: Civil War coming up (one of the most cared about and beloved arcs in recent Marvel history.) the fate of the wall-crawler was in question, as he had arguably the most important role in the Marvel Civil War.

Tom Holland

Enter Tom Holland, who is not only the youngest Spider-Man, but also the youngest Avenger as well.  There are many concerns that arise from Tom Holland's casting as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the most prominent is his age.  He is very young and very inexperienced for us to be putting our faith in him.

Tom Holland and his Spider-Man outfit

If you take a look at his co-stars, a lot of them surpass in him age by almost double, and all of them have been in previous blockbuster films and have experience in that area.  On the other side of that coin, there must be an insane amount of pressure for Tom Holland, as he is coming in with a cast that is insanely tight-nit, and know what they're doing, and he wants to show that he is capable of acting with the best of them.  This may prove to be an asset and improve Tom Holland's performance.

It is also worth noting that if we are being superstitious about this, then we have something to worry about.  Tobey Maguire started to flop at the third film in his series and Garfield began to flop at his second film.  Going down the line, it spells disaster for Civil War, as it is Tom Holland's first film.  Putting superstitions aside, however, it is truly his inexperience that worries me in this regard.  Hopefully, Holland can band together with the other members of the Avengers in Civil War and put on a good show for the people who want a good Spider-Man franchise to finally hit the market.

Let me know what you guys think about Tom Holland and your excitement for Captain America: Civil War!