Tom Holland Is the Best Spider-Man

The best way I used to put this was; Toby Maguire was a good Peter Parker, but not a good Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield was a decent Spider-Man but an awful Peter Parker. Of course, Tom Holland is an incredible Spider-Man and adorable Peter Parker. Upon further analysis, Toby McGuire is barely passable as Peter Parker and a just awful Spider-Man.

Though the origin of Toby’s Spider-Man was on par with the comics, as far as being bitten by a radioactive spider on a school field trip, however, in the first version of cinema’s Spider-Man, they neglected Peter’s intelligence level. He was geeky and smart, sure, but nowhere near the genius level IQ that Peter has. In regards to his Spider-Man, he shoots his webs directly from his wrist... highly inaccurate. Peter always created his webbing, and they were shot from mechanics that he built himself but Toby’s version of Spider-Man was nowhere near smart enough to do so. Toby also never possessed the wit, sarcasm, or quick humor that his alter ego always had in the comics.

Besides all of the inaccurate characterization, the writing of Maguire’s movies was poor and oversaturated with villains. The writers attempted (especially in the third movie) to force too many villains into storylines that didn’t make any sense (Sandman being Uncle Ben’s killer, really?) Sandman, New Goblin, and a horrible rendition of Venom all found their way into Maguire’s movies, the stories and characters didn’t flow together and had no structure or reason to the way that they were brought into the story. Shoving that many vastly different storylines into a single movie (or even two) leaves no time for any of these characters to be fleshed out and given their due diligence.

As for Andrew Garfield, who was admittedly a much better Spider-Man, was not a convincing Peter Parker. The actor himself admitted that he was never a convincing enough Spider-Man. He said, “I couldn't make them as deep and soulful and… life-giving as I could ever dream.” Though he is a better Spider-Man than his predecessor, he still doesn't ring true to the comics. His quips and one-liners are much closer but the delivery comes of as smugger then light-hearted sarcasm. In addition, the writers seemed to neglect Peter’s intelligence yet again. Two Spideys in a row were not nearly as smart as their comic book counterparts. Garfield’s movies were also rushed, and poorly written. Shoving the Sinister Six (at least attempting to) into the second movie was out of place and hurried.

The obvious tie between Toby and Andrew’s Spider-Man is that they are grown men attempting to play teenagers, rather unconvincingly. Tom Holland was cast and there were memes and articles complaining about his youth. The character for a majority of the comic books run was in high school and the reality is that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the most age accurate.

In regards to Tom Holland, the comic book accuracies are abundant. Tom Holland’s was the first Spider-Man to handle Peter’s intelligence accurately. Not only does he attend a science-based high school, he is on the academic decathlon team, and he creates his own webbing to go with a suit he tailored himself in order to hone his enhanced senses. A suit that he carries around in a backpack, all things that support a more comic book accurate Spider-Man.

The writing in Holland’s movies is also far more thought out, the dialogue and characters are far more developed than the previous two series. One villain at a time is handled with forethought and research and also holds the ability to set up future movies opposed to shoving multiple storylines into a single movie, leaving no time for character development.

Holland’s Spiderman Homecoming also possesses the best comic book imagery of the three. Lifted directly from the Master Planner series in 1965 Peter Parker and Spider-Man truly come into their own when Spidey lifts the weight of the collapsed building off of his back, without the help of his Stark Tech suit. The image comes from the February issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (issue 33).

Tom Holland convincingly and perfectly portrays the awkward, geeky, shy Peter Parker as well and the witty, funny, still geeky but more confident Spider-Man. Tom is the perfect balance whereas the other two could barely handle one side of the coin. Tom will also have more longevity as Spider-Man as we are about to see his second solo movie and he has already been a part of two team movies. Glad to see that the best Spider-Man will also be the longest reigning.