Peter Parker (Spider-Man 1 & 2, No Way Home)

Peter Benjamin Parker, also known by his superhero alter ego Spider-Man, is a fictional character portrayed by Tobey Maguire that was based on the comic book character of the same name. He was adapted for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film in 2002, later appearing in two sequels, video games and a television series designed to be set within that continuity. He's the main protagonist of the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film series, who later reappeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as a side protagonist.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He was a very kind and brave hero, who is a good friend to Harry and Mary Jane in the 1st 2 films.
 * 2) Although not accurate to his comic counterpart, he is still faithful to the spirit of the character overall.
 * 3) He is incredibly handsome.
 * 4) Toby Maguire does a spot-on job playing as him in the 1st film, and still does a good job playing as him in the 2nd film, despite not being very accurate to the comic version. Because of this, his portrayal of Peter (as well as the more famous Bully Maguire) has sparked several memes on YouTube, Twitter, and several social media websites. Many fans also consider him to be the best incarnation of Spider-Man.
 * 5) He still cares about his family, especially his Uncle Ben, and when he found out it was partially because of him that he died, he regrets and left him heartbroken.
 * 6) He was actually with Uncle Ben this time during his final moments, which makes it much more heartbreaking.
 * 7) Following the advice his Uncle gave him before his death, "With great power, comes great responsibility", he decided to dedicate his life to becoming Spider-Man and defending his home from villains and protecting innocents.
 * 8) He was a good friend to Mary Jane and Harry in the first 2 films, as he sympathizes with them and shows concern for them whenever they are in tight spots, such as when he saves MJ whenever she's in danger, and when he's there for Harry after the loss of his father.
 * 9) He has some good moments in the 1st film:
 * 10) * The iconic moment where he and MJ kiss in the rain after saving her from a group of perverts while he is upside-down in the rain.
 * 11) * His final battle with Green Goblin was both awesome and emotional.
 * 12) He's able to give great advice, even as Spider-Man, such as when he convinced Mary Jane to climb down to safety so that she and the children can be saved.
 * 13) His heroic deeds impacted the town so much that they praise him for helping them. It even got to the point where the people at the bridge help Spider-Man slow down the Green Goblin so that he could save both Mary Jane and the children.
 * 14) He respected Norman's death by bringing him back to Harry, even if that means having Harry see Spider-Man as a villain.
 * 15) His chemistry with Mary Jane is decent in the first two films, and the kisses they shared were very heartwarming.
 * 16) His final swing in the first film is outstanding.
 * 17) He has awesome and memorable lines, such as:
 * 18) * "I had to beat an old lady with an stick to get these cranberries!"
 * 19) * "I missed the part where that's my problem."
 * 20) * "With great power, comes great responsibility."
 * 21) * "Pizza time!"
 * 22) * "I'm back!....My back!"
 * 23) * "The Avengers, that's great! What is that?"
 * 24) He's still decent for the most part in Spider-Man 2, having most of his charming qualities.
 * 25) Also in the 2nd film, he has an understandable struggle between being a superhero and a normal guy.
 * 26) The emotional, iconic moment of him throwing his Spider-Man suit into a trash can and walking away in the 2nd film was inspired by the one-issue comic, "Spider-Man No More!".
 * 27) He is sometimes shown to be heroic even without his Spider-Man suit, such as the scene in the second movie, where he saved a little girl in a burning building.
 * 28) The scene from the 2nd film where he tells his Aunt May the truth about Uncle Ben's death is heartbreaking.
 * 29) His fight with Doctor Octopus on top of a speeding train is action-packed and became an iconic moment in the 2nd film. It could very well be the very best fight sequence in any Spider-Man movie.
 * 30) He manages to convince Harry to let him go, even after his identity was exposed to him, saying that Mary Jane is in danger.
 * 31) He sets in a good way Harry's arc for "Spider-Man 3" when he discovers that Peter is Spider-Man and may have been responsible for his father's death.
 * 32) He reveals his identity to Doctor Octopus to convince him to redeem himself and stop his plan, while taking the risk of Mary Jane seeing his identity in the process.
 * 33) He can be forgiving of others, such as when he forgave Mary Jane near the end of the 2nd film after she apologized to him for her bad actions. He even allowed her to live with him, and proceeds to start a relationship with her, realizing his feelings for her.
 * 34) Not to mention, he's part of that incredibly fantastic and satisfying ending in the 2nd film, where he shares a kiss with Mary Jane right before he becomes Spider-Man outside of New York.
 * 35) The moment where he meets his alternate versions in No Way Home is emotional, pretty intense and well-done.
 * 36) Speaking of which, not only does he fully redeem himself in No Way Home after being flanderized in the 3rd film, he is arguably at his absolute best, since he teams up with his alternate counterparts to help cure the villains and save their universes, and him being in the movie is more than enough to make audiences happy.
 * 37) * Not only is he in the movie for a good part, but he also contributes to the story in a good way.
 * 38) * The interactions between him and the other 2 Spider-Men are a delight to watch as they have amazing chemistry. Every time these three share the screen is a blast as they share pretty amusing and emotional moments.
 * 39) ** There's this very wholesome moment when he encourages Andrew's Spidey to think he's amazing after the latter keeps downing himself. It's a scene that also feels self-aware, considering there were many who didn't like Andrew's Spider-Man saga.
 * 40) * This movie made all 3 of his adventures much better and acts as a continuity to the first 3 films by helping him and the other Spider-Men resolve their fears and traumas.
 * 41) ** He redeemed himself when he stopped Tom's Peter from killing an unmasked Green Goblin with the glider. He couldn't let him go through with it when he couldn't let the father of his best friend be killed again. Not only would it not make things better for either one of them, but it would've also lead to his best friend hating him and trying to kill him. Something that he came to regret in his movies.
 * 42) ** This movie wasn't just about curing the villain's and have them redeemed. It was also about redeeming him and the other Spider-Men, and compensating all their faults and failures from their own respective movies.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While he's still likable for the most part in the first 2 films, his personality is not very accurate to the comics:
 * 2) * As Spider-Man, he was changed from a cocky and energetic superhero who constantly makes funny quips to the bad guys to a generic and pretty bland superhero who barely has any personality. He spends the majority of his screen-time either being silent or just saying short lines that deliver no personality from him, and he hardly makes any quips to the bad guys. When he does (i.e., "Sit down, and let Mom and Dad talk!"), it sounds extremely phoned in.
 * 3) * A part of his backstory of what leads to Uncle Ben being murdered was changed from him letting a crook go out of selfishness and indifference that was caused by letting his fame as a wrestler go to his head, to getting petty revenge on a greedy wrestling manager who scammed him out of 3,000 dollars. This makes his way of learning to take responsibility come off as less impacting, and it denies a moral about what happens when a person lets their selfishness get the best of them.
 * 4) * His personality portrayal of being so socially awkward (which is still a problem in the 3rd film) makes him come off as a meek and wimpy dork who lets people push him around even after his years of crime-fighting, while in the comics, he became more self-confident and less awkward after all those years of crime-fighting and doesn't let anyone push him around. Not to mention, he fails to capture the character development of him growing out of being an awkward teen, and during the 2nd film, he loses his jobs of delivering pizza and taking pictures for the Daily Bugle.
 * 5) * He doesn't have his genius-level intellect. This is one of the character's most interesting character qualities, and it was featured in the comics of how he created his web-shooters, while in this movie it is just organic web-shooters that come out of his wrist.
 * 6) Some of his action scenes from the 1st film look very bad. For example, the fight between him and the Green Goblin at the World Unity Fair looks like it was taken directly from Jingle All the Way.
 * 7) While he is mostly well-written in the first film, some of it hasn’t aged well, such as the scene where he asks "That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?" to Bonesaw McGraw, which could be considered homophobic.
 * 8) Sometimes during the 2nd film, Tobey Maguire playing as him can be really cheesy.
 * 9) He was horribly flanderized in the 3rd film and became extremely out-of-character (despite still being likable), where he became an insensitive jerk even before getting affected by the symbiote, and goes behind MJ's back and kisses Gwen Stacy on-stage (using the same upside-down kiss method he had done with MJ for bonus points). Thankfully, he did redeem himself in No Way Home.

Trivia

 * Before Tobey got the role as Spider-Man, his best friend and fellow actor Leonardo DiCaprio almost got the role in James Cameron's version of the Spider-Man movie.

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