From Tobey Maguire to Tom Holland: How Spider-Man changed in the movies

Over two decades, Spider-Man has changed his face several times, restarted his own story and managed to become part of the large-scale Marvel cinematic universe. From Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to Tom Holland, every Peter Parker on—screen had his own story, his opponents, and his own universe. Now the hero's story has received another sequel: the world premiere of "Spider-Man: A New Day" took place on July 31, and Russian cinemas will show the film on August 20 as part of the pre-screening service. We recall the Spider-Man films in chronological order of release and understand how the hero changed from the first trilogy to the new chapter, in the Izvestia material.

A big story begins with great power.

The first modern feature film about Peter Parker was Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, released in 2002. The main role was played by Tobey Maguire. His character is an ordinary teenager who gets superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. After the death of Uncle Ben, Peter decides to use new opportunities to fight crime. His main opponent is the Green Goblin, played by Willem Dafoe.

In 2004's Spider-Man 2, Peter tries to combine ordinary life with the responsibilities of a superhero. He faces challenges in his studies, work, and relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), while simultaneously confronting scientist Otto Octavius. After a failed experiment, he turns into Dr. Octopus and becomes one of Parker's most dangerous opponents.

The third part, Spider—Man 3, was released in 2007 and completed the Raimi trilogy. Peter faces several enemies at once: the Sandman, Venom, and the New Goblin. At the same time, the hero is influenced by an alien symbiote, which changes his behavior and turns Spider-Man's costume into black.

Crisis of Heroism: Peter Parker is Looking for Himself in Spider-Man: A New Day

Marvel returns with a story about friendship, loneliness, and the search for identity.

A new Peter and a story that is not destined to end

After the completion of the trilogy, Sony relaunched the franchise. In 2012's The New Spider-Man, Peter Parker was played by Andrew Garfield and directed by Mark Webb. The new version of the story begins again with Peter's transformation into a superhero, but at the same time pays more attention to his parents and the circumstances of their disappearance. Gwen Stacy appears in Parker's life, played by Emma Stone, and Dr. Kurt Connors, who has turned into a Lizard, becomes the main opponent.

In "The New Spider-Man: High Voltage" in 2014, Peter encounters Max Dillon, who turns into Electro after an accident. Harry Osborn also appears in the story. Peter and Gwen's relationship is going through serious trials, and the hero himself finds himself faced with the need to both protect New York and try to save loved ones.

After this picture, a separate series with Andrew Garfield was discontinued, and Sony and Marvel Studios agreed on a new version of the hero's story. However, Garfield returned to the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man years later.: There is no way home."

Spider-Man enters the Marvel cinematic universe

The next relaunch was 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tom Holland first appeared as Peter Parker in The First Avenger: Standoff, and then got his own movie. His Peter is a schoolboy who is trying to combine his studies with the life of a superhero. In the new version of the story, Tony Stark plays an important role, and the Vulture becomes the main opponent of the hero. Parker's love interest of this generation is M.J., played by Zendaya.

In Spider-Man: Far from Home 2019, Peter goes on a trip to Europe with his classmates after the events of Avengers: Endgame. He expects to leave his superhero duties for a while, but Nick Fury enlists him to investigate the attacks of mysterious elemental creatures. Peter is helped by Mysterio in the fight against the threat, but it soon becomes clear that his intentions are not what they seem.

The third part, "Spider—Man: No Way Home", was released in 2021 and became one of the largest parts of the hero's story. After Peter's identity becomes known to the whole world, he turns to Dr. Strange with a request to make people forget about it. The spell gets out of control, and characters from other universes begin to enter Peter's world.

As a result, Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, meets with two previous versions of the hero — Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Together, they confront the villains familiar to the audience from previous films. Thus, "No Way Home" combined the three main versions of Spider-Man on one screen.

Marvel Studio showed the first trailer of the movie "The Avengers: Judgment Day"

What happened in other universes

In parallel with the feature films, Sony developed the Miles Morales animated story. In Spider-Man: Across the Universes (2018), Miles Morales, a teenager from Brooklyn, becomes the main character. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, he gains superpowers and discovers the world of Spider-Verse, where Spider-Man can be not one hero, but several characters from different universes at once.

A sequel, Spider—Man: Web of Universes, was released in 2023. Miles's story continues, and the concept of the multiverse becomes even bigger: the hero meets many alternative versions of Spider-Man and finds himself embroiled in a conflict that affects different universes.

In addition, Sony has created a separate universe of characters related to the mythology of Spider-Man. It includes films about Venom, Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. These paintings tell the stories of other characters related to Marvel comics, and are not a continuation of the Peter Parker main storyline played by Tom Holland.

Spider-Man: A New Day: A New Life after the Multiverse

The next chapter of Holland's story was Spider-Man: A New Day. The world premiere took place on July 31 of this year, in Russia the screening takes place as part of the pre-screening service from August 20. The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and Holland reprised the role of Peter Parker.

The film takes place four years after "No Way Home." After the finale of the previous picture, Peter's surroundings forgot his real identity, and the hero remains practically alone. Now he is completely focused on fighting crime, trying to get used to a life in which he no longer has the support of his friends and family.

In the new part, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon appear together with Holland. Sadie Sink and Jon Bernthal are also featured in the film. The picture becomes the next independent chapter of Peter's story after the events that connected different versions of Spider-Man in the same multiverse.

In 24 years, Spider-Man has gone through three different versions of Peter Parker, several reboots, and a massive parallel universe story. From the Raimi trilogy to the Marvel cinematic universe, the hero has changed each time with the era, but his main story has remained the same: Peter Parker learns to live with the power that makes him both a superhero and an ordinary person.

On July 27, Medialogia presented the Russian Series rating for June and the first half of 2026. The series "Stranger Things" became the leader in the first six months — the project scored 19,601 points. The top 5 projects also included "Magic Battle" (10,839 points), "Lilies of the Valley" (10,486 points), "Boys" (10,024 points) and "First Division" (8,917 points). In addition, the series "Boys" became the leader by the end of June — the story scored 1971 points. The second place went to the Russian detective series "Sled" (1834 points), and the third place went to "Euphoria" (1328 points).