Ever since the release of The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, Marvel fans have had one lingering criticism regarding Andrew Garfield's depiction of the titular character, but that criticism is wrong. The Amazing Spider-Man is the only Spider-Man reboot that didn't get a full trilogy despite the plan to introduce the Sinister Six due to The Amazing Spider-Man 2's poor box office performance and critical reception. Yet while The Amazing Spider-Man films have seen a reconsideration in contemporary culture, in part thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home's historic Multiverse narrative, criticism regarding Garfield's original Spider-Man performance has oddly remained.
Tobey Maguire was the first cinematic Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and he set an expectation for what the character should look and act like on screen. Like the comics, Maguire's Parker was a nerdy loner who was hopelessly in love with the popular MJ (Kirsten Dunst). He wore glasses and plain clothes, emphasizing that his sole passion was for science and study before becoming Spider-Man. In addition, when he wasn't the heroic Spider-Man, Maguire's Parker was quiet, reserved, and awkward. Audiences, then, expected this same Peter in the 2012 reboot and were critical when that wasn't the case.
The biggest criticism that Garfield faced from Marvel fans, despite renewed appetite for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, was that his portrayal of Peter Parker wasn't nerdy enough. In terms of his styling, he wore layers of hoodies and jackets and fairly new and fashionable sneakers, and he didn't start wearing glasses until he found a pair that used to belong to his father. TASM's Peter was also fairly outspoken, which sat in stark contrast to the meek and unsociable character in Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie. Yet, the most substantial evidence supporting the idea that Andrew's Peter was too cool was the inclusion of the character being able to skateboard, with these elements in The Amazing Spider-Man movies working together to dismantle Peter's iconic characterization as an ostracized genius.
In this criticism, though, there is a failure to look into the culture of 2012 at a time when geek culture arguably first became cool and popular. In this way, Garfield's version of Peter Parker reflects this perfectly, making his portrayal accurate for the time his Spider-Man films were released. In The Amazing Spider-Man, when Peter debates with Captain Stacy (Denis Leary), his outspokenness comes as a result of knowing he's the smartest in the room and asserting it, echoing the time when nerd culture was very assertive and inescapable in real life, with the word 'geek' being splashed across t-shirts everywhere. In this way, Garfield's Spider-Man was great, and the idea that Peter having a hobby outside of science automatically makes him a traitor to his intellect is therefore unreasonable. Even though he could skateboard, Peter was still bullied by Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka), ignored by most other students, and rather awkward in social situations. He stutters over his words and says the wrong things at the wrong time, perfectly capturing the aspect of Peter Parker's Marvel comics character who doesn't quite know how to engage with others.
Naturally, Garfield, Maguire, and Holland's versions of the iconic character have extensively been compared to one another over the years. While Holland is regarded as the best Peter and Spidey, each brought their own unique differences and personal touches to the character, making for wonderfully distinctive portrayals. Marvel fans' criticism of Garfield making Peter too cool, therefore, is incorrect and an insult to how well he, and The Amazing Spider-Man in general, rebooted the character for a new generation.