Before Tobey Maguire was cast as the first cinematic Spider-Man, Sony had other actors in mind for Sam Raimi's franchise. While the superhero genre has exploded on the big and small screens, the early 2000s were limited when it came to comic book characters imagined in live-action. Before the MCU even existed, one of the biggest Marvel Comics heroes had already made its way to the big screen in Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi, 2002's first Spider-Man installment saw Maguire's Peter Parker become the beloved web-slinger. With Spider-Man being a commercial and critical success, it led to a mostly beloved trilogy, despite the mixed reviews that Spider-Man 3 received.
In many ways, Raimi's Spider-Man franchise helped the comic book genre evolve to where it is today, as other studios saw the potential in those IPs. Maguire is one of few actors to have ever played the friendly neighborhood over the last two decades. While a Spider-Man 4 was initially planned to happen, Sony ended up rebooting the series with Marc Webb as the director for The Amazing Spider-Man series. This time, Andrew Garfield donned the iconic suit in a more grounded take on the Marvel icon. Tom Holland later took on the role in MCU and Sony's co-shared Spider-Man trilogy, with the last film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, uniting him with Garfield and Maguire.
While Maguire became one of the three iconic stars to portray Spider-Man, Sony had other names in mind before Raimi's first film. In a new Variety interview, Raimi and others involved with the first Spider-Man series did a retrospective focus on the web-slinger's 2002 film. While not all of them entered official discussions, actors like Heath Ledger, Ewan McGregor, Wes Bentley, Chris Klein, Scott Speedman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, and Freddie Prinze Jr. were all floated as candidates for the titular role. Sony producer Amy Pascal mentioned that Ledger was someone the studio talked at length with for Peter, as she had worked with him on previous projects.
Even though Ledger wasn't cast as Spider-Man, the late Australian actor did go on to portray an iconic comic book character. In 2008, Ledger took on The Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Not only did his take on the Clown Prince of Crime become universally beloved, but Ledger also won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor posthumously. McGregor, who is primarily known for his Star Wars fame, also joined the DCEU over a decade later as Black Mask in Birds of Prey. For his part, Law did got his own Marvel adventure later in his career as he became part of the MCU through Captain Marvel.
Following Maguire's Spider-Man return in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Raimi is set to have his own MCU chapter as he directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Many have speculated that Maguire's web-slinger has a cameo of some kind in Raimi's multiverse-centric film, which only time will tell at this point. Even if he doesn't appear in Doctor Strange 2, Maguire more than cemented his place in live-action comic book history when he took on Peter Parker 20 years ago. While many other talented starts were considered for the part, the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home serves as a reminder of how iconic Maguire's Spider-Man ultimately turned out to be.
Source: Variety
