Tobey Maguire is best remembered for playing Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, but what has he done since Spider-Man 3 was released? The superhero genre has served as a boost to the careers of many actors, and this was no exception for Tobey Maguire, who got to play the first big-screen version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the early 2000s. Maguire wasn’t a newcomer when he got the role of the web-slinger, but it certainly gave his career a much-needed push.
Tobey Maguire’s acting career began in 1989 with a minor role in the movie The Wizard and the TV movie Rodney Dangerfield: Opening Night at Rodney’s Place. After more small roles in movies like Revenge of the Red Baron, S.F.W., and Healer, Maguire went through some personal issues that led him to change his career path in order to obtain different and bigger roles, starting with Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, where he played Paul Hood. After that, Maguire got lead roles in movies like Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules, Wonder Boys, and Ride with the Devil. His big break came in 2002 when he was cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, the first entry in what would become a trilogy.
Maguire’s performance as Peter Parker was well-received by critics and viewers, and to this day, fans of Spider-Man fondly remember his time as the wall-crawler. Between Spider-Man movies, Maguire took part in other projects and starred in the drama movies Seabiscuit and The Good German. Although playing Peter Parker made him a widely-known name, Maguire’s post-Spider-Man career slowed down and he hasn’t taken part in many big productions since. His very first role after leaving the Spider-Man suit behind was Capt. Sam Cahill in the psychological drama Brothers, though before that, he had a cameo appearance as himself in Tropic Thunder.
Maguire’s next lead role was in the independent black comedy The Details, and he later returned to bigger, more commercial projects with The Great Gatsby (playing Nick Carraway), Labor Day (as the adult version of Gattlin Griffith’s Henry Wheeler), Pawn Sacrifice (as chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer), and The Boss Baby, where he voiced the narrator/adult Tim Templeton. On TV, he starred in and produced the miniseries The Spoils of Babylon, and will star in the upcoming drama Extrapolations, to be released on Apple TV+. Maguire’s on-screen work has decreased, but he has been quite active behind cameras, serving as a producer in various movies from different genres, most notably Rock of Ages, The 5th Wave, The Violent Heart, Nobody, and the upcoming period drama Babylon, where he’s also set to appear in a supporting role.
There are a couple of very different reasons why Tobey Maguire has stayed away from major productions following his time as Spider-Man, starting with reports about his on-set behavior, with various co-stars sharing that he isn’t exactly the easiest person to work with. Maguire is also quite reserved, which inevitably clashed with the big exposure he got when he played Peter Parker, leading his popularity to decrease with time. Last but not least, his time as Spider-Man ended on a not-so-high note with Spider-Man 3, and its underperformance led to the cancellation of a fourth movie and a reboot with a new director and actor, and that surely was hard to overcome. At the time of writing, Tobey Maguire has two projects lined up for the near future – that, of course, without counting his rumored appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home – and he will most likely continue working behind cameras more often than in front of them.