Peter Parker (Spider-Man): Who He Is and Who Plays Him

Peter Parker is the real name of Spider-Man, a teenager from Queens, New York, who gains a spider's strength, agility and senses after a bite. In Spider-Man (2002), directed by Sam Raimi, he is a shy high school student who lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May and has a crush on his neighbor Mary Jane Watson. A genetically engineered spider bites him on a school trip to a science lab, and he soon finds he can shoot webbing from his wrists. Peter is the name he was born with, while Spider-Man is the identity he builds after a carjacker he chose not to stop kills his uncle. Guilt turns a boy who first wanted to cash in on his powers into a hero who protects others.

Who plays Peter Parker? Four screen eras answer that question differently. Tobey Maguire plays him in Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. Andrew Garfield plays him in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), directed by Marc Webb, and in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Tom Holland plays him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), directed by Jon Watts, then Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In those films he shares the screen with Marvel characters such as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Nick Fury and Doctor Strange. Maguire and Garfield also return in No Way Home as Peter Parker / Spider-Man from other universes. In animation, Chris Pine voices Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The credits use several forms of the name, so it helps to know them. Maguire and Garfield are credited as Spider-Man / Peter Parker in their own films, Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, and Pine as Peter Parker (voice). In No Way Home, Maguire and Garfield are both credited as Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Max Charles plays the character as a boy in the Webb films, credited as Peter Parker (Age 4) in the first film and Young Peter Parker in the second.

How old is Peter Parker? Peter is a teenager in his first appearance and no film gives one fixed age, because the films show him at different stages. He is a high school student in the 2002 film, a university student with late classes in Spider-Man 2, a graduating senior in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and a college applicant in No Way Home. Do not confuse him with Peter B. Parker, a separate credited character: the older, worn out version voiced by Jake Johnson in Into the Spider-Verse, who is pulled in from another dimension and trains Miles Morales.

Peter Parker's story arc runs through four screen eras (Raimi, Webb, Holland and Into the Spider-Verse), and in each one his powers cost him someone close.

In the Raimi films, Peter lets a thief walk away and that thief kills Uncle Ben, so he builds a costume and starts fighting crime. He beats the Green Goblin after the Queensboro Bridge rescue, and Norman Osborn is killed by his own glider. Peter then turns Mary Jane away to keep her safe. Spider-Man 2 shows the toll: he is behind on rent, keeps losing his pizza delivery job and is late for university classes. His powers fail and he gives up the costume, but a burning building he cannot ignore brings him back. He then fights Doctor Octopus (Doc Ock) across a speeding elevated train, and the passengers carry him to safety. In Spider-Man 3 an alien symbiote makes him arrogant and cruel until a church bell tears it off, and the film retcons Uncle Ben's killer by naming Flint Marko as the real culprit, whom Peter finally forgives.

The Webb films begin with Peter's scientist parents vanishing and a briefcase of his father's papers that leads him to Oscorp and Dr. Curt Connors. After the same thief kills Uncle Ben, Peter promises the dying Captain Stacy to keep away from Gwen. In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Richard Parker's recorded message explains why he left Oscorp, and Gwen falls to her death from a clock tower. Peter then stops being Spider-Man for months, until a video of Gwen's graduation speech sends him back out to face the Rhino.

The Tom Holland era, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starts with Tony Stark telling Peter in Homecoming that he is not ready to be a full time Avenger. Peter quits his school academic team to patrol, loses his suit after the Staten Island Ferry disaster, and wins the day in his old homemade one. Far From Home finds him grieving Stark, handing Stark's glasses to the fraudulent Quentin Beck, and ending with his identity exposed by a doctored video. In No Way Home he asks Doctor Strange to make the world forget him, May is fatally wounded by the Green Goblin, and the finished spell erases him from everyone's memory. Brand New Day opens four years later, with Peter alone, his powers changing and Jean Grey's telepathy drawing him into a fight around the Department of Damage Control.

In Into the Spider-Verse, Chris Pine's Peter Parker is the Spider-Man of Miles Morales's universe, and Kingpin kills him after he hands Miles a flash drive that can shut down the collider.

Peter Parker is with Mary Jane Watson in the Raimi films, Gwen Stacy in the Webb films and Michelle Jones (MJ) in the Tom Holland films.

Peter Parker is with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) in the Raimi films, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) in the Webb films and Michelle 'MJ' Jones (Zendaya) in the Tom Holland films. Mary Jane and Peter reconcile and dance together after Harry Osborn's funeral at the end of Spider-Man 3. Gwen's story with Peter is bound up in the promise he makes to her father. Michelle Jones is credited as MJ from Far From Home onward, and she and Peter begin a relationship at the end of that film. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a different Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, whom Peter flirts with to hurt Mary Jane. Hailee Steinfeld voices Gwen in the Spider-Verse films, where she is a Spider hero of her own and a friend to Miles.

Peter's closest relationships are with the family who raised him, the friends who learn his secret and the love interests, who change by universe. Family comes first in every era. Cliff Robertson and Martin Sheen play Ben Parker (Uncle Ben), whose death starts both the Raimi and Webb hero stories. May Parker (Aunt May) is played by Rosemary Harris, Sally Field and Marisa Tomei in the three live action eras, and Lily Tomlin voices her in Into the Spider-Verse.

Harry Osborn is Peter's oldest friend and his sharpest wound. James Franco's Harry blames Spider-Man for Norman Osborn's death and swears revenge, while Dane DeHaan's Harry returns to New York to be with his dying father. Norman himself, played by Willem Dafoe, is the Green Goblin who hunts Spider-Man, and Peter hides the evidence of how Norman died. Otto Octavius, played by Alfred Molina, begins as a scientist Peter admires before the fusion experiment fails.

Peter's school circle also shifts. Joe Manganiello, Chris Zylka and Tony Revolori play Flash Thompson in the three live action eras. Jacob Batalon's Ned Leeds learns Peter's secret in Homecoming and stays at his side, and the two share their old handshake again at the end of Brand New Day.

Peter Parker's fate depends on the universe, because only one version of him dies on screen and the others survive with heavy losses.

In the Raimi films he survives all three movies and ends Spider-Man 3 back with Mary Jane after Harry gives his life to save him. Andrew Garfield's Peter survives too, though The Amazing Spider-Man 2 leaves him grieving Gwen and withdrawing from the world before he puts the suit back on to face the Rhino. Garfield's and Maguire's versions both come back in No Way Home to help Holland's Peter cure the villains at the Statue of Liberty.

Why is Peter Parker not Spider-Man anymore? Peter Parker never permanently stops being Spider-Man in a live action film; he only steps away in Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In No Way Home he loses a normal life instead, because the spell makes everyone forget him, including MJ and Ned. He chooses not to approach them, visits May's grave and starts again as a solo hero in a new suit.

In Brand New Day, Holland's Peter is critically wounded when Frank Castle accidentally fires at Jean Grey. Peter shields her and survives because she drops her psionic field and keeps him alive from a distance. The film ends with Peter deciding he does not have to carry everything alone.

The one on screen death belongs to Chris Pine's Peter Parker in Into the Spider-Verse, which is why Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of that city.

In my opinion, the best Peter Parker moments are the ones where the film makes him pay for being a hero, and four of them stand out.

First, the elevated train fight in Spider-Man 2 is the best set piece of the Raimi era. It works because Peter nearly dies stopping the train, and the passengers carry him to safety, so the film shows New York repaying him. Spider-Man 3 never matches that emotional exchange.

Second, the rubble scene in Homecoming. Buried under the wreckage of Toomes's hideout, Peter is wearing his old homemade suit with no Stark technology to save him. It is the moment Tom Holland's Peter proves he earned the job, and it explains why declining the Avengers offer feels right.

Third, Peter's return in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is quieter than most. Gwen's recorded graduation speech pulls him back into the suit, and Andrew Garfield plays the scene with real grief, which is why I rate his version higher than its reputation suggests.

Fourth, the memory of May in Brand New Day. Peter reaches Jean through a shared memory of May rather than through a fight, which is the right ending for a hero whose whole story began with an aunt and uncle teaching him about responsibility. No Way Home remains the film that tests him hardest, since he loses May and then loses everyone else to a spell he asked for.