It may have lost Game of the Year to God of War, but anyone still playing the PS4 exclusive Spider-man just got a reason to be cheerful. Insomniac have added a new costume to the game as free DLC. What’s the big deal? Well it happens to be from one of the greatest versions of the character to hit the big screen in the last few years. Definitely in the top 3. Tobey Maguire’s iconic version of the suit from the 2002 film.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-man trilogy has suffered its fair share of criticism since its release. Partly this is deserved. Spider-man 3 is a definite example of how a good series can take a quick turn for the worse (see also: X3). It was not without redeeming features though, and managed to get the most out of its villains (well, except Venom). Mostly though the series has been overshadowed. Spider-man: Homecoming was fantastic, with Tom Holland’s still-teenage Spider-man immediately becoming a firm favourite. The comparison extends beyond comparing Spider-men, though, as the superhero movies lack the polish (and, crucially, the cross-overs) that have redefined just what a superhero movie is. Not to mention there was an entire Spider-man inbetween Tobey and Tom. So why the sudden love for Maguire?
Its tempting to immediately put this down to Spider-fans of a certain age. I definitely remember enjoying the original trilogy a lot more than the subsequent films, and have a great deal of nostalgia for them. Equally, the Maguire era saw the birth of good Spider-man games, establishing a formula with Spider-man 2 on the PS2 and Gamecube that really hasn’t changed all that much. This is a whole other level of nostalgia; when I’m swinging around as a videogame Spider-man you can bet I’m thinking back to Spider-man 2 and I’d bet I’m not the only one. The pizza delivering song from that game alone still lives in infamy.
Perhaps most importantly the release of Spider-man: Enter the Spiderverse has made this the ideal cultural moment to reflect on all the Spider-men out there and ask what they’re doing now. Produced by Sony animation, the film is bound to make sub-sections of its audience think back to the Raimi trilogy. Overt references early in the film could definitely give you the impression this is Maguire’s Spider-man returned – such as the infamous finger-guns scene from Spider-man 3 along with a curt ‘we don’t talk about that’. Not to mention the entire plot-line of an older, weather-worn Spider-man brings Maguire to mind – its no surprise Tobey Maguire was apparently considered in casting.
