How old was Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 1 (2002)?
Introduction
Tobey Maguire has had a career spanning almost three decades.
The actor, movie producer, and production company owner has been in the acting game for a really long time.
Tobias Vincent Maguire was born on June 27, 1975, and was working in commercials—and as a child model—by the time he was six years old.
He appeared in some television shows early on and opted to drop out of high school and pursue acting instead.
His film career started out with a supporting role in the 1993 drama, This Boy’s Life—starring alongside a young Leonardo DiCaprio, and movie greats Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.
What movies has Maguire been in?
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Then came roles in Deconstructing Harry and The Ice Storm when he was 12 years old, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Torro when he was 13.
When he was just 14 years old, Tobey Maguire scored his first leading role in 1998’s Pleasantville, with Jeff Daniels and Reese Witherspoon.
There were also big parts in The Cider House Rules and Seabiscuit—both of which earned Tobey a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
Brothers—a film Maguire starred in 2009—earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination, too.
By 2012, Maguire was well and truly one of the biggest celebrities on the planet.
He founded his production company, Material Pictures, that year, and was credited as a co-producer for Good People and Pawn Sacrifice.
Arguably, Tobey Maguire’s biggest role so far has been as the webbed sensation of the Marvel universe, Spider-Man.
Tobey apprised the role of Peter Parker from 2002 until 2007, and again in 2021.
But how old was Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 1?
Let’s find out.
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How old was Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 1?
When Spider-Man celebrated its premiere at the Mann Village Theater in April of 2002, Tobey Maguire was 26 years old—and two months away from turning 27. Peter Parker—the character Tobey played—was 17 years old.
The 2002 reboot of the Marvel superhero classic was directed by Sam Raimi—who produced television’s Hercules and Xena, and Doctor Strange.
Spider-Man, which is often referred to as Spider-Man 1, was the first of Raimi’s three Spider-Man hit movies.
It starred several big blockbuster names—like Willem Dafoe, James Franco, and Kirsten Dunst—and it served as the origin story for earlier Spider-Man movies.
In that first movie, we see social outcast and awkward teen Peter Parker get bitten by the genetically-mutated spider and navigate his newfound superpowers.
We also see him develop his identity as Spider-Man, and his battles with the Green Goblin—played by Willem Dafoe.
In its first weekend, Spider-Man raked in $100 million across US cinemas, and became the most successful film based on a comic in history.
It would go on to reach $825 million internationally, and become the highest-grossing superhero film up until that point.
(Fun fact: It had dropped to #24 by 2022. In first place is—you guessed it—2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which has grossed $2.797 billion)
Raimi guided the franchise through its trilogy, following Spider-Man up with Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007.
Both were blockbuster successes for the franchise, and the trilogy has been credited with revitalizing the superhero movie genre.
The age gap between Peter Parker’s age and Maguire’s closed somewhat over the next two films of the trilogy.
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Spider-Man 2 put Peter Parker at around 20 years old, and Maguire turned 28 that year.
When filming for Spider-Man 3 wrapped in July of 2006, Maguire had just turned 31—Peter Parker was estimated to be between 22 and 24 in the Marvel timeline.
How old were the stars of Spider-Man?
Tobey Maguire wasn’t the only actor playing a considerably younger character in the hit 2002 movie.
James Franco was 23 years old when he portrayed 17-year-old Harry Osborn in the film.
Kirsten Dunst played 17-year-old Mary Jane—Peter Parker’s love interest throughout the comic books and movies—when she was 19.
Raimi received some heat at the time over his decision to hire Maguire and Franco—two guys in their 20s—to play teenaged characters.
Over the years, though, it has been notoriously difficult to find a 17-year-old to play the part on the big screen.
Here’s how old some of the other Spider-Men have been when they took on the role.
Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man
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Andrew Garfield took up the role of 17-year-old Peter Parker in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man when he was 27 years old—slightly older than Tobey Maguire at the release of Spider-Man.
When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 began filming, Peter Parker had just turned 18 and was graduating from high school.
Andrew Garfield, on the other hand, celebrated his 30th birthday partway through filming.
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Tom Holland as Spider-Man
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Tom Holland was slightly closer to his character’s age when he was cast in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016.
Peter Parker is 15 years old in the film, and Tom Holland was 20—officially making him the youngest actor to step into the Marvel character’s shoes in a live-action movie.
After Holland’s initial foray into the role, the age gap got a little wider.
When Spider-Man: Far From Home was filmed in 2018, Parker was 16–and Holland was 22 years old.
By the time Spider-Man: No Way Home finished filming in March of 2021, Holland was 24. Peter Parker was still 16.
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I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.