Andrew Garfield Crowns the Best Live-Action Spider-Man and Ranks Himself Last

Few debates in pop culture have lasted as long as the argument over who is the best live-action Spider-Man. Every few months, fans line up behind their favorite Peter Parker, and every few months, the argument starts over. This week, one of the three men at the center of the debate has weighed in himself.

Three actors have worn the suit on the big screen. Tobey Maguire led Sam Raimi’s trilogy from 2002 to 2007, and Andrew Garfield starred in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ in 2012 and its sequel in 2014. Tom Holland then joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe version in ‘Captain America: Civil War’, and he has now played the role more often than either of his predecessors.

Garfield was a guest on the Capital show while promoting his new film ‘Artificial’. The hosts asked him the question that every Spider-Man actor probably dreads, which was to rank Holland, Maguire and himself from best to worst. He answered almost immediately.

His order was Maguire first, Holland second and himself third. Garfield explained that Maguire has always been his number one because Maguire’s films were the ones he grew up with. While he was in drama school, he used to practice Maguire’s lines in front of a mirror.

He was generous about Holland too. Garfield called him the perfect fit for the role for his generation and described his work as incredible. By putting himself in last place, he handed the crown down the line with characteristic humility.

Andrew Garfield says he thinks Tobey Maguire is the best live-action Spider-Man actor of all time He ranked Tom Holland at 2nd and himself at 3rd (via @CapitalOfficial) https://t.co/Mty3Y9sbha

— CoveredGeekly (@CoveredGeekly) October 9, 2026

Fans of the trio will know Garfield’s loyalty to Maguire is no secret. In October 2024, while promoting ‘We Live in Time’, he named Maguire as his favorite on-screen Spider-Man after Florence Pugh was quizzed on the answer. He again explained that he used to practice being Maguire as a young actor, while adding that he loves what Holland has done.

He has praised Holland on other occasions too. At a New York screening of ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’, he said he loves Holland and has loved Spider-Man since he was three years old. At that same event, he was asked about the post-credits scene in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and speculated that the mysterious Spider-Man signal might belong to Maguire.

The three actors reunited in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ in 2021, in one of the most celebrated crossover moments in recent blockbuster history. Garfield has enjoyed a major reappraisal of his own films since then, which makes his modest answer more striking. Many fans would happily argue that he deserves a higher spot.

His answer also reflects how differently each actor shaped the character. Maguire’s version is considered by many the defining take on Peter Parker. Garfield brought a quippy, modern energy, while Holland’s version is tied closely to the larger MCU.

The interview was part of the press run for ‘Artificial’, directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Simon Rich. Garfield plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a drama about the real five-day crisis in November 2023, when the company’s board fired Altman and then reinstated him. The cast includes Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.

The film has had a bumpy road to the screen. Amazon MGM Studios originally developed it but dropped it, and Neon later acquired worldwide rights in late June. It held its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in early October and also screened at the London Film Festival, before opening in the US on December 25 as an awards-qualifying release.

Garfield’s fans will notice the contrast. After years of being asked about the red-and-blue suit, he is now playing a Silicon Valley figure in one of the year’s most talked-about films. For the moment, though, the Spider-Man question keeps following him.

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