Raimi's Spider-Man Initially Considered Heath Ledger & Other Actors

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Before Tobey Maguire was cast as the first cinematic Spider-Man, Sony had other actors in mind for Sam Raimi's franchise. While the superhero genre has exploded on the big and small screens, the early 2000s were limited when it came to comic book characters imagined in live-action. Before the MCU even existed, one of the biggest Marvel Comics heroes had already made its way to the big screen in Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi, 2002's first Spider-Man installment saw Maguire's Peter Parker become the beloved web-slinger. With Spider-Man being a commercial and critical success, it led to a mostly beloved trilogy, despite the mixed reviews that Spider-Man 3 received.

In many ways, Raimi's Spider-Man franchise helped the comic book genre evolve to where it is today, as other studios saw the potential in those IPs. Maguire is one of few actors to have ever played the friendly neighborhood over the last two decades. While a Spider-Man 4 was initially planned to happen, Sony ended up rebooting the series with Marc Webb as the director for The Amazing Spider-Man series. This time, Andrew Garfield donned the iconic suit in a more grounded take on the Marvel icon. Tom Holland later took on the role in MCU and Sony's co-shared Spider-Man trilogy, with the last film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, uniting him with Garfield and Maguire.

RELATED: MCU Wanted A Tobey Maguire Spider-Man Cameo 13 Years Before No Way Home

While Maguire became one of the three iconic stars to portray Spider-Man, Sony had other names in mind before Raimi's first film. In a new Variety interview, Raimi and others involved with the first Spider-Man series did a retrospective focus on the web-slinger's 2002 film. While not all of them entered