Tom Vs. Tobey Vs. Andrew: Who Wins in a Fight of Spider-Men?
Spider-Man is one of the most recognizable superheroes ever created, not just for comics fans but also for the superhero genre in movies. We’ve already seen three different versions of Spidey on the big screen: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and the newest, Tom Holland. The question is: if the three Spider-Men ever fought, who would eventually win, and why?
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man would eventually beat Tobey and Andrew. It would be an extremely close fight, as they are virtually the same character, but when you break them down into categories, Tom comes out on top in most of them.
Even in the segments where Holland’s Spidey might not be the best, he’s still in the competition, or at least close to being the strongest. His technology is above and beyond the previous two Peter Parkers, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t stand a chance. Let’s dig deep and try to stay as objective as possible, even if it’s almost impossible with these three performances.
Web-Shooting
The three Spider-Men are virtually the same character, with the same abilities, making it hard to compare them. However, the writers and directors played with those abilities differently, so we can look into nuances to determine whose power is superior to the other two.
First, let’s talk about their web-shooters.
Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker is the only one between the three who doesn’t need artificial web-shooters. He produces spider web naturally, coming out of his wrists. It’s the only part of his body where the web is coming out – as we learn definitely in the last Spider-Man film.
He produces the web instinctively. It’s like breathing to him – you don’t think about it or do it purposely. You simply do it. He ran out of web just once when he had, as Tobey put it, an “existential crisis,” but generally, Maguire’s Parker can’t run out of web – just like a spider, his body keeps producing it.
On the other hand, Andrew Garfield had to create his web-shooters in a lab. First, he created the gadget, then the artificial web. The same goes for Tom Holland. Their version of Spidey depends on technology and their brains to create the web.
On the plus side, it allows both Andrew and Tom to enhance their webs as they see fit. For instance, Garfield made his webs electricity-resistant to counter Electro and his powers. Still, they frequently run out of web and constantly refill their web-shooters.
Because of that, Tobey Maguire’s Spidey takes this category.
| Tobey | Andrew | Tom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Spider-Sense
When it comes to their Spider-Sense, it becomes more complicated to determine whose ability is more powerful. All three Parkers displayed an incredible Spider-Sense at one point, but in the end, one of them was slightly less impressive.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Sense wasn’t his strongest attribute at the beginning. However, he purposefully learned how to trust his instincts and developed an excellent understanding and power to his Spider-Sense.
Mysterio threw everything he had at him, throwing illusions left and right, at times completely overwhelming reality. Holland’s Parker couldn’t deal with it, but when he realized that his Spider-Sense works almost like a reflex, he beat all the illusions and beat Mysterio on two occasions.
The last battle against Mysterio saw Holland without his web-shooters against an army of illusion-casting drones loaded with weaponry. Not only did he manage to depict what’s real and what’s not – he dodged every bullet and every drone, acrobatically using his Spider-Sense to defeat his foe. His “Peter tingle” is off the charts from that point forward.
Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Sense was also amazing, but what made it so impressive was his reaction time. The Spider-Sense allowed Garfield to seemingly view the world in slow motion – so slow that he could dodge electricity, which travels at the speed of light. It seems a bit far-fetched, but that’s what happened in the movie.
Finally, Tobey Maguire can sense imminent danger a few seconds before it comes and reacts almost instinctively. However, we haven’t seen it in action as impressive as Tom or Andrew. He jumped over the Goblin Glider and back-flipped from his motorcycle, but we haven’t seen something as impressive as dodging electroshocks or destroying illusions with his eyes closed.
Therefore, Tobey’s Spider-Sense is the weakest (or at least seems the weakest), so Tom and Andrew both get points.
| Tobey | Andrew | Tom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Fighting Skills
It’s clear that all three Spideys are incredible at fighting, using their agility, strength, and Spider-Sense to overpower their opponents. Still, the way they fight is a bit different.
Tobey’s Parker is a great martial artist. He fought enemies much stronger than him and displayed probably the highest amount of raw power in hand-to-hand combat. Also, he doesn’t rely on his web that much.
Andrew uses a lot of web-shooting in his fights. He aims to render opponents incapable of moving rather than actually beating them in a fight. That doesn’t mean he can’t fight – I mean, he beat the super-strong Rhino – but he usually uses his wits instead of his fighting skills.
Finally, Tom is probably the most acrobatic fighter out of all of them. He jumps, swings, backflips, and does tricks, but he doesn’t shy away from delivering a punch or receiving one.
He stopped a punch from the Winter Soldier with one arm, which is a testament to his strength and agility. Also, he knows how to fight as a team member, as he fought alongside the Avengers a couple of times. To add to it, his high-tech suits give him a whole new dimension of fighting skills and abilities, including the instant-kill option.
Overall, I’d say that Tobey’s Spidey is likely the most skilled hand-to-hand fighter, while Tom’s is the most skilled fighter and acrobat with the best technology and experience out of the three. They both get points in this category.
| Tobey | Andrew | Tom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Strength & Speed
When it comes to strength and speed, we have some clear reference points to determine the power each Spidey possesses.
Tobey Maguire’s Peter was incredibly strong. We’ve seen him stop a train filled with passengers using nothing but his body and his webs. Of course, the webs did a lot of the work, and it was more about stamina than strength, but stopping a train that weighs at least 70 tons with all the passengers clearly requires a ton of strength.
As for his speed, we haven’t seen anything that impressive. Tobey can swing through the city fast, but other Spideys can also do that. Apart from his Spider-Sense reflexes, there’s nothing more than that.
On the other hand, Andrew Garfield is by far the fastest out of the three Spider-Men. He literally dodged lightning/electroshocks, making his reflexes at least lightning-quick. He showed how he perceives the world in almost slow-motion countless times, allowing him to think, react, and move faster than the other two big-screen Spideys.
However, his strength was never on Tobey’s or Tom’s level. He easily lifted a police car and threw it over his head, but he seemingly struggled to stop a truck at one point early in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Therefore, he’s strong but nowhere near Tobey-strong.
Finally, Tom is the strongest Spidey out of the three. He held a cruiser boat together after it had been cut in half. A building was thrown on top of him, and Tom lifted it from his chest. Heck, he held Thanos’ arm by himself for a moment in Infinity War. Not to mention his nano-suit provides him with even more strength.
He had shown a lot of speed and quickness, too, but nowhere near dodging electricity like Andrew.
Therefore, Tom is the strongest Spider-Man, while Andrew is the fastest. Tobey isn’t far behind, but still, not enough to get him to their level. Tom and Andrew get one point each.
| Tobey | Andrew | Tom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Enemies
Finally, the last category we’ll check out is the enemies they’ve fought.
Tobey Maguire fought Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Sandman, The New Goblin, and the strongest – Venom. Although it’s his only extraterrestrial-level enemy, it’s still quite impressive.
On the other hand, Andrew fought the Lizard, Electro, The Gentleman, Harry Osborn’s Green Goblin, Alistair Smythe, and the Rhino. It’s a lot, but arguably the weakest rogue gallery out of the three Spideys.
However, Tom Holland easily takes the cake. In his stand-alone movies, he faces the Vulture and Mysterio. However, he fights against Captain America, Black Panther, Bucky Barnes, and others in Captain America: Civil War. But the enemy that takes the cake is Thanos – the guy that wiped out half the universe.
I’m not even considering anything else. Had Tom Holland’s Spidey fought only Thanos and nobody else, he would still win in the “toughest enemies” department.
| Tobey | Andrew | Tom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Tom Vs. Tobey Vs. Andrew: Who Wins in a Fight of Spider-Men?
Finally, the results have Tom Holland’s Spider-Man winning the clash between himself, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield. Tom has four points, while Tobey and Andrew have two each.
Every Spider-Man version has its advantages, and one could make an argument for any one of them to eventually win. However, if you look at the big picture, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has the most advanced technology and the toughest fighting experience against the most brutal enemies.
He’s also seemingly the strongest version of Spidey, and you could argue that Tom’s Spider-Sense serves him the best. If nothing, he learned how to use it the best. And finally, he learned how to fight alone or in a team, making him much more versatile in battle.
I’d say Holland wins 6/10 fights between the three, while Maguire and Garfield get 2/10 fights each.