Peter Benjamin Parker, also known by his alias Spider-Man, is a fictional character and the protagonist of Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man film series. Adapted from the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, he is portrayed by Andrew Garfield and appears in the films The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as well as being a supporting character in the Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), appearing as a slightly older version of himself alongside two alternate versions of himself from the wider multiverse.
Garfield's version of the character is a successor to the version of Peter Parker portrayed by Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007) and a predecessor to the iteration of Peter Parker portrayed by Tom Holland in the MCU (2016–present), both of whom appeared as their versions of Spider-Man alongside Garfield in No Way Home. To distinguish him from the other two Spider-Men, he is nicknamed "Peter-Three" by his counterparts in the film itself, and is referred to by Marvel's official website as The Amazing Spider-Man, and is referred by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers in the screenplay as "Webb-verse Peter" and "Webb-verse Spider-Man" (in honor of Marc Webb) when writing his dialogue.
Garfield's iteration of the character had some differences in personality to the Spider-Man of the previous film series, being more of an angst-ridden loner haunted by his actions than before. The narrative of the duology centres around Parker struggling to maintain his double-life as Spider-Man and relationship with fellow student Gwen Stacy, whose death at the hands of his former friend Harry Osborn he would later consider himself responsible for. The narrative also focuses on Parker seeking to uncover the reason his parents Richard and Mary vanished and left him with his aunt and uncle when he was a child, alongside the nature of his father's work at Oscorp.
Garfield's performance as Parker received positive responses, and is commonly seen as a highlight of The Amazing Spider-Man series. Since Garfield's appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have launched a campaign for the cancelled The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to be made.
Development and execution
Previous films and rebooting Spider-Man
Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (Aug. 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books, later becoming one of Marvel Comics' most popular superheroes and gaining his own comic series, titled The Amazing Spider-Man. He was eventually adapted to film and television numerous times. Prior to the release of the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man film, the preceding big-budget film series based on the character saw Tobey Maguire take on the role of Peter Parker / Spider-Man, with three films released by Columbia Pictures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3, which were released between 2002 and 2007.
Following the release of Spider-Man 3, Sony Pictures Entertainment had announced a May 5, 2011, release date for Sam Raimi's next film in the series. By this time, screenwriters James Vanderbilt, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Gary Ross had all written rejected versions of a script and Ziskin's husband Alvin Sargent, who wrote the second and third films, was working on yet another attempt. However, on January 11, 2010, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced that rather than continue the earlier saga, they were rebooting the series with a new cast and crew. Industry reports claimed that Raimi had admitted that he could not meet the scheduled release date and retain creative integrity. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Ziskin continued as producers.