Summary All of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man movies feature main characters cheating, leading to questionable and rocky relationships, particularly between Peter Parker and Mary Jane.
The iconic rain kiss scene between MJ and Spider-Man in the first movie involves MJ cheating on her boyfriend, and similar instances of cheating occur throughout the trilogy.
The portrayal of Peter and MJ’s relationship in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy can be seen as emotionally abusive and unfair, with Peter’s actions causing harm and confusion to both MJ and Gwen Stacy.
All of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man movies have one uncomfortable twist in common. Maguire played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in director Sam Raimi’s trilogy based on the popular Marvel hero, starting with 2002’s Spider-Man. The actor’s last time leading a solo Spider-Man movie came in 2007’s Spider-Man 3, which seemed to be the end of the line for Maguire’s time as Spider-Man for quite some time, only for the actor to recently return as his version of Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland’s Spider-Men.
Maguire’s return as Spider-Man in the MCU, with Maguire open to a Spider-Man 4, is the perfect excuse for anyone who wants to go back and watch the actor’s early adventures as the Web-Head. Raimi’s Spider-Man movies are mostly fantastic entries for those who want to get their fair share of Spider-Man’s adventures outside the comics; however, that does not mean that the trilogy is without fault, as all three movies that star Maguire as Spider-Man sadly share one uncomfortable aspect. MJ and Peter have a rocky relationship history in the comics, but it’s expressed in an awkward way in the Spider-Man trilogy.
Every Movie In Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy Features Main Characters Cheating
Every single one of Raimi’s Spider-Man movies features a main character cheating, and it often involves Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson – though Peter isn’t much better. One of the most iconic scenes in Spider-Man media is the upside-down rain kiss between MJ and Spider-Man in the first movie of the trilogy; however, Dunst’s character is cheating on her boyfriend, Harry Osborn, in that scene. In Spider-Man 2, while being engaged to John Jameson, MJ tries to get Peter to confess his love for her and moves in for a kiss that is stopped by Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock attacking the coffee shop they were in.
Spider-Man 3 is no different. While MJ is at a low point in her life, Peter kisses Gwen Stacy as Spider-Man during a festival in his honor to please the crowd that was chanting for the kiss to happen. That deeply hurts Mary Jane, who then shares an intimate moment with Harry at his house, with the duo cooking together and then kissing, which MJ immediately regrets due to her cheating on Peter. Relationship drama is a long-time staple of Spider-Man comics, but the repeated plot point can make it hard to really root for the on-screen relationships.
Spider-Man 1-3 Have Terrible Relationships Overall
Aunt May and Uncle Ben aside, Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy had terrible relationships, with Peter and MJ’s romance being questionable. While MJ has cheated on multiple occasions with different boyfriends, Peter is also at fault, with him knowingly kissing his best friend’s girlfriend in Spider-Man, then rejecting her at the end of the film only to again show interest in MJ when she has moved on with Jameson in Spider-Man 2. Peter also uses Gwen to make MJ jealous in Spider-Man 3, which is deeply unfair to both women. Peter and MJ’s borderline emotionally abusive relationship stands as the best example of the one thing the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy struggled with.