Sony Pictures
SPIDER-MAN 3
Starring Tobey Maguire Maguire (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn / The New Goblin), Thomas Hayden Church (Flint Marko / The Sandman), Topher Grace (Eddie Brock / Venom), Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy), James Cromwell (Captain George Stacy), Rosemary Harris (Aunt May), and JK Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) with a special appearance by Stan Lee and an appearance by Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin via hallucination
Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis
Written by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, and Alvin Sargent
Music by Christopher Young
Distributed by Sony Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 19 minutes
World Premier: April 16, 2007, in Tokyo, Japan
Opening Weekend Box Office: $151 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $894 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%
Sony Pictures
Fun Spider-Man 3 Facts
Director Sam Raimi made comic book movie history with Spider-Man 3, becoming the first individual to direct a full trilogy of a comic book movie franchise.
Originally, Director Sam Raimi opposed the idea of including Venom as a villain in Spider-Man 3, stating that he hated the character’s “lack of humanity.” Producer Avi Arad insisted on the inclusion of Venom however, due to the character’s strong popularity. Raimi was said to have warmed up to Venom over the course of production and was a fan of Topher Grace’s performance as the character.
Venom was created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, debuting in 1988’s The Amazing Spider-Man #299 with a full appearance following in The Amazing Spider-Man # 300. Venom’s roots can actually be traced back to 1984’s Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars # 8 written by Jim Shooter. It was in that issue where an off-planet Peter Parker obtained his new black Spider-Man suit after unknowingly bonding with the Venom Symbiote.
The Alien Symbiote that bonds with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker and Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock is never audibly referred to as Venom in Spider-Man 3.
Spider-Man 3 features the live-action debuts of notable Spider-Man characters Gwen Stacy and her Police Captain father. Both of these characters meet tragic ends in the traditional Spider-Man comics and their respective deaths leave a lifelong mark on Peter Parker / Spider-Man within the Marvel Comics 616-Universe, where Gwen was Peter’s girlfriend before Mary Jane Watson. In the Marvel Comics original Ultimate Universe however, Peter has a relationship with MJ before he ever meets Gwen Stacy.
Stan Lee makes a very memorable cameo in Spider-Man 3, sharing a scene with Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker as Tobey’s Peter is noting some of the recent headlines he has made as Spider-Man. Lee stands beside Tobey and utters the words, “You know, I guess one person can make a difference. ‘Nuff said,” to Parker.
Spider-Man 3 was the third highest-grossing film of 2007 and the highest-grossing of Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man films.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On September 6, 2005, Marvel Enterprises became Marvel Entertainment; a reflection of the company’s new initiative to finance its own motion pictures through Marvel Studios. Two Spider-Man films had been made by Sony and Marvel Entertainment at the time of the announcement: 2002’s Spider-Man and 2004’s Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man 3 was already in active development at the time of this announcement. Marvel Studios would work in conjunction with Sony on Spider-Man 3, honoring the terms of their initial agreement, and Spider-Man 3 would be released in the Spring of 2007. In the meantime, Kevin Feige (Spring of 2007) would be promoted to President of Marvel Studios and production on Marvel Studios’ first independent film Iron Man (starring Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and introducing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury) would commence just prior to the release of Spider-Man 3.
Beyond Spider-Man 3, the working agreement between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures as it had once been ceased to exist as the Marvel Studios team concentrated on the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe while Sony’s team did their own thing. Former Marvel Studios President and co-founder Avi Arad (who announced his formal resignation from Marvel Studios in the Spring of 2006) remained a part of Sony’s team, and a decision was made to reboot the franchise, culminating in the release of The Amazing Spider-Man (starring Andrew Garfield) in 2012.
On February 9, 2015, following a crippling e-mail hack and the critical failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures reached an agreement to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War after which Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures would co-produce a new Spider-Man film, which would serve as another reboot. In the Summer of 2015, Tom Holland was cast to portray Peter Parker / Spider-Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
From 2016-2019, Tom Holland appeared as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in 5 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures projects including Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
2019’s Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Far From Home saw Marvel Studios cast actor JK Simmons to reprise his role as J. Jonah Jameson under the Marvel Studios banner. The version of the character that Simmons portrayed is a Multiversal Variant of the character that he portrayed in Sony’s first three Spider-Man films.
In the 2021 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel Studios’ yet-to-be titled Multiverse Saga was kicked into high gear when the events of that film saw Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man enter the MCU 14-years removed from Spider-Man 3. Maguire’s Parker was brought into the MCU’s 616-Universe due to a Multiversal Breach triggered by an errant magical spell that was cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange, which involved Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The botched spell allowed Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman to crossover into the MCU 616-Universe as well and Spider-Man: No Way Home made all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films MCU canon via the Multiverse.
Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock / Venom does not appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but a Venom symbiote does appear during the film’s credits, along with an alternate version of Eddie Brock (portrayed by Tom Hardy) that was introduced into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe in the 2018 film Venom. In Sony Pictures’ 2021 film Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock is transported into the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to the same magical spell that brought The Sandman into the MCU. In Let There Be Carnage, the Venom Symbiote declares that it has Multiversal knowledge courtesy of a Hive Symbiotic Mind, which explains how and why Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock arrived in the MCU along with other people who knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Though this alternate version of Eddie had never fought Spider-Man nor known Peter Parker to be Spider-Man’s secret identity, Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock / Venom both knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man and died fighting Spider-Man.
Sony Pictures
My Spider-Man 3 Review
The release of Spider-Man 3 came at a time when Marvel Studios was consumed with the releases of their first two self-financed, independently produced films: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Producer Avi Arad had already announced his resignation from Marvel Studios and Producer Kevin Feige had already been promoted to President of Marvel Studios by the time that Spider-Man 3 was released, and with the Marvel Studios team focusing most of their energy on Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, films like 2007’s Spider-Man 3 sort of got glossed-over by a lot of important people, and it showed. Nonetheless, Kevin Feige was still credited as an Executive Producer on Spider-Man 3 after previously serving as an Executive Producer on Spider-Man 2 and as an Associate Producer on Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man 3 came out, it was a big deal. People went bonkers over the idea of Venom being brought to the big screen and the poster images of Spider-Man in his black suit had the entire fandom talking! After being introduced during the late-1980’s, Venom surged in popularity during the 1990’s and as one of Marvel Comics’ coolest-looking and scariest-looking characters, bringing Venom to a major motion picture was sure to be a game-changer!
Then, this movie came out, and yeah … no.
Okay, okay, first and foremost, Spider-Man 3 is not the worst comic book movie ever made and it isn’t even the worst Marvel movie ever made. It was an overwhelming disappointment though, creatively speaking (it was a monumental financial success) and it ended up giving viewers some of the absolute worst moments in Spider-Man history, and that is something that I find very difficult to forgive.
Spider-Man 3 was perfectly set-up to deliver a satisfying story. Did it need Venom? No, of course not. Coming out of Spider-Man 2, we had Harry set-up to take over his late father’s Goblin legacy, we had Peter and MJ finally together, and we had Peter at long last coming to peace with the complex balancing job of juggling his life as Peter Parker with his superhero exploits as Spider-Man. Introducing another villain was to be expected, and The Sandman was confirmed early on in the developmental process, and that was a welcomed inclusion at the time, but then, Avi Arad wanted Venom in the movie, and really, you can’t really blame him for that! The fanbase at large wanted Venom in the movie too, and it was Venom that was at the core of this film’s massive hype. The box office totals alone illustrate the fact that a lot of people wanted to see Spider-Man 3 and that a lot of people in fact did see Spider-Man 3, but the film proved divisive and was a noticeable backwards step in terms of quality when compared to Raimi’s first two Spider-Man films.
Sony Pictures
Spider-Man 3 opened in solid fashion, jumping right into the Spider-Man vs The New Goblin. I did not like Harry’s look right out the gate. Tobey’s Peter Parker dubs Franco’s Harry “Goblin Junior” later in the film, and that’s exactly what Harry looked and felt like in this sequence. He was clumsy, overzealous, and not on Spider-Man’s level, and after setting him up to be a real threat for two films, Harry was essentially jobbed-out to Spider-Man right from the start of this movie and on top of that, the altercation resulted in Harry suffering amnesia, so all of the sudden, everything was okay again and Peter and Harry were best friends. Not a great start.
In the meantime, MJ has made it to Broadway and Peter has plans to propose to her but wants to create the perfect romantic scenario in which to do so. Peter and MJ seem happy here, content to be cuddled up in a spiderweb above the city, with all of their proverbial cards on the table and finding strength in the love they share. This would not linger, however. Meanwhile, escaped convict Flint Marko gets transformed into The Sandman while trying to elude police. I thought this transformation scene was awesome! The effects were really well done, and the music went along with the sequence really well. Also, an Alien Symbiote has fallen to Earth from the stars and attached itself to Peter’s moped. A lot’s going on.
Our first big action piece in Spider-Man 3 sees Spider-Man save Gwen Stacy’s life. This leads to the hero getting honored with a public ceremony, given that Gwen is the daughter of the Police Captain. This ceremony is the first instance of awful Peter Parker as he publicly kisses Gwen in the exact same way that he first kissed Mary Jane, with Spider-Man hanging upside down and Gwen pulling his mask up and touching her lips to his. The fact that Peter is completely oblivious to how this would make MJ feel is inexcusable.
The festivities are interrupted by The Sandman’s robbery of an armored truck. Spider-Man swings into action, but The Sandman proves to be too much for him. To make matters worse, Captain Stacy informs the Parker Family that Flint Marko is the man who actually killed Uncle Ben, robbing Peter of the subtle moment of vengeance that he received in the first Spider-Man film when he chased down Dennis Carradine; Marko’s accomplice as it turned out. Obviously, Peter is pissed, and he quickly allows his quest for vengeance to consume him, anxiously waiting for the opportunity to confront Marko. As he does, the Alien Symbiote attaches itself to a sleeping Peter’s suit. Peter awakens outside with no memory of how he got there and with his suit now changed to black-and-white. Peter also finds his abilities to be exceptionally enhanced.
Donning his black suit, Spider-Man soon tracks down The Sandman and discovers water to be Marko’s weakness. Peter violently engages Sandman in combat within the subway tunnel under the city. Commandeering a water pipe, Spider-Man douses Sandman in a very real effort to kill his uncle’s murderer. Sandman transforms into mud and is carried away by the flowing waters.
Sony Pictures
As all of this is going on, Mary Jane is experiencing a great deal of drama pertaining to her career. She has emerged as a critical bust on Broadway and her boyfriend has been far too busy to notice. Feeling alienated, MJ turns to the now kind and simple and almost nauseatingly polite Harry Osborn to vent her frustrations. MJ and Harry share a tender moment that MJ instantly regrets. MJ’s rejection triggers Harry and his memories come rushing back to him, complete with a vision of his late father. Harry goes full-on creep here instantaneously, seeking MJ out and ordering her to break up with Peter, promising that he will kill Peter if she refuses. So, MJ does just that, going so far as to declare that she has fallen in love with someone else. A devastated Peter is then invited out to meet with Harry, who explains that he is the one MJ has left him for. A dejected Peter leaves, but at the last moment realizes that Harry has gotten his memories back, which changes the game for Peter dramatically. Peter would go on from there to confront Harry at his home. With his anger and aggression being heightened by the Alien Symbiote, Peter harshly berates Harry, exclaiming that Norman never loved Harry. This provokes Harry to hurl a pumpkin bomb at Peter, but Peter avoids it and uses his webbing to fling the bomb back at Harry. The bomb detonates in Harry’s face, leaving him injured and deformed.
Peter now has a new take-no-shit sort of attitude, and this drives him to embarrass and expose his co-worker Eddie Brock as a fraud, and to begin courting Gwen Stacy. Peter Parker is an absolute prick here. Not only do we as viewers have to suffer through an embarrassing dance sequence along with Peter’s Emo haircut, but we also have to watch Peter use Gwen Stacy to try and make Mary Jane jealous. This leads to Peter actually striking MJ and seriously, as a Marvel fan and as a Spider-Man fan, I don’t have the words to convey how so very much I hated all of this. I understand that the Symbiote was driving him to it, but what was it driving him to exactly? To say mean things and to play the piano and to beat-up women and to act like a total dork?!? This was bad on every level, and I will never understand what Sony was thinking here. I came out of this sequence wanting to see Peter get his ass kicked by somebody, be it Harry, Eddie, Sandman, Gwen, or MJ. That’s not the way a viewer should feel about a film’s intended protagonist heading into the third act!
Following the Jazz bar confrontation, Peter realizes that the Alien Symbiote is what’s causing him to act out in the way that he is, so he ventures to a church bell tower and uses the ringing of the bell to drive the Symbiote away from him. Unbeknownst to Peter, a desperate Eddie Brock has ventured to that same church in order to beg God to kill Peter (So funny!). The Symbiote ends up landing on Eddie, and that of course changes the game as Eddie is empowered and forms an alliance with The Sandman to take down Spider-Man.
Eddie goes on to abduct MJ and strings her up as his captive. In the meantime, the Osborn Family Butler reveals that Spider-Man did not kill Norman Osborn (not sure why it took so long for that guy to come clean) and this provokes Harry to suit up as The New Goblin again, this time to assist Spider-Man against Venom and The Sandman.
Sony Pictures
Harry saves MJ’s life and then saves Peter’s life as well when Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry’s Glider. Harry is mortally wounded and dies in the same way that his father did. From there, Peter orchestrates a sonic attack against Brock that separates the Symbiote from Eddie and then hurls a pumpkin bomb at the detached Symbiote. A panicked Eddie Brock – wanting no part of living without the Symbiote – leaps to save Venom but is killed by the blast as is the Symbiote (or at least I assume that it was).
With Venom destroyed, The Sandman declares that killing Peter’s Uncle Ben was an accident and that he’d done all of the terrible things he’d done in order to provide for his sick daughter. Peter forgives Marko and allows him to flee and then Harry dies right in front of Peter and MJ. Spider-Man 3 ends with Harry’s funeral and then sometime later, Peter visits MJ at the Jazz bar and they share a dance.
Just typing through this story sort of drives me crazy! It’s so obvious where the filmmakers went wrong, and again, I just don’t know what they were thinking when some of these decisions were made. I did not like the Sandman ret-con and how he was shoehorned into the death of Uncle Ben, and I wasn’t crazy about him just being able to say “I’m sorry” at the end and escape without consequence either. Also, Topher Grace just wasn’t great as Venom. As good as Spider-Man’s black-and-white suit looked, Eddie’s full-on Venom transformation was equally bad. The technology just wasn’t there yet to do Venom justice in terms of appearance, and it’s tough to ignore when watching this. I thought Topher was also more annoying than he was sinister throughout the film.
No one was more annoying than Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker though! Peter was just so unlikable in this movie and so hard to cheer for! Again, some of the worst Spider-Man moments of all-time came from this film and from Tobey’s performance. In the end, Harry Osborn was the true hero of this story, and that wasn’t something that anyone was expecting or wanting going into this film. And do not even get me started on the utilization of Gwen Stacy in this movie. Oh. My. God. What a miss.
Fast-forward 14-years to Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. This was a true treat! it was an opportunity for Tobey to redeem himself a bit and give fans a much better lasting impression in place of Spider-Man 3, and Tobey certainly accomplished that! Tobey appearing on-screen during No Way Home was one of the best moments in Spider-Man history and it was wonderful to hear him talk about many of the things that we did see in Sam Raimi’s trilogy, as well as some of the things that we did not see. It sounds like Tobey’s Peter Parker made things right with MJ and continued fighting crime as a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for years after Harry’s death. Despite his losses and stumbles, he seemed to rise above and make a happy life for himself, which is a much better conclusion to the story told within this Universe than a random dance at a Jazz Club.
Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, we get to remember Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker as a hero that, due to the Mystical Arts got to visit a new Universe where he mingled once again with former foes such a Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, and Flint Marko, while working together with alternate versions of himself against new threats such as Electro and The Lizard. Tobey Maguire established a solid legacy as Peter Parker in the first two Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, and in the MCU, Tobey’s legacy was salvaged through one of the most ambitious superhero stories ever told on film.
Sony Pictures
Highlights of Spider-Man 3:
The Sandman, Visually
Spider-Man’s Black Suit, Visually
Spider-Man vs The Sandman
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