One conspicuous absent in Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s roster of colorful characters was probably the franchise’s most iconic outside of Peter Parker: his dearly departed Uncle Ben. And while I am absolutely fine with the movie glossing over his tragic origin story, it is such an iconic and instrumental part of who Spider-Man is as a hero that an increasingly vocal contingent of Spider-fans is demanding that he appear in some form on the big screen.
While he is necessary to Spider-Man’s origins, Marvel has clearly decided that he is not necessary to put on screen, at least for the time being. Both Peter’s MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War and his first solo adventure take place well after his Uncle’s death: often pointed to as the impetus for Peter choosing crime fighting over whatever personal gain his powers might otherwise afford him.
Although we never see Uncle Ben on screen, and only hear about him vaguely in passing, his is a weighty presence in Peter’s life. When invited to join in the airport battle by Tony Stark, Stark asks him why he does it: “what gets [him] out of that twin bed in the morning.” Uncomfortable, stuttering, he tells him that it’s “because I’ve been me my whole life and I’ve had these powers for six months […] When you can do the things I can but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”
When Peter’s overzealous superheroics cause the accidental destruction of a ferry loaded with passengers, nearly killing everybody on board, Stark has to step in to save the day. And when confronting Peter about his actions, the kid’s first response isn’t to defend himself or push back against Stark’s recusals, it’s to ask if everybody made it out of the ferry unharmed: because he knows the price of a life and doesn’t want another one on his conscience.
Later, when he comes home to his Aunt May, and she is out of her mind with worry, and you can see the terror and concern in her eyes, you see the shadow of Ben Parker fall between them. She gives him the latitude to work through the obvious anguish he’s in — lets him go when she hears him sneaking out each night and doesn’t say anything when she hears him sneaking back in each morning — because of the previously unspoken understanding that there are something things — some losses — that she can’t help him work through.
So while he doesn’t appear in either film, his presence informs everything Pater and May do. Finding any one actor to live up to that imagined image of Ben — especially one that has to follow the likes of Cliff Robertson from the Raimi trilogy — is a tall order, and one that I’m not convinced even Marvel is up to the task for.
It turns out that Spider-Man himself — actor Tom Holland — has somebody in mind for the job. He wants Toby Maguire, who famously played Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man movies, to take on the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On its face, the idea has its merits. Maguire is an excellent actor whose tenure as Spider-Man is still fondly remembered by fans and critics alike. His appearance would bring all the nostalgic weight of those movies into the new ones and be a fitting send-off to films that brought Spider-Man into the 21st century.
And, logistically, it’s certainly doable. Maguire is in his early forties and Marisa Tomei, the youngest Aunt May to date, is only a decade older than him. With some movie makeup magic and a little imagination, he can certainly look the part for this younger version of the character.
When push comes to shove, though, I would rather that they chose somebody else, if they even choose anyone at all. We’ve seen the origin done twice already on the big screen, to the point where most movie-goers can recite it by rote. And although he is a great actor with long-standing ties to these characters, I don’t think that Maguire has the screen presence to live up to the image that Marvel has quietly planted in our minds of the kindly, perhaps somewhat younger than usual, Ben Parker.
There’s even the question of whether Maguire would want the role in the first place. It’s no secret that he grew to strongly resent the franchise. He frequently injured himself on set and Sony’s draconian production schedule kept him from having the time necessary to heal up between films. They even threatened to recast the role if he didn’t adhere to their strict scheduling dictates. Even if the property’s changed hands, and his proposed place in them as well, it seems rather farfetched that he’d eagerly return to the set for it.
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