While homophobes are busy getting mad at Tom Holland for having a gay scene in his current show The Crowded Room, they’re missing something important: he’s not the first Spider-Man actor to play gay. In fact, Holland is following in a long and proud tradition of Spider-Man actors playing gay.
Here are some previous times that actors who have played Peter Parker have crossed over to the other side and played gay characters in movies, TV, and on stage.
Tobey Maguire - 'Wonder Boys'
The first live-action Spider-Man has played gay several times in his career, both before and after playing Spider-Man. In 2000, just two years before playing Peter Parker, Maguire starred as a young writer named James in the Academy Award-winning film Wonder Boys. James meets editor Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey, Jr.) and the two have a torrid affair.
Tobey Maguire - 'Tropic Thunder'
Maguire played gay again in 2008’s Tropic Thunder. Or at least sort of. In a fake trailer for an Oscar-bait movie in the film, Maguire plays himself, who is starring in a movie about two gay 18th Century monks called Satan’s Alley. He was paired up again with Robert Downey, Jr.
Andrew Garfield - 'Angels in America'
Garfield, who played Parker in the rebooted Spider-Man movies by Marc Webb, has actually gotten widespread critical acclaim for playing gay. In 2017, he started playing the role of Prior Walter, a gay man with AIDS, in the celebrated play Angels in America at the National Theatre in London. He was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for the role. In 2018, he started playing the role on Broadway, for which he won the Tony Award.
Tom Holland - 'The Crowded Room'
In The Crowded Room, Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plays a troubled young man named Danny Sullivan, who commits some heinous crimes, but also has gay sex. Homophobes are complaining that their beloved Spider-Man would do such a thing (the gay stuff, not the rapes).
Neil Patrick Harris - 'Uncoupled'
Yep, Spider-Man has also been played by the one and only Neil Patrick Harris! Harris has played gay several times, notably in Uncoupled. He’s also gay and proud in real life. He voiced Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the MTV animated series Spider-Man: The New Animated Series.
