British actor Tom Holland is playing the titular web-slinging superhero in the upcoming film Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he is hardly the first to portray the character. The Straits Times looks at the other actors who have swung their way through New York City before.
NICHOLAS HAMMOND, 67
See him in: The Amazing Spider-Man TV series (1977 - 1979)
For three years in the 1970s, American actor Hammond played Spider-Man in the CBS TV series The Amazing Spider-Man.
The series enjoyed relative success, but was cancelled after 13 episodes, reportedly because TV network CBS did not wish to be considered a purely superhero TV network. Besides this show, CBS had also aired other superhero projects such as TV series The Incredible Hulk (1978), as well as TV movies Captain America (1979) and Doctor Strange (1978).
In the mid-1980s, there were plans to revive the Spider-Man TV series in a special tie-up series with the cast of The Incredible Hulk (1978), but the project never materialised.
A bit of trivia - Hammond had also played Friedrich von Trapp as a child in The Sound Of Music (1965).
TOBEY MAGUIRE, 41
See him in: Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man (2007)
Maguire's version of Spider-Man, as seen in the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, was a huge hit with audiences and is often credited for kickstarting the modern comic book movie trend. Viewers loved seeing Spider-Man swing through city skyscrapers on the big screen from a first-person point of view, considered a revolutionary visual effects form at the time.
Maguire also shared sizzling onscreen chemistry with his co-star Kirsten Dunst, who played Spider-Man's love interest Mary Jane. Who could ever forget the pair's now iconic kissing scene in which Spider-Man was hanging upside down in the rain?
ANDREW GARFIELD, 33
See him in: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Director Sam Raimi had plans to make a fourth film with Maguire and Dunst reprising their roles, but when talks fell through, Sony decided to reboot the franchise with an entirely new director and cast instead.
This time, Marc Webb (500 Days Of Summer, 2009) took over as director, while Garfield was cast as Spider-Man and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacy. Even though some viewers felt that these new films were treading on too familiar ground - The Amazing Spider-Man, for instance, included Uncle Ben's death, a scene which was also featured in Spider-Man (2002).
Still, there was considerable fan interest over this reboot due to the fact that its stars Garfield and Stone were also dating in real life at the time.
TOM HOLLAND, 21
See him in: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), opening in cinemas on July 6
Holland is the youngest star yet to play Spider-Man, and it is deliberate - Sony reportedly wanted the new Spider-Man reboot to feel a lot younger and fresher.
Unlike the previous Spider-Man films, which were all set only within the Spider-Man world, Holland's portrayal is the first to be incorporated in the hugely popular Marvel Universe franchise, which is home to the Avengers.
He was briefly introduced in Captain America: Civil War last year, but the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming is where he will be fully fleshed out. According to the movie trailers, the new Spider-Man suit here will be a lot more technologically advanced, thanks to it being designed by no one other than Tony Stark himself, the billionaire whose superhero alter-ego is Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.).
