Spider-Man debates have survived three Peter Parkers, several reboots, one multiversal reunion, and enough internet warfare to make the Sinister Six look cooperative. Tobey Maguire remains sacred territory for an entire generation, Andrew Garfield has enjoyed a spectacular reassessment, and Tom Holland carries the web-head into the MCU era.

Everybody has a favorite, usually defended with the intensity of a constitutional argument. Now Garfield himself has entered the danger zone. Asked to rank all three live-action Spider-Men, the former Peter Parker delivered an answer so charmingly self-effacing.

That even his most devoted fans might want to demand a recount.

While promoting Artificial during an interview with Capital, Garfield was handed the question every Spider-Man actor probably dreams of escaping: rank Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, and himself from best to worst. He barely hesitated before placing the original live-action web-slinger at the top.

“Tobey’s always going to be my number one,” Garfield said. His affection comes from somewhere personal.

Garfield explained that Maguire was his Spider-Man during drama school, when he would practice lines from the films in front of a mirror. That makes the ranking feel less like diplomatic celebrity praise and more like one actor saluting the performance that helped shape his own imagination long before Sony handed him a mask.

Tom Holland took second place, with Garfield calling him the perfect person to embody Spider-Man for his generation. Then came the wonderfully humble punchline.

“Tobey, Tom, then me.” Garfield has spent years receiving renewed affection for The Amazing Spider-Man films, especially after all three actors reunited in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Yet when given the crown himself, he quietly passed it down the line. 

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Garfield may have ranked himself third in the Spider-Verse, but his newest role places him right at the center of a far more unsettling modern story.

Andrew Garfield plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, a darkly comic drama centered on the extraordinary five-day corporate crisis of 2023, when OpenAI’s board fired Altman before reinstating him days later. Yura Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro portrays Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz steps in as Elon Musk, and Mark Rylance appears as Geoffrey Hinton.

The film premiered at the New York Film Festival and has already generated strong reactions for its portrait of Silicon Valley power, ambition, and the personalities shaping artificial intelligence. Neon will release Artificial in theaters on December 25, 2026, after acquiring the project following Amazon MGM Studios’ decision to step away. 

Living inside Altman’s world also changed Garfield’s relationship with the technology itself. He told Variety that making the movie left him a bit scared and increasingly mistrustful of AI. Garfield had previously used ChatGPT as a research tool, but stopped after digging deeper into the technology while preparing for the role. 

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What do you think about Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man ranking? Would you place Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, or Garfield at No. 1? Let us know in the comments.