With Zendaya’s new tennis movie, Challengers, dropping on Friday, fans couldn’t help but notice the Peter Parker lovers to tennis players pipeline of the three Spider-Man actresses. Zendaya’s role as a tennis player in Challengers follows Kirsten Dunst’s Lizzie Bradbury in Wimbledon and Emma Stone’s Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes. However, fans find that tennis is not the only thing common between them, as all three of them dated their Spider-Man co-stars.
Zendaya and Tom Holland’s relationship is still going strong despite the breakup rumors. They were spotted together at the Dune: Part Two celebration event. Their relationship has probably run longer than the other two pairs’ short-lived relationships put together.
Besides Tennis, Zendaya And The Other Two Spider-Man Actresses Have One Thing In Common
Zendaya has joined the Spider-Man love interest-to-tennis player club with her new film Challengers. However, she also shares one other thing in common with both Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone, who appeared in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man series respectively. All three of them have dated their co-stars after meeting them during these films.
Zendaya and Tom Holland‘s romance reportedly started in 2017. A source told PEOPLE at the time that they “started seeing each other while they were filming Spider-Man”. However, both actors claimed to be just friends at the time. The couple only confirmed their relationship in 2021, when they were seen kissing inside a car. Most recently, the couple was spotted on a tennis date during the BNP Paribas Open finals in Indian Wells in March 2024 (via @TennisChannel | X).
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had the shortest relationship among the three. The pair met on the set of Spider-Man in 2001. They kept their dating life secret and even Sam Raimi didn’t know of their relationship until the two split. Raimi had worries about their breakup, sharing, “I was concerned they wouldn’t get the same chemistry back, but it was just me worrying” (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield fell in love during the filming of The Amazing Spider-Man. The couple dated for four years and was one of the trending couples in Hollywood at the time. They promoted the second film in the TASM series as a couple and took their romance all around the world. They split in 2015 but remained good friends until now. Stone married Dave McCary, while Garfield also moved on to other relationships.
Fans Shared These Spider-Man Actresses Trivia On Social Media
Zendaya reacted to the meme about all three Spider-Man actresses playing tennis players shortly after. In an interview with Good Morning America, she was asked about the meme to which she responded, “Maybe it’s some prophecy I need to fulfill” (via EW). When her reaction was shared with X, fans also found other interesting details about the Spider-Man actresses.
One such detail was about the three actresses dating the three Peter Parker actors from these movies. One fan mentioned that breakup was also a pattern for the first two, but they really hoped that Zendaya and Holland continued their relationship. Another fan mentioned the commonalities between the lead actors, sharing that Maguire, Garfield, and Holland appeared as soldiers in films after Spider-Man.
Maguire played Captain Sam Cahill in Brothers, while Garfield played World War II medic Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge. Holland played the titular role of an Army medic in the 2021 film Cherry. Fans also mentioned Maguire and Garfield starring as horse riders in Seabiscuit and Warhorse respectively, hinting that Holland now has a prophecy to fulfill. Fan reactions read:
They all dated their costar too
— Casper (@CXMCasper) April 24, 2024
There's another, each one of the actresses fell for the Spider-Man actor but had to break up at some point. Zendaya has already done the first.
— Johns (@JohnyBravo183) April 24, 2024
— Evans (@evanturner91) April 24, 2024
Spider-Men do war movies and Spider-Man love interests do tennis.
— Manny マニー (@EmVelez) April 24, 2024
And now we need Tom holland with a movie about a horse…. Tobey sea biscuit Garfield warhorse
— Elijah McDonald (@orph187) April 24, 2024
Challengers will hit theaters on April 26, 2024. The original Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man series are now available for streaming on Disney+. Tom Holland’s first two Spider-Man films are available on Disney+, while Spider-Man: No Way Home is now available for streaming on Fubo.
