“He was bitten by radioactive Bruce Lee”: Tobey Maguire Never Looked More Ripped Than When He Fought Shirtless During Spider-Man Audition

Tobey Maguire has enjoyed the reigning title of being the best live-action Spider-Man for a long time. Uncontested on that front, however, there is market competition. With the added performances of Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, the audience is severely divided as to which actor best captured the essence of the wall-crawler.

However, the question is a bit difficult to tackle. Tobey Maguire completely embodied the soul and selfless spirit of Spider-Man and his heroic journey, while Andrew Garfield brought to life a more honest comic-accurate version of the superheroʼs quirkier and happy-go-lucky nature. Tom Holland became the only one of the three to ever truly depict Spider-Man as he was originally meant to be: a teenager thrust into the world of great power and responsibility way too soon.

While fans continue to debate the validity of each of these versions, one fact remains unimpeachable: Tobey Maguire will always be the first and original one, and as history dictates, we never truly forget our firsts.

Tobey Maguire’s Difficult Path to Superhero Stardom

The realm of monsters and superheroes was not as lucrative as it is today. These days, Hollywood has employed almost 90% of all its actors in the booming Marvel and DC industry, but in the past, taking part in such a venture almost equated to committing career suicide. That much was made evident by George Clooney’s 1997 feature, Batman & Robin.

However, within a few years, Marvel cracked the code with Wesley Snipes’ Blade in 1998 and Fox followed up with Bryan Singer’s X-Men in 2000. Sony, not wanting to be left behind, began to organize a blueprint for the live-action debut of Spider-Man, the only famous superhero IP in their vault. Among the growing list of up-and-comers, Leonardo DiCaprio’s childhood buddy Tobey Maguire climbed pretty high on the list.

Coupled with horror auteur Sam Raimi, the Spider-Man trilogy became one of Sony’s greatest success stories with an asset outside of Marvel. Repeated attempts to replicate it have failed in the years that followed (Morbius, Madame Web). Meanwhile, the sudden escalation of fame and exposure granted to Maguire made his life immensely difficult.

However, the actor also admitted in an interview with Howard Stern that Spider-Man marked his big Hollywood comeback after crippling alcohol addiction at the age of 19 and a hiatus for the sake of his sobriety.

Tobey Maguire Looks the Part in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man

After fighting to get back control over his life for years, Tobey Maguire eventually succeeded when he left a project in 1995 and enrolled himself in Alcoholics Anonymous, intent on leaving his addiction behind. The years that followed saw Maguire religiously getting back in shape and practicing sobriety for the sake of his own health. Fortunately, Sony threw him a bone with Spider-Man that helped him find a way back to his creative journey.

In the audition tape of the feature film, Tobey Maguire can be seen performing his friendly neighborhood duties as Spider-Man… only without his shirt and mask on. What follows is a well-choreographed fight sequence with one man simultaneously taking on three bullies. The main attraction of the entire fight sequence lies, however, in Tobey Maguire’s physical transformation.

Fans have been justifiably taken aback after watching the short action video, complimenting his physique and calculated stunt choreography by wryly saying, “He was bitten by a radioactive Bruce Lee.”

On the other hand, the audition clip served as test footage to prove to Sony executives that Tobey Maguire was the right choice for the role after they were initially hesitant to sign him on to the film. It was Sam Raimi’s unyielding faith in the actor that got him the part and made Sony $1.11 billion in box office earnings (via Box Office Mojo).