WithDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessnow playing in theatres, and with Tobey Maguire recently making an appearance as the original Spider-Man inSpider-Man: No Way Home, it only makes sense that director Sam Raimi would be asked about some of his previous work in the superhero genre. Or more specifically, his work with his last superhero film,Spider-Man 3.
One of the most popular internet memes to come out in recent years has been one that goes bythe name of Bully Maguire, in which Maguire’s portrayal of Peter Parker after being taken over by the alien symbiote is inserted into multiple movie clips for comedic effect. Because Maguire’s portrayal of the more aggressive Parker inSpider-Man 3comes off as more funny than intimidating, the meme is usually pretty effective in making people laugh.
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In a recent interview with Fandom, Raimi said he’s proud of the meme since their point originally was to make it funny. “Well, we meant it to be funny, actually. It was Peter Parker’s version — this lame kid — of what it must be like to be his evil self,” Raimi said. “But he’s so whipped. He’s so out of it that that’s his take on it. And that didn’t go over well with the audience. But that’s what we were trying to do. So I’m not surprised that people… I’m glad people find it funny! We wanted it to be fun.”
Even if the warm reception came out a little later than Raimi would have liked, at least the original mission was accomplished. In defence of the initial poor reception to Emo Peter,the fans came intoSpider-Man 3expecting the movie to be more serious than its previous two installments since the alien costume and Venom were promised to be included in the film. To see them go more for comedy when those storylines were originally dark and intense was a little off-putting to watch when the movie was first released in 2007.
The silver lining here is that something that was originally perceived to be bad has since flipped the script, so now it’s one of the more entertaining memes on the internet. As it turns out, with the right mind in place, anyone can make anything look good. Now granted, Raimi never wanted to include the alien costume storyline inSpider-Man 3to begin with, but he did what he thought was best after Sony forced his hand. At least it’s entertaining the fanbase in a whole new light 15 years later.
The fact that something as maligned asSpider-Man 3was is now being enjoyed to some degree also reflects poorly on Sony since including the alien costume and Venom storylines was their idea and not Raimi’s. The fact that they still can’t seem to get their superheroes right in a live-action film since then -most recently withMorbius- surely speaks volumes about their incompetence. But hey, at least an all-time meme came out of their first mess, so they can take pride in that.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnessis now playing in theaters.
