24 details you might have missed in Sam Raimi's 'Spider-Man' starring Tobey Maguire
Olivia Singh
- The first movie in director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy was released in May 2002.
- The movie starred Tobey Maguire as the titular character and Kirsten Dunst as MJ Watson.
Members of director Sam Raimi's family can be seen on the sidewalk as Peter Parker chases the school bus in his neighborhood.
Raimi's brother, Ivan Raimi, and his family appear in the scene.
In Peter's first on-screen appearance in the movie, he wears a polo shirt in the same colors as the Spider-Man suit.
He wears a blue shirt with navy, red, and white stripes.
The screen with the DNA of the new spider species lists several skills of the genetically modified spiders, which Peter will also go on to gain.
The characteristics include spider strength, jumping, speed, spider sense, pre-cognition, and speed.
Peter's bedroom has a poster of Albert Einstein on the wall.
The poster makes sense given Peter's interest in science.
If you look closely at Peter's wallpaper, you'll notice that it's a spider web print.
You can get a good look at the wallpaper's design when Peter tries to prevent Aunt May from entering his room as he tests out his new web-shooting ability.
Bowling trophies are seen along the ledge by the staircase of the Parker house in Queens, NY.
The movie never addresses who those trophies belong to, but given Peter's clumsiness, it's unlikely that they belong to him.
A bus driving by Midtown High has a poster for the Daily Bugle.
This subtle detail appears in the movie long before viewers are properly introduced to J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) and the Daily Bugle.
Peter says "shazam!" while trying to activate his biological web-shooting ability — which happens to be the same phrase used to summon a DC Comics character of the same name.
Peter also tries silly phrases like "up, up, and away" and "go, web, go" — so it was probably not intended to be a reference to the DC Comics character.
Zachary Levi made his debut as Shazam in the 2019 film of the same name and will reprise the role for a sequel.
Peter's sketches for Spidey costume possibilities include drawings with the black widow spider's hourglass-shaped marking.
Although the design is specific to spider species, Scarlett Johansson would later make her debut as comic-book character Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff in "Iron Man 2," with the hourglass symbol integrated into her suit design.
One of the tables in Peter's bedroom has a framed photo of himself with Uncle Ben and Aunt May.
The glass of the frame gets shattered when Peter practices his web-shooting.
Bruce Campbell, who starred as Ash Williams in Raimi's "Evil Dead" franchise, has a cameo as the announcer in the wrestling ring.
Campbell appears in different minor roles in all three of Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies.
In the first film, his character renames Peter's "Human Spider" to "The Amazing Spider-Man" before the teen steps into the ring to see if he can last three minutes with a wrestler named Bonesaw.
Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer has a minor role as the check-in girl at the amateur wrestling event.
She calls Peter a "small fry" and says, "may God be with you" after Peter gets checked in.
"Grey's Anatomy" star Sara Ramirez has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance as a cop.
Ramirez is briefly seen in the scene outside the New York Public Library, where Uncle Ben is shot and killed.
She tells Peter to stand back, but he shoves through the crowd when he sees that the person on the ground is a member of his family.
Peter has a periodic table of elements poster in his bedroom.
Knowing Peter, he probably has most, if not all, of those chemical elements memorized.
"Xena: Warrior Princess" star Lucy Lawless has a cameo as a punk-rock girl who's interviewed about her thoughts on Spider-Man.
While holding a cigarette, she refers to the neighborhood hero as the "guy with eight hands" and says he "sounds hot."
Raimi's brother named Ted Raimi portrays Hoffman, an employee at the Daily Bugle.
J. Jonah Jameson is often dismissive of Hoffman and takes his ideas.
The movie has a throwaway reference to photographer Eddie Brock.
A Daily Bugle staff member named Robbie Robertson (Bill Nunn) tells Jameson that they can't get a "decent" photo of Spider-Man.
"Eddie's been on it for weeks, we can barely get a glimpse of him," Robbie says.
This Easter egg refers to Eddie Brock, who becomes the host of Venom. However, he doesn't appear in Raimi's trilogy until the third movie.
"That '70s Show" star Topher Grace portrays Eddie in "Spider-Man 3."
In one scene in the third movie, Robbie reminds Jameson that he hired Eddie as a freelance photographer "last week."
According to actor R.C. Everback, Eddie was actually supposed to be in the first movie but was nixed.
Back in 2018, Everback posted a throwback photo that showed him on the set with Simmons as Jameson.
In September 2021, the actor tweeted a photo showing him along with the "original casting reference cartoon" of Eddie. Everback said that his scenes with Maguire, Simmons, Bill Nunn, and Elizabeth Banks (Betty Brant) "got cut" from the first film.
Dr. Connors, who becomes the Spidey villain known as Lizard in the comics, is mentioned in passing.
In a conversation with his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), Peter says that he was late for work again and Dr. Connors fired him.
Fans don't actually get to meet Connors until "Spider-Man 2." In the movie, he's played by Dylan Baker and is one of Peter's teachers in college. He also appears in "Spider-Man 3" and analyzes a sample of Venom for Peter.
Stan Lee, who created Spider-Man in the comics with illustrator Steve Ditko, has a cameo as a scared festival attendee.
He appears at Oscorp's Unity Day Festival in Times Square, which is crashed by Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) as the Green Goblin.
Norman Osborn has straight teeth throughout the movie. But when he talks to his Goblin persona in the mirror, you can see the evil version of him has uneven teeth.
Willen Dafoe wears dental prosthetics when he portrays Norman in the movie, but his Goblin person has the actor's natural, imperfect teeth.
MJ calls Peter "tiger" during a conversation on the street.
Peter takes two buses and a cab to track down MJ in the city as she leaves an audition. They talk for a bit, with MJ implying that Peter is interested in how things are going with her and Harry because he likes her.
As it starts raining, MJ says, "I better run Tiger" — which is a nod to the comics.
In "The Amazing Spider-Man No. 42," Peter finally meets MJ face-to-face and the first thing she says to him is: "Face it, Tiger… you just hit the jackpot!"
MJ continues calling Peter "tiger" in the comics and Zendaya, who plays the MCU's version of MJ, referenced the line in an Instagram caption.
MJ wears a black dress for Thanksgiving, per Harry's earlier suggestion since Norman loves the color and Harry wants to impress his father.
At the Unity Day Festival earlier, Harry is confused as to why MJ chose a floral outfit instead of a black dress. When she eventually meets Norman for the first time at Thanksgiving, MJ wears a dress in the color that Harry suggested.
Also at Thanksgiving, Peter and Norman are dressed in their foes' colors, while Harry's outfit incorporates the colors of both Spider-Man and Green Goblin.
Peter wears a light green shirt, Norman wears a blue shirt with a red tie, and Harry wears a dark green shirt with a burgundy tie.
The table next to May's hospital bed has the same family photo that Peter has in his bedroom.
May gets hospitalized after the Green Goblin interrupts her nightly prayers and attacks her.
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