Peter Parker (Spider-Man 3)

Peter Benjamin Parker, also known by his superhero alter ego Spider-Man, is a fictional character portrayed by Tobey Maguire that was based on the comic book character of the same name. He was adapted for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film in 2002, later appearing in two sequels, video games and a television series designed to be set within that continuity. He's the main protagonist of the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film series, who later reappeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as a side protagonist.

Unfortunately, in the 3rd film of the trilogy, he was horribly flanderized from being a kind and loving superhero to an unlikable, selfish, insensitive jerk even before he had the symbiote, which would spawn into the Bully Maguire meme.

This article will only talk about his character in the 3rd film.

Why He Was Not Neighborhood Friendly

 * 1) To start it off, he was flanderized from being a loving, kind, "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" to an insensitive and mean-spirited jerk before the symbiote attached itself to him.
 * 2) He neglects Mary Jane (who is no better by the way) twice, one when he fails to reassure her after the critics say they hated her performance or even try to understand her problems and comparing his to her and two when he brushes her offer to be there for him after he finds that Flint Marko was the one who killed his uncle.
 * 3) He goes as far as to kiss Gwen Stacy onstage, forgetting that he already has a girlfriend. Not only that, he uses the same upside-down kiss method that he did with MJ to kiss Gwen, which was dirty and out-of-character for him to do this. The real Peter would never do this. Granted, MJ herself was never the most faithful since she often kissed other guys while dating someone else, as their famous kiss was done while MJ was still dating Harry, and Peter's kiss with Gwen was merely done as a publicity stunt. Nevertheless, it's still off-putting that Peter couldn't understand why MJ would be upset.
 * 4) He goes as far as to dance with Gwen at the restaurant where MJ works just to make her mad, even upsetting Gwen in the process, to which he showed little reaction to it.
 * 5) * To make matters even worse, he downright hits MJ in a fit of rage after the dance while he was taking down bartenders.
 * 6) He is bent-on killing his uncle's real killer after he learned that the one that he encountered in the first film wasn't the real one. Even if it wasn't the real killer, he would still know it was his fault that Ben is dead because of his pettiness to get the wrestling manager back in the first film.
 * 7) As well as MJ and the Sandman/Flint Marko, he is a major asshole towards other characters as well. When his landlord Mr. Ditkovitch asks him about his overdue rent, for example, he yells "YOU'LL GET YOUR RENT WHEN YOU FIX THIS DAMN DOOR!!" at him. How harsh can this possibly be?
 * 8) * Admittedly, he did this while wearing the symbiote suit, and once he removed it, he apologized to Mr. Ditkovitch. In real life, tenants have the right to withhold their rent if the apartment is damaged.
 * 9) When Harry tells him he's the other guy MJ is seeing and even mocking him about kissing MJ, he immediately attacks him. And to add insult to injury, during the fight, he says his deceased father never loved him and he was an embarrassment to him, and then he almost kills Harry by throwing a grenade at him. Granted, Harry threw it at him first, but he still could've dodged it without throwing it back.
 * 10) The scene where he dances in the street, while well choreographed, is immensely cringeworthy and out-of-place, even for this movie.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He was a much better character in the first two films. He massively redeemed himself in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
 * 2) Tobey Maguire still gives a great performance.
 * 3) He still has cool and memorable lines (despite some being cruel), such as:
 * 4) * "That all you got?"
 * 5) * "Stings doesn't it?"
 * 6) * "Look at little Goblin Jr, gonna cry?"
 * 7) * "I'm gonna put some dirt in your eye."
 * 8) * "You're trash, Brock."
 * 9) * "You want forgiveness? Get religion."
 * 10) * "You should've thought of that earlier."
 * 11) * "See ya, chump."
 * 12) * "Find us some shade."
 * 13) * "Double time."
 * 14) * "Now dig on this."
 * 15) * "Take your hand off of me."
 * 16) * “All those tests and nothing!”
 * 17) While he was a major jerk to everyone, he doesn't act that way to Aunt May, and is the only character he acts nice and respectful around and even listens her advices, where she tells Peter that Uncle Ben would never have wanted revenge after being told that his killer, Sandman, was "killed" by Spider-Man and that revenge is like a poison that can turn someone into something ugly.
 * 18) Although he did it under the symbiote suit's influence, Peter was right to call Eddie out for fabricating photos of Spider-Man, exposes him as a fraud and getting him fired.
 * 19) He massively redeems himself towards the end of the film, as he realized how much of a jerk he had been towards his loved ones after he accidentally hit MJ at the restaurant, as he talked to May in his apartment where he stated that he'd done terrible things (after separating from the symbiote suit). He then asks Harry to help him defeat Venom and Sandman (who refuses at first, but after learning about his father's true death, he helps him), saves MJ from falling to her death, redeems Sandman and discards the symbiote for good.
 * 20) The design for Spider-Man's black suit is very well made.

Trivia

 * Over the years, the scene where Peter dances in the club has become more popular, acknowledged as a good scene despite being cringeworthy.
 * He is heavily responsible for spawning an infamous internet meme named after him named Bully Maguire.