Spider-Man: No Way Home is arguably the best crossover event in the MCU. The 2021 film puts current Spidey Tom Holland with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire to represent three generations of cinematic Spider-Men.

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Suffice it to say, theatergoers were shocked when the latter two actors appeared on screen. This led Redditor phantom_avenger to investigate which one got the bigger reaction. Their question, posed in r/marvelstudios, has over 4,600 upvotes and 446 comments—and counting! Although it’s not unanimous, many responders have cited Maguire.

Comment from discussion Maximus361’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion BEERDEV’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion FrankReynoldsCPA’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Maguire was the first actor to play Spidey in an American feature film, 2002’s Spider-Man, and continued until 2007’s Spider-Man 3. Andrew Garfield took over the webshooters in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Garfield made enough of a mark to get a bigger ovation in quite a few theaters.

Comment from discussion MisterSims90’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion shavingcream97’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion shavingcream97’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Charlie Cox’s cameo as Matt Murdock (AKA Daredevil from the Netflix series of the same name) also got some big pops, according to responders who decided to give Cox his due even though he wasn’t part of the question.

Comment from discussion JoeCo15’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion bonkava’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Of course, Cox was a distant third, with some Redditors lamenting that he didn’t get any reaction during their screenings.

Comment from discussion IAmRedditsDad’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

However, one Redditor recalled that he got the biggest reaction from a single audience member.

Comment from discussion alexxerth’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

Comment from discussion rocker2014’s comment from discussion "Which one of these two got the biggest reaction, depending on the theatre you were at? For me, Maguire got the biggest reaction. I even heard someone crying tears of joy.".

There you have it: the reactions were generally proportional to the nostalgia—the longer ago the actor played the superhero, the bigger the pop. Fittingly, the actors appeared in the film in reverse order to how they entered the cinematic universe, enabling the hype to build and climax with Maguire’s introduction.