For some reason, sparks seem to fly as regularly as webs on Spider-Man movie sets. So many Peter
Parkers and their respective love interests have dated in real life, you might believe
they were bitten by a radioactive Cupid. Here's every Spider-Man couple that dated in real life.
2002's "Spider-Man" provided a blueprint for the modern superhero movie,
which arguably makes it one of the most influential films of all time.
Tobey Maguire turned in a winning performance as Peter Parker, and Willem Dafoe was in his
usual fine form as his adversary, the Green Goblin. The action scenes are top-notch,
but the film is probably best remembered for Maguire's upside-down, rain-soaked
kiss with Kirsten Dunst, who played classic Spider-Man love interest, Mary Jane Watson.
It wa s a difficult scene to shoot, but Maguire enjoyed it nonetheless,
while Dunst later revealed that director Sam Raimi wanted the moment to become iconic. He even gave
her a book of famous movie kisses for inspiration. As she recalled on "The Graham Norton Show":
"He was like, 'Let's try make this one as epic as these kisses.'"
According to Raimi, Maguire and Dunst managed to hide their real-life romance from him for a while.
He later told The Sydney Morning Herald that the romance between his stars actually started
sometime in the middle of shooting "Spider-Man," but he had no idea until after the film wrapped.
The first real-life Spider-couple had called it quits by the time everyone got back together
to shoot "Spider-Man 2." When Sam Raimi discovered that Maguire and Dunst were done,
he began to worry about what that might mean for his highly-anticipated sequel.
As he explained to The Sydney Morning Herald:
"I actually had some worries about that. I was concerned they wouldn't
get the same chemistry back, but it was just me worrying."
According to Raimi, both Maguire and Dunst behaved like pros on the follow-up and would work together
again on 2007's "Spider-Man 3," staying friends the whole time. The director even theorized
that the pair trusted each other as actors even more because they'd once been a couple.
Plans for a fourth "Spider-Man" movie starring Maguire and Dunst never came to fruition.
Dunst went on to get engaged to her "Fargo" co-star, Jesse Plemons,
and revealed that they were expecting their second child in March 2021. Meanwhile,
Maguire also has two children with his former partner, jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer.
The appropriately named Marc Webb came in to replace outgoing director Sam Raimi when Sony
decided to start over with Spider-Man. Webb was charged with revitalizing the franchise
after the disappointing "Spider-Man 3," and he had the talented young duo of Andrew Garfield
as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as love interest Gwen Stacy at his disposal. The pair proved to
have great chemistry, both in front of the camera for "The Amazing Spider-Man" and away from it.
Garfield and Stone looked very comfortable in each other's company on "Saturday Night Live"
in late 2011, and in early 2012 the two were spotted smooching in New York City.
According to Garfield, he and Stone made an instant connection when
she came in to screen test with him. As he later told MTV News:
"We got on really well as people, in between [takes]. We'd just mess around,
and I felt, 'Ah, this is different.' I wasn't really aware what was happening
in the screen test ... That was the beginning."
Before long, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had moved into a trendy New York apartment together.
They spent his 29th birthday at Disneyland in 2012, and filmed "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" as
a couple the following year. They looked very much in love as they promoted the
sequel side by side in 2014, but when Stone was nominated for best supporting actress
for her performance in "Birdman" in 2015, she attended the Oscars ceremony without Garfield.
Rumors of a split began to spread like wildfire, and a People magazine source
soon confirmed that they were indeed accurate. The insider said that the A-listers had been,
quote, "privately discussing marriage" at one point, but then decided to take a break
from each other due to demanding schedules. For a while, it seemed equally likely that
they'd pick up where they left off or end the relationship entirely. Sadly, it was the latter.
In the weeks following the Oscars, an Us Weekly source confirmed that the split was
a permanent one. Stone briefly addressed the breakup in a Teen Vogue interview in 2016,
calling Garfield, quote, "someone I still love very much" despite the split. She
married comedian Dave McCary in 2020, and they welcomed a baby girl in 2021.
When Tom Holland was revealed as the next Spider-Man in 2015, there was a lot of pressure
on the young Brit's shoulders as the first Spidey to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Holland went on to nail his debut appearance in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War,"
and his first solo film, 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming," proved just as successful. It was
on the set of "Homecoming" that Holland reportedly fell for his co-star, singer and actress Zendaya.
The former Disney Channel star played MJ, Peter Parker's classmate and eventual love
interest in the film. Like their predecessors before them, Holland and Zendaya reportedly
began seeing each other away from the set, too. Sources told People in the summer of 2017 that,
though the couple was trying to stay private, they'd already started taking vacations together.
"She's awesome, she's super funny in a kinda dark way, and sometimes I catch her looking
at me and I feel like I stood up way too she's coming over just don't say anything!"
Publicly, the two became known to poke fun at the romance rumors, whether they were walking
the red carpet or going head-to-head on a now legendary episode of "Lip Snyc Battle,"
during which Holland put on a corset to perform Rihanna's "Umbrella."
Despite their efforts to downplay the romance, though, Holland and Zendaya's connection just
kept popping up. By the end of 2017, Holland was going out for food with Zendaya and her family.
They remained a hot couple in the eyes of fans through the release of 2019's "Spider-Man:
Far From Home," and in 2021 paparazzi even managed to catch them kissing at a red light.
With the new film "Spider-Man: No Way Home" on the way soon, one thing is clear:
We haven't seen the last of "Tomdaya."
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