6. Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) - Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy
Tobey Maguire is without question instrumental in making the superhero movie as popular as it now is. While X-Men led the pack in bringing comic book adaptations to audiences, it was 2002's Spider-Man that became one of the first true mammoth hits of the genre, making an absurd $821 million at the global box office. Maguire's portrayal may have dimmed a little now that Andrew Garfield has had a good pop at the character (despite how bad his movies have been), but it was the original Peter Parker who endeared millions of viewers to the character in the first place, and made him a household name forever more. Maguire did what any good superhero portrayal does: he perfected the art of duality, mastering the timid yet likeable nerd that is Peter Parker, while also harnessing the more assured, determined Spider-Man. Maguire and Raimi took us on a journey throughout the Spider-Man series, and while Maguire had to suffer through the indignity of Spider-Man 3, at least he had two great movies of strong character development and awesome web-slinging.