10 Reasons Why Tobey Maguire Is STILL The Best On-Screen Spider-Man

We can’t lie. Mysterio is a GREAT villain, and nothing can take away from his amazing on-screen trickery and deception. But there’s something about the Raimi villains that sets them apart from even the best of the new baddies, and that is their connection to Peter.

Norman Osborn, the brilliant Green Goblin, is the father of Peter’s best friend - a social dynamic which forces Peter to wrestle with his love for Harry and his oath to responsibility.

Otto Octavius, before he becomes Doctor Octopus, is an academic hero of Peter’s, and they share common values before his unfortunate turn to evil. When they come to blows, that emotive conflict shines through in a big way.

For Holland and Garfield, their villains are largely independent from Peter’s life, and are well on the path to evil by the time they face one another.

Holland’s villains have a problem with Tony Stark, not Peter himself, and this takes away from the personality of their conflicts. Electro is a lonely man with a problem with everyone, so that doesn’t bode well for Garfield, either.

Yes, the Vulture is Lizzy’s dad, but she is only Holland's dance date at the end of the day. When Spider-Man squares off against these villains, he is fighting men who he knows only as adversaries and relative strangers, not people who mean anything to him.