7 Most Overrated Comic Book Movie Performances

3. Andrew Garfield - Spider-Man - The Amazing Spider-Man/The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Imagine my shock when the news came that Spider-Man was to be rebooted again and a whopping 25,000 people signed a petition in order to keep Andrew Garfield in the lead role. Had we all seen the same movie? Didn't everyone agree that Garfield's casting had been a well-intentioned mistake, guys? Why bother to keep him around?

When I first heard that Andrew Garfield (who I'd deemed to be "very awesome" after his memorable turn in David Fincher's The Social Network) had been cast as the new Spider-Man in the wake of Spider-Man 3's failings, I was overjoyed. Here was an actor who would gel with the role in all the right ways, thus ensuring that the rebooted franchise had a proper, well-fitting actor leading the proceedings.

It's in my opinion that he never lived up to the hype, though; the movies were relatively lackluster affairs, and Garfield - a guy who had once seemed so perfect - came across as a relatively flat and forgettable Peter Parker. He lacked personality, and - despite appearing in two whole movies - he was never made to feel like a believable human beings. That's not all Garfield's fault, of course; the scripts weren't up to scratch, and Garfield proved too old for the role. Also: they made his Peter Parker into a skateboarding science dude. What the?

Still, by way of that petition, it was brought to my attention that 25,000 or more people have overvalued Garfield's turn as Peter Parker; his take lacked any coherence, and proved inferior to even that of Tobey Maguire (yep - I'm serious). To place him above Maguire, as so many fans do nowadays, feels like a huge oversight. McGuire, at least, felt like an essential part of the Spider-Man films; Garfield never did. He was just "there."

Most importantly, it's good thing that Garfield gets to move on - he was wasted here in a role that didn't allow him to breathe or stretch his legs.