Stan Lee Talks Which Film Spider-Man Is His Fav, Batfleck Controversy

Which film Spider-Man was the best, according to the character’s own creator?

Comic legend Stan Lee recently sat down with The Huffington Post to promote his Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest this year, which will give two fans the opportunity to work with Marvel Studios on the upcoming Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron film. It’s all very fun and you can read about it / enter here.

But it’s when HuffPo asked about Stan Lee’s favorite film incarnation of his iconic character Spider-Man that things started getting interesting. Lee, ever the gentleman, diplomatically responded:

“The two who played it were both my favorite, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. I thought they were both superb. They were both different, and yet each one portrayed Peter Parker and Spider-Man perfectly.”

He also said that fan perception of each portrayal was negative prior to the release of their respective films.

“Well, the fans were unhappy with Tobey until they saw him, and then they loved him. They were equally unhappy with Andrew until they saw him, and then they loved him,” he said.

Of course, this prompted a question about Ben Affleck’s casting as Batman in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel, a decision that has resulted in heavy controversy and criticism. Lee takes a moderate approach, and urges fans to wait and see.

“I think Ben Affleck is a good actor, and I really don’t see any reason why he couldn’t do a good job as Batman,” he said.

You can read the entire interview with Stan Lee, in which he also shares which Marvel film cameo is his favorite, here.