Spider-Man Fans React To Homophobic Joke Cut From Classic Film

Tobey Maguire played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” trilogy. The trilogy also starred starred Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson and Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and was released between 2002 and 2007. “Spider-Man” fans celebrated after a controversial line in the 2002 superhero flick was removed from a recent airing on Britain’s ITV.

A homophobic scene in which Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker abuses another character during a wrestling battle was substantially scrapped by the television network. Peter-as-Spider-Man dons a low-budget replica of his red-and-blue outfit and tells the other person he’s ready to fight in the moment.

That’s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?

ITV reduced the controversial line to: “That’s a cute outfit.” The switch was captured in a viral Twitter video. The cut of the script’s line was praised by viewers and they flocked to Twitter to react and celebrate.

One user wrote: “THEY REMOVED PETER PARKER’S HOMOPHOBIA.”

Another chimed in: “Why cut the joke out entirely? Why not try to change it somehow? I threw this together pretty quick, changes it from homophobic joke to classic ‘your mom’ joke.”

A third one wrote: “I am glad they changed it. BUT they could have at least changed the line to “did your MOM pick it out for you.”

A fourth one noted: “When the punchline is gay marriage it’s not really a good punchline.”

A fifth one pointed out: “British TV network ITV removed the vaguely homophobic line Spider-Man says to Bonesaw in the first Raimi film. And nothing of value was lost.”

Maguire played the titular hero in Sam Raimi’s version of the Marvel series for three films released between 2002 and 2007, spanning a five-year period. Last year’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” saw the actor reprise his Spider-Man role from “The Great Gatsby.”

He teamed up with Tom Holland, the most recent actor to play the web-slinger, and Andrew Garfield, who wore the Spider-Man suit in two films released in 2012 and 2014. The three Spider-Men all made an appearance in the MCU action-adventure, surprising fans with their unexpected appearance. The trio even recreated the infamous “Spider-Man pointing” meme, with them dressed in their costumes and pointing at each other.

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