No matter how much money Spiderman 3 takes at the box office, it’s more than likely Tobey Maguire won’t be putting the red and blue suit on again. Except maybe for Halloween.

Maguire’s done a great job as Peter Parker, hitting all the right geeky notes, but his contract’s up and he takes himself fairly seriously as an actor, so it’s easy to understand why he’s had enough of leaping around on skyscrapers and what not, and is keen to do something else.

But with Sony seemingly determined to keep going, who will they choose to replace Maguire? The new man has to be young enough to be believable as a teenager, and just oddball enough to be a convincing nerd. Here are a few suggestions:

Jake Gyllenhaal
Was all set to take over on Spider-Man 2 when Maguire’s back was giving him trouble and is already dating Kirtsen Dunst. On the other hand, Dunst is also unlikely to return and could be that Gyllenhaal’s superhero time has passed and he wants to concentrate on more serious stuff.

Elijah Wood
Can definitely look geeky enough, and a decent actor, no arguments. But would he really want to get involved in another massive franchise?

Milo Ventimiglia
“Who?” I hear you say. He plays Peter Petrelli on Heroes with just right mix of floppy fringed mopiness and innate heroism/goodness. Would be a great first blockbuster role for the guy.

CGI
Why not? He’s replaced by CGI for about half the film already.

Topher Grace
Might have been perfect, even looks a bit like Maguire. Unfortunately he’s already playing Venom in Spider-Man 3 so no dice.

Any further suggestions welcome, and good ones will be added to the list.

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