For those to whom numbers count, the hotly anticipated Spider-Man 3 is a fair bet to emerge as the #1 movie of the summer, when competition is stiffest. Both Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (which open later the same month) will surely offer a formidable challenge, considering their respective franchises have culled over $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion worldwide (compared to Spider-Man’s $1.6 billion). But look for S3 to carry the day.

Sam Raimi once again takes the director’s chair for perhaps the last of the well-regarded superhero saga, known for its strong characterizations and intimate drama. “Throughout each film it’s become more collaborative,” says Kirsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane, the aspiring actress who finds herself romantically committed to Peter Parker despite his devotion to his duties as Spider-Man. “And with this last one it’s just been three individuals coming together.”


Kirsten Dunst

She is speaking of herself, Toby Maguire (who reprises his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man), and director Raimi, who became fast friends when the first film went into production. The screenplay is by Ivan Raimi (the director’s brother) and Alvin Sargent from a screen story by Ivan Raimi, based on Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s wildly popular comic books, which reach all the way back to 1962.

As in the two previous outings, it’s the human drama that gives the film its forward momentum. “They’re all human beings, and they all have sin within them,” explains Sam Raimi. “The best they can do is not to strive for vengeance but to seek forgiveness.”

Indeed, themes of vengeance and forgiveness have been allowed to run their course in all three Spider-Man movies, making the series one of the most philosophically (and theologically) interesting of its breed. “It’s very true to the comic books. So, we’re trying to pay tribute to those books.”


Bryce Dallas Howard

“I think it’s amazing,” says Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s hot-to-trot classmate who develops a crush on his superhero counterpart. “There’s this seemingly ordinary character that has every kind of problem a person can have, and he gets these extraordinary powers and uses them solely for contribution to others.” Indeed, there’s something poignant about Peter returning home every night to his run-down hovel of an apartment after delivering the city from danger—a humble homecoming for so formidable a hero.

“I think there are no bad guys in this movie,” says Thomas Hayden Church, who plays Sandman, one of two new villains to appear in S3. “I think they come into these movies with a value system intact that’s corrupted by ambition or lust, or, in the case of Sandman, the ferocity of his own good intentions.”


Thomas Hayden Church

Can the same be said of Venom, the alien parasite that transforms Daily Bugle photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) into one of the most revered comic book villains of all time? The answer to that question is answered during Spider-Man 3’s breathless and emotionally complex climax.

Regarding Peter’s spiritual struggles (between love and duty, vengeance and forgiveness, power and responsibility), Maguire holds a considered opinion. “There’s definitely deep remorse on Peter’s part. He feels like he’s lost his way and feels really humbled. But I don’t really think of him in religious terms. More like psychological and emotional ones.”


Toby Maguire

But when asked about his feelings toward spiders, Maguire had a more direct answer: “I like them. I respect their place in the world.”

Spider-Man 3 opens May 4.