In less than 20 years, we have seen five live action theatrical Spider-Man releases -- not including his supporting appearances in other Marvel Cinematic Universe films -- and three actors to have played the webslinger on the big screen: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and our current friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Tom Holland. Despite only having two films as Spider-Man under his belt so far -- the third in Avengers: Infinity War -- some are already trying to hail Tom Holland as the best Spider-Man yet.

Looking at the work he has put into the role so far, it is hard to argue with them. Holland has made for a superb Spider-Man, but that does not mean we still don't fantasize about some of the actors who almost snagged the part from under his feet. Granted, looking back at actors who have allegedly tried to play Spider-Man since the '90s -- or at the very least have been rumored to be in the running -- we're glad that Tom Holland is our Spider-Man because there are a lot of worse options. Then again, there are also a lot of better options, too. Here are some examples of actors who would have made for a better Spider-Man, and those would have been worse.

15 BETTER: DYLAN O'BRIEN

In addition to starring in The Maze Runner franchise, Dylan O'Brien is best recognized as Stiles from Teen Wolf. It would be an understatement to say that Teen Wolf was far from the best show on the planet, but O'Brien took whatever material he was given and played it with flying colors, and often stole the show. On Teen Wolf, Stiles was always an incredibly smart -- yet painfully awkward -- dork who is quick to spew a few humorous wisecracks every minute of the day.

That is, essentially, Peter Parker in a nutshell. O'Brien would have made for a pitch perfect Spider-Man. While there were rumors -- and a fake YouTube trailer that went viral -- suggesting that O'Brien was in contention for the role, O'Brien revealed in a Celebified interview that he wouldn't even be able to play the part if asked due to his Teen Wolf commitments.

14 WORSE: ASA BUTTERFIELD

Out of all the possible contenders that The Wrap reported in 2015 to be screen testing for the part of Spider-Man, the role reportedly came down to two finalists: Tom Holland and Asa Butterfield. Holland won them over, and frankly, was the best choice between the two. This is no diss to Butterfield, who has proven time and time again that he is a great dramatic actor.

The key word here is "dramatic." Butterfield has yet to ever give a performance that displays an example of comedic timing or an ounce of wit. There is nothing wrong with being a serious actor, but when playing Spider-Man, an actor needs to be funny, charismatic, and quick-witted. Asa Butterfield fails to check off any of those necessary boxes.

13 BETTER: CHARLIE ROWE

It is very likely that not a single one of readers know the name Charlie Rowe, but they should. For his young age, Rowe is a tremendous actor of his craft. He displayed this craft best on the short lived 2014-2015 series Red Band Society, where he starred as a rebellious yet whimsical cancer patient.

If Rowe was able to take a dreary subject like cancer and turn it into a funny and lovable character, imagine what he could have done in the role of Spider-Man, a character who is always supposed to be funny and is already universally loved. It was reported by The Wrap back in 2015 that Rowe screen tested opposite Robert Downey Jr. to play Spider-Man. While he didn't get it, the thought of seeing him in the part is enticing to imagine.

12 WORSE: FREDDIE PRINZE JR. 

Back when Sony first brought Sam Raimi on-board to direct Spider-Man back in 2000, rumors swirled that Freddie Prinze Jr. was the studio's top choice to play the title character. Which, considering his success at the time -- box office hits like She's All That and I Know What You Did Last Summer -- it makes sense.

Turns out the rumors were true, as Prinze would confirm in a Howard Stern interview that he was supposed to play Spider-Man until Raimi decided that he would rather work with Tobey Maguire. No offense to Prinze, we are sure he's a nice guy, God bless him -- but he has all the charm and wit of a stale piece of overproduced cardboard. We'd prefer not see him play Spidey then, now, or in the future.

11 BETTER: HEATH LEDGER

Heath Ledger will forever be remembered for his posthumous Oscar winning portrayal of classic Batman supervillain The Joker in The Dark Knight, but some years prior, he almost played beloved superhero Spider-Man. Ledger's former agent, Steve Alexander, once told Entertainment Weekly that Ledger was one of the studio's top choices to play Spider-Man when Sam Raimi was first given the reigns as director in 2000.

Because he knew little to nothing about the character and felt uncomfortable with the prospect of "taking somebody else's dream away," Ledger declined the studio's offer. We commend Ledger for honorably stepping down from a part he had no understanding of, but knowing what he kind of powerhouse actor he was, we think he'd would've made quite a solid Spidey.

10 WORSE: LIAM JAMES

In 2015, TheWrap released several names that Hollywood was scouting to play Spider-Man for a new franchise shared with Marvel. One of those names was Liam James, who is best remembered for playing a young Shawn Spencer on Psych and for starring in The Way, Way Back as Duncan. In The Way, Way Back, he did a perfect job at portraying an awkward young teenager during his high school phase, but beyond that, we can't see any merit in seeing James as Spider-Man.

Yes, Peter Parker is an awkward high schooler, but he is also a clever genius with some humor to his personality. In most of James's performances, he has no personality. It's no fault of his acting ability -- that comes with playing kids still trying to "find" themselves -- but he has proven to us that he should play Spidey.

9 BETTER: JIM STURGESS

Back in the late '00s when Sony was still looking for a new actor to helm their Amazing Spider-Man franchise, actor/director Noel Clarke "spilled the beans" in a tweet alleging that Jim Sturgess had just snagged himself the job as America's new Spider-Man. This allegation appeared to be confirmed when actor Arnold Oceng claimed to have gotten the "inside scoop" that the rumors were correct.

As it turns out, while Sturgess seems to have at least been offered the part, it was Andrew Garfield who actually won over the role. In all truth, Sturgess actually is not a bad choice at all to play Spider-Man. He proved in films like One Day and 21 that he can pull off immense charm for Spider-Man and the vulnerability that comes with playing Peter Parker.

8 WORSE: MICHAEL JACKSON

In a 2012 Moviefone interview, Stan Lee talked about how Michael Jackson almost bought Marvel just so that he could play Spider-Man back in the late '90s. For a number of reasons, MJ's plans didn't fall through. While we have to admire the ambition that Michael Jackson had to play Spider-Man and how far he wanted to go just to play him, we are so glad that those plans fell apart like they did.

We love Michael Jackson as much as the next flock, but he was never a good actor. There's a reason why Jackson only has one major acting role to his credit -- Scarecrow in The Wiz -- and it's because he was a terrible actor. Michael Jackson will always be the King of Pop, but an actor he was not.

7 BETTER: NAT WOLFF

When The Wrap reported Nat Wolff as one of the names in the running to play Spider-Man a couple years ago, the news came just a year removed from his breakout supporting role as Isaac -- a blind teenager -- in The Fault of Our Stars. Shortly after the news broke, he starred in Paper Towns, another favorite among teens.

Wolff certainly already had the fanbase that would have been able to bring the teen demographics to Spider-Man had he won the part. He also has the likable charm, wit, vulnerability, and humor that is essential for any actor playing the role of Spider-Man. He checks off all the boxes necessary for the part, and if Tom Holland did not get it, we think Wolff would have been a pitch perfect fit for the spandex.

6 WORSE: CHARLIE SHEEN

During Charlie Sheen's guest appearance on Jay Mohr's podcast, Mohr Stories, he claimed that he tried to get Spider-Man adapted to the big screen back when he was a young actor with an office at Orion headquarters. Thankfully, when he took his idea to the studio heads at Orion, they talked him out of it by convincing him that there was no future in comic book movies.

It's hard enough to try and imagine Sheen in the role, and we are positive that seeing him in action in the red and blue suit would be horrendous. Rather than holding the amusing charm necessary for Spider-Man, Sheen always had the "charm" of a manic serial killer anxious to start his next killing spree after smoking a cig.

5 BETTER: TOM CRUISE

The Hyperion published book Spider-Man Confidential told us that back in the '90s, when Marvel was still trying to get a Spider-Man movie adaptation off the ground, Joseph Zito -- director of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter -- was attached to direct. When working Cannon Films on the project, a frontrunner that the studio had in mind for the title role was Tom Cruise, at a time when he was fresh off the heels of Top Gun.

All plans fell apart when Cannon lost a huge chunk of money on Superman IV, but just imagine Cruise in the role. This is future three time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise we are talking about in the role of everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. There is no doubt in our minds that Cruise would have absolutely killed in as the webslinger.

4 WORSE: EDWARD FURLONG

In 1992, James Cameron decided to follow up the mega-success of Terminator 2: Judgement Day by convincing the Carolco studio to option the rights of Spider-Man. Per an LA Times interview with Ted Newsom, who wrote the film's script treatment, the film would have been a shockingly profane action romp that would have saw Spidey battle Electro and Sandman atop the World Trade Center, and getting frisky with Mary Jane on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Before Cameron gave up on the project, he wanted to bring in Edward Furlong after they worked well together on Terminator 2. Furlong always fell into that niche of playing whiny, cocky kids. Neither are strong qualities for Spidey, and he never carried the whimsical charm that is necessary for playing Spider-Man.

3 BETTER: LEONARDO DICAPRIO

In a 2015 interview with ShortList, Leonardo DiCaprio talked about all of the big Hollywood roles that he turned down. Including as Batman's sidekick Robin, Anakin Skywalker, and even Spider-Man. DiCaprio was approached to play Peter Parker, but he declined simply because he "didn't feel ready to put on that suit." DiCaprio in a superhero movie is an interesting concept in itself and deters from his usual line of work. However, DiCaprio tends to do a swell job in any role that he is given.

Many would argue that Leonardo DiCaprio just may be the very best actor that Hollywood has under its nose right now, and would have given no less than 110% when playing Peter Parker, regardless of whatever comic book movie stigmas existed back then.

2 WORSE: BRUCE CAMPBELL

Bruce Campbell was the cameo king of the original Spider-Man trilogy, but some thought he might be playing the star. When Sony brought Sam Raimi on their team to direct the first live action Spider-Man movie, rumors started to circulate suggesting that Raimi had plans to get his Evil Dead star, Bruce Campbell, to play Spider-Man, even though Campbell was about 20 years passed his prime to play a high schooler. These rumors were not true at all.

Truth is, it wouldn't have worked anyway since Bruce Campbell is just too cool to play Spider-Man. From the moment he first stepped onto celluloid, Bruce Campbell always exuded cool. Peter Parker, the man underneath Spidey's mask, was never cool. Parker was always penciled in as the pencil necked geek that guys like Campbell would stuff into a locker.

1  BETTER: TIMOTHEE CHALAMET

Alongside Tom Holland, Timothee Chalamet was one of the several names reported by The Wrap to be in contention to play Spider-Man for the MCU back in 2015. Obviously, the part went to Holland, but Chalamet could have possibly brought a level of gravitas and depth to Spider-Man that Tom Holland has yet to bring.

As with all of these "best" entries, we're not trying to throw any shade toward Holland, but the fact of the matter is that Chalamet was phenomenal in Call Me By Your Name. The film made him the youngest actor to be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. If he could do that for a wee little indie film, imagine what he could have done as Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.