Meaning
What does Bully Maguire mean?
Bully Maguire refers to a series of video parodies and remixes, featuring Tobey Maguire in his Venom-infected form from Spider-Man 3.
This persona of the character Peter Parker is mean, arrogant and confrontational, and is often referenced online as Emo Peter Parker, aka. “Bully Maguire”.
The parodies depict “Bully Maguire” terrorizing characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a series of humorous edits.
Apart from video parodies, the meme may be encountered in photoshop image macros as well as reaction GIFs.
Origin
What's the origin of Bully Maguire?
Spider-Man 3 premiered in the United States on April 30th, 2007, depicting Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man (portrayed by Tobey Maguire) getting infected by Venom, turning into a weird emo/goth version of himself, acting in a cringe, overconfident way.
A montage in the movie depicts the post-transition Spidey dancing to the music of James Brown, while acting somewhere on the border of confidence and scumbagery.
The phrase “Bully Maguire” was first featured in the “AVENGERS INFINITY WAR Weird Trailer”, uploaded to YouTube by Aldo Jones on February 18th, 2018.
In the video, “Bully Maguire” is seen throwing the Tom Holland Spider-Man away, while having his moniker written out on screen.
The meme would turn to be a popular trope in later Weird Trailers of Aldo Jones.
Spread & Usage
How did Bully Maguire spread?
“Bully Maguire” began turning into a popular YouTube parody theme in 2019, spawning several uploads and edits.
In 2020, the meme also started emerging on Twitter and Reddit posts, gaining a lot of popularity, both in the original video parody format, as well as image macros and reaction GIFs.
“Bully Maguire” also popularized the remix of James Brown’s “People Get Up And Drive Your Funky Soul”.
The character was edited to other iconic memes, such as the Dancing Joker as well as Luke, I Am Your Father.
The meme peaked in December 2021, following a YouTube upload by Matan Animation Studios, titled “Bully Maguire Bullies Andrew Garfield”, mixing scenes from both Spider-Man universes.