Social media influencer group Full Squad Gaming set up a Spider-Man Kissing Booth between Barney’s Beanery and Laurel Supply in West Hollywood Thursday night to celebrate Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s premiere.
The activation drew crowds to the sidewalk outside the luxury grocery store, where participants could either kiss or slap Spider-Man hanging upside down to recreate the iconic 2002 film’s upside-down kiss scene.
Tanner Voss, a producer for the group, explained the setup to observers.
“We asked them if they want to kiss or slap,” Voss said. “They reveal the mask halfway down, just like the iconic scene in the first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire. Most of them are slapping, and Julian’s kind of going through it tonight–but we’ve had one successful kiss, and it’s been really fun so far.”
The crowd kept growing as word spread.
Curious onlookers gathered from the sidewalk and nearby tables at Barney’s Beanery as the crowd grew steadily throughout the evening.
During a visit to document the moment, the hanging Spider-Man was kissed, licked by a dog, and slapped several times.
The activation drew multiple types of interactions.
Some participants embraced the romantic angle of the iconic scene, while others chose the more combative approach offered by Voss and his team.
The mood remained lighthearted despite mixed results.
Participants had specifically been given the choice of either kissing or slapping Spider-Man, who hung upside down to recreate the upside-down kiss from the 2002 Spider-Man film.
The venue became a natural gathering spot for the evening’s crowd.
Most participants chose to slap rather than kiss the hanging performer, according to Voss’s account of the night’s events.
Voss noted one successful kiss occurred early in the booth’s run.
The one-time activation celebrated the nationwide premiere of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which opened Friday.
The performers recreated the famous upside-down kiss between Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) from the 2002 film Spider-Man.
The reference point was the original 2002 film’s most iconic romantic moment.
In the viral moment that inspired this street activation, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man hung suspended upside down while Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane kissed him, her hands framing his face—one of cinema’s most memorable superhero romance scenes.
That image became the template for Full Squad Gaming’s booth, with willing participants taking turns as the character doing the kissing or slapping while the performer remained inverted.
The recreation allowed fans and curious passersby to inhabit the romantic fantasy themselves, suspended in the moment if only for seconds.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters nationwide Friday, July 31.