Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. It also marks the final acting appearance of Cliff Robertson before his retirement from acting in the same year and his subsequent death in 2011. Set a year after the events of Spider-Man 2, the film follows Peter Parker as he prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson, while facing Uncle Ben's true killer, Flint Marko, who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident, and Harry Osborn, his former best friend, who is now aware of Peter's identity and seeks to avenge his father; his job at the Daily Bugle is threatened by the presence of a rival photographer named Eddie Brock. Peter also faces his greatest challenge when he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote that increases his abilities but amplifies his anger and other negative traits.