Here's One Way the Andrew Garfield Films Influenced 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Andrew Garfield's stint as Spider-Man only survived through two films before Marvel Studios struck a deal with Sony Pictures to incorporate a new iteration of the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite many films overlooking the events of The Amazing Spider-Man, the franchise did have an unexpected influence on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its depiction of the Green Goblin.

In Garfield's 2012 film, Spider-Man battled a monstrous Curt Connors after he transformed into The Lizard. The Spider-Verse filmmakers wanted to similarly explore a more grotesque version of Green Goblin, yet they increased the scale of the character as to not resemble what was seen in The Amazing Spider-Man.

"We already saw Andrew Garfield fight a lizard, so we thought it would be cool to have Spider-Man fight a Godzilla-like monster. We only had him for this one scene before he blows up, so the filmmakers wanted to have as much fun with him as possible," production designer Justin K. Thompson revealed in the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie book. "They wanted to introduce him like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. The audiences can see his outline getting closer, and he's this giant figure looming over them. Miles is in awe and just trying not to get crushed by the monstrous Green Goblin that Spider-Man is fighting. It's an amazing cinematic scene that takes full advantage of making him into a giant monster."

Financially speaking, Garfield's turns as the Wall-Crawler were relatively successful, yet audiences and critics failed to connect with this franchise as strongly as the Tobey Maguire-starring films. Bigger complaints about the series were that its existence in the first place felt as though it was financially motivated as opposed to an opportunity to tell a new story with the character.

Following The Amazing Spider-Man 2, there were reports that either another sequel or a Sinister Six spinoff would take shape, only for the announcement that Spider-Man would appear in the MCU seemingly killing off those plans.

After parting ways with the character, Garfield revealed to The Wrap that his experiences on those films represented "a different set of values and a different hierarchy of priorities. And we all know what those are. I struggled with that. I wasn't having the total experience that I remembered having."

Fans can check out Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters now.

Do you wish that Garfield's films were given more representation in the history of Spider-Man? Let us know in the comments below!