This article is going to contain spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home. This means we’re going to talk about more than just confirmations of the rumors heading into the films but also some of the details that require a close look at the film. It’s all going to be for one reason: explaining why Andrew Garfield should get a third standalone film as Spider-Man in the Amazing line of Spider-Man movies. The actor stood out when we reprising his role as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home and it opened the door for an interesting new tale with this actor’s version of the Marvel hero.
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First of all, let’s address the insanity that is Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s cast. This movie assembled Tobey Maguire, Andrew, Garfield, Tom Holland, and an ensemble of villains from their respective Spider-Man franchises for the ultimate blast of legacy and culmination. In many ways, the film enacts moments and stories that fans had basically written themselves in wishing for the characters to come back which is part of the reason why the film has been such a success, both in reactions to and on its fast journey to a billion dollar box office haul.
The success of No Way Home is quite interesting in the first place. A movie with all three Spider-Man actors should always have been a success but this box office monster has all of the right ingredients. Sony once ended the Maguire saga and cancelled Spider-Man 4 in favor of a reboot with Garfield. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and a series of spinoff films were scrapped years later in favor of a collaboration with Disney’s Marvel Studios where Holland stepped into the part. Prior to this collaboration, Spider-Man movies were trending in the wrong direction at the box office. Years later, the collaboration has lead to a massive success and everything moviegoers like about all three of those franchises with the additional touch of Marvel’s Doctor Strange character was thrown into one super-entertaining flick. It’s an unprecedented level or cooperation between two major film studios.
A common highlight cited by fans in the No Way Home film crowded with great returns and moments: Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-Man. While the actor’s Amazing movies are not exactly hailed as living up to such the Amazing title, Garfield is rarely the subject of criticisms for those films. Now, he’s brought a brilliant energy to No Way Home and delivered one of the film’s most emotional moments when his character caught Zendaya’s MJ, offering a bit of redemption or closure for the character who has lost his Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This came after Garfield’s Peter Parker opened up about becoming vengeful in the wake of losing Gwen, ultimately meeting a Maguire version who now says he is, “Trying to do better,” and a Holland version that was bent of rescuing enemies, even those responsible for his pain. It’s al reinvigorated an interest in Garfield’s version of the character.
It feels like the stage is set for Garfield’s next outing, should Sony want to bring him back and Garfield still have interest in playing the part. He met other versions of himself and saw how they handle grief while also hearing that there might be hope for a happy ending in his personal life, after all (Maguire informed him that him and Mary Jane made things work, in his universe). The stories are out there for this one; Garfield’s character will have to emotionally move on from the loss of Gwen and his actions in the time which has since passed, Tom Hardy’s Venom is on the table as an option for an exciting crossover, and the many Spider-Man villains which appeared as white silhouettes when the multiverse started to rip open in No Way Home (more on that in our breakdown video) are available for Sony to use.
Such decision will be motivated by box office dollars, though. The Amazing Spider-Man made more money than its sequel. In the time which has passed, appreciation for Garfield’s work in the part has aged well over time and reached a peak with his role in No Way Home. Garfield’s Peter Parker commuting to another universe attached a lot of new fans to the character and his story (The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was trending the weekend of No Way Home‘s release). As it stands now, Sony and Marvel Studios will have Spider-Man appear in one more Disney-owned Marvel film before they are back to the drawing board in regards to their future together.
Assuming an Amazing Spider-Man 3 would not turn Disney off to the idea of having a Holland-portrayed Spider-Man in the MCU’s main canon universe while Garfield and/or Maguire portray Spider-Man in Sony-controlled films, Sony (which took on the cinematic rights to the wallcrawler a few decades ago) can go ahead and tell their own story. In fact, Sony can do do that with or without Disney’s input but if the studio is interested in collaborating with Disney in the future for more billion-dollar films where the vast majority of that box office haul comes to them, they might want to consider the other studio’s stance (especially considering Holland seems mostly interested in continuing the role if it is part of the Disney-owned MCU).
“It’s reciprocal. So we lend one, and they lend one, and that’s how Benedict [Cumberbatch] is in this movie,” Sony’s CEO Tom Rothman explained to ComicBook.com at the No Way Home premiere. “So we have one more ‘lend back’ that’s committed. But the thing that I can say, and this actually the accurate scoop on this, which is that the two companies have a terrific working relationship. I think it’s a mutual hope that that would continue. But there really isn’t anything definitive at this moment, because the truth of the matter is, we gotta ride [Spider-Man: No Way Home] and see what happens.”
Another simple (and optimistic, as a fan) way to look at it is like this: if DC Comics movies can have multiple people playing Batman (the franchise’s biggest character) in separate cinematic franchises, why can’t Marvel have that with Spider-Man? The Batman will introduce Robert Pattinson’s version of Batman in a brand new and fresh canon while the Zack Snyder-introduced Ben Affleck version of the character is set to appear in The Flash, where Michael Keaton will be reprising his role as the Caped Crusader for the same film before going on to play it again in Batgirl. The MCU has undoubtedly been more organized the DC movies but has also now earned the trust and understanding from its audience for separate universes’ stories to be told simultaneously.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an incredible achievement and the interconnectivity of all of the popular characters is a huge reason moviegoers keep coming back to it. With the multiverse opening up and Sony showing interest in using the Marvel properties it has access to (see: Venom, Morbius, Jackpot, and more), a third Amazing Spider-Man film with Garfield seems to fit the mold Sony in what is referred to as “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.” Can’t have a Spider-Man Universe without a Spider-Man, right? Perhaps Garfield’s franchise could still be up for its spinoffs and interconnected universe separate from the main MCU continuity, after all.
This would serve the fans who want Holland’s Spider-Man to continue to appear alongside Avengers heroes and would like to see a Spider-Man crossover with the likes of Morbius and Venom, as well as offer Sony an outlet to create its own films while continuing to collaborate with Disney and Marvel Studios for crossovers and multiverse stories which could one day bring them all together, again. Surely, this is a simplification of what may have to happen with the future of Spider-Man movies when so many box office dollars and rights are involved but it’s still a fun thought, nonetheless. Who would’ve thought it possible to see Maguire, Garfield, and Holland together as Spider-Man, in the first place?
Would you like to see Andrew Garfield return as Spider-Man? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram or Twitter! Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.
