Before Tom Holland became the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man and shattered box office records, Sony tasked Andrew Garfield with following Tobey Maguire’s footsteps in the Amazing Spider-Man reboot. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. The studio envisioned building an entire MCU-esque shared universe around Garfield’s Peter Parker, with multiple follow-ups and spinoffs in the works. However, the franchise met a premature end when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened to a mixed reception, paving the way for Disney and Sony to strike an unprecedented deal. Garfield eventually got some long overdue redemption with his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but he still wonders about The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
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Speaking with The Playlist, Garfield shared that there are still times he thinks about what might have been. “Like, I honestly, it’s something that I do in my idle moments, go, ‘Oh, what could that be like,’ you know,” he said. “Yeah, I get, I go into my seven-year-old imagination,” he continued. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, what would it be? What could it be? What would be fun? What would be healing? What would be joyful?’ And, you know, I haven’t really landed on anything personally yet. But I’m sure that if it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”
Garfield’s candid admission struck a chord with Marvel fans. On social media, many people have shared their emotional reactions to the actor’s quote. “Bro, we think about it every single day too. Sony really robbed us,” wrote one user on X. “[S]ony wasted their best [Spider-Man] actor,” said another. Even though it’s been years since Garfield was headlining the franchise, it’s clear he remains a fan favorite. The general sentiment is that he deserves another shot to star in a Spider-Man movie.
Will The Amazing Spider-Man 3 Ever Happen?
The Amazing Spider-Man series has been making headlines recently. Last week, Shailene Woodley reflected on her experience filming scenes as Mary Jane Watson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a performance that was left on the cutting room floor. Sony intended to have Woodley return for the third installment, but it was never meant to be. As a result, some Marvel fans have been wondering if there’s ever a chance Garfield’s franchise could be revived, giving viewers a chance to see him and Woodley share the screen.
As great as it would be to see Garfield back at the forefront of a Spider-Man movie, the odds of Amazing Spider-Man 3 ever happening are virtually nonexistent. Despite the occasional daydream about it, Garfield himself has said the film is never going to get the green light. That ship has sailed, with Holland’s iteration firmly established as the most popular character in the MCU. Spider-Man: Brand New Day rewrote the box office record book this summer, becoming just the eighth film in history to gross over $2 billion worldwide. Bringing back The Amazing Spider-Man sounds nice on paper, but Sony would rather use the time and resources needed to make a Spider-Man film for a fifth installment starring Holland. The animated Spider-Verse franchise coexists peacefully with the MCU’s live-action films because the difference in medium makes it easier for audiences to compartmentalize. We’ve never seen two ongoing separate live-action blockbuster film franchises for the same superhero before; it’s an issue DC is trying to solve with Batman in the DCU, and Sony probably wants to keep things streamlined with one version.
It’s a shame Garfield’s series was cut short. The Amazing Spider-Man series is an example of a great cast being stuck in mediocre or bad movies. Garfield’s return in No Way Home was so well-received because fans always felt he delivered great performances as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He was just let down by the material around him. Unlike Tobey Maguire, who starred in successful movies that ushered in the golden age of superhero movies, Garfield’s films were lacking in the storytelling department — particularly The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was overstuffed with numerous villains and plotlines. It would have been great to see what Garfield could have done with stronger scripts.
No Way Home was the perfect coda for Garfield’s Spider-Man, but there’s a chance he’ll make one last appearance. He could always pop up in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, which will feature superheroes from multiple realities. We already know that many actors from past Marvel movies are returning (Fox’s X-Men), and there continues to be speculation about Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man coming back as well. Perhaps one of the Avengers movies could give Garfield’s Spider-Man a poignant send off. Once the Multiverse Saga ends, Marvel wants the MCU to be easier to follow, so it’s unlikely multiverse variants will have a role to play after that. Avengers might be the last shot.
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