Andrew Garfield is finally talking about a possible Peter Parker return.
The Amazing Spider-Man star has at long last addressed the constant rumors that he will appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and his answer may be a disappointment for fans eager for a live-action Spider-Verse.
The Amazing Spider-Man saga
It’s sometimes forgotten that all it would take is one phone call for Spider-Man to no longer be in the MCU.
Back in the late 1980s, Marvel sold the film rights to the character to MGM, with Columbia/Sony buying the rights in 1999. This led to the highly successful Sam Raimi trilogy of the 2000s.
Because of this separate deal, when Disney bought Marvel in 2009, they had the rights to the comic book character but not the film rights, which meant Spider-Man couldn’t appear in the MCU without Sony’s permission.
Sony was more interested in using Spider-Man to create its own comic book movie universe, which began with 2012’s highly successful The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Garfield as the Wall-Crawler.
Sony intended for 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to begin a vast universe of Spider-Man-related projects.
When the movie underperformed at the box office, Sony held off on those plans, although it released the hit Venom film in 2018. Its sequel, Let There Be Carnage, arrives later this year.
Meanwhile, Marvel/Disney reached a deal with Sony that allowed Spider-Man, now played by Tom Holland, to portray the role in Captain America: Civil War and then his own movies.
This led to a huge conflict in 2019 when the deal was ready to expire and Sony almost didn’t renew it. This would have meant Spider-Man would suddenly disappear from the MCU.
Thankfully, the two companies worked out a new agreement to allow the joint productions to continue.
The “Spider-Verse?”
For months, a huge fan theory has been that Spider-Man: No Way Home will become a live-action version of Into the Spider-Verse, where Peter runs into various alternate realities.
It’s added on by reports Doctor Strange appears in the film as a tie-in to his own In the Multiverse of Madness sequel. Thus, fans are salivating at the idea of Holland, Garfield, and Tobey Maguire joining forces on screen.
Holland has been adamant in interviews that this is not happening, yet fans continue to believe it will.
Talking to Josh Horowitz for his HappySadConfused podcast, Garfield finally took on the rumors that seem to prove it’s just a fan dream.
There isn’t anything to ruin, bro! [Laughs] I had to quickly cut you off. There’s nothing to ruin. It’s so crazy. Dude, it’s f***ing hilarious to me. I do have this Twitter account, and I see how often Spider-Man is trending, and it’s people freaking out about a thing. I wish I could be able to speak to everyone and just say, ‘I recommend that you chill.’ I can’t speak for anything else but myself.
They might be doing something, but I ain’t got a call…feel like, haven’t I just said that? I did not get a call. I would’ve gotten a call by now, that’s all I’m saying. I don’t want to ruin anything. Maybe they’re going to call me and say, ‘Hey, people want this!’ Maybe it’s a market research thing…
The movie’s secrecy
It is possible that Garfield is merely putting on a major performance to hide a cameo and keep it a surprise, yet this indicates these theories are just fan dreams.
It wouldn’t be the first time that MCU fans have promoted plots that never happen. WandaVision fans spent weeks declaring that the demonic Mephisto would be the show’s villain when the showrunners had no plans for him to appear.
Fueling the rumors is that the movie will have Alfred Molina reprising his role as Spider-Man 2’s Doctor Octopus and Jamie Foxx as Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Electro.
There’s also how pre-production is underway for Into the Spider-Verse 2, which is also likely to work in Spider-Men of alternate dimensions.
While Marvel is known for its secrecy, it’s hard to believe they could keep something as huge as the two previous Spider-Men quiet, and Garfield’s words seem to slam shut the fan hopes of a Spider-Men meeting.
Spider-Man: No Way Home premieres in theaters on December 17, 2021.