With Doctor Strange confirmed to appear in the movie, the multiverse taking center stage in Phase Four of the MCU, and Alfred Molina and Jamie Foxx being tapped to reprise their roles as Spidey villains from previous cinematic universes, the evidence is piling up that the tantalizing rumors about Spider-Man: No Way Home introducing a live-action Spider-Verse are true. Reams of fan art have been produced depicting Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield as interdimensional Spider-Men fighting the Sinister Six side-by-side.
But bringing in two additional Spider-Men might overstuff the movie and distract from Holland’s Spidey in the grand finale of his MCU solo trilogy. An overstuffed script is one of the most common criticisms of comic book movies. In the Spider-Man franchise alone, both Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have been panned for trying to cram in too many characters and plot points. It would be a tragedy if No Way Home makes the same mistake.
This doesn’t mean Marvel should scrap the live-action Spider-Verse concept entirely. But instead of bringing back both Maguire and Garfield, bringing in just one previous Spidey via the multiverse as a sort of mentor for Holland’s Spidey – similar to Peter B. Parker’s mentorship of Miles Morales in Into the Spider-Verse – could work wonders for the conclusion of Peter’s MCU arc.
Garfield gave the best performance he could in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, but Peter Parker was woefully mischaracterized in those movies. When he acquired his powers, he became an outright bully. When he broke up with Gwen Stacy, he continued to stalk her around the city. And the movies created a ridiculously unnecessary conspiracy surrounding Peter’s parents’ deaths involving their research into spiders. All of this detracted from what makes Spider-Man stories so universally relatable and enjoyable.
Maguire, on the other hand, offered the quintessential portrayal of the character. He was forced to make difficult choices that had devastating consequences; he learned from his mistakes; he was ultimately a naive kid who wanted to use his powers for good, but constantly found himself in over his head; and his voiceover narration translated Peter’s thought bubbles from the comics to the screen perfectly. Both Raimi and Maguire were on the same page about what makes Peter tick and his unwavering determination to do the right thing. The only time they got the character wrong was when he succumbed to the influence of symbiotes in Spider-Man 3, but that was due to executive producer Avi Arad forcing them to include Venom.
Raimi’s trilogy followed Peter through high school, college, and beyond. But the initial trilogy was just the beginning – Raimi was reportedly planning a second trilogy to follow Spider-Man 3, taking Maguire’s Spidey well into adulthood. Spider-Man 4 was officially greenlit by Sony, but the project was scrapped and turned into The Amazing Spider-Man when Raimi confessed to the studio that he couldn’t complete the movie to a satisfactory standard in the timeframe they wanted.
It would be interesting to check back in with Maguire’s Spidey as a middle-aged man and see how his superhero career and his relationship with Kirsten Dunst’s MJ panned out in the long run. It’s not the same as producing a whole new trilogy – which it’s not too late to do, by the way – but it could provide some closure for Maguire’s incarnation of the character after Spider-Man 3 left a few doors open (and also left a bad taste in fans’ mouths).
If one past Spider-Man from the big screen is going to join Holland in No Way Home, it seems likely that it’ll be Maguire. Jamie Foxx’s Electro is likely to be a new take on the character, because the original version from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was thinly characterized, unfaithful to the comics, and wholly forgettable (and totally undeserving of Foxx’s talents). But Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is confirmed to be the one from Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, with the actor confirming that his No Way Home arc picks up right after “that moment” in the river.
Plus, Raimi himself is directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Strange is confirmed to appear in No Way Home, so not only is the acclaimed Evil Dead director now on Marvel’s bench; he was likely around on the set of No Way Home to consult Jon Watts on Strange’s role in the threequel. The director of Maguire’s movies could’ve also consulted Watts on the continuation of his trilogy’s arc on top of that.
While Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man films are still appreciated by a handful of fans, their popularity is nowhere near that of Raimi’s groundbreaking trilogy. Nobody will lose any sleep if Garfield’s Spidey never makes another on-screen appearance, but Spidey fans are clamoring to see the return of Maguire’s take on the role.