“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is potentially the most anticipated movie of 2021, thanks in large part to the general belief --- despite numerous denials by those involved --- that all three live-action Spider-Men will be appearing together in the film. Spidey fans have been in a tizzy since rumors started swirling about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield joining the cast of Marvel Studios’ latest Spider-Man flick. Among others rumored to appear are Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx, each allegedly reprising their roles from their respective corners of the Spider-Verse.
The first trailer for Spidey’s latest big screen outing was released on Aug. 23, confirming the return of Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus and Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin. Both villains are crossing over from the Sam Raimi trilogy, which should be all but confirmation that Maguire and Garfield aren’t far behind, yet inquiries are still being met with outright denials.
Garfield again denied being in the film during an interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Sept. 13. Claiming that a leaked video allegedly showing him on the Spider-Man set was photoshopped. Garfield’s acting is pretty good in the interview, but the video in question has been confirmed to be authentic. Meaning that our second Spidey is playing the short game with us, denying everything before he’s finally able to talk about it.
Maguire has been silent since rumors about his casting sprang up, not doing interviews or press of any kind, continuing his half-decade of basic nonexistence in the public eye since.
Garfield’s denial shouldn’t come as a great shock, the Marvel marketing team have made a living off keeping anyone not named Mark Ruffalo or Tom Holland in check when it comes to spoilers. It wouldn't be surprising if Marvel Studios boss Kevin Fiege was sitting right offscreen during Garfield’s Zoom interview with a contract in one hand and a gun in the other. To quote Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, they’re playing this one pretty close to the chest.
This is what Marvel does. They lie, a lot. They’re known for omitting the truth or flat out lying to fans in order to keep a surprise intact. In 2018, leading up to the announcement of the then-untitled “Avengers 4”, fans flooded the internet with guesses as to what the title of the latest Avengers movie could be. One of the most popular ideas was “Endgame,” stemming from Doctor Strange’s use of the term in the closing moments of “Infinity War.” Fiege outright denied that “Endgame” was the film's title, only to reveal that the film would in fact be titled “Avengers: Endgame” some time later.
Marvel are also known to digitally add or remove characters and key story elements from their trailers in order to keep fans on their toes, so don’t be surprised if some scenes from the “No Way Home” trailer are different in the context of the film, such as maybe adding another Spidey or two.
Now let's explore the multiverse and enter a universe in which Tom Holland is the only Spider-Man in his own movie.
It would surely be a massive disappointment to just about everybody anticipating the film’s release, the rumors swirling around this film are enough to get any Spider-Man fan’s webs in a bunch. The prospect of fans reaching fever pitch levels of hype for a live-action Spider-Verse movie, only to be met with a movie in which Tom Holland fights all the other Spider-Men’s villains would be disappointing, but also wouldn’t make any sense.
Giving fans some classic villains from previous Spider-Man films and not following through with a full-blown Spider-Verse movie would be the definition of comic book movie blue balls (no relation to Jamie Foxx’s Electro) and would leave a bad taste in fans' mouths no matter how good the movie ends up being. If you’re going to tease us, you’d better take us all the way.
I do think that Marvel intends to bring audiences all the way home, despite there apparently being no way to get there. They’re good about saving their biggest reveals until the last second, so don’t expect to see a full-blown triple Spidey shot in the next trailer. We’d be lucky to get even the slightest tease towards Maguire and Garfield, but I believe that they will appear in the movie.
If not, Marvel will have made a billion dollar disappointment in the eyes of many fans. The columns will come about “managing expectations” and how comic book movie fans are the worst, but we’ll probably still get a great Spider-Man movie out of it.
Slight spoilers for a certain black-suited cousin of Spidey’s and his latest movie, but if the mid-credit scene in “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is any indication, Marvel and Sony are looking to blend their universes even more than previously thought, and that bodes well for those who are banking on seeing all three Spider-Men finally team up on the big screen.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is set to release in the U.S. on Dec. 17, 2021.
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