Warning: Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers ahead. Since filming started in October 2020 there have been dozens (OK—hundreds) of rumors that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire are in Spider-Man: No Way Home. And after more than a year of leaks and spoilers, we now have our answer.
Spider-Man: No Way Home—a sequel of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home—is the third Spider-Man movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 27th film in the franchise overall. The movie stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man), a high school student with spider-like superpowers. The film is set after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which saw Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) expose Peter as Spider-Man and frame him for his murder. Spider-Man: No Way Home sees Peter ask Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help to restore his life and secret identity. However, Dr. Strange’s spell doesn’t go as planned and the magic breaks open the multiverse to allow supervillains from alternate realities who fought other versions of Spider-Man to arrive in the MCU’s Spider-Verse.
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In an interview with Uproxx in February 2021, Holland, who has a reputation among fans for spoiling MCU movies, confirmed that some details about Spider-Man: No Way Home had been leaked before its premiere while others stayed a secret. “It’s a tricky situation…sometimes the fans figure out what’s going on, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they figure out one thing, and it opens up a whole world of possibilities and they go off on a tangent, which could not be more different or more correct to what we’re making,” he said. “It’s a shame, sometimes, that things get leaked and things get ruined. But at the moment, with this film, I think we’re doing a very, very good job of keeping the things that need to be a secret a secret. And I’m sure there are things that are going on that I have no idea about. I mean, I’m usually the last person to find out what’s going on, because of this ridiculous rumor that I spoil movies!”
He continued, “But, I think, the tricky thing about those questions is: it’s a question that’s going to get a reaction regardless of what the answer is. So it’s one of those things where you just have to figure out, how is the best way to handle this? Shall I lie? Shall I tell the truth? Shall I just say, ‘I can’t say anything.’ Shall I say, ‘I can neither confirm nor deny’? There’s nothing you can really say that won’t spark a reaction from the fans. So, it’s a double-edged sword. It can be great. It can be a great thing, but sometimes it can be quite a damaging thing.”
The most popular spoiler about Spider-Man: No Way Home is that Tobey Maguire (who played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy) and Andrew Garfield (who played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man movies) are in the MCU’s third Spider-Man film. So…are Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home? Read on for the answer—finally.
Is Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man: No Way Home?
Image: Jamie Trueblood/©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection.
Is Andrew Garfield’s in Spider-Man: No Way Home? The answer is yes! Garfield’s Peter Parker (Spider-Man) when Ned (Jacob Batalon) uses Doctor Strange’s Sling Ring to find “Peter Parker.” The Sling Ring opens a portal to a masked Spider-Man, but instead of Holland’s Peter, it’s Garfield’s version of the character. Like the main five villains of the movie—Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Lizard and Electro—Garfield’s Peter is transported to Holland’s Spider-Verse after Doctor Strange’s spell to restore Holland’s Peter’s secret identity and life misfires and brings anyone who’s known Peter or Spider-Man in any universe to come to Holland’s Spider-Verse. When Garfield’s Peter enters the portal into Ned’s mother’s home, Ned and MJ (Zendaya) ask him to prove he’s Spider-Man by crawling the walls. To prove he’s also Spider-Man, Garfield’s Peter sticks to the ceiling and crawls to the corner of the room to clean a cobweb that Ned’s mother asked him to remove.
Later in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Ned and MJ take Garfield’s Peter to meet Holland’s Peter, who is mourning the death of Aunt May after she was killed by the Green Goblin in front of him. Garfield’s Peter tells Holland’s Peter about how he couldn’t save his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and has had guilt over her death since. The conversation motivates Holland’s Peter to concoct a plan to bait the villains from the other Spider-Verses to the Statue of Liberty, where he can cure them of their powers and what makes them evil before he sends them back to their universes. Garfield’s Peter—along with Ned, MJ, Doctor Strange and another character (more on that later)—helps Holland’s Peter with his plan in Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s final fight scene. The scene also sees Garfield’s Peter reunite with Lizard (the villain of The Amazing Spider-Man) and Electro, the villain of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Electro also has a small conversation with Garfield’s Peter where he references Miles Morales. In the scene, Electro tells Garfield’s Peter that he thought he was Black. He then theorizes that there’s a Black Spider-Man in another universe (a reference to Miles), to which Garfield’s Peter shrugs.
The final fight scene also sees Garfield’s Peter save MJ after she’s knocked off a scaffolding. First, Holland’s Peter tries to save MJ before he’s struck by another villain. Seeing, that MJ is falling and Holland’s Peter can’t save her, Garfield’s Peter dives to rescue MJ and grabs her before she can fall to her death. MJ thanks him as Garfield’s Peter tears up. The scene was a reference to Gwen’s death in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which saw Garfield’s Peter’s love interest fall in a same way, except that time, Garfield’s Peter was too late save her life. In the end, Holland’s Peter, Garfield’s Peter and the other characters cure all five villains and transport them back to their universes. As the villains vanish to their Spider-Verses, so does Garfield, who holds up a peace sign as he says goodbye to Holland’s universe.
Is Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home?
Image: Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection.
Is Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home? The answer is yes! Like Garfield, Maguire’s Peter Parker (Spider-Man) makes a surprise appearance in the middle of Spider-Man: No Way Home. After Ned uses Doctor Strange’s Sling Ring to find “Peter Parker” and opens a portal to Garfield’s Peter instead, he tries again. However, the second time, he opens a portal to Maguire’s Peter, who is in plain clothes. Ned remarks that his powers didn’t work and he just found “some guy” before Maguire’s Peter also reveals himself to be Spider-Man. (Like Garfield and the five villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Maguire’s Peter was also transported to Holland’s Spider-Verse after Doctor Strange’s spell to restore Holland’s Peter’s secret identity goes wrong.)
Along with Garfield’s Peter, Ned and MJ also take Maguire’s Peter to meet Holland’s Peter as he mourns the death of Aunt May. During the conversation, Maguire’s Peter tells Holland’s Peter that he can relate to his loss after the death of his Uncle Ben. When Holland’s Peter hints to Garfield and Maguire’s Peters that he wants to avenge Aunt May’s death by killing the Green Goblin, Maguire’s Peter tells him about the time he also killed someone as revenge and how the murder didn’t make him feel better. The conversation also sees Garfield and Maguire’s Peters tell Holland’s Peter the famous Spider-Man line: “With great power comes great responsibility”—which Aunt May also told him before his death. When Holland’s Peter asks the Garfield and Maguire’s Peters where they heard the line, the other Peters tell him that Uncle Ben told them the quote before he died.
Holland’s Peter recruits Garfield and Maguire’s Peters to help him cure the villains from the other Spider-Verses and send them back to their universes. At a lab before the final fight scene at the Statue of Liberty, Holland and Garfield’s Peters learn that Maguire’s Peter can shoot webs from his body (instead of from his suit, like the other Peters.) At the Statue of Liberty, Holland and Garfield’s Peters ask Maguire’s Peter again about how his superpower works (and whether he can shoot webs from anywhere else), to which Maguire’s Peter explains that he can only shoot webs from his wrists and that the power is second nature, like breathing. The final fight scene also sees Maguire’s Peter reunite with Green Goblin (who was the villain in Spider-Man), Doctor Octopus (who was the villain in Spider-Man 2) and Sandman (who was the villain in Spider-Man 3.)
The last villain to cure is Green Goblin who gets into a fight with Holland’s Spider-Man on a massive statue replica of Captain America’s shield. Filled with rage over Aunt May’s murder, Holland’s Peter knocks Green Goblin down and punches him until he can’t get up. Just as Holland’s Peter is about to stab Green Goblin to death with his own Goblin Glider, Maguire’s comes between him and Green Goblin and stops him. He convinces Holland’s Spider-Man to put the Goblin Glider down, but before he does, Green Goblin stabs Maguire’s Spider-Man in the back. Holland’s Spider-Man then jabs the cure into Green Goblin’s neck before checking on Maguire’s Spider-Man, who is on the floor in pain. While Spider-Man: No Way Home makes it seem like Maguire’s Spider-Man could die, in the end, he survives. Green Goblin’s attack wasn’t fatal and Garfield’s Spider-Man comes to comfort Maguire’s Spider-Man before they’re both sent back to their universes. Before they go, however, Holland’s Spider-Man gives the other two Spider-Men a hug and tells them that he loves them. Maguire’s final scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home sees him and Garfield’s Peter say goodbye to each other before they vanish back to their Spider-Verses.
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Image: Courtesy of Marvel. Insight Editions.
Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular: The Definitive Comic Art Collection
Buy: Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular $25.99
For more about Spider-Man, check out Marvel’s special edition book, Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular: The Definitive Comic Art Collection, which takes readers through 50 years of Spider-Man. The deluxe art book—which includes exclusive interviews and content from the writers and illustrators that brought the Marvel superhero to life half a century ago—follows Spider-Man’s history, from his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962 to how he went from being Marvel’s chronic underdog to the amazing and spectacular superhero fans know today. The book—which also includes a deep dive into Spider-Man’s superpowers, including his spider-like strength, genius mind and webslingers (not to mention his “fully loaded arsenal of quips—Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular also features never-before-seen art of the friendly neighborhood superhero, and behind-the-scene details from creators like Brian Michael Bendis, Gerry Conway and Tom DeFalco, as well as others who helped bring Peter Parker to life. Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular is a must-read for any Marvel superfan.
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