This article contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Okay, so you may not have doubted for a second that the multiverse (as featured on Loki) would play into Spider-Man: No Way Home, but Sony and the stars of the recently released Marvel film sure tried their hardest to deny it. Andrew Garfield, who recently donned his old Spidey suit thanks to the wild plot, has now revealed just how Sony reacted to leaks that helped fans hold onto their theories before the superhero flick was released.
Certain Marvel stars (I’m talking about you, Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo) are beacons for franchise spoilers, but Andrew Garfield has never really been subject to Marvel Cinematic Universe-level franchise secrets, as his stint as Spider-Man took place in a different universe. While that sounds super stressful, apparently it’s really pretty simple: you’ve just got to deny, deny, deny.
Andrew Garfield recently spoke about his attempts to not reveal anything about his involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home and how leaks happened anyway. In an interview with The Wrap, he specifically recalled Sony’s reaction to a photo of him and fellow Spider-Man Tobey Maguire in Atlanta together, a seemingly obvious sign they were filming alongside each other. But based on his comments, the studio's response wasn't quite what you'd expect:
I worked so hard to keep it secret that I was in Atlanta shooting. All these leaks were happening, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, guys, what the hell is going on? I’m working so hard here to stay secret, and then here’s an image of me with Tobey!’ And they’re like, ‘No, no, we’re gonna keep it quiet.’ ‘OK, I’ll keep denying it.’
I really don’t think anything about Spider-Man: No Way Home was quiet, but it seemed to have worked out nevertheless. The Marvel film is completely crushing at the box office, and fans have been overwhelmingly thrilled with it. Even those who had no doubt a multiverse was happening didn't seem to be less hyped ahead of its release, which makes you wonder if all the secrecy was really necessary in the first place. Still, it did keep a lot of us talking, which made for a nice bit of publicity.
Now that the multiverse is absolutely a thing, it opens up so many doors (or more accurately, portals). There are some awesome storylines Marvel can run with, as well as some characters like Punisher can even return to the fold thanks to the massive development. The movie's many cool cameos are reason enough for viewers to be excited for the future. And it's probably a safe bet that Marvel and Sony will continue to keep things under lock and key for future films as well.
You can catch Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, and Tobey Maguire together in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is still holding strong in most theaters. Phase Four of the MCU continues with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6, and I honestly can’t wait to see how things continue to unfold.
