This story is about to get into a massive, massive spoiler for Spider-Man: No Way Home. For real, if you have not seen the movie yet, and you still want to go into the sequel knowing as little as possible, back out. This is your last chance.
Turns out, Andrew Garfield was the werewolf, after all. Probably due to contractual obligations, and threats against his family and friends (those Kevin Feige sniper memes are the real deal, people), Andrew Garfield spent huge chunks of 2021 denying in public interviews that he was going to appear in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home. And he was incredibly convincing, to the point where I personally started to believe that Garfield, as well as Tobey Maguire, would be sitting No Way Home out… despite all the rumors to the contrary. Want to relive all of those classic denials? A Spider-Man fan went back and compiled them all into a montage of deflections. They are fun, in hindsight.
Just flat out lying. To everyone. Over, and over, and over again. And yet, who’s really going to get mad at Andrew Garfield? He was protecting us from one of the greatest secrets in Spider-Man history, guarding the revelation that Spider-Man: No Way Home was bringing back the original Spider-Man actors and using them in a way that pushed the narrative forward. As you likely know by now (if you have made it this far into the story), Tom Holland’s Peter Parker brings previous Spider-Man characters into the MCU when he asks Doctor Strange to cast a spell erasing his identity from people’s memories. It backfires, and everyone who DOES know Peter Parker is Spider-Man crosses over into Holland’s universe.
It’s fairly ingenious, and only possible because of the foundation that has been built in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It would have been unusual for a version of Doctor Strange to suddenly appear in Maguire or Garfield’s versions of Spider-Man, mainly because those worlds didn’t have access to the Marvel stable of heroes.
But reversing the formula, and sending Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield into the MCU? Fair game. And it worked so incredibly well. Even with Garfield lying to us the entire time, promising that it wasn’t going to happen… right up until it did.
In the wake of the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans seem to be displaying a newfound appreciation for Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Peter Parker. To the point where there are now online petitions asking that Garfield get to continue on as the Sony Spider-Man, with Tom Holland continuing as the MCU Spidey (in that perfect suit). Will that happen? Does Garfield even want it to happen? We don’t really know. And if we ask him, he’ll probably just lie to us.
Spider-Man: No Way Home has crossed $700 million at the global box office, and is just beginning its run. $1 billion is inevitable, and $2 billion worldwide seems possible, with very little competition on the horizon. If you feel safe enough, go see it. It’s a special movie.
