While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been grabbing attention over the last month on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s multiversal block, Spider-Man: No Way Home is also still getting a fair amount of chatter coming up on half a year since its release. The third of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies not only brought in five villains from past Spider-Man film series, it also paired this younger Spidey with his older counterparts, i.e. the Spider-Men played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. As it turns out, Holland got pretty nervous working with these two particularly, and Zendaya’s description of how he was around Maguire and Garfield is adorable and sweet.
As the MJ to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, Zendaya obviously spent a lot of time with him on Spider-Man: No Way Home, so she saw firsthand how he was in front of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The actress recalled Holland’s nerves while chatting with Garfield during Variety’s Actor on Actor segment, which the star of the Amazing Spider-Man duology said was “wild” because Holland “never let anything on” him and Maguire. Zendaya elaborated:
He was so nervous, ‘cause he was like ‘I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.’
That feeling was going around the Spider-Man: No Way Home set, as Andrew Garfield informed Zendaya that he and Tobey Maguire were also self-conscious about stepping on toes given that they were the ones joining a Spider-Man film series led by Tom Holland and others. Zendaya also mentioned that because Holland was so nervous around his fellow Spider-Men performers, he asked her and Jacob Batalon to come with him when he was hanging with Maguire and Garfield. Since Zendaya and Batalon “didn’t have a lot of lines” during rehearsal, they were able to double as “emotional support” for their costar.
Considering that Tom Holland grew up during Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s respective runs as Spider-Man, you can’t blame him for being nervous around them. He may be the one holding the live-action Spider-Man mantle these days, but these were the guys slinging webs on the big screen in his formative years. Still, it’s not like Holland was nervous the entire time Maguire and Garfield were around. These three had plenty of fun together, which included recreating the iconic Spidey-pointing meme and trying not to compare bulges while they were in their Spidey costumes.
Overall, Spider-Man: No Way Home served as an effective love letter to the Marvel superhero’s film history, not to mention fully opened the door to the MCU’s multiversal exploration following the groundwork laid by Disney+’s Loki. While it remains to be seen if Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield will ever reprise their versions of the Webbed Wonder again, at least No Way Home provided one more opportunity to spend time with these characters. As for Tom Holland, he’s expected to return for a fourth MCU-set Spider-Man movie, but no details about this project have been revealed other than that it’s in active development.
Once some concrete details about Tom Holland’s next Spider-Man appearance come in, CinemaBlend will pass them along. Until then, take a look at the other upcoming Marvel movies that are either slated for release or also in some form of development.
