This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The evidence was there if you knew where to look, but the gasps and cheers from audiences when two very special characters turned up in Spider-Man: No Way Home prove that Marvel Studios can still keep a secret. But, with the film now out for almost a week in some territories, the cat is very much out of the bag.
As proven by animated GIFs and sneaky phone videos infesting social media, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were indeed key players in No Way Home. What was more surprising was that they weren’t simple cameos: they arrived about halfway through the movie and stuck around for the big action sequences, spent a number of scenes interacting with the MCU characters, and got one hell of an emotional payoff to their arcs.
Now Marvel has finally acknowledged their existence by adding them to the character database on their site. It appears that Maguire’s Spider-Man’s official name is “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” and Garfield’s is “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Here’s the official art for them:
After the hugely positive response to the pair, fans have been calling for them to get their own new solo projects. Garfield was particularly impressive in No Way Home and there are calls for him to become the Spidey of the Venomverse, with the comment that he “doesn’t pull his punches anymore” perhaps making him fit in well there.
Judging by Garfield’s recent comments, that may be unlikely, but with Holland indicating that he’s ready to take a short break from acting, the world needs a Spider-Man. Here’s hoping someone steps up soon, as Spidey fever is red-hot right now.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters.