Into The Spider-Verse Almost Brought Back Tobey Maguire As Spider-Man

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is going to blow fans minds’ when it comes out later this month as it’ll bring the concept of a multiverse full of Spider-people to the big screen for the first time. Seeing as we’ve already had a number of portrayals of the wall-crawler in cinema, the biggest fan theory surrounding the animated movie is that Jake Johnson’s Peter Parker is actually the same one as the Parker from the Sam Raimi trilogy.

The trailers so far have definitely encouraged the similarities between the two as well. As we explored in a previous article, many moments that filled in the backstory of Johnson’s Parker were lifted right out of Sony’s first three Spider-Man pics. For example, the iconic upside down kiss, the epic train fight scene and that bit when the car goes through the restaurant window in Spider-Man 2.

Well, it turns out that this was almost made explicit in the movie itself, as Tobey Maguire was considered to voice Peter in Spider-Verse. Rodney Rothman, who co-directed the film with Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey, has revealed that at some point in the production process, hiring Maguire was discussed, but they ultimately decided not to approach him as they feared the whole concept would be too confusing for general audiences.

“There was. There were many thoughts about where we could put Tobey Maguire and others. I think after this film, those thoughts might have a little more traction. But before this movie, and introducing the idea of the ‘Spider-Verse’ to the audience, I think everybody was afraid that it would just really confuse people. But wow, it would have been fun.”

While it’s disappointing for Raimi fans that Maguire isn’t in the movie, you can understand the reasoning behind the decision to keep a hold on the crossover for now. At least Rothman seems open to the idea of bringing Maguire onboard in future Spider-Verse movies, though. And you can bet that there’ll be more.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has earned a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and is expected to be a hit at the box office. Not to mention that Sony’s already announced that a Spider-Women spinoff is in the works as well as a proper sequel for Into the Spider-Verse. With any luck, then, they’ll be able to rope Maguire in for the next outing.