Batman and Spider-Man have arguably the most famous origin stories in the history of comic books, and at this stage, we really don’t need to see either of them ever again. While that hasn’t stopped Warner Bros. from gunning down Thomas and Martha Wayne in an alleyway in both Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Joker, Marvel Studios made the wise decision to omit Uncle Ben entirely from their rebooted franchise.
Of course, there’ve been many direct references to Peter Parker’s uncle during his time as part of the MCU, but audiences have already seen him meet his untimely demise twice before. Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark was a more than adequate replacement to step into the role of the rookie superhero’s mentor and father figure as well, but Ben Parker has nonetheless been linked with a flashback appearance several times already.
One of the many rumors being floated was that Tobey Maguire could play the role, and following the intense speculation that the actor may be set for a return in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, some new fan art from Apex Form imagines the two worlds colliding, which you can check out below.
That would certainly be an interesting way of handling Maguire’s reintroduction while also giving Uncle Ben his MCU debut, but it would require an awfully large leap of faith for viewers to buy into it, especially when the 45 year-old is best known for playing Peter Parker and his expected introduction into the multiverse would presumably see him portraying the same character in Spider-Man 3 that he did in Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Even for a franchise like the MCU, that would be taking fan service a little too far.
