Both of Hollywood’s premiere comic book franchises are banking on the multiverse in a big way, and we could end up viewing 2022 as either a watershed moment for the genre or the year where the ambitious storytelling experiment failed spectacularly. The DCEU’s Flash movie has added Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck into the mix as alternate versions of Batman, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is still to announce a full cast list, but based on how Spider-Man 3 is shaping up, it would appear that nothing and nobody can be ruled out at this stage.
We knew that WandaVision would connect directly to the events of the Sorcerer Supreme’s long awaited sequel, but few could have predicted that Tom Holland’s third solo outing was going to have such a major part to play. The addition of Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange hint at plenty of multiverse-related shenanigans, and that’s without even mentioning a release date sandwiched in between the two mind and reality-bending projects.
Of course, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield have been heavily linked with joining Spider-Man 3 as well in an effort to blow the internet to smithereens as all three live-action versions of the hero swing into battle together, and the latest report claims that Maguire has also reportedly agreed to stick around the MCU for a little while longer and board Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“It’s been revealed to us by sources close to the project that Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange 2 will feature Tobey Maguire as his version of Spider-Man. The sources did also add that it would be a cameo appearance and involve the Multiverse,” writes Small Screen.
The presence of Sam Raimi behind the camera means that there was always a possibility he could be reunited with the star of his Spider-Man trilogy if Maguire agreed to return to the role, and if this really ends up happening, then it would appear that the Spider-Verse could extend much further than just the friendly neighborhood superhero’s standalone franchise.
