One popular theory that’s been making the rounds since Spider-Man: No Way Home was confirmed to feature the multiverse is that Sony and Marvel Studios had no intention of using Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in the movie, but had to quickly scramble after it became clear the fans would settle for nothing less.
You could make a strong argument that the former incumbents of the suit don’t need to be part of the storyline to make it work, when at least five villains hailing from two timelines is more than enough to make it the single most ambitious standalone superhero blockbuster ever made, as per leading man Tom Holland.
Jamie Foxx was only named publicly by Holland last week, while Willem Dafoe was officially confirmed in last night’s trailer, so it’s interesting that the MCU’s canonical Peter Parker would admit during an interview with GQ that No Way Home started production without several cast members being signed to contracts.
“Some people were trying to figure out whether they wanted to do it, and we needed all of them or none.”
Whether he’s talking about Garfield, Maguire or anybody else remains up for debate, and we won’t find out for sure until those involved in Spider-Man: No Way Home can shed the veil of secrecy and speak freely once the threequel comes to theaters just four weeks from Friday.
