Just like Batman’s murdered parents or Superman’s infant escape from Krypton, everyone knows that it was the death of Uncle Ben that pushed Peter Parker into becoming Spider-Man, right?
This is especially true after two movies in the past 15 years have told that same story. For Spider-Man: Homecoming, then, director Jon Watts decided to steer clean away from the Uncle Ben arc. Not showing the character’s death is definitely the right move, seeing as the best thing the film can do is to not cover the same ground as 2002’s Spider-Man and 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. But removing Peter’s uncle from the equation entirely is a bigger deal, as it’s cutting a key moment of his life from the story.
So, should we expect to see ol’ Ben pop up in a future Spidey movie, then? Well, that remains to be seen, but if he does, star Tom Holland has an actor in mind to play him. While discussing Homecoming with BBC Radio 1, Holland said he’d love to see former Spider-Man Tobey Maguire step into the role.
“I kinda want Tobey Maguire to play Uncle Ben, I think that’d be super funny, but I don’t think he’ll do it.”
This is interesting for a few reasons. First and foremost, the obvious connection to the original trilogy would be a lot of fun for fans and would no doubt go over well with moviegoers. But aside from that, it’s also entirely plausible if you think about it.
After all, we haven’t yet seen Ben in the MCU and he could easily show up in some sort of flashback in the sequel to Homecoming. Not only that, but with this version of Aunt May being a lot younger than she usually is (actress Marisa Tomei is 52), Maguire, who’s 42, can definitely pass as her husband – though he may need a bit of makeup.
Of course, what this would really come down to is whether or not Tobey Maguire would even want to play the part. As Holland says, he probably wouldn’t do it, but you never know. It’d be a nice way to pass the torch, so to speak, and again, fans would surely appreciate seeing the actor appear in the MCU.
For now, however, this remains nothing more than wishful thinking on Tom Holland’s part. But tell us, would you like to see Maguire play Uncle Ben in Spider-Man: Homecoming 2? Let us know in the usual place.