With every new casting update, it's looking more and more like Marvel Studios' Spider-Man 3 will explore the multiverse within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So far, the film's reported roster includes Jamie Foxx as a new version of The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Electro and Alfred Molina reprising his Spider-Man 2 role as Doctor Otto Octavius. Naturally, this is intriguing for many reasons, not least of all because it means Spider-Man 3 also has the chance to do right by Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker.
Ons could reasonably argue Garfield never got a fair shot at succeeding as the web-slinger. His first movie as Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man, was a reboot that was weighed down by having to retell the character's origin story just a decade after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man had done exactly that. Two years later, Garfield came back for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a sequel that was overstuffed with characters and story threads meant to set the stage for not only a third film but a whole universe of spinoffs like Sinister Six. Then, when the sequel didn't meet Sony's expectations at the box office, the studio gave up on the Amazing Spider-Man films and made a deal with Marvel Studios to bring the character to the MCU.
While it made sense to replace Garfield as Peter Parker and give the character a fresh start in the MCU, that doesn't mean he was bad in the role. Many felt he did a good job of portraying Peter as a believably smart and well-meaning, yet socially awkward and sometimes arrogant teenager who felt at home in The Amazing Spider-Man's vision of high school in the early 2010s. In fact, because Garfield's take on the web-slinger was cocky and stubborn in ways that Tobey Maguire's iteration wasn't in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, it was all the more affecting when his mistakes led to something terrible happening, like the death of a loved one.
Problem was, Peter's arc from being a decent, if overconfident, teen to becoming a hero who fully grasps the responsibilities that come with his abilities suffered from having to compete for screentime with all the ancillary franchise-building in the Amazing Spider-Man movies. For the same reason, it feels like the focus in the MCU's Spider-Man 3 should be more on Garfield's web-slinger than Maguire's, when it comes to alternate universe Peter Parkers. Unlike Garfield, Maguire's superhero was always at the center of the action in his movie trilogy, and even Raimi's Spider-Man 3, for all its flaws, revolved around the Peter Parker character in a way that much of Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn't.
Naturally, all of this is based on the assumption that Maguire and Garfield will show up in the MCU's Spider-Man 3. Maguire's involvement remains up in the air for the time being, but some reliable sources are now reporting that Garfield has closed a deal to join the film's cast. Should both he and Maguire ultimately agree to terms, there's a real possibility they will act as mentors to Tom Holland's Peter and pass their knowledge onto him.
Both Maguire and Garfield's Peter Parkers saw their share of hardships in their previous screen appearances, so letting them play teacher in Spider-Man 3 sounds like a fun change of pace, as well as a great way to let Garfield cut loose and really shine in a role he loved playing. There would also be something meta about Garfield getting to end his time on the franchise by playing an alternate universe Peter Parker who finally lands the appreciation he deserves. After Garfield's own superhero trilogy was cut short due to Sony's mishandling of the property, it might even give those fans of The Amazing Spider-Man films the closure they didn't realize they still needed.
Directed by Jon Watts, the currently untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina and Benedict Cumberbatch. The film arrives in theaters Dec. 17, 2021.