Marvel's currently untitled Spider-Man 3 is shaping up to be a massive film, featuring everyone's favorite Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, Jamie Foxx as Electro and Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus. And if all that wasn't enough, it's also being reported that Andrew Garfield will reprise his role as Peter Parker from The Amazing Spider-Man.
While the Garfield news has yet to be officially confirmed, it would mean that Spider-Man 3 will explore the multiverse, which is filled with alternate versions of Spider-Man. But as great as this sounds, Garfield's return would have been impossible if a particular Easter egg had been included in 2012's The Avengers.
The Amazing Spider-Man was released a few months after Marvel's record-breaking ensembled film, The Avengers. At the time, the movie was meant to be the start of a new, rebooted franchise for Sony. Since this was long before Marvel and Sony would share the rights to Spider-Man on the big screen, the universe of Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man was standalone -- a separate entity from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, that actually almost wasn't the case because The Amazing Spider-Man could have been an extension of the MCU if an Easter egg had been included in the film. In 2012, it was revealed that having the Oscorp building from Garfield's film be seen in the New York City skyline of The Avengers was considered. That ultimately didn't come to fruition, though, because once the design of the Oscorp building was decided upon, the New York shots of The Avengers were already finished in time for the film's release. The timing wasn't right and, as a result, The Avengers didn't feature the Oscorp building Easter egg.
But if it had, then both films would have effectively taken place in the same universe. If The Amazing Spider-Man would have taken place in the extended MCU, then the plans for Peter Parker could have been much different. If Tom Holland had then been cast in the role, Andrew Garfield would not have counted as an alternate Peter Parker from another universe -- he would have been another actor whose role was recast, much like Terrence Howard's James Rhodes or Edward Norton's Bruce Banner.
If Garfield's Peter Parker had already been in the MCU, then it would have been impossible for the actor to reprise the role as another Spider-Man. In 2012, it seemed like a missed opportunity to have the two Marvel films connect, but in 2020, fans can rest easy knowing that this omission allowed for a cinematic multiverse -- an actual Spider-Verse.
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.