Tobey McGuire, Andrew Garfield may not be part of ‘Spider-Man 3’

Sony debunks rumours of a Spiderman-trio hanging out in forthcoming film

An official statement from Sony Pictures, the studio behind the Spider-Man films, has debunked reports claiming Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both return as Peter Parker in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 3.

The rumours – which claimed the two former Spider-Men would return thanks to some multiverse shenanigans – were widely circulated online but ET Canada has since received word from Sony that no such thing is confirmed. “Those rumoured castings are not confirmed,” the studio’s statement reads.

However, there’s no outright denial that Maguire and Garfield could be back either. While the idea of the two actors reprising their roles once seemed like ludicrous fan-casting, recent reports that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will be Parker’s mentor in Spider-Man 3, and that Jamie Foxx is reprising his Electro role, have implied a live-action Spider-Verse could be on the cards, according to Games Radar.

The original report suggested that Maguire and Garfield ‘could’ appear in Spider-Man 3 and that they “would arrive in the final act to help Holland defeat Electro.” It added that Electro would then be joined by other Spider-Man villains. But as the studio noted, the idea hasn’t been confirmed, so let’s take it with a webbed-fistful of salt.

Nevertheless, if Electro does arrive from another universe, who better to help Spiderman(s) than a sorcerer familiar with alternate dimensions and magic? Here’s hoping Cumberbatch’s role isn’t just as a replacement for Tony Stark after the latter’s defiant death in Avengers: Endgame.

Since Doctor Strange’s sarcastic snarkiness has often been compared to Stark’s, his dynamic with Parker could easily follow a similar path. Not to mention, cameras roll on Spider-Man 3 in Atlanta this month, the same time as work on Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness begins.

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