Spider-Man: Brand New Day had a very good reason for omitting Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Peter 2 & 3. Years ago, Spider-Man 4 was the subject of constant conflicting rumors, with some claiming Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios were battling over the direction of the No Way Home sequel. While Marvel wanted to fulfill No Way Home‘s promise of a street-level continuation, Sony was reportedly hankering for another Multiversal box office win that would bring back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men once again.
Fortunately, it seems Marvel Studios won that battle, as Brand New Day looks to be keeping things relatively grounded and swerving the Multiverse ahead of Avengers: Doomsday. That’s not to say the MCU’s blockbuster is a clean-cut street-level story that many were hoping for, as Brand New Day still features a Savage Hulk and is rumored to introduce mutant mind-bender Jean Grey.
Empire Magazine spoke with Spider-Man: Brand New Day producer Amy Pascal, who noted that No Way Home‘s massive box-office success would usually prompt studios to “go bigger.” Instead, they went in the opposite direction, as Brand New Day draws its scale from emotional stakes, and “not worlds exploding:”
“After the last one, I think probably the tendency for filmmakers would be to try to go bigger. And we did the opposite. [‘Brand New Day’] is a more internal movie, and the bigness of it is emotional, not worlds exploding.”
That desire to create a “more internal movie” that focuses on Tom Holland’s Peter Parker on a smaller scale than what was seen in No Way Home is, naturally, the core reason why Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield weren’t brought back, although the Multiversal Peters’ influence will still be felt in Brand New Day.
Still, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is getting some superhero help when Brand New Day hits theaters on July 31, as Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and possibly Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey are also in the mix for the web-slinging chaos.
Will Marvel’s 3 Peters Reunite After Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
In many ways, one has to applaud Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures for not simply treating Spider-Man 4 as another $1.8 billion cheque to be padded with Multiversal cameos and even more fan service than seen in No Way Home.
It would have been easy to make Spider-Man 4 a prequel to Avengers: Doomsday, reuniting the three Peters, adding their love interests, and maybe a live-action Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen, played by Emma Stone, for good measure.
That’s not to say that fans of the legacy Spider-Men are completely out of luck, especially as Tobey Maguire is reportedly part of Avengers: Doomsday‘s chaos, and he may be set for a major role beyond that in Secret Wars.
Reports indicate that both Maguire and Tom Holland are returning for starring roles in next year’s Avengers 6, but the jury is still out on Andrew Garfield. There hasn’t been much reliable reporting about the busy British actor returning to the MCU, and his interest in reprising Spider-Man lies in another 2027 movie.
Only time will tell what fate befalls the Spider-Men in Secret Wars, which will begin production in the U.K. later this summer. That being said, if Maguire and Holland are, as reports have hinted, a shoo-in for the next Avengers blockbuster production, Marvel Studios will surely be trying its hand to go three-for-three.
