Before we explain why The Amazing Spider-Man 3 is currently the talk of the internet, let’s give a quick warning. This article contains full spoilers for Spider-Man No Way Home — do not read below until you’ve seen Spidey’s latest outing.
Now that we’ve confirmed everyone in the room has seen No Way Home, we can get down to business. Right?
Right now, the internet is demanding that Sony/Marvel continue The Amazing Spider-Man series in the wake of Andrew Garfield reprising his version of the titular character in No Way Home. You can see their demands for yourself in the #MakeTASM3 hashtag.
Here's how we got here. The first Amazing Spider-Man movie was released in 2012 and received mostly positive reviews. It was swiftly followed by a 2014 sequel that received mostly negative reviews. A third entry was planned but was quickly shelved in favor of rebooting the character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Tom Holland took over as Peter Parker.
Most Marvel fans assumed the release of Spider-Man Homecoming in 2017 meant The Amazing Spider-Man series was done and dusted. It certainly looked like it was... until Garfield re-donned the mask and tights and reminded us all that he might actually be the best on-screen Spider-Man to date (I said what I said Editor's note: agree to disagree).
Why do fans want The Amazing Spider-Man 3?
Right now, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 (in varying hashtags) is trending across social media with passionate comic book fans making sure Sony/Marvel know just how much they want Garfield to get to join Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland in the Spider-Man trilogy club.
Why are fans so desperate for TASM3 to become a reality? A simple explanation is that Andrew Garfield absolutely steals in the show in No Way Home. Maguire’s take on the character is generally considered the more beloved, but Garfield’s Peter Parker is arguably the highlight of the latest Spider-Man movie.
Not only does Garfield get some of the films best comedic lines (“I wanna fight an alien”), but also his Peter gets a genuinely touching emotional arc which sees him successfully prevent the death of Zendaya’s MJ as a sort make up for his inability to save Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
There’s also a feeling among fans that Garfield has unfinished business in the role of Spider-Man. While Holland is likely to play the character for several more years to come, and Maguire got a full trilogy, Garfield’s played the role during a turbulent time for Sony Pictures and never really got a film to match his talents, ending on a low note with TASM2.
Fans want to see Garfield given the chance to lead a Spider-Man again in a film worthy of his talents.
Could The Amazing Spider-Man 3 actually happen?
Of course, all this fan pressure is only a means to an end. The big question is could The Amazing Spider-Man 3 actually happen? Industry insider Daniel Richtman certainly things so, tweeting "I also hear Andrew might come back."
There have been rumbling for a while that Sony wants Spider-Man to be a part of its own Marvel Universe (dubbed the Sony-verse by fans). With two Venom movies under its belt and Morbius due out next year, Sony definitely appears to be gearing up to a big crossover movie in the style of The Avengers.
Don’t forget that a graffiti portrait of Spider-Man can be seen in the first trailer for Morbius, so Sony isn’t being shy about its desire to get Spidey facing off against Tom Hardy’s Venom or Jared Leto’s vampire antihero.
The post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage seemed to suggest that Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote pal would be joining the MCU to square off against (or perhaps team up with) Holland’s Spider-Man. However, the post-credits stinger of No Way Home saw the pair warped back to their own universe. So that’s off the table, for now at least.
Perhaps, Sony could kill two birds with one stone. Bring back Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man and have the big faceoff movie it appears to desperately want in a single production. Garfield vs Hardy would certainly get butts in theatre seats, and Twitter user @areghostsreal thinks they should go one better, and add Deadpool.
For now, Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal has already made it clear that Spider-Man will be sticking around in the MCU. Sony may not be keen to have two Peter Parker’s competing with each other for box office attention. Not to mention, Garfield may not even want to return to the role full-time. He has talked previously about how difficult he found that period of his career — a supporting role in No Way Home may have been enough of a reprise for him.
Right now, the chances of a full-scale The Amazing Spider-Man 3 seem fairly remote, but the power of the internet was displayed early this year with the release of Zack Synder’s Justice League after years of fan campaigning. Never say never.
