Andrew Garfield was cast as the second iteration of Spider-Man in Sony’s reboot of the film franchise. He made his debut as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man and also reprised his role in the sequel. While a planned third film was canceled after the sequel’s less-than-stellar performance, Garfield is still loved as the web crawler.
Garfield was replaced by Tom Holland in the MCU, and the star had followed up Tobey Maguire’s legendary performance when he was cast in the reboot. The actor had to compete with other Spider-Men when all of them appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home. However, Garfield seemed to have a healthy attitude towards comparisons with other actors.
Andrew Garfield’s Response To Being Compared With Other Spider-Men
Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Holland came together for the first time in the MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home. For the first time, all three live-action iterations of Spider-Man appeared on screen together, sending fans into a frenzy. The film was a commercial blockbuster, earning $1.92 billion at the box office.
While Holland has been known as this generation’s Spider-Man and Maguire has a different generation in love with his depiction of the web crawler, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man films have always been lackluster. Though the films were commercially successful, they were never appreciated by the fans, except for Garfield himself.
In an interview at the Red Sea Film Festival (via Variety), Garfield addressed the comparisons he got from fans when he played the role. When asked if he got upset if anyone preferred other Spider-Men over his, he said,
“I’m 40 years old. If you love me, fine, and if you don’t love me, it’s your loss.”
The actor seemed to have developed a healthy attitude towards the inevitable comparison. Although the films have not received critical appreciation, his depiction of the character found a new fanbase when he appeared in No Way Home.
Andrew Garfield On His Love For Spider-Man
Before his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Andrew Garfield was seen as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The film ends with him facing a terrible tragedy and trying to deal with the loss as he decides to continue his vigilantism as Spider-Man. While a third film was in plans, the lackluster performance of the second film canceled those plans.
Garfield mentioned how he had worked really hard to bring his Spider-Man to life as he was a huge fan when he was a kid. He reportedly trained his body to the extreme and even contributed to the script. He said at the Red Sea Film Festival,
“I’ve loved Spider-Man since I was three years old. I was in the gym a lot. I ate soup and berries. I trained at Parkour and Yoga. I helped with the script. I need to nourish that child who is out there watching.”
Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is seen as a struggling man still dealing with his grief in No Way Home. The character makes references to his past, saying that the grief led him down a violent path for a brief period before he decided to come back to his hopeful self. The actor mentioned that he was not sure until filming how all three of their characters would fit in,
“I think until all three of us were in the room rehearsing, figuring out what we were going to do, there was no way of writing it. Every single one of us had our own version of that character, and we didn’t know how they were going to interact until they were actually interacting in the room together. So it was as if you were making a low-budget short film with friends. And it was the biggest movie in the history of movies.”
Though Garfield’s Peter seemed to have worked on some of his issues in No Way Home, there were still some loose ends left that needed exploring, prompting fans to want a third solo film with the actor. However, there have been no confirmations regarding the same.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is streaming on Disney Plus.
