Spider-Man: No Way Home united the three generations of Spider-Men that the current generation has grown up with, bringing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was a loose adaptation of the Spider-Verse comic event, where Peter Parker teamed up with alternate versions of himself to fight interdimensional villains.
However, Sony had plans to do such a film almost 6 years before Spider-Man: No Way Home even came out. During this time, Marvel and Sony were in talks to introduce a version of the character into the MCU, and Sony was subjected to a large hack that released tons of sensitive information about negotiations regarding key properties like Spider-Man.
Turns out, Sam Raimi was in talks with the studio to produce another multiversal adventure, featuring Maguire’s version of the character alongside Andrew Garfield’s.
Spider-Man vs. The Amazing Spider-Man was the rumored title of the film
Sam Raimi was allegedly in talks to return to the studio before Spider-Man became a character that was shared by Sony and Marvel. Spider-Man vs The Amazing Spider-Man, if it was ever seriously conisdered, would have brought Tobey Maguire‘s version of the character face-to-face with Andrew Garfield.
While there are no details about what the plot of the film could have been like, it would have been a multiversal film for sure. The mechanism of the multiversal travel is also unknown but given how relatively grounded the Raimi and Webb verses were compared to the MCU, with a focus on science-fiction rather than science-fantasy, any of the scientist villains of either character could have facilitated the jump to the other’s universe.
Following the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it was safe to assume that if there ever was a plot, the film could have focused on Maguire’s version of the character helping Garfield’s Spider-Man get over the death of Gwen Stacy, and moved on to be a better Spider-Man.
Spider-Man vs The Amazing Spider-Man could have been a part of a superhero trend
2016 was a weird time for superhero films. Captain America: Civil War and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice came to theatres with a very similar premise: Two heroes duke it out over a misunderstanding. However, had Sony’s rumored film gone ahead with its production, 2016 could have seen yet another film that pits two beloved heroes against each other.
While all those films are not in the cards anymore, Sony allegedly does want to make multiversal films including Spider-Man in live-action. As Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s respective Peter Parker gear up for more multiverse adventures, perhaps Sony could do Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man 4 with a twist? Or even bring back Andrew Garfield to finish his trilogy before the two Spider-Mans make an appearance in Avengers: Secret Wars.
