Poll: Should Andrew Garfield Still Play Spider-Man in the Marvel Crossover?

Ending years of fan speculation, Sony Pictures and Marvel Entertainment announced this week that they’ve finally struck a deal to bring Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with The Avengers and company. Now that we’ve settled that, should Andrew Garfield continue to play the role, or should the character be rebooted yet again?

The announcement released on Monday states:

Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. Together, they will collaborate on a new creative direction for the web slinger. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.

Although perhaps not a definitive confirmation, the wording about “the new Spider-Man” and “a new creative direction for the web slinger” both seem to imply that Garfield will be replaced and that the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ continuity is already over after just two films. In the wake of the Marvel news, Sony also announced that the planned ‘Sinister Six’ spin-off will be bumped from its scheduled 2016 release while the studio “rethinks” its plans for the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise.

Amusingly, just last year, ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach both stated that they didn’t think the character should cross over with the MCU, and that doing so would mean that “we’re sort of out of ideas.”

I find the timeline interesting. If the plan is for Spider-Man to appear in an MCU movie before Sony’s next solo ‘Spider-Man’ film in summer of 2017, I assume that means he won’t be crossing over with ‘The Avengers’ right away, but rather some other MCU property.

Personally, I think it would be ridiculous to reboot Spider-Man yet again so soon. With that said, I never really cared for the character and still haven’t seen either of Garfield’s movies, so I don’t have any particular vested interest in this.

What do you think? If you’d like to see the character recast again, who would be a good choice to play the role?

Which Version of Spider-Man Should Cross Over with The Avengers?

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33 comments

  1. David C.

    Given that the new Marvel Spider-Man will apparently already BE Spider-Man – meaning not another origin story and start-from-scratch reboot – I think they should just cast someone else and make it a clean slate. These Sony movies have been a fiasco from day one and while ASM2 was an improvement, there just isn’t enough goodwill among the general public to warrant bringing Garfield and company back (he’ll also be in his mid-30s by the time they shoot the next Spider-Man movie). Cast Logan Lerman!

  2. No way Logan Lerman would make for a good Spiderman (and he’s still 23, well past high school age), they need someone fresh and pretty unknown to take the reigns.

    I think updated information officially states that Garfield will not be back and that the Stand Alone Spiderman movies that start in 2017 will go back to Spidey/Peter in high school, so its going to be rebooted, hopefully they are smart enough to NOT do any kind of origins again, just pick up where Spiderman is supposed to be.

    Regardless of that, Garfield was my favorite easy, he really brought the wise cracking Spiderman out, which McGuire simply couldnt do, I hated Tobey as Spiderman, he was supposed to be extremely smart yet came off as completely dumb, except for a few instances like his talks with Doc Oc in Spiderman 2, otherwise we had shy, introverted, Peter Parker who really isnt like that, yes he’s a nerd but he’s certainly not completely helpless and I never liked Raimi taking away him inventing his web shooters, they finally fixed the Spider character in The Amazing Spiderman 1 & 2 but unfortunately people still didnt really like the movies (I personally found them superior to Raimi’s versions).

    But either way, neither of those sets of movies matter now, Marvel has got their hands on the character even though Sony will remain running the show so to speak, but Marvel will be producing and most likely providing the stories and such, so really its a win win for everyone but it looks like Spidey will be a whole new person again and thats fine since we have not seen Spiderman in the MCU yet and he shouldnt be a previous actor in that regard

  3. I will reserve judgment. I think Andrew Garfield made a very good Spder-Man but deserved to be in better Spider-Man movies. If they’re going for a high school student, he shouldn’t be in it. I do like Logan Lerman and he looks young enough… If that doesn’t pan out, then maybe a completely fresh face would be best.

  4. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Since I wrote this post, Variety now claims that Garfield is definitely out and the new Spider-Man will go back to high school. I don’t think that’s officially confirmed yet, though.

    Also, the character is supposed to debut in Captain America: Civil War, which will be released next year. That doesn’t give anyone much time to cast a new actor or work the character into the script. I expect that it’ll just be a cameo, possibly even a post-credits teaser.

    • Thats been the rumor for a while, Spiderman showing up in costume but not the actual person who will play him, unless they do get someone as they could certainly film a post credits scene after the fact with the person they decide to get, but who knows. We will have to wait and see. But I believe it is confirmed from Marvel that Garfield is out, Webb is out, Avi Arad is out as producer and that he will definitely be going back to high school

      • I don’t hate that idea. To have Spider-Man just be Spider-Man with no Peter Parker for the MCU. At least for his first appearance in it. That’s kind of cool.

    • cardpetree

      I thought Spider-Man played a huge role in the Civil War story line? Would be sort of pointless to do all that negotiating and just put him in a post credit teaser.

  5. What I don’t get is how will a high school aged Spider-Man fit into the civil war story. I think it should be a seasoned Spider-man. I’m actually done with Peter Parker in high school movies. It’d be cool if he was just grown Spider-Man or at least well into college and been superheroing for a while. No more origins please. How many times are we gonna have to see Uncle Ben eat it, or Spidey crying?! No mas, please. What if they casted different actors?

    • Deaditelord

      Csm I completely agree with your no more origin stories/get Peter Parker out of high school comment. An older, battle-tested Spiderman would be an interesting take on the character and would get me excited about a new Spiderman movie.

  6. Deaditelord

    I voted for cast someone new. While I liked Spiderman and Spiderman 2 well enough (the less said about Spiderman 3, the better), I thought Tobey Maguire was merely serviceable in the role. As for Andrew Garfield, I HATED him in the reboot series. As far as I’m concerned, he is Hayden Christensen 2.0. Heck, Garfield even kind of looks like Christensen.

  7. William Henley

    While I like the feel of the Amazing Spiderman movies better than the previous ones, I think Toby Maguire played the role better. I would prefer to see him. In any case, please don’t reboot this franchise yet again, give us either Maguire or Garfield. And if they do end up recasting, PLEASE don’t give us another origion story – if they do, I am totally checking out of the Spiderman franchise.

  8. timcharger

    If anyone thinks Andrew Garfield cannot act, pls pls pls, watch any clip of him
    talking in his normal British accent and British mannerisms.

    His transformation to an American high school teenager IS acting.

    Chemistry with Emma Stone was also a huge plus. Saying Garfield can’t act
    is ridiculous. Looking like Hayden Christensen isn’t guilty by association.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      I don’t think having on-screen chemistry with Emma Stone really requires that much acting talent. You’d have to be a block of cement to fail that test. She does most of the work. However, successfully seducing her in real life must have required Garfield to act his ass off. 🙂

      • Deaditelord

        All joking aside, I really wasn’t referring to Garfield’s looks as being a reason I disliked him as Peter Parker. It was just an additional thought that popped into my head while I was writing my comment. He very well could be excellent in other roles, but I just didn’t like his performance as Peter Parker.

  9. Its kind of like the old Batman thing with who was a better Bruce Wayne/Batman deal. Garfield nailed Spiderman but was decent as Peter, maybe a little too confident and “hip” but I would gladly take that sacrifice over Tobey’s portrayal, it was horrible and I never liked him from the get go, no one has to even mention the horrible Spiderman 3 to realize how bad that all was. Even still, Tobey’s doughy face and awful expressions just made my own face hurt while watching him, his portrayal of Peter Parker just wasnt what I’ve always felt Peter was like, of course we all have differing opinions on this subject but the 90s animated cartoon played him the best on both sides and Garfield came the closest to what I grew up believing Spidey and Parker should be like

    • For the first amazing Spider-Man, I thought Garfield was a little twitchy as Peter. He was much better in the second. His wisecracking Spidey was awesome. I liked TM’s mousy portrayal of Peter more than I liked his Spidey. I don’t know how much credit I can give to Maguire as Spidey . I bet more than half the time Spider-Man was either CGI’d or a stuntman.

  10. C.C. 95

    Thank god, Garfield is out. It was like a 35 year old man playing a teenager. Get someone who has acting chops. Hopefully someone new, and NOT a ‘flavor of the month’ popularity contest winner like Logan Lerman. But hopefully Feig will have a good amount of sway- because Amy Pascal is almost single-handedly responsible for the train-wreck this franchise has become.
    And if they go origin on us, we will know all is lost at the helm…

    • Garfield is excellent in ‘The Social Network’, so I’d say he definitely has acting chops. I don’t think Lerman qualifies as a ‘flavor of the month’ (…) winner either. Have you seen ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’?

      • I automatically associate Lerman with Percy Jackson, which was a complete suck of an adaption and his portrayal of Percy wasnt anywhere close to my perceptions from the book, not to mention he’s way older in the movies. So anything else he’s been in I havent cared to much about, making him Spiderman is NOT something I would want to see, I really think they need a new comer

  11. Freakyguy666

    How about Parker gets bit by mutated spider at the end of A2:AoU, then his origin story is interlaced with the Cap3 storyline. By the end he’s fully developed & ready for his standalone movie in 2017. Just my 2 “sense”!

  12. Mark

    In one sense I prefer that they keep Garfield. …since he was good in the role. But, if they keep him the audience is going to get confused if Marvel changes the back story and characterization. But, Bond films don’t even bother with the back story and just jump into the current film’s story line/mission. I can see it going either way so I’m on the fence. The big knock against Garfield is that he was too old even in the first film….and if Marvel wants to take this back to high school there is no way Garfield would work in the film.

    They need an actor who is 24 or under when filming the first film. But if u get an actor who is too young he won’t be seasoned enough. There are a few actors seasoned enough for the role and in the right age range….so I have confidence that they can find a replacement.

  13. Ali Rose

    Seriously?!?! you people need to get over garfields spiderman career. They cant put him up there next to the big guys when hes looking like a tooth pick. They need someone older!!! Someone who can actually play a mature spiderman. Besides this is not about spiderman joining, its about him contributing to the avengers. No matter what happens Iron man, Hulk, Thor and Captian America will always be the big four. YOU SIMPLY CAN NOT PUT A KID IN THE MIDDLE OF BULKY MEN!!! im sorry, but get over it.

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