Although Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has not officially come out yet, we simply can’t stop talking about it! We don’t want to spoil it for anyone, because it’s just that good — but one aspect from the trailers has our spider-senses tingling.
When the older Peter Parker (New Girl’s Jake Johnson) is sharing moments from his life as Spider-Man, some of them seemed a bit… familiar. So familiar, in fact, they could have been pulled from Sam Raimi’s original Spider–Man trilogy. Which got us thinking… is this Peter Parker based on Tobey Maguire’s portrayal?
It turns out that not only are the Raimi referencees intentional, Tobey Maguire was actually up for a role in Spider-Verse — or at least, a version of Spidey — but alas, it was not meant to be.
In an interview with Screencrush, Spider-Verse co-director Rodney Rothman shared, “There were many thoughts about where we could put Tobey Maguire and others. I think after this film, those thoughts might have a little more traction. But before this movie, and introducing the idea of the “Spider-Verse†to the audience, I think everybody was afraid that it would just really confuse people.”
If we do get Spider-Verse sequels, and signs are certainly pointing in that direction, it would be fun to introduce an older version of Tobey’s Spider-Man. And hey, why not include Andrew Garfield as well? It would be super meta AND explain just what happened to those versions of Spider-Man after their series ended. Plus, we bet that both actors would be game to do an animated appearance as Peter Parker for old time’s sake. We know we’d be down to see it!
Images: Marvel/Sony
