Why is MCU Spider-Man 4 not as Exciting As Amazing Spider-Man 3

The MCU’s Spider-Man 4 is in the works, but the most anticipated forthcoming Spider-Man movie is Sony’s potential The Amazing Spider-Man 3.

Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters around the world in December 2021, telling a Multiverse-spanning story encompassing the entire Spider-Man franchise. Not only were many beloved Spider-Man movie villains back for another round, but Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield also returned to join forces with Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3 2021.

No Way Home was a tremendous holiday hit, its $1.85 billion haul making it not just the box office champ of the pandemic era, but one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. The film’s success and very positive reception have led to considerable talk and rumors that both Maguire and Garfield will be seen again as their versions of the wall-crawler. With the Multiverse firmly in play after the likes of No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, this has actually become a genuine possibility.

Garfield’s Spider-Man Got The Least Amount Of Time To Flesh Out

Maguire, Garfield, and Holland’s Spider-Men, Garfield’s is the one audiences have seen the least of. Spider-Man 3 2021 marked Garfield’s third portrayal of Spidey, while it was the fourth time for Maguire and the sixth for Holland. Coupled with the strong reception to Garfield’s return in No Way Home, it makes the possibility of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 finally happening hit with a little more impact. Garfield’s Spidey is the only to have really had his legs cut from under him.

With the relative underperformance and divisive reception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony’s entire planned Spider-Verse road map was scrapped, including The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Though Maguire’s veteran Spider-Man also had his story cut prematurely after Spider-Man 3, the film’s conclusion could be more readily accepted as a trilogy capper. Naturally, Holland’s Spidey has been on a roll ever since he started in the MCU, and it all highlights how short-lived Garfield’s Spider-Man series initially was. It’s evident that No Way Home recognized this, with the movie adding an additional layer to the return of Garfield’s Peter Parker.

No Way Home Pulled Back The Curtain On Garfield’s Spidey

When Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Men, respectively nicknamed “Peter #2” and “Peter #3,” arrive in No Way Home, the movie doesn’t unpack the post-Spider-Man 3 history of the former. Peter #3, by contrast, drops some details about his life after The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Still wracked with guilt over his failure to save Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), Garfield’s Peter reveals that he “stopped pulling his punches” and grew embittered. This comment helps talk Holland’s Peter out of his desire for vengeance against Norman Osborn, a.k.a the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and it sets up significantly more intrigue for Garfield’s character.

RELATED: Spider-Man 3 News

Granted, both Tobey Maguire‘s return and the finale in which the trio of Spideys team up have also generated no shortage of excitement for the futures of each individual Peter Parker. Still, with Garfield’s version having been the most short-changed up until this point, No Way Home gave a peek at the path he’s walked since The Amazing Spider-Man 2. One of Spider-Man 3 2021’s most crowd-pleasing moments comes when Peter #3 finds some redemption after not being able to save his love, Gwen. He’s brought to tears when performing nearly the exact same rescue (this time successful) on Peter #1’s girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) from her fall from the Statue of Liberty. After No Way Home, Garfield’s Peter feels a lot less unresolved in terms of his character arc, but also with a great deal of as-yet-untapped potential. This has all added fuel to the subsequent #MakeTASM3 movement.

Why Garfield’s Spider-Man Future Is The Most Exciting

No Way Home sets up the entire Spider-Man triumvirate for further adventures. Aside from the multiversal ramifications of Doctor Strange’s memory-wiping spell, Maguire’s Spidey has multiple possibilities ahead of him as the oldest of the three. Additionally, with the film acting as The Amazing Spider-Man 2.5 for Andrew Garfield’s Peter, No Way Home stirred audiences’ imaginations about the possibilities for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in another way. With the darkness he’d lived through after Gwen’s death and the healing experience he has in meeting Spider-Men from other worlds, how the two have changed him is a question that only The Amazing Spider-Man 3 can answer.

All of the Sony projects devoted to Spider-Man villains are also ones that either Maguire or Garfield can easily fit into. In Garfield’s case, the ongoing Venom movies also add the exciting possibilities of his Spider-Man future, as he’s the most likely of the three to meet Tom Hardy’s character. The anti-heroic nature of Eddie in the Venom films also makes a team-up seem more likely than a more traditional hero-villain adversarial relationship. That opens further possibilities to explore how much Garfield’s Peter has evolved since The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

With the possibilities set up for Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man return, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 has become the Spider-Man movie that’s the most worth looking forward to, even over the MCU’s Spider-Man 4. However, none of this is to say that the potential lying ahead of Maguire’s and Holland’s Spideys should be overlooked. No Way Home showed that all three Spider-Men still have more adventures to go on and more stories to tell, and the three of them uniting as a team was epic in its own right.

Related: Andrew Garfield Is Wrong: His Spider-Man Is The Best In No Way Home

What’s Next For Spider-Man? Upcoming Spider-Man Movies And Shows

In addition to the much-anticipated (though unfortunately hypothetical) Amazing Spider-Man 3 starring Andrew Garfield, Sony and Marvel have numerous other Spider-Man projects in development. Disney+’s Spider-Man: Freshman Year will be an animated series exploring the origin of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU, and Marvel also has plans for another live-action trilogy. Sony has many Spider-Man movies releasing after Morbius, like Kraven the Hunter in January of 2023 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s sequel(s), Across the Spider-Verse Parts 1 & 2, which are likely arriving in 2023/24. Also supposedly in the works are Madame Web and Spider-Women projects, a Sinister Six movie, and eventually Venom 3, too. While the MCU’s Spider-Man 4 will probably draw significant attention, these other projects are equally interesting, with Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man 3 being the most exciting (should it happen).