For many months, Marvel fans speculated that the third Disney Spider-Man movie would be a live-action Spider-Verse movie with Tom Holland, Toby Maguire, and Andrew Garfield all starring as their respective versions of Peter Parker. These theories were very expansive and detailed the return of not only Maguire and Garfield but also Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn, Jamie Fox as Electro, and almost every major character from previous Spider-Man films. However, these rumors were shot down by Holland during a recent interview he had with Esquire. When asked about the Spider-Verse rumors, he stated, “No, no, they [Maguire and Garfield] will not be appearing in this film.”

Though, the fan reception to Holland’s comment is very unexpected. People do not believe him. In the past, the actor has been prone to accidentally spoiling both major and minor elements of films that he is involved in, which has led to long-running jokes that he will always spoil a small portion of each Marvel movie in which he appears. But when Holland explicitly states that Maguire and Garfield will not appear in Spider-Man 3, people think he is lying.

Many individuals still believe and defend Spider-Verse theories because even if the speculations are correct, Marvel Studios executives would tell Holland to deny the rumors. However, studios rarely tell actors to lie about an upcoming movie. Instead, actors are typically told to be ambiguous in order to fuel more speculation and excitement. But by saying that Spider-Verse is not happening, Holland is doing the opposite and lowering expectations, so it is unlikely that he is lying or has been told to lie. 

Additionally, the chances of a live-action Spider-Verse were already low even before the actor shut down the rumors. Even after filming began, most of the speculation claimed that an actor was “in talks” to be in the movie. This aspect of the theory makes no sense, considering that the script is always written before the movie is shot. If even just Toby Maguire declined to return as Peter Parker, the movie would be very different. Disney would not risk filming if the plot and script needed to undergo massive changes. 

It is obvious that Spider-Verse is what Marvel fans want, but it will most likely not be what they will receive, and that is probably a good thing. Spider-Man 3 should be a more focused story about how Peter needs to be a hero even when everyone hates him after the events of Far from Home. A Spider-Verse movie might still happen one day, but audiences will need to wait.