Thanks to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the door is now open for Sony to do basically anything it wants with its various Spider-Man film franchises. By bringing together the three lead actors from its live-action Spider-Man movies, the studio has proven capable and willing to bridge the gaps between its different cinematic universes, no matter how separate fans might have thought them to be.
Now it’s not only possible that Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, and Tobey Maguire could appear in a movie together again, but that certain live-action Spider-Man stars could cross over into Sony’s animated superhero projects, and maybe even give us some closure on their fates. And with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) set to hit theaters this October, that certainly appears to be on the minds of both Marvel fans and certain members of the film’s creative team.
An Interconnected Multiverse — During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Across the Spider-Verse writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller hinted that the animated film could feature surprise appearances from actors featured in Marvel and Sony’s live-action Spider-Man movies.
When asked whether Across the Spider-Verse will pull off some multi-medium crossovers, Miller said, “The Multiverse is big and wide. And all things grow... Why would you think a Multiverse, in which many things are possible, that [those things are] not related?" Building off Miller’s remarks, Lord joked, “Everything's possible except for this one thing that everyone wants."
Together, their comments suggest that this possibility is one the Across the Spider-Verse team has thought about, and that it may not be quite as far-fetched as fans think.
Endless Possibilities — We already know that Across the Spider-Verse will fulfill the promise of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s ending by bringing back Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), and Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac). Notably, the film is also set to star Issa Rae as Jessica Drew a.k.a. Spider-Woman.
In other words, the cast of Across the Spider-Verse already features several exciting multiversal web-slingers, and it certainly doesn’t need more. However, if there’s one thing Into the Spider-Verse proved, it’s that the animated superhero franchise isn’t afraid of pushing the genre’s limits and bringing versions of Spider-Man to life that fans thought would never receive the big-screen treatment.
Had Spider-Man: No Way Home not already been released, the thought of Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, or any of the other actors from Sony’s live-action Spidey films appearing in Across the Spider-Verse would have seemed ludicrous. But now that Sony has demonstrated a willingness to establish connections between its various superhero franchises, it doesn’t seem like anything is off the table with the studio’s Into the Spider-Verse sequel.
The Inverse Analysis — There’s no way of knowing for sure whether Tom Holland or any of the other actors from No Way Home will show up in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. But based solely on the playfulness of its 2018 predecessor, it certainly seems like Across the Spider-Verse could do something as wacky and unexpected as bring Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to life in animated form.
These comments from Lord and Miller, while not outright confirming anything, only add further weight to the rumors that Across the Spider-Verse will try and blur the lines between Sony’s live-action and animated Spider-Man franchises.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) will hit theaters on October 7, 2022.
