Andrew Garfield's "The Amazing Spider-Man" series of films was canceled before his story was complete, but what would his third film look like?
Warning: Contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Homeless.
Andrew Garfield's The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was never released, but the return of Garfield's Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homeless has left many fans hoping that Sony will complete the planned story. The original purpose of the Amazing Spider-Man movie was to create a Sony shared universe similar to the Marvel Universe. However, these plans all fell through, and eventually Tom Holland recast Spider-Man.
After three Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire, Sony decided to reinvent the character in The Amazing Spider-Man. The film tells the origins of Spider-Man, and the protagonist is Andrew Garfield. Although it tells a fairly similar story and the film has received general acclaim, its sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was affected by trying to do too much. Although Sony had hoped to work on third and fourth films and other spin-off projects with Garfield, they later abandoned those ideas and instead reached an agreement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
However, when fans saw Tom Holland's Spider-Man meet Maguire and Garfield's version of Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Homeless, many couldn't help but hope that Garfield would finish his third film. There has been no official response to rumors of the cancellation of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and whether Garfield will return to the series. Still, if Sony had gone according to their original plan, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would have become like this.
1. How The Amazing Spider-Man 2 builds a sequel
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ends with a clear sequel plan. In the final battle of the film, Peter subdues Electro and Harry Osborn and sends the latter to prison, but before that, Harry kills Peter's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Guilt over Gwen's death led Peter to abdicate his 5-month Spider-Man duties until Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich, also known as "Rhinoceros", escaped prison with the help of Harry and his accomplice Gustav Feyes. The team of Harry, Rhino and The Gentleman, as well as the movie's end credits, hint that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 will introduce a version of the insidious six.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 also contains some details about Peter's late parents that may be addressed in the sequel. The film opens with a video from his father, Richard Parker, a scientist at the Oss Company who and his wife tried to escape in a private jet when the plane crashed and both were killed. Later in the film, Peter learns the reason for his parents' disappearance — Richard refuses to cooperate with Norman Osborne's plan to use his research to build biological weapons. The full content of this research is still a bit vague in the movie, but it will certainly have a bigger impact on Garfield's Spider-Man future.
2. What exactly is the story of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 about
Dennis Leary, who plays Gwen's father, George Stacy," revealed (via IGN) that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 should be about bringing people back to life: "Part of what we discussed was that there was an idea in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 that at some point, Spider-Man would be able to use this method to bring the dead of his life back to life. Characters such as George, who died in the first Episode of The Amazing Spider-Man, will be resurrected alongside Norman Osborn and Richard Parker. A scene removed from the second film shows Osborne freezing Norman's head in preparation for his return in future films. Another deleted scene also shows Richard somehow still alive, which prepares Spider-Man, played by Andrew Garfield, to be reunited with at least one of his parents and may even scold them for not showing up in the life he grew up with.
Most importantly, this ability to come back to life gave Peter the opportunity to resurrect Gwen Stacy. He may need to struggle morally against the resurrection; Maybe Peter needs to sacrifice something in return, or Gwynn's father, George, might object to doing so because they don't know the potential consequences of doing so. Dealing with these themes of death and loss in such a clear way would make Peter fully accept the tragedies he faced and begin to heal from them. Then again, if Peter could bring her back to life, Gwen might become Spider Gwen – first appearing in Spider-Man: Parallel Universes. Whatever the outcome of changing lives in this way, this story can help Peter accept his responsibilities and deal with them.
In addition to the future "The Amazing Spider-Man" series of movies, Sony also plans to launch spin-offs of "Venom" and "Evil Six", using Firs's "Gentleman" as a recruiter to find Spider-Man's enemies. Director Mark Webber said they wanted Norman to be the main villain leading the insidious six once again. Vultures have also been discussed as members of another possible villain group. There are also rumors that Felicia Hardy, who played a minor role in Garfield's Spider-Man films, will star as Black Cat in her own spin-offs. In the comics, Black Cat has been Spider-Man's enemy, ally, and lover, but given Peter's feelings and remorse for Gwen, she is most likely an ally of Spider-Man.
3. How Spider-Man: Homeless changed Garfield's Spider-Man
In Spider-Man: Homeless, Peter of Garfield shares his experience of losing a loved one. Although all the different Spider-Man characters have lost their parents and others close to them, Peter of Garfield is the only one who has lost "his MJ" – Gwen Stacy. It was something Peter had almost succeeded in stopping, and even though she had been pulled by him, her head had hit the ground. Although the ending of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 shows Peter reinstating Spider-Man's duties against the Rhinoceros, Spider-Man: Homeless portrays his return as less promising than it began.
Peter explains that after losing Gwen, he has been struggling to maintain the original image of the friendly Spider-Man neighbor, and under the weight of responsibility and loneliness, he gradually becomes miserable. Although he continues to pose as a superhero, his heart is no longer on it. Garfield's Spider-Man went from a gritty and hopeful story — he learned to overcome deep sadness and start a life over again — into yet another tragic story.
4. Why The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was canceled
In the end, there were a number of factors that decided to cancel the "The Amazing Spider-Man" series of movies with Andrew Garfield. The Sony hack of 2014 certainly played a role — by disclosing information that the company didn't want to make public yet, which made them less willing to go ahead with the leaked ideas. At the time, Sony was still in the early stages of negotiations with Marvel about the future of Spider-Man, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege came up with the idea of restarting rather than continuing when she met with her before Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal resigned.
While the bad reviews of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie certainly didn't make Sony executives more inclined to continue making the series, it didn't directly precipitate their decision to cancel it. Rumor has it that garfield's last-minute cancellation of his contract with Sony has made his life at Sony very difficult. He was supposed to attend a celebration after the 2014 World Cup and announced his appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 3. But his decision to cancel the cast angered some executives so much that they didn't want Garfield to continue playing Spider-Man. This isn't the first time the actor has annoyed Sony. Garfield had been outspoken in a statement expressing some of his hopes for the future of the role, including the possibility of giving Peter Parker a boyfriend, but he was later asked to retract that statement. There is no conclusive evidence that these factors contributed to the decision to re-release Spider-Man 3 with a whole new look, but whatever the reason, Spider-Man: Homeless has left many fans feeling sorry for the decision to cancel The Amazing Spider-Man 3.