Is Andrew Garfield in Avengers: Secret Wars? No Way Home says yes

Andrew Garfield is 100% going to have a role in Avengers: Secret Wars, and he may even pop up in Avengers: Doomsday. As I see it, Marvel effectively signalled five years ago that Garfield and Tobey Maguire would both be returning for the two big Avengers films. Back then they were The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Now they're Doomsday and Secret Wars.

The proof is Garfield's return in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), the Tom Holland film that brought back both earlier Spider-Men.

Andrew Garfield expects the Spider-Man question for the rest of his life

A reader named Nick wrote in with this question: "Andrew Garfield said in a recent interview that he expects to be asked if he is coming back as Spider-Man for the rest of his life. Do you think this is him deflecting from the fact that he's in Avengers Secret Wars?"

In that interview, Garfield said the question is "probably going to follow me for the rest of my life," and he joked about how long it would go on: "Until I'm 90 years old, they're going to be asking me, 'Are you in the new Spider-Man volume 512?'" He played it for laughs, picturing himself still fielding the question in old age, and then added that "people can ask me whatever they want. My life is very blessed."

Garfield's No Way Home denials now work in his favor

Ever since Garfield returned as The Amazing Spider-Man in No Way Home, one of the first films of Marvel's Multiverse Saga, people have given him a hard time about his many denials that he was in the movie. He isn't receiving actual hate for lying about it. People are teasing him over how firmly he insisted he wasn't in it.

From that moment on, two things were clear. Garfield was probably going to get asked this question for the rest of his life. And regardless of his answer, especially if the answer is no, we'll probably assume he's lying. I think that puts him in a better position now. He can simply say he isn't in it, point out that he said the same about No Way Home and was obviously lying, and tell people they'll have to wait and see.

Poor Andrew had it rough the first time. Unlike Tobey during No Way Home, he was on a press tour for another movie he was in. No Way Home hype was at an all-time high, he was asked in every interview whether he was in it, and then there was the leaked image. But we're all past that now, and he did return.

Why No Way Home proves Garfield is coming back for Secret Wars

The fact that he returned for No Way Home is all the proof you need that he's coming back for Secret Wars. There's no chance Marvel makes a Spider-Man multiverse movie in the Multiverse Saga, brings back Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, and doesn't have a plan to bring them back for Secret Wars. That's like saying, "Oh, I lit this match and I threw it in this can of gasoline and I expected nothing to happen."

Of course bringing them back means they're going to be in Secret Wars. That's true from a storytelling perspective alone, but also from a money perspective. Any rational person will tell you Marvel will want Andrew's Spider-Man back. His return in No Way Home wasn't a goodbye. It was a welcome back. The same is true for Tobey, and the same is true for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

It kills me any time I hear someone say Deadpool & Wolverine, a movie that brought Wolverine back after the ending of Logan, was a one-off, his true goodbye and swan song. They didn't bring him back as a final goodbye. They brought him back to say welcome back. They brought back Hugh, Tobey and Andrew for those specific movies, yes, but also because they want them in Secret Wars.

The goodbye argument for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield doesn't hold up

The argument that No Way Home was a goodbye for Andrew and Tobey makes a little more sense than it does for Jackman. Unlike Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Tobey and Andrew never got their goodbye. Both had planned sequels, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and Tobey's Spider-Man 4, and both were canceled. So, unlike Deadpool & Wolverine, No Way Home could have been viewed as their farewell.

But this all happened at the start of the Multiverse Saga, not as a one-and-done. We're hurtling toward a huge multiversal variant crossover that gives Marvel the chance to put Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man on screen together, or Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man alongside Thor. They're going to do it. They're not going to miss that opportunity.

Anyone who says these were one-and-done returns is, to me, ignoring the clear story that was being set up in No Way Home. They're ignoring the era of nostalgia we're living in. And they're ignoring corporate greed. Of course Marvel wants all these characters in the movie.

Tobey Maguire in Avengers: Doomsday, and whether Garfield joins him

I focus on Secret Wars because I'm not fully convinced Andrew will appear in Doomsday. He might. But I think Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man will definitely appear in Avengers: Doomsday. I was saying that long before the leaks came out suggesting his Spider-Man is the Spider-Man of that movie. A film like Doomsday may only feature one Spider-Man, and that would be Tobey.

Spoiler warning for anyone avoiding rumors. The rumor was that Doomsday opens with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man fighting as their universes collide. Tobey's universe is then destroyed with both of them still in it, and what happened to them is left open-ended. Did they die? Absolutely not. I think we'll learn that they either landed in the void or got snatched up by Loki. Maybe they'll pop back up at the end of the movie to set up Secret Wars.

As cool as that would be, I hope they don't just reappear at the end. I hope they have more of a role in the movie. I want to see Tobey working with other Avengers. That's especially true if Tom's Spider-Man for some reason isn't in the movie. In that case I want an active Spider-Man in all three acts of the film, and it would be cool if it was Tobey.

How Avengers: Secret Wars could handle three Spider-Men

I'm very down for the idea that Hugh and Tobey will be leads in Secret Wars. A report indicated that, as with Infinity War and Endgame, characters who didn't have huge roles in one of the films would have a bigger role in the other. That could be the case for Hugh and Tobey. We could see them as leads alongside Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Chris Hemsworth's Thor, all fighting Downey's Doom.

So where does Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man fit in, whether that's in Doomsday or, more likely, Secret Wars? We all want to see the three Spider-Men together again, and that moment will likely come at least by the end of the film. For the bulk of the movie, though, I think Marvel goes with the classic split, with three missions run by three groups of heroes, and gives each team a Spider-Man.

Tobey and Hugh need to be on a team together, and I'd put Steve Rogers on that team as well. Another team could be Thor, Ben Grimm, Cyclops, whoever, with Andrew on it. I think it would be cool for each team to mix some Avengers, a Spider-Man, some X-Men and members of the Fantastic Four. That gets me so hyped just thinking about it.

I also love the idea of Tobey and Andrew reconnecting with Tom after working with the Avengers, and Andrew saying something like, "we met your band. They're pretty cool." That would be a callback to No Way Home, where Andrew asked if the Avengers were a band Tom was in.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man could end up on Team Doom

Here's the kicker: what team would Tom be on? I think it might be Team Doom. We know Doom looks like Tony Stark, Peter's mentor. We know Doom will have a team of his own made up of other heroes. And Secret Wars is where Tom will most likely get the black suit, as he does in the comics.

I think we could see Tom's Spider-Man on Team Doom in the black suit, as one of Doom's most lethal warriors. Maybe it's Tobey and Andrew who need to come together in the end to defeat Tom Holland's Spider-Man and get that suit off him. Then the black suit gets sent back to Andrew's home universe and we get an Andrew Garfield Sony Spider-Man movie. No, I'm kidding. Don't do that.

Is something like The Amazing Spider-Man 3 going to happen? Very likely not. But Andrew Garfield is 100% going to play Spider-Man again, and he'll 100% be in Secret Wars.