Spider-Man 3 won't feature Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland confirms

Actor Tom Holland has denied that the third, untitled Spider-Man film will feature actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles from past Spider-Man films in a new interview.

The actor – who's promoting his new movie Cherry on Apple TV Plus – has firmly denied the two older Spidey actors are appearing in the film. This was widely expected to be the case after a Collider report from late last year reported that this was the plan, with Kirsten Dunst apparently set to reprise her role as MJ Watson from the earlier Spidey films directed by Sam Raimi. 

Holland, however, has firmly ruled it out.

“No, no, they will not be appearing in this film,” Holland told Esquire back in December, for a cover story released this week. “Unless they have hidden the most massive piece of information from me, which I think is too big of a secret for them to keep from me. But as of yet, no. It’ll be a continuation of the Spider-Man movies that we’ve been making.”

Just last week, Holland called this third Spider-Man film the "most ambitious" standalone superhero movie ever. We had assumed the multiple Spider-Men thing was the reason why that was the case. But we have another big idea as to what's going on here – scroll down for more.

The third Spider-Man movie has a release date of December 17, 2021, and will be directed by Jon Watts.

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Here's a theory about what's going on here

Tom Holland could be bluffing to throw people off – but assuming he's answered sincerely, here, let's investigate another theory. He hasn't denied another big rumor floating around this film, that villains from past iterations of Spider-Man will pop up in this movie

THR reported last year that Alfred Molina will reprise his role as Doc Ock from 2004's Spider-Man 2 in the movie, and previously reported that Jamie Foxx was going to play Electro again, having debuted in Andrew Garfield Spidey movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

That one is harder to deny. A now-deleted post from Foxx on Instagram appeared to confirm that this he is indeed in the movie:

So, what if the plan here is to assemble the Sinister Six in this third Spider-Man movie – but to recruit them from across dimensions? The Sinister Six, in the comic books, is a group of supervillains who team up to take down Spidey. 

The original line-up consisted of Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Sandman and Electro, three of which we've ticked off, when you include Adrian Toomes' Vulture (Michael Keaton) from Homecoming. Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), of course, seemingly died in Far From Home – but it's always possible he found a way to fake his death with holograms, and will return in this movie. 

That might explain why the villains of the older Spidey movies have been roped into this third Spider-Man movie, but not the heroes themselves. No doubt we'll learn more about what Sony and Marvel Studios have planned for the movie the closer we get to release.

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