Marvel and Sony thought that including live-action Spider-Men in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was too weird. Despite there being a string of successful comic book films in 2018, Into the Spider-Verse managed to be a pleasant surprise for critics, comic book fans, and the general public when it burst onto the big screen near the tail end of that year. Hailed for its creative take on the Spider-Man lore, the film - which was produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman - followed the Miles Morales' (Shameik Moore) version of the web-slinging hero as he met with different iterations of the character from other realities.
In addition to Moore as Morales, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse boasted a high-profile voice cast. Among the many recognizable names attached to the film were Liev Schreiber (Kingpin), Hailee Steinfeld (Spider-Gwen), John Mulaney (Spider-Ham), Nicolas Cage (Spider-Noir), Jake Johnson (Peter Parker), and Mahershala Ali (Aaron Davis). Since it dealt with multiple characters from alternate realities, Spider-Verse had the creative freedom to feature a lot of fun cameos as a treat for viewers. At one point too, the Spider-Verse directors were even considering including appearances from Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland just for fun.
As cool as the idea was, however, Ramsey reveals in a new interview with ComicBookMovie that Marvel and Sony weren't on board with the idea as the studios thought it was too odd for the movie. While they eventually ended up scrapping the idea, the filmmaker noted that when they got the feedback, the executives hadn't seen the film yet, and hadn't yet really experienced its unique tone and feel. Given that, Ramsay states that they might be able to push through with this plan in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2, which is slated for a 2022 release. When asked whether there were ever any talks of including some of the live-action Spider-Man actors in the film, Ramsay said:
Yeah. Oh, we were playing with that idea for this one. There was definitely a pitch where live-action folks showed up. So, you know, as for the next one, who knows, because we really were throwing every idea at them that we could. And so it could. I don't know, it could happen. You know, I think at the time Marvel and Sony were like, 'yeah... that's just a little too out of the box, everybody.' But, they hadn't seen the movie.
Rothman previously revealed that he wrote a scene where all three live-action Spider-Men showed up in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While he didn't say that the studios' response had anything to do with their decision to scrap the idea, he did say that they were worried about fans' reception to the choice, as the appearance of Maguire, Garfield, and Holland had the potential to confuse the general viewing public. Given this, they decided to make do without the scene.
In hindsight, it's probably for the best that they didn't push through with this idea. Although not much is known about how this supposed scene was going to pan out, there was already a lot of Spider-Men in the film, and adding more, regardless if they're just cameos, could've proven to be too much. In any case, now that the Spider-Verse has been fully established onscreen after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the film's creatives likely have the room to be a little bit more fun and generous with their cameos in the 2022 sequel. DC and Marvel continuing to dabble with their multiverses should also further help audiences get comfortable with seeing multiple versions of certain characters onscreen. This means that finally executing the scrapped cameos for Maguire, Garfield, and Holland in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 would more likely work this time.
Source: ComicBookMovie
