Will Spider-Man 3 feature Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield? Latest Spider-Verse rumours explained

However, at present this discussion is based largely on hearsay, crucially lacking any official word from Sony or Disney to lend credibility to the broader story.

So, what's really going on here? RadioTimes.com is here to untangle the web...

Will Spider-Man 3 be a live-action Spider-Verse crossover?

Relatively little had been known about Tom Holland's Spider-Man 3 until a highly unexpected piece of news dropped at the beginning of October.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Jamie Foxx would be reprising the role of classic Spidey villain Electro, a character he played in Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

As fans will be well aware, that movie takes place outside of the current MCU continuity, meaning that Foxx will either be playing a new incarnation of Electro or crossing over from an alternate universe.

While we can't rule out the former possibility, this casting seems a little too coincidental to dismiss, particularly given Marvel's previously announced plans to introduce a multiverse in the upcoming Doctor Strange 2.

Foxx's casting alone was enough to get fans wildly speculating, but these conversations jumped to the next level when THR dropped another Marvel scoop just one week later.

The industry trade confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange will appear in Spider-Man 3 too, providing more evidence that the film could take a route through the multiverse.

If that wasn't enough, the director of Doctor Strange 2 is none other than the legendary Sam Raimi, who famously helmed the first Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire.

From these closely linked stories, the rumour of a live-action Spider-Verse movie was born, with a number of small pop culture websites reporting that Maguire and his successor, Andrew Garfield, are close to signing on.

However, it would be wise to take these reports with a generous pinch of salt, given that all of them come from undisclosed sources and some could be entirely made up. It happens.

That's not to say that these rumours are false, but merely that they are yet to have any authoritative backing, so investing too heavily could result in a bitter disappointment.

Watch this space for official confirmation of the Spider-Man 3 cast.

How could the Spider-Men crossover?

While we're yet to know for sure if a live-action Spider-Verse movie is actually happening, it's not hard to see how the rumour caught on given the direction the MCU is headed.

The upcoming Disney+ original series WandaVision looks likely to delve into the idea of alternate realities, as the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) harnesses her power to create an idyllic sitcom environment for her and her android partner.

Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has previously stated that the events of WandaVision will lead directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Olsen will also star. Thus, a prevalent theory to emerge is that the highly anticipated miniseries could see the Scarlet Witch use her reality-warping abilities to open the door into alternate universes.

The chaos that could cause would be unlike anything the MCU has ever seen before and it would probably fall under the sorcerer supreme's remit to restore order to the multiverse.

For Peter Parker, things would be particularly bleak, as many fans have theorised this crossover could unite the Sinister Six on screen for the first time.

With Foxx's Electro already confirmed, the lineup could also include Michael Keaton's Vulture, Michael Mando's Scorpion, Bokeem Woodbine's Shocker, Donald Glover's Prowler and perhaps even Jake Gyllenhaal's (currently presumed dead) Mysterio.

Faced with such a force, three Spider-Men might be necessary to stop whatever they have planned, particularly as Doctor Strange will likely have bigger fish to fry...

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