Andrew Garfield is still pushing for a gay Spider-Man. In a new conversation with Entertainment Weekly ahead of his latest film, the actor looked back on his 2013 plea in the magazine’s pages — where he asked why the web-slinger “can’t be gay? Why can’t he be into boys?” — and said his feelings haven’t changed.
“It was an exercise in rebellion that I felt passionate about,” Garfield reflected. “I just still believe that anyone can be in that suit.”
“That’s the point of why it’s such a kind of universally beloved character, one of the greatly beloved characters in the history of fiction, is because you don’t see skin color, you don’t see gender, you don’t see sexuality. Anyone can project themselves into that suit.”
Garfield, who played Peter Parker in “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its 2014 sequel, also noted he likes “the idea of a place where everyone is being honored and everyone is being included.” In the original 2013 interview, he recalled joking with producer Matt Tolmach about gender-swapping Mary Jane Watson: “What if MJ is a dude? Why can’t we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality? It’s hardly even groundbreaking!” He even pitched his own replacement, saying he’d been “obsessed with Michael B. Jordan since The Wire” and that it “would be even better — we’d have interracial bisexuality!”
The Web of Possibility
Four more live-action Spider-Man films have come and gone since Garfield’s last turn, and two animated “Spider-Verse” films, yet no Peter Parker has ever been gay on the big screen. The character’s love interests have all been women — Kirsten Dunst in the Tobey Maguire films, Emma Stone in Garfield’s, and Zendaya in Tom Holland’s. But the comics have moved forward: in 2022, Marvel introduced Web-Weaver, the canon’s first gay Spider-Man, created by writer Steve Foxe and artist Kris Anka in “Edge of the Spider-Verse” #5.
Holland, who starred in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in July, has said he has a “really clear vision to the passing on of the baton” to a new star, meaning the next cinematic Spider-Man is still very much on the drawing board. Garfield’s latest project, the Paul Greengrass historical drama “The Uprising,” arrives in theaters Sept. 11.
Why It Matters
Garfield’s comments land at a moment when the future of the franchise is genuinely open, with Holland preparing to hand off the role. His argument — that Spider-Man’s appeal is that anyone can project themselves into the suit — speaks to why the character endures across generations. Whether Marvel ever acts on it, the conversation keeps the door open for a more inclusive web-slinger, and Garfield is making sure nobody forgets the idea.
