Marvel Studios is looking to wrap up its Multiversal Saga with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The two films will tie together a multitude of Marvel films and Disney+ shows that have debuted since 2020. While most of the projects have been hit or miss, the biggest film by fans has easily been Spider-Man: No Way Home. In the movie, Peter Parker (played by Tom Holland) learns there are variants of himself throughout the Multiverse. The film featured the return of original Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire, as well as the Amazing Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.
While both actors have less than 15 minutes of screentime in the film, they left an impact on the MCU that nobody will forget. The film also gave us a small look into each character’s life beyond their original films. Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker reveals that he and Mary Jane Watson (originally played by Kristin Dunst) went on to get married and have a happy life. While Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker became angry and bitter from the loss of Gwen Stacy (originally played by Emma Stone). However, when they met Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, all three became “brothers” of sorts spanning the very cosmos of the Marvel Universe. That all three learned they aren’t truly alone in the universe.
A constant question has lingered from fans about Avengers: Doomsday, going into Avengers: Secret Wars. Will fan-favorite Spider-Man have a role in these films? Here is our speculation article on how Spider-Man will fit into the final two MCU multiverse films. We now know that Tom Holland’s version of Peter Parker will (most likely) not appear in Avengers: Doomsday, as he will have his own adventure in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. They will need to explain how his “Spider-Man” is even a member of The Avengers after Doctor Strange made the universe forget who Peter Parker even is, even though they know the hero Spider-Man. We know that Andrew Garfield won’t appear in Avengers: Doomsday, but he is open to returning for Avengers: Secret Wars if asked. Which only leaves Tobey Maguire returning as Peter Parker once again.
A pesky rumor has sprung up during production of Avengers: Doomsday that Tobey Maguire will indeed return as Spider-Man. He is currently the only Spider-Man who is expected to appear in the film. This leads many to speculate if this could be our final film featuring Maguire as the web head. We already know several of the original X-Men legacy actors will return for the film, including Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor X and Magneto. It is assumed that both the MCU (Earth-616) and X-Men (Earth-10005) universes are on a collision course during the events of Avengers: Doomsday, and each set of heroes wants to save their own Earth. What if another incursion was also happening in the original Spider-Man universe? If the film starts with an Incursian on the universe where Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker is living his “happily-ever-after”. He would be the very first multiversal hero to join the fight to save his universe, even if it means leaving Mary Jane and possibly his daughter, Mayday Parker.
Marvel needs to have some collateral damage and stakes to make Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr.) a formidable villain in the film. With all the issues behind the scenes and Marvel Studios pivoting from Kang the Conqueror to Doom, there isn’t much screen time to show how significant a threat he could be. It’s very possible that many of these legacy characters from the alternate Marvel universe will not make it out alive of Avengers: Doomsday, let alone appear in Avengers: Secret Wars. The problem is we have already witnessed the “death” of Professor X (and several other X-Men) almost 4 times already on screen in X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan, and Doctor Strange into the Multiverse. His death is almost expected by the audience. However, if Doctor Doom sought to kill Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker variant in Avengers: Doomsday to save the rest of the Multiverse, the fans wouldn’t be able to handle it. It would be a hero’s death for the character that Maguire has played since 2002, on par with Hugh Jackman’s death in Logan. It would simply hurt as a fan.
If Marvel Studios were bold enough to pull off this hero’s death in Avengers: Doomsday, then it would set up the other Spider-Man variants in Avengers: Secret Wars. A way to bring Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker variant and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker variant into the battle with Doctor Doom would be the death of their fallen brother. The best of the three, the one that had it all. That, when Avengers: Secret Wars had its final battle to save the Multiverse, it was Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker’s sacrifice that started it all. And it would prove how formidable Doctor Doom really is, as long as it was necessary in his eyes to save the Multiverse. Spider-Man: No Way Home also already had a fakeout death for Tobey Maguire that could have foreshadowed things to come.
Following the release of the symbiote goo in Spider-Man: No Way Home’s post-credit scene from the Venom universe, Marvel Studios is clearly setting up Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to be infected in the MCU. Peter Parker originally donned his black suit in the original Secret Wars comic book before later on revealing it was a symbiote for Venom in the 1990s. Marvel Studios could add to the grief Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is facing with the loss of Aunt May in No Way Home, the loss of his multiversal brother in Doomsday, and this new black suit to set up his new Spider-Man trilogy post-Avengers: Secret Wars. He deals with loss and anger, without anyone there to help who’s been there before. Since Peter 1 sacrificed himself to save the entire Multiverse.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18th, 2026
