Before Disney and Sony struck an unprecedented deal to allow Spider-Man to become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony attempted to build its own massive franchise around the wall crawler with the Amazing Spider-Man films. After the 2012 reboot proved to be successful, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was greenlit, and a bevy of other films were being developed. The slate not only included a pair of additional Amazing Spider-Man sequels but also spinoffs. The most notable of these was Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six movie, which would have built off the teases featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Despite all this planning, the franchise wasn’t meant to be.
After The Amazing Spider-Man 2 underwhelmed critically and commercially (its $716.9 million gross is the lowest for a live-action Spider-Man film), the follow-ups were scrapped in favor of the MCU reboot. Still, with Andrew Garfield’s iteration of Spider-Man remaining a fan favorite (especially after his turn in Spider-Man: No Way Home), people can’t help but wonder what might have been and if future Garfield-centric projects could ever see the light of day. Here’s what we know about the cancelled Amazing Spider-Man sequels.
What We Know About The Cancelled Amazing Spider-Man Sequels
Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
A year before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit theaters, Sony scheduled third and fourth installments for 2016 and 2018, illustrating just how confident the studio was in the franchise’s prospects. Obviously, neither of those films came to fruition, but there’s enough out there to infer what they would have been about. At the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker is mourning the loss of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy, so it’s reasonable to assume that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 would have picked up from there, with Peter struggling to cope with the tragedy. Based on comments from star Denis Leary (who played Captain George Stacy), the third film would have seen Peter attempt to bring lost loved ones back from the dead.
“Part of the discussion was that possibly in 3, there was this idea, at one point, Spider-Man would be able to take this formula and regenerate the people in his life that had died,” Leary said. Not only would this have opened the door for George Stacy to return, the expectation was Norman Osborn and Richard Parker would come back as well. Of course, it’s difficult to say if this would have been the actual plot; in 2025, screenwriter Alex Kurtzman shared that “we never wrote it,” so there wasn’t a finalized script in place. It’s possible that the narrative might have changed during the development and writing process.
Amazing Spider-Man franchise director Marc Webb noted that the plan was for the third film to crossover with the planned Sinister Six spinoff. Building off a deleted post-credits scene that revealed Oscorp kept the deceased Norman’s head on ice, the resurrection of the elder Osborn would setup him becoming the Green Goblin and leading the team of villains. Webb bemoaned, “I think maybe we were thinking too far ahead when we started building in those things,” suggesting the filmmakers regret how everything turned out.
Naturally, because it was so much further out, less is known about what would have been in store for The Amazing Spider-Man 4. In the buildup to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Garfield noted he was only under contract for three installments, and Webb expressed interest in stepping down as director after 3. So, even though Sony intended to make a fourth entry, it sounds like there would have needed to be some work done behind the scenes, finding a new director and locking Garfield in for a new deal. Story details are largely unknown, although during the 2014 Sony hack, there was talk about having Emma Stone return to portray a resurrected Gwen Stacy, who would transform into Carnage, taking a cue from the Ultimate Marvel comics.
Will Andrew Garfield Return as Spider-Man?
Garfield’s Spider-Man film series was unceremoniously scrapped, but he made a triumphant return to the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was a nice way to bring his Spider-Man journey full circle; while opinions about the overall movies were mixed, fans enjoyed Garfield’s portrayal of the hero. In the wake of No Way Home‘s record-breaking success, there was renewed interest in seeing the actor headline another solo Spider-Man movie himself. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
In October 2025, Garfield stated that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 “[is] not happening, and I don’t believe it ever will,” effectively squashing any hopes of seeing the Amazing Spider-Man series revived. As disappointing as that is to hear, it makes sense. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man series is still going strong; similar to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, The Amazing Spider-Man 3 is something that would be fun to see, but logistically, it might be difficult to make it work. When discussing the prospect of his Spider-Man 4, Raimi was cautious about not wanting to disrupt the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s forward momentum, which would likely be a concern about a third Garfield movie.
Chances are The Amazing Spider-Man 3 won’t happen, but there’s always a chance Garfield comes back to play his Spider-Man variant in Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars. The multiverse will undoubtedly play a sizable role in those films, opening the door for a variety of cameos and returns. In the past, Garfield has said that if he were to reprise Spider-Man, it would have to be for something that’s “weird” and “strange,” allowing his performance to feel unique and special. It doesn’t sound like he would be up for an empty bit of fan service that exists purely to get a reaction out of the crowd.
It’ll be interesting to see if Garfield does indeed return for Secret Wars. On the surface, something like that has the potential to be “weird” and “strange” given all of the multiversal components, but that film also has a ton of moving parts Marvel needs to sort out. Depending on how the story unfolds, there may not be a place to give Garfield’s Spider-Man a significant enough role that would be worthwhile. The only thing more disappointing than never seeing Garfield’s Peter Parker again would be an underwhelming part in Secret Wars that falls flat. It might be best if No Way Home serves as Garfield’s Spider-Man coda, sending him off on a high note.
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