Maguire & Garfield Universes Don't Have Avengers, But DO Have Other Heroes
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man variants were unfamiliar with The Avengers, but they have other Marvel heroes in their universes.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s iterations of Spider-Man are confused by Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Avengers reference, but that doesn’t mean that the older Spider-Man variants don’t have other Marvel superheroes in their respective realities. No Way Home features the long-awaited return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s web-slingers, where they work alongside Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man to repair a damaged multiverse. The two are unfamiliar with The Avengers, but material from their respective franchises includes other heroes, though perhaps not The Avengers as they appeared in the MCU.
In one of the most crowd-pleasing MCU films since Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home unites three generations of cinematic Spider-Man iterations when an awry reality-altering spell brings Maguire and Garfield’s iterations (and some of their respective supervillains) into the MCU. In a film full of humor and fan service, one moment involved the three heroes struggling to work as a team, prompting Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to mention his Avengers membership. Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Man variants react to the reference with confusion, with Garfield’s version asking if The Avengers is a band.
Despite both previous versions of Spider-Man being unfamiliar with The Avengers in No Way Home, their respective franchises feature canonical non-movie material that acknowledges the existence of other Marvel superheroes. Through video games, spinoff comics, and novelizations (none of which were contradicted by No Way Home), the Sam Raimi and The Amazing Spider-Man continuities include Marvel superheroes, some of whom are members of The Avengers. What this implies is that in the two alternate realities, either The Avengers haven’t formed yet or they operate under a different name.
The Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy of films only shows Spider-Man and references Doctor Strange, but the video games confirm the existence of Captain America, The Punisher, and Mr. Fantastic. The Raimi continuity’s novelizations further confirm the existence of Daredevil, The Hulk, Ant-Man, and Namor the Sub-Mariner. In the Amazing Spider-Man continuity, the video games and prequel comics generally reference Spider-Man villains and supporting characters, but they also confirm that Captain America and Iron Man are part of the continuity.
Since the Raimi and Amazing Spider-Man spinoff materials are canon to their respective franchises, they may still have the famous superhero team, but it either has yet to form or uses a different title. For the Raimi universe, The Avengers might be more clandestine, simply being referred to as a strike team for an entity like SHIELD. For The Amazing Spider-Man continuity, which is heavily inspired by the alternate universe Ultimate Marvel comics, the team might be similar to its MCU counterpart but called the Ultimates instead of The Avengers.
Whether their versions of The Avengers use different names or haven’t been established yet, the Raimi and Amazing Spider-Man continuities have far more heroes than just Spider-Man. Since his second appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man comic’s 1963 debut, Spider-Man has often interacted with other Marvel superheroes, and while Peter Parker may be a loner, Marvel universes are almost always designed for crossovers, with a plethora of superheroes in addition to Spider-Man protecting New York City. Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Avengers gag, while memorable, doesn’t change the fact that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man variants are not their universe’s only heroes.