Andrew Garfield is once again pushing Hollywood to make Spider-Man gay, repeating an idea he first floated in a viral 2013 interview.
Garfield, who played Spider-Man in 2012 and 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man films before returning for 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, brought the idea back up while promoting director Paul Greengrass’ The Uprising, according to Variety.
Back in 2013, Garfield told an interviewer he had discussed the idea with producer Matt Tolmach, suggesting Peter Parker’s love interest Mary Jane could simply become “MJ” and be played by a man.
“What if MJ is a dude? … Why can’t we discover that Peter is exploring his sexuality? It’s hardly even groundbreaking! … So why can’t he be gay? Why can’t he be into boys?”
Garfield said at the time he had shopped the idea around, floating actor Michael B. Jordan as a possible love interest. “He’s so charismatic and talented,” Garfield said. “It’d be even better — we’d have interracial bisexuality!”
Thirteen years later, Garfield is still making the same pitch. Asked about it by Entertainment Weekly during the press tour for The Uprising, he called the idea “an exercise in rebellion that I felt passionate about.”
“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 added: “I like the idea of a place where everyone is being honored and everyone is being included, and it was just a kind of act of saying, ‘Well, why not?’ And you’ll be telling on yourself if you have a strong opinion either way.”
Garfield isn’t alone in pushing to remake the character. Current Spider-Man actor Tom Holland has suggested a Hispanic Spider-Man, an idea with actual comic book backing — Marvel introduced Miles Morales as a Spider-Man in an alternate universe in 2011, a character who later spread into other titles and animated projects.
Garfield’s version has no such comic book basis. It’s simply an idea he has now pushed publicly for over a decade, aimed at one of the most valuable franchises in Hollywood.
