Andrew Garfield defends his call for a gay Spider-Man 13 years later: ‘Why not?’
“I just still believe that anyone can be in that suit,” he said adding “anyone can project themselves into that suit”
Andrew Garfield is reflecting on his viral 2013 comments about the possibility of a gay Spider-Man, saying he still believes that anyone should be able to see themselves in the iconic superhero.
Garfield first raised the idea while promoting The Amazing Spider-Man 2, when he questioned why Peter Parker could not explore his sexuality and suggested gender-swapping the character’s famous love interest, Mary Jane Watson.
“I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about MJ… I was like, ‘What if MJ is a dude?’” Garfield said in 2013. “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?”
At the time, Garfield also suggested that Michael J. Bordan could play a male version of MJ in the Amazing Spider-Man franchise. The actor praised Bordan’s charisma and talent and added, “I’ve been obsessed with him since ‘The Wire.’ He’s so charismatic and talented. It’d be even better — we’d have interracial bisexuality!”
More than a decade later, Garfield has revisited those comments while promoting Paul Greengrass’ The Uprising. Asked to reflect on his 13-year-old call for a gay Spider-Man, the actor said his comments came from a desire to challenge conventional ideas about the character.
“It was an exercise in rebellion that I felt passionate about,” Garfield said. “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 continued to argue that Spider-Man’s universal appeal comes from the fact that audiences can identify with the person behind the mask regardless of their background or identity.
“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?’” he said. “And you’ll be telling on yourself if you have a strong opinion either way.”
Garfield’s latest comments come as the Spider-Man franchise continues to expand through different versions of the superhero across film and other media. The actor played Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 before returning to the role alongside Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Holland currently plays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and recently returned as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The film has also renewed discussions about expanding the live-action Spider-Man universe, with Holland previously expressing interest in bringing Miles Morales to the big screen.
During the Brand New Day press tour, Holland told the Associated Press that he has a “desire to bring Miles to the screen” and to “shepherd the lucky young kid who gets that job”.
Garfield’s renewed support for a Spider-Man that can represent people of different genders and sexualities does not indicate that Marvel or Sony has plans to make Peter Parker gay. Instead, the actor is reaffirming an idea he first raised more than 13 years ago: that the character’s iconic suit should be open to anyone who can see themselves in the hero.
For Garfield, the question remains as simple as the one he posed in 2013: “Why not?”
