When Andrew Garfield was promoting The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014, he spoke with Entertainment Weekly, revealing he'd discussed having a male MJ as Spider-Man's love interest with producer Matt Tolmach.
He explained, “I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about MJ… I was like, ‘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?”
He also suggested to director Marc Webb that they have a Black actor play MJ, enthusing, "I've been obsessed with Michael B. Jordan since The Wire. He's so charismatic and talented. It'd be even better—we'd have interracial bisexuality!"
Recently, while promoting the film The Uprising, which opens in theaters September 11, 2026, Andrew was reminded by EW of his earlier statements about a gay Peter Parker.
"I just still believe that anyone can be in that suit," Garfield said. "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.”
Marvel is reportedly less enthusiastic about the idea. They shared a list of "character integrity obligations" with Sony, stating that Marvel will not interfere in the creative side of the films as long as Sony follows a set list of guidelines. This list says Peter Parker must be "Caucasian and heterosexual." Spider-Man also must not torture, smoke or abuse alcohol — unless he's in the black symbiote suit.
Currently, Tom Holland plays the web-slinger in his fourth Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has earned over $2 billion worldwide. In North America, it's one of the highest-grossing films of all time, earning $894 million in four weeks in the Number 1 spot at the box office. It's poised to surpass the $1 billion mark domestically within the next few weeks. ~Alexandra Heilbron