Spider-Man movie trilogy director Sam Raimi recalls the nostalgia he felt after seeing Tobey Maguire back in the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Director Sam Raimi shares his emotional response to seeing Tobey Maguire back as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Maguire came back in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home for a multiversal adventure that saw his version of the wall-crawler get pulled into the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Andrew Garfield’s from The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. Villains from the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy — Sandman, Doc Ock, and the Green Goblin — also accompanied Maguire for a nostalgic event, which appears to have impacted Raimi as much as it did audiences.

Twitter user @RaimiGroovy shared a video taken during a special screening of Raimi’s MCU movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where the director reveals what seeing Maguire return as Spider-Man after so many years felt like to him.

"Quando eu vi esse filme (No Way Home) e quando eu vi Tobey Maguire aparecer meu coração disparou e eu pensei que está meu velho herói, meu velho amigo. Foi muito lindo" pic.twitter.com/vPXAjZB7QU — Bruce Estiloso (@RaimiGroovy) January 27, 2023

Seeing three generations of Spider-Men together on-screen was a major feat by Marvel and Sony, with Raimi admitting that Maguire’s return had him feeling emotional. Check out the full quote below:

“When I saw Tobey Maguire, my heart went out and I thought there’s my old hero, my old friend.”

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Why The Raimi/Maguire Spider-Man Trilogy Is Special

The Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy was very much a product of its time, with the movie being filled with elements of the early 2000s wave of comic book movies, which made the Maguire outings as the wall-crawler ooze with an endearing factor that was relived during the actor’s Spider-Man: No Way Home return. The Raimi trilogy, alongside the original X-Men movies, helped introduce a generation to the mainstream Marvel universe, which would be the starting point for what would become the MCU years later through Iron Man‘s release in 2008.

Spider-Man: No Way Home allowed Maguire’s journey as the character to come full circle. The fact that Tom Holland’s solo outing as the character was filled with the same level of emotion as the Maguire movies made it all even more special. The Maguire Spider-Man trilogy became beloved for presenting an entertaining superhero story that was inherently human at its core. The movies perfectly captured the essence of the Spider-Man comics, focusing on grounded stories of grief, betrayal, sacrifice, romance, and more through fantastical lenses that put forward the best superhero action Hollywood had ever seen at that point. Sony and Marvel not banking on the future Spider-Man: No Way Home setup for Maguire and Garfield would be a mistake.

Could Tobey Maguire & Sam Raimi Return For Spider-Man 4?

Maguire’s return in Spider-Man: No Way Home has opened doors for the actor to return as his Peter Parker version for more outings, be them in the MCU, the animated Spider-Verse movies, or in his long-awaited Spider-Man 4. While there are different avenues Sony could take with Maguire, the idea of partnering him up again with Raimi to resurrect their ill-fated Spider-Man 4 would easily break the Internet if it came true. Maguire has confirmed that he would love to reprise the role in multiple projects after returning in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which gives Spider-Man 4 a real chance of happening.