Spider-Man: No Way Home Had To Recreate Maguire And Garfield’s Suits

A Spider-Man: No Way Home costume designer has revealed that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spidey suits had to be recreated from scratch. The third instalment in Marvel Studios Spider-Man series delighted hardcore fans and general audiences the world over in December of last year. No Way Home was a knockout success both critically and financially, currently ranking as the sixth highest-grossing film of all time after blockbuster movies made a cautious return during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The film’s marketing promised to bring elements from prior Spider-Man film series, such as Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Willem Dafoe’s Green Golbin, and Jamie Foxx’s Electro, into the MCU to menace the latest incarnation of the web-slinger. This led to rampant fan speculation that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would ultimately team up with his predecessors, Maguire and Garfield. The marketing for Spider-Man: No Way Home exercised a lot of restraint, not giving a clear answer until the film’s release when audiences were overjoyed to witness all three Spider-Men swinging through the sky together to foil a group of interdimensional adversaries.

In an interview with Discussing Film, Spider-Man: No Way Home costume designer Sanja Milkovic Hays confirmed that Maguire and Garfield’s Spidey suits has to be completely recreated for their long-awaited return. Hays acknowledged that, in order to create the feeling that the two Spider-Men has stepped out of their own worlds, special care had to be taken to make sure their suits looked identical to their last appearances on the big screen. While using the suits from filming would have guaranteed that effect, Hays confirmed that the original Spider-Man suits the actors wore were either missing or destroyed.

“We were recreating the original suits from the previous movies so that the characters looked like they just stepped out of those worlds. The original suits that they actually wore [on-set] are either missing or destroyed. It was really interesting to recreate them because technology has changed so much since they were first designed.”

While fans may find it unfortunate that the costumes used in the earlier Spider-Man films had not been preserved, it is to be expected that they would not have survived for up to 17 years (in Maguire’s case). Certain superhero costumes, such as the Spider-Man suit, do not have longevity as a major factor in their design, with the materials used prone to degradation as time goes on. This is why, on blockbuster affairs, dozens of costumes and stunt suits can be produced, as the demands of an intensive filming schedule will inevitably lead to wear and tear. Regardless, most fans would agree that Hays did a remarkable job of recreating the suits in Spider-Man: No Way Home just as they remembered.

The decision to recreate the suits to an almost 1:1 degree makes sense, as the filmmakers would want to clearly visually establish these Spider-Men as different to the current title-holder and leave little doubt that these are the same characters from Sam Raimi and Marc Webb’s Spider-Man films. Some fans have, however, criticised how Maguire and Garfield’s characters seemed to be somewhat frozen in time despite their lengthy hiatus from the big screen. In a scene where they compare histories with Holland’s Peter Parker, the pair seem to have not fought any other villains from Spider-Man’s colorful rogues gallery outside of what fans saw in their movies. Fans were somewhat frustrated at the lack of insight as to what each character had done since their films, and slight modifications to their designs may have indicated some additional history. Hopefully, with the improved technology that Hays references, the suits seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home could be preserved for posterity, or maybe even some future appearances and redesigns, down the road.

Source: Discussing Film

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