Spider-Man: No Way Home is almost certainly going to be the biggest movie since Avengers: Endgame. If its record-breaking trailer is any indication, then it might even get close to that very same level.
Even the success of Venom: Let There Be Carnage shows that the appetite for Spider-Man and his various villains is at an all-time high—so with the likes of Alfred Molina's Doc Ock returning to the fold, among others, Tom Holland's next adventure is shaping up to be a perfect storm.
While villains are one thing, heroes are another. Alongside all of those returning villains who are supposedly turning up, there are equal rumors that say both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are primed to return as their respective Spider-Men to help out the MCU in its time of multiversal crisis.
To back all of this up, there was supposedly even some leaked footage of Andrew Garfield on the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and in his famous costume. The problem? No one can figure out if it's real.
Andrew Garfield Leak Gets Analyzed
The potentially leaked footage of Andrew Garfield from Spider-Man: No Way Home has caused quite a stir recently.
Thankfully, VFX gurus Corridew Crew on YouTube released a video analyzing the clip to see if they could determine whether it was fake or not.
They discussed a number of key points, including:
- The footage looks like it’s from an actual cinema camera. There’s a large sensor because you can see some depth of field, showcased by another Spider-Man’s hands at the edge frame.
- Comparing Andrew Garfield’s look to photos from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, his hairdo is different, and he looks a lot older in the leaked footage. Most likely new footage just because of that.
- Garfield’s face looks like it could be a different resolution than his costume—it’s slightly blurrier. They conclude that it is likely an anomaly, and probably due to the original video being uploaded as an MP4 video file, which adds compression. This would affect things in motion, which, in this case, is only Garfield’s face; so it adds up.
- They go over the idea of it being a Deepfake, but rule it out for a few reasons. For one, Deepfakes can tend to create a flat-looking face, with the lighting not quite matching up. In the video, there are lighting details that a Deepfake just can’t get with today’s technology—such as the top right corner edge light hitting Garifeld’s jaw at points as he moves around.
- The duo also points out how one almost never Deepfakes hair, because it’s very hard to do. With the hair being as high resolution as it is, and with it receiving proper lighting as it moves around, all signs point to the hair being 100% real.
- Then comes the eyes. Eyes, simply because of how they work, have matching reflections. Deepfakes tend to have different reflections in both eyes.
- The light hitting the tongue, and its consistency is a giveaway—another example of what Deepfakes can’t accurately capture.
- Alex Cerrato recently released a video where he claims that he Deepfaked the whole thing, and the leaked video was fake. He later came out and said that he was just trolling everyone and that he had nothing to do with the original leaked footage. These two VFX Gurus are pretty quickly able to explain why Cerrato’s fake Deepfake is, in fact, a fake.
Concluding the video, the Corridor Crew admits that while the video could be faked, it’s likely not—if it were, it would be insanely good fakery.
So, Not a Deepfake Then?
It's important to note that it's still not known for sure if this footage is in fact real. Marvel Studios and Disney have not commented on it just yet, aside from their copyright strikes—but don't expect any official acknowledgment on their part, whether it's fake or not.
That said, with what Corridor Crew has to say about it, it doesn't seem to be a deepfake at the least. In fact, all accounts seem to be leaning towards it all being legit—something which would be a dream come true for many.
Sadly, fans will have no way of knowing for sure if the footage is real or not until the film comes out on December 17 later this year. Or if Sony and Marvel Studios decide to show their cards in the film's next trailer. Only time will tell.
For those curious, Corridor Crew's entire video can be watched below:
