Spider-Man: No Way Home has made its mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, becoming not only the biggest movie of 2021 but the most successful theatrical release in a long time. Tom Holland's third solo outing, which celebrated Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spidey movies of the past, continues breaking box office records and sending fans into a frenzy with each new viewing.
On top of completing Holland's first Spider-Man trilogy in the MCU, No Way Home introduced fans to the Multiverse for the first time by using heroes and villains from five Marvel legacy films of the 21st century. Not only did it feature villains from these movies along with Garfield and Maguire themselves, but the film also honored Spider-Man's cinematic legacy in more subtle ways, too.
Part of this included updates on both previous Spider-Men's stories with tributes to their Uncle Bens, and the threequel even including footage taken directly from their past outings as part of the story.
Now, fans have noticed an elusive nod to both Maguire and Garfield that came before they made their first MCU appearances.
Holland's Varying Hairstyles in No Way Home
Reddit user u/Romulus3799 pointed out a nod to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men via Tom Holland's hairstyles in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
When Holland's Peter first encounters a character from Tobey Maguire's Marvel universe, Holland's hair is combed over to his right in a similar style to that of Maguire's in Spider-Man 3. This also comes with Holland wearing a suit reminiscent of the one Maguire wore in that threequel.
Holland's hair later emulates Garfield when he's first introduced to a character from Andrew Garfield's universe (Electro) near powerlines outside of the city.
After taking his mask off to speak to Max Dillon and Flint Marko, the front of Holland's hair is pushed up and back just as Garfield's looked in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man.
Subtle Nods to Tobey & Andrew
Spider-Man: No Way Home accomplished wonders in its nearly two and a half hours of runtime by celebrating three separate web-slinger franchises all in the course of one centralized story. It even found a way to let Tom Holland's MCU hero pay tribute to the hero's legacy before actually interacting with the two men who played him previously.
In the grand scheme of things, these moments only had about five to ten minutes of screen-time as Holland's hero first encountered No Way Home's Multiversal visitors. Regardless, it shows just how invested the production team was in making sure Maguire and Garfield had their influence on the MCU long before the two web-slingers came through Ned's portals for the final battle.
Whether it was through subtle teases like this or more obvious nods, Marvel and Sony found countless ways to reference Maguire and Garfield's adventures as they delivered a one-of-a-kind superhero movie.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters worldwide.
