Andrew Garfield Renews Calls for a Gay Spider-Man, 13 Years After Asking ‘Why Can’t He Be into Boys?’

Andrew Garfield is reflecting on his viral interview from 2013 in which he questioned why there had not yet been a gay Spider-Man. The Oscar nominee was promoting “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” at the time when he told Entertainment Weekly about a recent discussion he had with producer Matt Tolmach about gender-swapping Peter Parker’s iconic love interest Mary-Jane, since she’s also just known as MJ.

“I was kind of joking, but kind of not joking about MJ… I was like, ‘What if MJ is a dude?’” Garfield said in 2013. “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?”

Garfield even pitched having Michael J. Bordan join his “Amazing Spider-Man” franchise as a male MJ, adding: “I’ve been obsessed with him since ‘The Wire.’ He’s so charismatic and talented. It’d be even better — we’d have interracial bisexuality!”

Now on his 2026 press tour for Paul Greengrass’ “The Uprising,” Garfield was asked by EW to reflect on his 13-year-old call for a gay Spider-Man.

“It was an exercise in rebellion that I felt passionate about,” Garfield said. “I just still believe that anyone can be in that suit. 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.”  

Garfield continued, “I like the idea of a place where everyone is being honored and everyone is being included, and it was just a kind of act of saying, ‘Well, why not?’ And you’ll be telling on yourself if you have a strong opinion either way.”

Tom Holland currently holds the title of Spider-Man on the big screen, with his latest outing, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” breaking box office records this summer to become one of the top grossers in film history. The actor has already expressed interest in diversifying the role with the addition of a live-action Miles Morales. Holland told the AP on the “Brand New Day” press tour that he has a “desire to bring Miles to the screen” and to “shepherd the lucky young kid who gets that job.”