All three of the Spider-man movie franchises have been equally valued and appreciated by their own generation. Now as a present for what we’ve been through in 2020, Sony has announced its new movie, “Spider-man 3: The Spiderverse.”

Is this the next natural step for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

“Spider-man 3” is set to feature the three biggest Spider-Men from their own movies: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland. It will also feature Jamie Foxx returning as Electro — previously appearing in “The Amazing Spider-man,” starring Andrew Garfield — and Benedict Cumberbatch returning as Doctor Strange. 

Each Spider-man franchise has been extremely successful in their separate ways. The first “Spider-Man” trilogy with Tobey Maguire made $821.7 million dollars worldwide, was the highest-grossing superhero film as of 2002, and was credited for redefining the superhero genre. 

“The Amazing Spider-Man” featuring Andrew Garfield, made $757.9 million dollars total worldwide and was the seventh-highest grossing film in 2012. “Spider-Man Homecoming” starring Tom Holland made $880.2 million dollars, more than the original Spider-Man trilogy’s first movie.

In the “Spider-Man” trilogy, we began with being introduced to Peter Parker and his story of how he became Spider-Man and fell in love with MJ. He continues to fight and persevere after his father figure, Uncle Ben, dies. Peter Parker ends up fighting villains such as Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom. The trilogy ends with Harry Osborn chasing the villains away and dying in Peter and MJ’s arms after getting fatally stabbed by Venom.

All three of these generational Spider-man movies have also failed in certain parts. For instance, “Spider-man 3” from the original trilogy is widely hated among Spider-man enthusiasts and was a big flop in the director’s eyes because he just believed it didn’t work very well, no matter how many times he tried.

Moving from success and failures to trios, something that is on Spider-man enthusiasts’ minds is whether or not one certain actor will be more noticeable or they will all be presented equally. In most movies that feature a trio as their main characters, there’s always one character that stands out. 

In “Harry Potter,” it was Daniel Radcliffe, in “Charlie’s Angels,” it was Farrah Fawcett, and in “Hocus Pocus,” it was Bette Midler. Even in a big star-studded cast like “Suicide Squad,” Will Smith stood out because of how well-known he is in the film industry.

The big question for the upcoming “Spider-man 3” movie featuring the three biggest Spider-man actors is, will a certain actor stand out or will they each share their moment in the spotlight?

Crossovers are a big gamble in the film industry and it’s basically a 50/50 chance whether it appeals to their audience or not. Whether it be movies or TV shows, they never really know how the audience will react.

Most of the Avengers crossover films, “The Avengers,” “Age of Ultron,” “Infinity War,” and ending with “Endgame,” have been extremely successful. When the world got its first look at the beginning of this series, it proved to be extremely successful.

The first Avengers movie earned $1 billion in ticket sales, being the first Marvel movie to do so, and was named one of the 100 greatest movies of all time in 2017. As the sequels continued to be published, the MCU’s audience enjoyed film after film. 

Around this time last year, “Avengers Endgame” earned over $2 billion, breaking the record for the most successful movie of all time, and even passing “Avatar” in becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time and was widely accepted by all audiences.

Some crossovers, however, don’t end up going so well. For instance, the CW superhero series including “The Flash,” “Supergirl,” “The Arrow,” and “DC Legends,” have attempted multi-episode crossovers more than once. In all cases, it didn’t work. 

Having multiple crossovers, throughout various shows, can get confusing, especially when almost all of the shows are from a different time and universe. Creating an interesting, engaging plot is difficult as well. Overall, the crossover episodes attempted by the CW haven’t gone very well.

Another factor regarding the crossover with three different Spider-man actors is how the generations will perceive and react to it. Most millennials grew up with Spider-man, released in 2002, most of Gen Z grew up around the time of “The Amazing Spider-man,” released in 2012, and the latter end of Gen Z is growing up with Tom Holland as their new Spider-man.

With having three different generations who grew up with three different Spider-men and three different storylines, bringing all three of them together might be a risk. It can also give an opportunity for the generations to have something in common to bond over. 

As someone who grew up watching Tobey Maguire and still watching Tom Holland, I’m excited to see how this new movie will pan out among the film industry and even the world.