It’s about time Tobey Maguire signed up for Spider-Man 4

It's "go web, go" on the idea of Spider-Man 4, as the original Peter Parker (if you don't count animation) has teased his potential return as the wall-crawling hero.

They say you can tell how old someone is based on their favourite Spider-Man. While newbies fawn over Tom Holland and Gen Z-ers defend the Andrew Garfield era, us oldies remember the glory days of Maguire swinging across the New York skyline.

The first Spider-Man crawled into our lives in 2002, and arguably, kickstarted the current superhero boom that's going to this day. 2004's Spider-Man 2 is rightly held as one of the greatest superhero sequels of all time, but then, things go a little "dark."

Even if love for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 has grown since its divisive debut in 2007, it marked the end of the road for Maguire and scuppered plans for a quadrilogy. Maguire came back for a (not-so-surprising) cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but could this be the start of a new chapter for the OG?

Tobey Maguire teases Spider-Man 4

Since the credits rolled on No Way Home and Holland's Spider-Man said, "I guess I'll see you," Spider-Man spider-fans have been coming up with their own dream scenarios of how or when Garfield and Maguire could return to the MCU.

Alongside calls for Garfield to round off his trilogy to bring back the canned The Amazing Spider-Man 3, there's been a lot of buzz about Spider-Man 4. Now, Maguire has said he's waiting on the call.

Speaking for the Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special book (via Marvel.com), Maguire said, "I love these films and I love all of the different series."

"If these guys called me and said, 'Would you show up tonight to hang out and goof around?' or 'Would you show up to do this movie or read a scene or do a Spider-Man thing?' it would be a 'yes!' Because why wouldn't I want to do that?"

Maguire gushing about squeezing into the spandex all over again echoes sentiments made by Raimi. The director told Moviepilot, "I didn't think [my directing Spider-Man again] was possible but after jumping back in with the multiverse, I realized that anything is possible now. So, I'm completely open to it."

Making a trifecta of familiar faces, J.J. Jameson actor J.K. Simmons told Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum he's also ready for more with Raimi: "Absolutely. I would do anything that Sam Raimi approached me with. I mean, almost anything."

Remember that Simmons plays a different version of Jameson in the MCU (don't ask), but by the sounds of it, the boys are ready to get back together. That's all well and good, but could it happen?

What was Spider-Man 4 about?

The main argument for Spider-Man 4 is the fact it's become one of the big what-ifs of superhero movie history. All these years later, there's a loyal following dying to know what could've been. Dylan Baker wanted to reprise his role as Dr. Kurt Connors and finally evolve into the villainous Lizard, but that was just the start.

John Malkovich was tapped to play Vulture, Anne Hathaway was sought to play Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, and Bruce Campbell was going to continue his tradition of Spider-Man movie cameos by playing Mysterio. As well as storyboards appearing online, comic book creator Ken Penders recently showed off a behind-the-scenes shot of Vulture's costume.

There's been a lot of talk about Spider-Man 4, and in November /Film reported that one of the plots was going to involve The Daily Bugle being bought by a TMZ-inspired gossip rag. The big twist is that its female CEO was Vulture's daughter, becoming a new villain called Vultress. More than this, Angelina Jolie was apparently circling the part.

Spider-Man 4 was clearly further along than we thought, and although things moved over to Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man reboot when Raimi left, we could still bring back some of these threads. As the return of Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Maguire proved in No Way Home, anything is possible thanks to the Multiverse.

Where could Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man return to the MCU?

The problem with powering ahead to restore the Raimiverse is that it would take away from Holland's tenure and his own Spider-Man 4/No Way Home sequel. Making everyone happy, there's the pitch that  Maguire should return for one of the many Multiverse projects.

Raimi has already shown us how to do A-list cameos right, with Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Charles Xavier from Fox's X-Men movies - popping up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With Maguire willing to come back, we guess it'll happen, just probably not as Spider-Man 4 rising from the ashes.

The big one we're looking ahead to is Secret Wars. Billed as the sixth Avengers movie, anyone and everyone could come together and take on Jonathan Majors' Kang during this multiversal war. Alongside Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, someone like Maguire would be a major pull for fans of yesteryear.

As much as we'd love Spider-Man 4 to happen, let's be realistic that we're more likely to see Maguire as a nostalgic throwback. Something tells us Maguire isn't done yet, but if/when he comes back, we just hope he's done away with that dad dancing of Spider-Man 3.