Andrew Garfield Talks Spider-Man: ‘Money Is the Thing That Has Corrupted All of Us and Led to the Terrible Ecological Collapse That We Are All About to Die Under’

Andrew Garfield Talks Spider-Man: ‘Money Is the Thing That Has Corrupted All of Us and Led to the Terrible Ecological Collapse That We Are All About to Die Under’

Honestly, this is about as good a response you should get out of a man very tired of being asked if he’s going to be in a Spider-Man movie next month.

Speaking to the Guardian about his career, Andrew Garfield briefly touched upon his time playing Peter Parker in Sony’s second cinematic reboot of the Marvel character for The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel. Relieved to not have to dance around being asked whether or not he’d be back for the third reboot at the studio, Garfield seemingly relished in the frank honesty of what it was like being catapulted into a character as monumental as Peter Parker… and the harsh lessons of learning to work within the superhero blockbuster machine.

“I got my heart broken a little bit. I went from being a naive boy to growing up,” Garfield said as he reflected back to being cast as the new Spider-Man in 2010. “How could I ever imagine that it was going to be a pure experience? There are millions of dollars at stake and that’s what guides the ship. It was a big awakening and it hurt.”

Garfield leveled none of his ire at either Spider-Man or superheroes and their fans at all. Instead, his bite was saved for the forces behind both, and how those forces have subsumed elements of fandom to become less about remaining true to beloved characters, and more about allegiance to the brand forces and capital behind them. “Comic-Con in San Diego is full of grown men and women still in touch with that pure thing the character meant to them. [But] you add in market forces and test groups and suddenly the focus is less on the soul of it and more on ensuring we make as much money as possible. And I found that–find that–heartbreaking in all matters of the culture.” He continued: “Money is the thing that has corrupted all of us and led to the terrible ecological collapse that we are all about to die under.”

Suffice to say, it’s the kind of view that will make it very interesting when and if Garfield is as purportedly involved in the events of No Way Home as has long been rumoured, regardless of how much the actor dances around it between now and December 17. Still though, you heard it here Spider-Fans: capitalism sucks a lot more than Doc Ock and the Green Goblin teaming up ever could.


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