Whatever Happened To The Cast Of The Amazing Spider-Man Franchise?

"The Amazing Spider-Man" was a 2012 film starring actors like Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, and Denis Leary. The film grossed $757.9 million worldwide and scored a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 72%. Two years later, it was followed up by "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which welcomed Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, and Felicity Jones to the franchise. Sadly, the film didn't do as well as the first installment (making $709 million and coming in at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes), and it ultimately failed to live up to Sony's expectations.

However, Sony still initially went ahead with plans for a third and fourth "Spider-Man" movie — which would have seen Peter meet (and fall in love with) Shailene Woodley's Mary Jane Watson following the death of Gwen Stacy. However, the Sony hack in November 2014 revealed the concerning fate of the franchise. Not only did execs consider ousting Garfield, but they were also fielding discussions about completely overhauling the series to fit in with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is what ended up happening (via CBR). In the end, the long-awaited sequels never materialized. However, fans got some closure on Peter Parker's story when Garfield reprised his role in 2021's "Spider-Man: Far From Home."

Marc Webb's "Spider-Man" universe came to an abrupt end, but its stars all moved on to new things. Keep reading to find out what happened to the cast of "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise.

Andrew Garfield had his international breakout roles in the 2010 films "Never Let Me Go" and "The Social Network." So, he had just reached a new level of success in his career when he signed on to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. When he left the web-slinger behind in 2014, Garfield's career continued to reach new heights. He largely focused on film roles, notably playing Desmond Doss in "Hacksaw Ridge," a part which scored him an Oscar nomination.

The actor later played Jim Bakker in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and Jonathan Larson in "Tick, Tick ... Boom!". While he's been critically acclaimed for his emotional performance in the latter (which nabbed him his second Oscar nod), it was his role in the former that seemingly took him to the most emotional place. "I hope to never play someone like Jim Bakker again, because it was deeply painful having to tap into that ... fear of being unlovable or fear of being seen," Garfield told the Los Angeles Times.

In 2021, the same year that both movies were released, Garfield also reprised his Marvel role alongside Tobey Maguire in the Tom Holland-led "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (though he previously denied his part in the film). Garfield later revealed on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast that he would be interested in playing the character again, as long as the story was "of service to the audience ... [and] the character." So, it might not be the end for "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise after all.

Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez, known professionally as Martin Sheen, is best known for starring in NBC's political drama "The West Wing" as President Bartlet — a role that scored him six Emmy nominations. In 2012, the actor starred in "The Amazing Spider-Man" as Peter's uncle, Ben Parker. Ben is Peter's moral compass, and his death turns Peter into the hero he was always destined to be.

Since appearing in the superhero flick, Sheen has claimed a regular role in "Grace and Frankie" as Robert Hanson. The star has also found time in his busy career — which spans over half a century — to star in the dark comedy feature film "The Devil Has a Name" and narrate the 2017 docuseries "Is O.J. Innocent? The Missing Evidence."

Alongside acting, Sheen has become increasingly outspoken on political issues, which has included sharing his thoughts on former President Donald Trump. The Trump administration was "a colossal error," Sheen told journalist Jeff Conway (via Twitter). "The worst part of it is that so many good people have followed this bad man," he added. This was, of course, not the first time the actor-activist has stood up for his opinions and civil rights. Sheen has openly admitted to having been arrested 66 times while peacefully protesting over issues and causes such as human rights, voting rights, climate change, and more.

"Mrs. Doubtfire" star Sally Field played Peter's aunt, May Parker, in the "Spider-Man" franchise. On screen, May dutifully supports her web-slinging nephew. However, it appears that off screen, Field had some regrets about her role in these Marvel films. In fact, she admitted she only took the role as a favor to her late friend, Laura Ziskin, who received a posthumous producer credit on the first feature. "It's really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it, and you work it as much as you can, but you can't put ten pounds of s*** in a five-pound bag," Field said of her character in 2016, per Vulture.

Since 2014, the Oscar-winning actor has focused on television roles. In 2018, she reunited with her "Spider-Man" co-star, Emma Stone, for the psychological dark comedy miniseries "Maniac." Field then starred in the Jason Segel-led drama "Dispatches from Elsewhere" in 2020. "It's very unique," Field said of the latter series to Entertainment Weekly. "That's what drew me to it in the first place." The show also stars Eve Lindley and André Benjamin. According to Field, while it presents "mystery upon mystery upon mystery," it is really about "the relationship that these four people end up having." As of this writing, Field's next role is in the 2022 sports drama series "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty."

In the early 2010s, Emma Stone was just coming off the success of her breakout roles in "The House Bunny," "Zombieland," and "Easy A." After that, it was clear she was leading-lady material, and it wasn't long before she scored a role in "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. Stone played Peter Parker's love interest, the smart and driven science student Gwendolyne "Gwen" Stacy. However, she originally auditioned to play Mary Jane Watson, a character who didn't end up making it into the franchise.

"A couple of months after the audition, they called me and said, 'We liked your audition but the part has changed to Gwen Stacy,'" Stone once said (via Looper). The "Crazy, Stupid, Love" star wasn't very well versed on Gwen's background or her place in the "Spider-Man" universe, but after some research, she "just fell in love with [Gwen's] story." "When you hear the story of Gwen Stacy for the first time, I'm sure, at any age, it floors you," Stone told to MTV News, admitting how she's "hyper-protective of Gwen" and her place in Peter's life. 

Stone may have called it quits with her on-screen and real-life boyfriend, Andrew Garfield in 2015, but her career has skyrocketed since "Spider-Man." She nabbed an Oscar for her role in "La La Land" opposite Ryan Gosling in 2017, and she's gone on to play one of Disney's most beloved villains, Estella/Cruella De Vil, in 2021's "Cruella." Stone was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance, which she called a "cathartic" and "phenomenal" experience in an interview with Glamour.

Actor, comedian, producer, and writer Denis Leary played Gwen's overprotective father, Captain George Stacy, in "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. Captain Stacy's death at the end of the first film is a major plot point that continues into the sequel, and the character continues to appear, though only as a figment of Peter's imagination.

The actor hasn't racked up many more film credits (besides a voice role in "Ice Age: Collision Course") since the 2014 film, but that's because he's been a regular fixture on the small screen. From 2015 to 2016, Leary starred in "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," a series that Leary also wrote and produced. He wrote the first season of the show by himself, but for the second season, he brought in a few other voices and perspectives. One new addition was his son, Jack Leary. "My primary reason for bringing my son on was to have a voice on the show that would bring a 25 or 26-year-old point of view to it, and my son is very capable of writing that stuff," Denis explained to Collider, noting that Jack's musical knowledge was also a major plus.

Denis Leary has subsequently appeared in episodes of "Animal Kingdom," "Family Guy," and starred in the American comedy "The Moodys." Alongside acting, Leary wrote a book about his view on modern politics called "Why We Don't Suck," which includes his idea to revolutionize the voting system with a "13-week reality show," revealing on "Good Morning America," "I call it 'America's Got Leaders.'"

American actor, producer, and director Campbell Scott is best known for playing Steve Dunne in the 1992 romantic comedy "Singles." He later played Peter's father, Richard Parker, in "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. Though Richard died years earlier, much of the franchise focuses on Peter's relationship with his him — and in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," he uncovers the truth about how his parents really died.

Since portraying the deceased scientist, Scott's film and television career has continued on an upward trajectory. His notable roles since 2014 include starring in "The Chaperone" alongside "Downton Abbey" star Elizabeth McGovern, and he had a main role in "House of Cards" from 2017 to 2018. Scott also reunited with his "Spider-Man" co-star, Denis Leary, on "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll." The actor revealed he almost said no to Leary's request when he asked him to play himself in the series, though. "I said, 'I can't imagine something I want to do less.' But I did listen, and I realized, 'Oh, you want me to play a ridiculous version of myself? Great, I'm all for it,'" Scott explained to USA Today.

As of this writing, Scott's latest career move will see him joining a well-known film franchise in 2022, playing Lewis Dodgson in the upcoming movie "Jurassic World: Dominion." The director, Colin Trevorrow, revealed that Scott will take on a key role as the film's antagonist, telling Entertainment Weekly, "He is the main villain throughout both of [Michael Crichton's] novels, and I think what Campbell's done with the character is just amazing."

American-South African actor Embeth Davidtz played Mary Parker, Richard's wife and Peter's mother, in the superhero franchise. But in 2016, she revealed to Vulture that she had to take a break from acting after "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," because she was diagnosed with breast cancer right before filming began in New York City. The "Schindler's List" star said she had a "great response" to chemotherapy, but she decided to have a mastectomy when filming ended in June 2013.

The operation was thankfully a success and, a few years later, Davidtz started returning to the small screen, appearing in "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" and "Ray Donovan." The latter required Davidtz to do a nude scene, so the actor, who was "partway through [her breast] reconstruction," worked with producer David Hollander to include her breast cancer in the storyline. In the end, "We emphasized the scar and made it look a lot angrier ... we put a lot of makeup on it because we wanted the shock effect," she explained.

The "Matilda" alum has since continued bagging TV roles. From 2019 to 2021, she had a recurring role as Paige Kessler, the ex-wife of Steve Carell's character Mitch, on "The Morning Show." In the same year, she also made her return to the big screen, appearing in the American thriller "Old."

Teen star Max Charles boasts an impressive acting resume. He's best known for playing the younger version of Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker in "The Amazing Spider-Man" franchise. "It's really cool to be young Spider-Man, because it's the first time that they show Spider-Man as a kid," he said in a 2014 interview with "Fanlala."

Charles basically reached entertainment industry veteran status at the age of 18, having already starred in several Hollywood blockbusters, a handful of Disney Channel shows, and multiple animated series. He notably worked with Clint Eastwood on "American Sniper," and he had a main role on "The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show," which welcomed guest stars like Stephen Fry, Margaret Cho, and Jane Lynch. Charles has had a ton of other voice roles, too, guest-starring on "Family Guy" from 2012 to 2018 and starring in feature films like "The Angry Birds Movie" in 2015 and "Wish Dragon" in 2021.

While Charles is still acting, according to his Instagram, he's more interested in music — specifically playing the drums — and traveling these days, so who knows what's next for this young star.

"Harry Potter" actor Rhys Ifans played Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard in the first "The Amazing Spider-Man" film. The scientist-turned-villain goes on a rampage, trying to turn everyone in New York City into lizards, until he is defeated by Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man. Ifans reprised his role in the 2021 film "Spider-Man: No Way Home," where he again tries to enact his plan to turn everyone into lizards, although this time he's thwarted by the Spidey trio. The Lizard has lived to fight another day, though, with Ifans telling Inverse that he would be keen for his character to fight Tom Hardy's Venom.

Just days after "No Way Home" came out, Ifans' next feature film "The King's Man" was released in theaters. The Welsh actor played the detestable character Grigori Rasputin, who joined forces with the worst tyrants and criminal masterminds to kill millions of people during World War I. Ifans was a big fan of the previous "Kingsman" films and was incredibly excited and "proud" to be a part of this latest installment, he told "Cineworld Cinemas": "To be able to play a figure like Rasputin in ... the Kingsman world, where everything's cranked up to 90, was just a no-brainer, really."

Getting to work with director Matthew Vaughn was a selling point for Ifans, too. "He's one of those British directors that you hope one day you'll be lucky enough to get a chance to work with," he gushed.

Dr. Connors may have been the scientist that turned into a villainous lizard, but Dr. Rajit Ratha (played by the late Irrfan Khan) was the one pulling his strings. Ratha had pressured Connors to test the unsafe serum on himself to save Oscorp boss Norman Osborn, so he's ultimately responsible for Connors' actions. Just to make it clear that he wasn't messing around (and to instill the fear of God into the scientist), Ratha basically admits that he had a hand in the death of Peter Parker's parents, too. All this doesn't stop Peter from saving him, though, but he's never seen again because the rest of Khan's scenes were cut.

After "The Amazing Spider-Man," the "Life of Pi" actor starred in "Gunday" opposite Priyanka Chopra in 2014. He followed this up with an appearance in "Jurassic World" in 2015. Khan had some incredible roles in his career, but said he never planned to move to Hollywood. In fact, he had a very go-with-the-flow attitude when it came to acting. "If an opportunity comes to me, I put everything into it, but I don't plan," he explained to the Independent in 2016. He did have one "golden rule," though: anything he does has to be about a real human story. "If I'm doing [it] just for money or fame, I feel like I've wasted my time. This story has to give me something more to hold on to," Khan said.

Sadly, the celebrated Indian actor died on April 29, 2020, at the age of 53 from cancer-related complications, CNN reported.

American actor and model Chris Zylka played Flash Thompson, the school bully at Midtown Science. He's a minor antagonist in Peter Parker's story, but the character does soften toward the end of film, showing sympathy to Peter when Ben dies, and similarly to Gwen when her father dies.

After "Spider-Man," Zylka bagged a main role in the HBO supernatural series "The Leftovers" alongside Justin Theroux, Liv Tyler, and Christopher Eccleston. "I could never have imagined working for HBO, at such a young age, which was such an honor," he said in a 2017 interview with Collider. "I couldn't have imagined, reading the pilot and talking to [creator] Damon [Lindelof], that it was going to be as gnarly of a ride as it has been." Zylka was as much of a fan of the show as he was an actor, explaining that he initially didn't read the series' finale script, so he didn't spoil the plot for himself ahead of time.

When "The Leftovers" ended, Zylka nabbed a recurring role in the USA Network's teen drama "Dare Me," but since then he's been more focused on film roles. In 2021, he starred in the television film "How I Met Your Murderer," and he's set to star in the upcoming feature "Model House," at the time of this writing. Zylka also had a high-profile relationship with socialite Paris Hilton. The pair got together in 2016, seven years after they first met at an Oscar party. However, their love story wasn't meant to be, and the couple split in November 2018.

Dane DeHaan is perhaps best known for playing Harry Osborn/Green Goblin in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." It was widely known that the Green Goblin character would appear in "Spider-Man: No Way Home;" however, it was confirmed that this would be Willem Dafoe's earlier version of the character. Even with this confirmation and DeHaan's denial, his mom — who is his "biggest fan" — didn't believe her son when he said she wasn't going to be in the movie. "I had to create my own Google Alert for my mom, so she could read on the internet that I wasn't in 'Spider-Man,'" he revealed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

In the years since the "Spider-Man" film he actually appeared in, DeHaan has bagged plenty of other movie and television roles, including "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," "ZeroZeroZero," and "Lisey's Story." The "Kill Your Darlings" star has also welcomed two children with fellow actor Anna Wood — though DeHaan has admitted that the roles that he plays are far too dark for his kids to watch. "I really wanna do something [they] can see. I call my agents like once a month and ask them to get me a job on 'Sesame Street,'" he joked to Jimmy Fallon.

Actor, comedian, and singer Jamie Foxx played Max Dillon in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Max is a kind, nerdy Oscorp scientist until he falls into a vat of electric eels, which transforms him into Electro, one of the big villains of the film. Foxx reprised the role for the 2021 movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home," where he got to explore a new side of the character. 

"I'm happy we got a brand new start, a brand new look," he explained at a panel event, also noting how happy he was not to be blue in this film (via ComicBook). Foxx also said he was thrilled to be working with such a talented cast in "No Way Home," telling Marvel's website, "When you're able to come together for something that's fun, with people that you really admire and respect, that's just the cherry on top."

Alongside his "Spider-Man" appearances, the "Django Unchained" actor has been enjoying a busy film career that shows no signs of slowing down. At the time of this writing, Foxx has six feature films in the works (either filming or in post-production) and a further three in pre-production. One notable title is "They Cloned Tyrone," which Foxx will also produce and star in alongside "Star Wars" actor John Boyega and "WandaVision" star Teyonah Parris. Since 2017, Foxx has also served as the host of the game show "Beat Shazam."

Paul Giamatti played Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino, the other notable villain, in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." However, he got cast for the part in quite an unusual way. "The real truth is, I saw Paul Giamatti on Conan O'Brien, talking about The Rhino and how much he loved it and I was like, I love Paul Giamatti and I think he's such a brilliant actor, so, I wanted to incorporate that enthusiasm that he had in the movie," revealed director Marc Webb to Crave Online (via ComicBook).

Giamatti's prolific acting career spans over 40 years and includes credits in pop culture classics like "Saving Private Ryan," "Planet of the Apes," and "Downton Abbey." The actor shows no sign of slowing down either, starring in three feature films — "Gunpowder Milkshake," "Jungle Cruise," and "A Mouthful of Air" — in 2021 alone. As of this writing, he already has roles in "The Holdover" and "San Andreas 2" in the pipeline, as well. 

Giamatti once admitted how he thinks he's "typecast," but that notion sits well with the actor. "A lot of things came along that were odd, weird movies, small parts and stuff and I kept taking them because they were such interesting movies," he told the Independent back in 2013. "It's interesting to play, ambivalent, spiky, weird, unpleasant people."

Felicity Jones' career was just getting going when she appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" as Felicia, Harry Osborne's assistant. Her international breakout role was the 2011 film "Chalet Girl," which she starred in alongside "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick, and since then, her career has gone from strength to strength. She played Jane Hawking in "The Theory of Everything," starred alongside Tom Hanks in "Inferno," and led the "Star Wars" spinoff "Rogue One" alongside Diego Luna.

Two of Jones' more recent roles — playing Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2018's "On the Basis of Sex" and Amelia Wren in 2019's "The Aeronauts" — top off a long list of strong and powerful female characters that the actor has played. But Jones is not shy about digging into timely political subject matter in her work. In fact, it resonates with her and makes it more meaningful. "We were filming it in the midst of the beginning of the #MeToo movement," she said of the RBG biopic to Net-A-Porter. "And since then, with everything that's happened with the Supreme Court, her story feels even more pertinent."

Alongside acting, Jones has also been focused on family life. The actor welcomed a baby with her husband, Charles Guard, in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "To have a baby in an apocalyptic moment is pretty scary," Jones admitted to The Times that December. "My husband and I have been calling it double lockdown."