Celebrity

Tom Holland Recreated *That* Spider-Man Meme With Andrew Garfield & Tobey Maguire

The true goal of their Spidey reunion has been accomplished.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 18: Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland attend the 2021 GQ Men of ...
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

People who thought Tom Holland uniting with former Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home was the cinematic event of the year are wrong. Holland recreating the Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme with Garfield and Maguire is, in fact, the cinematic event of the year. On Feb. 23, Holland posted an image on Instagram of the three Spider-Man actors in their iconic Spidey suits pointing at each other. He captioned his post with just three smirking emojis, knowing exactly how fans would react.

Sony also posted the photo on Twitter, captioning it with “And now, for the moment we've all been waiting for…,” which was used to promote the digital and Blu-Ray release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but actually applies more accurately to the meme. Marvel’s Twitter account also joined in on the fun, writing, “Of course, we got THE meme.”

The Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme

The meme of two animated Spider-Man characters recognizing each other was taken from the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon, specifically an episode titled “Double Identity,” where the superhero runs into a clone of himself. Since the meme was created in 2011, it’s been used and recreated in a number of works, including the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The meme was even loosely referenced in No Way Home, when Garfield and Maguire join Holland onscreen and point at each other, albeit it’s not as well done as this instantly classic Instagram photo.

The actors’ onscreen union (a poorly kept secret) helped propel No Way Home to become the most successful Spider-Man film, earning $1.83 billion at the box office so far. It is now the highest-earning film of the pandemic era, and as of now, the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide. While that success didn’t propel the film to a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, like many predicted, it has still won many awards and earned an Oscar nod for Best Visual Effects.