It Was Andrew Garfield’s Idea to Include This Meme in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home is full of fun nods to Spidey’s history, and we’re now learning that one of the film’s best references was improvised by Andrew Garfield.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home!

During a conversation the three Spider-Men had with Deadline’s Pete Hammond, Tom Holland said figuring out all of the three Peters’ interactions in the movie was a fun process.

“It was so collaborative, it was so playful.” Holland said. “From cracking Tobey’s back to coming up with the idea of pointing at us, it was all stuff that we came up with on the day. And it was just a lot of fun to be able to play with three guys in Spider-Man suits. It was a strange experience but one I won’t ever forget.”

Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man, via KnowYourMeme.com

Garfield has previously spoken to that improvisation. In an interview earlier this month on The Happy Sad Confused podcast, Garfield shared the story of how the Spider-Man pointing meme made its way into No Way Home.

“It kind of happened naturally on that scaffolding scene with Peter 1, Peter 2, Peter 3, like all that,” Garfield said. “I remember having a lightning bolt and running into set and telling [director] Jon [Watts], ‘I got it, I got it.'”

Garfield went on to say that the moment was when Jacob Batalon’s Ned calls out to Peter, and all three respond. In the original version of the script, Garfield’s Peter said something snarky like, “this isn’t going to get old at all”, until Garfield helped change it to something more playful and fun.

“So then we were thinking I could say, ‘Aw, this is adorable. We’re so adorable. God, we’re cute.’ Something like that,” Garfield said. “But then I was like, no, this is the moment where we get to go, ‘Do you mean me?’ Jon was like, ‘That’s it. That’s it. Done.’ I was so happy that worked.”

The Spider-Man pointing meme is from the Spider-Man animated series. In the original, Spider-Man runs into a villain impersonating Spider-Man, causing them to point at each other. When rumors about Garfield and Maguire’s involvement in No Way Home were swirling, many fans were using this meme on social media, hoping it would make its way into the movie.

For more from the same interview, check out what Tom Holland is saying about his future as Spider-Man. And, learn the only three people Andrew Garfield didn’t lie to about Spider-Man.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.