Andrew Garfield speaks candidly about his Spider-Man experience

Andrew Garfield has spoken candidly about his experience starring in Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man movies.

"I went from being a naive boy to growing up," he told The Guardian. "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 continued: "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. 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." 

It wasn't all doom and gloom, with the actor finishing with a laugh: "I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding!" Then: "I mean, it'll take a bunch of years before that happens."

Garfield was cast as Peter Parker back in 2010 and appeared in both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. New details about a meeting between Sony chairperson Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige on the third movie, which instead led to Tom Holland making his web-slinging MCU debut in Captain America: Civil War, emerged recently. 

"By the fifth movie, we weren't giving them anything new," Pascal commented. "And I have to be honest about it, we were trying so hard to be different, we even went into places to be different that we shouldn't have."

We may not have seen the last of Garfield's Peter Parker, though. Rumors abound that both he and Tobey Maguire will be back in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, though nothing has been confirmed just yet. There is a first trailer, which gave us our first look at Alfred Molina's return as Doc Ock, and a poster teasing Green Goblin.

No Way Home arrives this December 17. In the meantime, check out everything we know so far about Marvel Phase 4.