Spider-Man: No Way Homecontinues to dominate the box office, shattering records and unwaveringly climbing charts to become one of the highest-grossed films of all time. Now, screenwriters Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna have announced that they envisioned some prominent Marvel characters to play a part inSpider-Man: No Way Homebut eventually cut the ideas from the script.
Audiences have experienced some pretty big surprises fromSpider-Man: No Way Home, which brought back iconic villains and beloved generational protagonists from past narratives. The emergence of the emblematic Green Goblin, Dr. Otto Octavius, and Electro was enough to propel audiences into theaters, but to learn that more was in the works behind the scenes is hair-raising.
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During an interview with The Wrap, Sommers and McKenna noted that had some ideas about who to rope into the narrative, but issues with the incorporation continuously circled back to the story’s heart and what the addition would mean for Parker and his journey. “I don’t know if we’re allowed to honestly, but there were big characters. But almost too big, because it always became a balancing act of how do we tell not only a story with all these awesome villains that we know we want to bring into this movie, the classic ones, but also how do we make this still a Tom Holland/Peter Parker story so that he’s not completely overshadowed?” stated, McKenna, reframing from disclosing the potentialsignificant additions to Spider-Man: No Way Homethat the screenwriters had in mind. McKenna added that it wouldn’t be a “great Spider-Man movie” if it didn’t tell an emotional story with Peter Parker at the center, which speaks to the beauty of the script they were able to create.
As stated, the film already included Green Goblin, Dr. Otto Octavius, and Electro, not to mention Lizard and the Sandman, who also played antagonists in the narrative. So there was definitely no shortage when it came to villains, and each had a part to play, which Mckenna and Sommers may have altered if they brought more characters into the fold. In addition, the film starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and included the long-awaited return ofTobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, reprising their roles as the web-slinging hero. These additions in themselves highlight many chess pieces strategically moving across the board, so it’s hard to imagine more entering into the mix.
While significant additions would have been a welcomed surprise, the impact they could have had on the narrative may have potentially changed the course of the journey. It’s unclear what characters Mckenna and Sommer had in mind throughout theirplanning process forSpider-Man: No Way Home, but it’s safe to say they made the right decision with the moves that they made to shy away from having Parker share the spotlight with others.
Spider-Man: No Way Homenever lost its focusand dove deep into a side of the web-slinging hero that audiences hadn’t seen from Tom Holland’s version of the character. The film serves as an ending and beginning for Parker, which audiences could experience without interruption. More prominent names and characters might have intensified excitement, but the risk of robbing the main character of his much-needed story was too great of a chance to take.
Spirder-Man: No Way Homeis currently playing in theaters.
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