A different introduction scene was set for the returning Spider-Men inSpider-Man: No Way Home, as recently as the fall of 2020, when the film entered production. But screenwritersErik SommersandChris McKennatoldVarietythat they decided to change it up because it essentially came off as “deus ex machina.”
The alternate introduction would have involved a mystery Marvel character—Sommers and McKenna declined to identify who—announcing thatTobey MaguireandAndrew Garfield’sversions of Spider-Man would be assistingTom Holland’s Spidey in his mission. McKenna said:
“We were changing the story so much. We were already two months into production. And we were having to now take another whack at act three, which we hadn’t had time to because we were shooting act one and act two.”
Spider-Man: No Way Homeunites three different eras in the Marvel superhero’s cinematic journey—during the writing process, Maguire’s version was referred to as the “Raimi-verse Spider-Man” and Garfield’s version was called the “Webb-verse Spider-Man.” For clarity’s sake, Holland’s version was simply called “Peter.” The actor has played the character since 2016’sCaptain America: Civil War, which introduced Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to a deal struck by Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios.
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Sommers and McKenna said that “nothing was guaranteed” about Garfield and Maguire signing on toNo Way Home, but that they would get periodic updates about the situation. The writers holed up over the Christmas break and decided to take another crack at the crucial introduction scene; they knew they couldn’t mess it up. It was during this time that they came up with what audiences ultimately ended up seeing in the final film:Jacob Batalon’s Ned Leeds accidentally opening a portal to another dimension and summoning the alt-Spider-Men in a humorous-but-heartfelt moment withZendaya’s MJ. McKenna added:
“It was a beam of light in darkness. It was such a gift, particularly at that point in the writing process, to be writing for those two characters. It the darkest part of the year, the darkest part of production, the darkest part of the story development, and it was like, Oh! Now we get Tobey and Andrew.”
No Way Homeis Holland’s third solo Spider-Man film, after the massively successfulSpider-Man: HomecomingandSpider-Man: Far From Home. Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigeconfirmedto The New York Times recently that plans for more movies are underway. This would make Holland the first actor to play the Marvel superhero in more than three stand-alone movies.
