Some ‘Big’ Marvel Characters Were Cut From No Way Home’s Script Initially!

No Way Home has broken almost all records but did you know that it originally included some “bigger” Marvel characters. Yes, you read it right!

While appearing in an interview with The Wrap, No Way Home co-screenwriter Chris McKenna revealed that some really major Marvel characters were actually removed from the script.

“I don’t know if we’re allowed to, honestly, but there were big characters,” he said. “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?”

McKenna stopped just short of revealing which characters exactly would have been present in the blockbuster film. But it looks as though removing them was actually a good idea. After all, Spider-Man: No Way Home isn’t the film that was exactly short on villains or heroes.

No Way Home was a feast to all Marvel moviegoers

No Way Home starred Tom Holland as Spider-Man, and the film brought the Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (reprised by Alfred Molina), The Lizard (portrayed by Rhys Ifans), Electro (reprised by Jamie Foxx), and Sandman (again, reprised by Thomas Haden Church) back to the big screen.

We cannot forget an appearance from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange as any additional Marvel characters may have made the film feel a lot more cluttered than it already was, thanks to the advent of the multiverse. Adding more characters may even have shifted the focus away from the lead, Peter Parker.

“Because at the end of the day, it’s not going to be a great Spider-Man movie if you’re not telling an emotional Peter Parker story,” added McKenna. “We had these riches that we had to… This giant idea [with] all these great actors, but also we had to tell a story that felt like we were telling a personal story for our main character.”

The multiverse crossover in No Way home featured a handful number of Spider-Man’s greatest old villains, as well as a long-rumored return for both Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire returning as their own versions of the web-slinging superhero.

While it was originally intended to be something more than just a post-credit scene, this complicated crossover proved to be a huge hit among the fans, as No Way Home went on to become Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hit the theaters on December 17, 2021. Go grab your tickets, if you haven’t yet!