When Marvel Studios brought Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the decision was made not to revisit the character's origin story. As a result, Uncle Ben has barely been mentioned, and Peter Parker has yet to utter that key piece of wisdom imparted to him by his surrogate father: "With great power comes great responsibility."
That could change in Spider-Man: No Way Home, of course, but Spider-Man: Homecoming writer Jonathan Goldstein has now elaborated on why it was decided not to revisit Ben Parker's death in the 2017 reboot.
Explaining that Marvel Studios and the writing team "had no interest in rehashing Uncle Ben's demise" after it was covered in the previous Spider-Man movies, Goldstein would later reveal plans for a more direct nod to the wall-crawler's uncle. "We wrote a scene where May takes Peter to the closet and they choose one of Ben's old suits which she still hadn't thrown away."
It's a real shame that didn't make the final cut, though we'd later see Peter make use of Ben's old suitcase in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Aside from that Easter Egg, it wasn't until What If...? that the web-slinger finally talked about his uncle's death and the impact it had on his life (whether that counts is up for debate, as it was on a world inhabited by Marvel Zombies).
Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives in U.S. on December 17 and in the UK on December 15.