Amongst all the tedious multiversal shenanigans that were occuring throughout Spider-Man: No Way Home; it did not stop there, for new, unused concept art from the film reveals Tom Holland's Peter Parker enlisting the assistance of a former foe from Spider-Man: Homecoming!
Much like in The Flash, Michael Keaton was set to reprise his role as The Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming, in an effort to uncharacteristically help Peter Parker rehabilitate the multiversal assimilaited Sinister Six bunch.
It goes without saying that seeing Keaton play Adrian Toomes once again following the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming would have been engaging - of course considering the last we saw of Toomes at that point in the Marvel timeline was in prison; discussing plans with Mac Gargan about forming a Sinister Six group of their own.
Though that opportunity may have come to pass, concept artist Phil Saunders explains why the scene never came to fruition, and elaborates on the humor that would have came from seeing Spider-Man interact with his foes the way the art depicts all the actors:
“On any project of this complexity, the script will go through numerous changes as story direction adapts to the greater MCU plan and challenges such as actor availability. An early version of Spiderman: No Way Home had Peter enlisting the aid of a former foe in rehabilitating the captured multiverse villains. Much fun would have been had watching him frog-march the multiversal miscreants across town with the help of Doc Ock's hacked tentacles. It was a great joy to try to capture the diverse attitudes of these incredible actors.”
This is not the first instance of Keaton's Adrian Toomes' planned involvement in No Way Home, for concept art revealing Keaton's Adrian Toomes to be present in Aunt May's death was released back in January.
Would you have liked to see Michael Keaton reprise his role as Adiran Toomes to help Peter rehabilitate the multiversal villains?
With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, our friendly neighborhood web-slinger is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero. When Peter asks for help from Doctor Strange, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a 2021 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jon Watts and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
It stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man alongside Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire.