Spider-Man: No Way Home saw the MCU's Peter Parker meet his Friendly Neighbourhood and Amazing counterparts, but it was Andrew Garfield's web-slinger who received what may feel was a redemption arc after The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The 2014 sequel largely disappointed fans at the time and was where his tenure as the character unceremoniously ended. During a battle with the Green Goblin, we saw Peter fail to save Gwen Stacy, leaving the hero brokenhearted. However, he made up for that in No Way Home by saving MJ after she was thrown to her death by Norman Osborn.
There was a time when the other Spider-Men may not have been part of the Marvel Studios threequel and concept artist Phil Saunders has now revealed how MJ was originally going to be rescued.
"Redemptive moments like MJ's rescue by [Andrew Garfield's] [Spider-Man] in [Spider-Man: No Way Home] seem inevitable in retrospect," he explains, "but in practice, it takes some searching to get there. In an earlier version of the script, [MJ] was dropped to her death, only to be rescued by Dr. Strange's Cloak of Levitation."
"This led to a liberating moment of freedom for MJ as she gets to experience flying for herself, but ultimately we would have missed out on one of the most cathartic beats of the entire Spider-Man series. It was still fun though, to try to capture that feeling of weightlessness in MJ's pose."
This would have been a fun moment but it's one that ultimately evolved and was given to Ned when he took flight courtesy of the former Sorcerer Supreme's cloak. Both he and MJ later forgot who Peter is and went to MIT together and it's unclear whether either character will be part of Spider-Man 4.
Take a closer look at this scrapped Spider-Man: No Way Home sequence (along with a few alternate takes on Peter's first meeting with Norman) in the Instagram posts below.
In Spider-Man: No Way Home, for the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighbourhood hero's identity is revealed, bringing his superhero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk.
When he enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.
The movie stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, J. B. Smoove, Benedict Wong, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now available to buy wherever you get your movies.