Spider-Man: No Way Home brought Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, and Lizard into the MCU. While Max Dillon received a much-needed change in appearance, the rest of the villains looked largely the same (at least until Norman Osborn acquired a few upgrades for the final battle).
In the newly released Spider-Man: No Way Home - The Art of the Movie book, there are a number of alternate designs for the villains, some of which we've already shared here.
It also features comments from Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding in which he explains scrapped plans to overhaul the costumes of each member of the threequel's sinister quintet.
"We did a lot of work on different types of tentacles," he says of Doc Ock. "There were previous drafts of the script where he was going to actually have time to upgrade himself using Marvel Cinematic Universe tech. So what would that look like?"
"There are versions by many different artists, and the overarching notion was that they just get a little bit of a re-skin that makes [the villains] feel a little bit more part of the MCU." Understandably, the decision was later made to leave them, Ock, and his tentacles "more or less untouched."
The book also features a brilliant shot exploring Earth-616 Peter Parker's newfound friendship with Otto Octavius (you can check it out below) and Senior Concept Modeler Adam Ross had a good reason for dreaming up what looks like a bizarre moment on the surface.
"Instead of being so serious all the time, I just liked the idea that maybe he was a more jovial person after all the crazy was taken away," the artist explains. "Every time we've seen him before, his tentacles are always tearing stuff up, being used to destroy."
"I just liked the idea of him using them to pour some chocolate milk, or to create a couch. I gave Doc Ock more of that professor look, and I just called this piece "the talk.' I wanted Peter to feel very uncomfortable like Doc Ock is trying to educate him in the ways of the world."
Would you have liked to see this moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home's final cut?