Spider-Man: No Way Home featured the returns of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their respective Peter Parker Variants and while they alluded to their lives back home, that was all we got. There was no sign of Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, for example, and we never actually got to visit their respective worlds.
Now, we have confirmation that Dunst, Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, and Sally Field's Aunt May were indeed once eyed to star in the $1.9 billion blockbuster.
The authors of MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, caught up with Spider-Man: No Way Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and got confirmation the three women came close to making it into the movie.
"Sommers and McKenna, at various points, wrote versions of the story that incorporated Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson, and Sally Field’s Aunt May, but ultimately cut all those women when they decided that the story was already overstuffed; the only female characters with significant screen time would be Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May and Zendaya's MJ."
"Because the screenplay was constantly in flux, none of the actors could read a locked script, and they joined the project based on their faith in [Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige], [Producer Amy Pascal], and director Jon Watts."
Marvel Studios definitely played fast and loose with the rules of the Multiverse in the threequel, taking the villains from their realities moments before they were killed and both Spider-Men from what appeared to be their version of the present day.
As a result, we have no idea what those cures meant for the likes of Norman Osborn and Electro, though the assumption is they ended up on branched timelines. That could, however, explain how someone like Gwen would have appeared (perhaps giving her and Peter a second chance).
Regardless, as fun as it would have been to see MJ, May, and Gwen again, there's always a chance the idea will be revisited in one of the upcoming Avengers movies or even Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
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.