No Way Home's Original Maguire & Garfield Intro Would've Been Much Worse

No Way Home's Original Maguire & Garfield Intro Would've Been Much Worse
#SpiderManNoWayHome brought together all three live-action Spider-Men thanks to the multiverse chaos provoked by Peter Parker and Doctor Strange, and the introduction of the previous two versions of Spider-Man – Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – was originally much worse and would have deeply affected the movie. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in its highly-anticipated Phase 4, which is exploring new themes and concepts that will mark the course of this new era of content, and the biggest one so far is the multiverse. This was addressed in the TV series Loki, which introduced the concept of variants, but it was explored a bit deeper in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which made past Spider-Man movies and characters MCU canon.

Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up minutes after the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) framed Spider-Man (Tom Holland) for his murder and revealed his identity. In an effort to keep his loved ones safe, Peter asked Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that would make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man, but the spell was botched, and instead, it opened the gates of the multiverse. This allowed villains from past Spider-Man movies to cross over to the MCU (as were the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, and Electro), and as rumored and speculated, it also brought Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Peter Parker/Spider-Man to the MCU.

As Holland’s Peter dealt with the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and the death of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Ned (Jacob Batalon) discovered he could open portals with Strange’s sling ring, which he took when they trapped the sorcerer in the Mirror Dimension. Ned and MJ (Zendaya) decided to use these portals to find Peter, but instead, they found Maguire’s Peter (Peter-Two) and Garfield’s (Peter-Three), and together they all found this universe’s Peter (Peter-One, of course). This introduction of the past Spider-Men was an exciting moment for fans who had speculated about their return for months, but had the creative team behind No Way Home gone with their original idea for their first scenes, the reception would have been very different.
Speaking to Variety in December 2021, No Way Home screenwriters Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna spoke about the process behind all the twists and surprises in the movie, and they obviously addressed the return of Maguire and Garfield. McKenna revealed that they originally planned a very different introduction for these two Spider-Men, as they would have arrived just after the death of Aunt May in a way that would have taken away the surprise and excitement of seeing them walk from the shadows. McKenna explained they were going to be brought by “a Marvel character” (though who exactly remains unknown) as the “saving graces and they’re going to help you through this”, accepting that “it was just more of a deus ex machina”.

Surely, the way Maguire and Garfield were ultimately introduced in No Way Home had some deus ex machina sprinkled over it, as they conveniently showed up when Ned and MJ needed help, but casually being brought by another character would have been a lot worse and would have felt forced (and even disrespectful to these characters). Peter-Two and Peter-Three’s introductions even left a couple of seconds of suspense for the audience to wonder if they were truly in the MCU now as Garfield showed up in full costume in a dark alley and Maguire literally walked from the shadows, and their confusion over how they ended up in another timeline and how they had just casually walked through a portal helped their introductions feel more natural. Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s return in Spider-Man: No Way Home was the biggest treat the MCU has given fans, and they had to be very careful with how they handled every detail about it.


#Movienews #MarvelCinematicUniverse #SpiderManHomecoming3 #Naimaposts