Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s biggest moment was changed thanks to an initially prophetic post on Reddit – and the decision to make this change was undoubtedly the right call for the MCU film. Over the years, Spider-Man’s popularity and prominence in superhero media has spoken for itself as to the character’s importance.
However, this also means that stories featuring the web-swinging vigilante need to be especially careful about how they treat the character – which is especially true for the MCU timeline. This concept seems to be what led to a change of plans for a major moment in history. No way homeThe story of – although it was a decision that was also influenced by an interesting Reddit article.
Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Returns Have Been Changed Thanks to Reddit Post
Speculation around Spider-Man: No Way Home and how it might approach the question of returning characters from previous Spider-Man film series was commonplace ahead of the MCU film’s release in 2021. This resulted in a stream of fan theories, largely revolving around how Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield might return as respective versions of Peter Parker.
Interestingly, said fan concepts were very close to initial ideas for how the couple would be introduced in No Way Homewith a post on Reddit catching the attention of director Jon Watts and leading to a very different evolution of plans for this scene. Speaking on the subject during a panel at the Mediterranean Film Festival hosted by Collider Steve Weintraub, Watts said:
We were writing the script and we were working on where we wanted to reveal the guys, and it always seemed like Peter was going to be sad because Aunt May had just died, and the portals were going to open and the two Spider-Men were going to come out.
It’s probably a roof somewhere. This is all rather vague. You’re still trying to figure it out. Then I was on Reddit and looking at people who had already made fan art: “This is probably what it’s going to look like when the two Spider-Men are revealed.” It was on a roof. It was sad, two Doctor Strange portals were open and two Spider-Men came out. I thought, “Well, we can’t do that. If that’s exactly what everyone thinks we’re going to do, we absolutely can’t do that.
The idea that Reddit changed the biggest moment in Spider-Man: No Way Home – which makes this sequence as we know it today – is fascinating and speaks to the unique setup that modern superhero movie creators find themselves in today, in which social media provides an open gateway to the thoughts and feelings of fans.
How Changes to Spider-Man’s Return Scene Actually Helped Spider-Man: No Way Home
Ultimately, the Reddit post that caused Jon Watts to consider changing the trajectory of No way home seems to have helped the film in the long run. Rather than going the conventional route for the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, No way homeThe story instead takes a different path, with “Peter-Two” and “Peter-Three” meeting Ned and MJ before Holland’s hero.
This makes the film’s story more interesting and also creates connections between the two older Spider-Men and Dutchman Peter Parker’s two closest allies.which pays off for the story, such as making the moment where Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man saves MJ even more impactful.
Since this also allows the film to further build towards the three versions of Spider-Man finally meeting – and sharing the spotlight in one of the biggest and best fight sequences in Marvel’s on-screen history – it’s easy to see how the decision to change Maguire and Garfield Spider-Man: No Way Home his debut ultimately paid off tenfold for the film and its story.
