Spider-Man writers reveal "big" Marvel characters were cut from No Way Home
"We had to tell a story that felt like we were telling a personal story for our main character"
Spider-Man: No Way Home may have been bursting with big Marvel characters (spoilers ahead if you still don't know who they are…), but there were some other major names that didn't make the final cut, according to the movie's screenwriters.
"I don’t know if we’re allowed to, honestly, but there were big characters," co-screenwriter Chris McKenna told Yahoo!. "But almost too big, because it always became a balancing act of how do we tell not only a story with all these awesome villains that we know we want to bring into this movie, the classic ones, but also how do we make this still a Tom Holland/Peter Parker story so that he’s not completely overshadowed?
"Because at the end of the day, it’s not going to be a great Spider-Man movie if you’re not telling an emotional Peter Parker story. We had these riches that we had to… This giant idea [with] all these great actors, but also we had to tell a story that felt like we were telling a personal story for our main character."
No Way Home certainly isn't lacking in important characters from the Marvel and Sony superhero universes – it features five villains (Electro, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Lizard, and Sandman) and three versions of Spider-Man, plus Doctor Strange and a Daredevil cameo. That's probably enough for one movie.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now. If you're already up to date with the web-slinger's adventures, check out our list of the upcoming movies to get excited about this year.
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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.