The production and crew managed to keep the team-up of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland under wraps for the most part. But the newly shared concept art holds some new details that may have further raised the stakes in the newest billion-dollar box office MCU movie. Check out the revelations from the official Spider-Man: No Way Home photos and art below.
Three Spider-Men together at last
The official still images of Spider-Man: No Way Home have surfaced courtesy of Befores and Afters, covering Sony Imageworks VFX used in the film. In particular, the climactic superhero landing (as coined by Ryan Reynolds in the 2016 Deadpool movie) of all three Spider-Men on top of the Statue of Liberty:
— Ian Failes / befores & afters (@ianfailes) January 25, 2022 Eagle-eyed fans should recall that the actual scene is notably different from what was shown in the Spider-Man: No Way Home teasers and trailers. These had only shown Tom Holland’s Spider-Man (in his Iron Spider suit), instead of Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s versions landing first. Another key shot revealed was the epic showdown between the three Spider-Men and the trio of Electro, Sandman, and The Lizard. Again, the teasers and trailers only showed one Spider-Man leaping toward the villains, whereas the final film had all three Spider-Men diving into action.
— Ian Failes / befores & afters (@ianfailes) January 24, 2022 It is interesting to note that Spider-Man: No Way Home did not take advantage of marketing the appearance of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield during the course of the promotional period. In fact, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures went to great lengths to hide any leaks, including convincing the actors to deny their casting and participation. Andrew Garfield even had to lie to his Amazing Spider-Man co-star, Emma Stone (who played Gwen Stacy).
Unused Mysterio vs. Doctor Strange and other concept art
Another set of newly revealed official images from Spider-Man: No Way Home comes from Andrew Reeder. Reeder is a veteran concept designer and digital artist who has worked on various MCU projects. Included in his resume are Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Avengers: Infinity War. Reeder also worked on Spider-Man: No Way Home and one particular piece shows a curious inclusion of the super-villain Mysterio. The concept art has the bowl helmet-wearing bad guy (played by Jake Gyllenhaal in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home) flying near the Statue of Liberty. But instead of Spider-Man, the concept art has Quentin Beck battling Doctor Strange! Apparently, this was one of the scrapped ideas that was being thrown by the production in developing the third MCU Spider-Man film. In an interview, Spider-Man: No Way Home scribe Chris Mckenna shared how the overall plot for the film changed over time:
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) January 8, 2022 Mckenna continued with explaining that the original plans were to have the third Spider-Man film occur after the events of Doctor Strange 2: Of course, the version of Spider-Man: No Way Home that came to be did not include Mysterio. The delays due to the pandemic may have contributed to the changes, as well as the more multiversal keystone event that the film would play for the MCU Phase Four. Early rumored and speculated plots for the next film after Spider-Man: Far From Home actually had Kraven The Hunter as the main antagonist, with Mysterio possibly returning (having faked his death). However, fans did point out that the film seems to have had one man down. Only five of the Spidey rogues gallery appeared, unless one counts the cameo of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock aka Venom in one of the end credits scenes.
(via Andrew Reeder Design | https://t.co/rWbkbPcEOM) pic.twitter.com/jOh6LFIhhW — Fandom (@getFANDOM) January 25, 2022 An updated official synopsis of Spider-Man: No Way Home has also been released for theaters screening the film, which is more descriptive of the plot: Would the film have been better with Mysterio being an active part of the story? He would certainly have brought another wrinkle to the plot. But if he did appear, the villains would have been a proper Sinister Six. Regardless of Mysterio being dropped from the movie’s plot, that clearly did not hurt its commercial success. Spider-Man: No Way Home is already in the billion dollar club of highest grossing movies of all time. Spider-Man: No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Also starring Toni Revolori, Angourie Rice, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Hannibal Buress, Benedict Wong, and J.K. Simmons.
