What if Spider-Man: No Way Home went bigger?

*WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME. SHOULD YOU WANT TO REMAIN SPOILER FREE, THEN DO NOT READ THIS POST.*

When Spider-Man: No Way Home hit cinema screens in December 2021, the movie was touted as the biggest Spidey film to date. And it’s not surprising really, considering this was a Spider-Man movie that not only featured a wealth of villains from across the Spidey movie series (Doc Ock, Green Goblin, etc), but it also included the appearance of past Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

The inclusion of these two actors, as well as the past villains, made Spider-Man: No Way Home one epic movie. So epic in fact, that surely there’s no way it could have been bigger, right?

Hmm…

What if Spider-Man: No Way Home did go bigger? What if the movie took everything it already offered audiences, then cranked things up a notch to push the boundaries further? What would that have involved?

In this post I am offering up suggestions for ways in which Spider-Man: No Way Home could have gone bigger. Regardless of whether or not the movie needed to, let’s just toss out some ideas and ponder for a while…

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What if there were more legacy villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Spider-Man: No Way Home served up five main villains: Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, The Lizard, and Electro. But what if there were more?

Just think about it for a moment, not only could we have seen Spider-Man go head-to-head with the above villains, but what if the film also included Harry Osborn from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies? Or Harry Osborn from the Andrew Garfield movies?

And heck, why just stop there? What about bringing back the Vulture, the Shocker, the Tinkerer, and the Scorpion from Spider-Man: Homecoming? Or Mysterio from Spider-Man: Far From Home?

Still not enough? OK then, what if the movie also included Eddie Brock/Venom from Spider-Man 3, or the Rhino and Mr. Fiers from The Amazing Spider-Man 2?

Just think about it. Sure, the five villains we got were awesome, but imagine if it was fifteen?!

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What if there were new villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

For fans of the Spidey movie series, Spider-Man: No Way Home was a complete nostalgia-fest, which leaned heavily into the concept of bringing back characters from the past. But what if the movie became a platform for introducing new characters, and more specifically, introducing new villains?

Towards the end of the film, the multiverse began to open up, and there were a few hints that some new characters were about to step across the barrier. Now imagine if they did step across and we got the likes of Kraven the Hunter, Tombstone, Puma, Chameleon, Hobgoblin, Doppelganger, and Carrion?!

Too many villains? Maybe – but hey, if this movie wanted to go HUGE it certainly had a way to do it, and one of these ways would have been to introduced a bunch of new adversaries!

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What if there were more legacy characters in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Let’s not just stop at the prospect of new villains stepping across the multiverse, what if legacy characters came through as well?! What am I talking about? I’m talking about heroes from old, non-MCU Marvel movies.

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool, Michael Chiklis’ Thing… and so on. The possibilities could have been endless.

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What if everyone remembered who Peter Parker was in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

One of the key story beats in Spider-Man: No Way Home involved a spell cast by Doctor Strange, to make the general population forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Although that spell initially backfired, it was eventually recast, leading to widespread amnesia.

But what if everyone remembered? What if the spell didn’t work at all?

Everyone would be still aware of who Peter is and while this might have robbed the movie of some of its heart-breaking moments towards the end of the picture, it could have given the Spidey films a new direction for the future. For the first time ever, this particular series could have focused on a Spider-Man who is known to the public, and that would have created a new journey for the wall-crawler.

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What if Doctor Strange went evil in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Marvel’s animated television series, What If?, already looked at the idea of a corrupt Doctor Strange in the Season One episode, What If Doctor Stranger Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?, but what if Spider-Man: No Way Home employed this idea too? Think about it: The ‘memory’ spell goes wrong not because of interference from Peter, but instead because of interference by Doctor Strange?

If this movie had wanted to go even bigger, how about introducing an evil Doctor Strange in the process? Have him be the reason that all the major Spidey villains are back, and have Strange become the new threat to the MCU.

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What if the rest of the Spider-Verse dropped by?

And finally, what if it wasn’t just three Spider-Men that battled all the villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home, what if the entire Spider-Verse got involved? What do I mean? Well, how about a crossover with characters from the 2018 animated movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

Just as the three Peters charge into battle, what if Miles Morales and Spider-Ham drop by? Maybe Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man Noir too!

You want to see the biggest Spider-Man movie of them all, then bring everyone to the party and let them have one huge battle!

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So, what do you think? Would you have liked to see Spider-Man: No Way Home go bigger or did it hit exactly the right mark?

For me, it landed perfectly, and I’m fairly confident that any more characters or ideas could have unbalanced it, but it sure is fun to speculate about other possibilities. And for that reason, I’m now opening up the ‘what if?’s to you, so you can start spit-balling ideas!

If you were given the opportunity to make Spider-Man: No Way Home even bigger, what would you have done differently? Sound off in the comments section please.

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Thank you for stopping by Don’t Tell Harry to read this post about Spider-Man: No Way Home. For more posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.

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