Credit: Sony Pictures/MarvelOne villain from Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) wants to return to the MCU for a spinoff project after having several scenes cut from the movie.
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Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s last appearance as Spider-Man is still remembered as one of the better MCU movies of all time. Having Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return as Peter Parker/Spider-Man with Holland to fight villains from the three franchises was a fun moment in the MCU.
Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Jamie Foxx’s Electro were fun to see once again and for them to have more screentime as their infamous villains was something fans had been wanting for a long time. Now, not all of the Spidey’s villains got the screen time they deserved. For No Way Home, The Lizard (Rhys Ifan) and Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church) didn’t get much time in the movie.
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In fact, the actors mostly voiced new lines as the studio used archival footage to recreate the characters as they transformed into their human selves. Church mentions in a recent interview that the actor did have a bigger role in an earlier script, but due to last-minute edits, they had to cut out a lot of his role from the movie.
One thing the Spider-Man actor points out is that his character isn’t quite human. Sure, the actor returned to his “human” self, but part of his role was to relearn his humanity after being the Sandman for years. This was supposed to tie in with his daughter, who the villain wanted to go back and see.
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Church goes on to explain that he had several conversations with Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige about what his role would look like, and he mentions that his daughter did play a significant role in the MCU movie for his arc. Just like in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (2007), Sandman was still trying to please his daughter and get home to her:
“We had a whole story involving his daughter, for No Way Home. And it just ended up [cut]. There was just so much going on.”
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While Sandman’s story is cut short, the actor makes it clear that he doesn’t want to be done telling Sandman’s story. After No Way Home, it’s clear there is more that could be explored with the villain, but the real question is whether or not Marvel wants to bring the villain back.
Spider-Man’s time in the MCU is precious, as Sony and Marvel Studios have to work together whenever Spidey shows up onscreen. It isn’t easy just to drop any Spider-Man characters into a new MCU project. Sandman’s future in the MCU is quite bleak as Spider-Man 4 shows no hints at exploring the Multiverse, as the sequel will likely explore more street-level super heroes instead.
Do you think Sandman will return? Let Inside the Magic know what you are thinking!