Credit: Sony Pictures/Marvel StudiosWhile Spider-Man might be in the title of the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster No Way Home (2021), recently revealed concept art shows that Zendaya was actually the real hero.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was a massive hit even by the high expectations of Marvel Studios, grossing nearly $2 billion at the box office and swiftly becoming the highest-earning movie Sony Pictures has ever released. In large part, that was due to fan enthusiasm becoming super-charged by the inclusion of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield alongside the Tom Holland version of the character after months of speculation that the third MCU Spider-Man movie would have triple the Peter Parker as usual.
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Just as excitingly, the movie also featured a plethora of villains from Spider-Man franchises of the past, including Jamie Foxx as Electro, Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, Rhys Ifans as the Lizard, Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman, and the OG bad guy himself, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin.
The finale of the film saw Tom Holland face off against Willem Dafoe at the Statue of Liberty, hellbent on avenging the death of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). However, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield managed to talk him down from committing murder and, working together, were able to inject the Goblin with a serum to restore his sanity.
However, it turns out that the heroic moment when the Spider-Men manage to inject the Green Goblin was actually supposed to belong to MJ (Zendaya), who would have saved the day after Tom Holland was stabbed by Willem Dafoe.
Marvel Studios artist Phil Saunders shared concept art of an alternate version of the scene, which clearly shows Zendaya leaping on the back of Willem Dafoe and injecting him.
The caption to Saunders’ post reads, “This was one of the most fun keyframes to do for Spiderman: No Way Home. In an earlier version of the script, Green Goblin ends up stabbing Spidey, just before MJ drops on his back and manages to plunge the antidote needle into his neck. It was great working out the dynamics of this composition to capture the drama of the moment.”
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It is currently unknown when Tom Holland and Zendaya will return as Spider-Man and MJ. Marvel Studios reset the status quo of Peter Parker in the MCU by having Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) erase all memory of Spider-Man, so the next web-slinger movie can basically pick up anywhere or any time after the events of No Way Home.
But, with box office grosses on the downturn for Marvel, it probably will not be long before the studio takes refuge in the dependable earning power of Spider-Man. Maybe Zendaya will finally get her hero moment someday.
Would you rather have seen Zendaya take down the Green Goblin than Spider-Man? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!