Credit: Marvel StudiosTom Holland’s recent movie as Spider-Man would’ve been way different if Sony let Marvel Studios go with their original plan.
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Spider-Man is one of the most popular super heroes in the world, and he has quite a few villains. Spider-Man: No Way Home brought some of the most iconic super heroes and villains to the big screen in the same place. Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin was able to shine and have a great performance facing Tom Holland’s Spidey, while other villains like Jamie Foxx’s Electro had a chance to redeem themselves in a new movie.
Fans loved the dynamic between Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Spider-Man and how the two were at odds on how to save the world after Peter’s mistake. It’s not easy being a super hero as a teenager, and Peter just wanted things to be different for his friends. While the story ends with Peter Parker erasing himself from public memory, the story is open-ended, promising more stories to come with Spider-Man.
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Another thing that made No Way Home special was that characters like Andrew Garfield could redeem their character in a new story. After failing to save his love, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), it’s not surprising that Garfield’s performance was fantastic in No Way Home, and he got to save MJ (Zendaya). This moment was very special, and the movie was filled with epic and heartwarming moments, which were fun to see.
Now, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are rumored to join the MCU for more projects, with some reports claiming that Maguire could be leading the new Avengers team for Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) after Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) wins in Avengers: Kang Dynasty (2025).
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While fans loved Spider-Man: No Way Home for bringing together Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, there was a different story that Marvel Studios wanted to tell, and it’s not what you would’ve expected. Instead of leaning heavily into the Multiverse, Marvel had a different plan for what to do.
In MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, a book recently written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, just revealed that Kraven the Hunter was supposed to be in the movie and how Sony rejected the original plan for No Way Home. Since Sony was making a movie with Aaron Taylor Johnson as the star, they didn’t want Marvel Studios to create a different iteration of the villain before their movie with the character.
Tom Holland did share earlier how Jon Watts had shared a Kraven movie pitch with the actor and how the actor loved the premise but didn’t want to share more in case it became true:
“For a long time, there was going to be a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren’t working out and all sorts of different stuff. Jon pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool. I don’t want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun.”
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For Marvel Studios, it would be hard to believe that the MCU will use Kraven anytime soon after Aaron Taylor Johnson starred as Quicksilver earlier in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), but anything is possible. Sony’s Kraven isn’t something fans are eager to see since the movie will reportedly change the villain from the comics, which fans are not happy about.
It’s hard to be excited for Kraven, knowing that his story could’ve been very different if he faced Tom Holland in No Way Home, but fans at least got a lot of villains that were fun to see in action against the iconic trio.
Kraven the Hunter releases in theaters on August 30, 2024.
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