The ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home severely impacted a potential future plotline set up by the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming. After Peter Parker (Tom Holland) defeats his first villain, the Vulture (Michael Keaton), in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the post-credits scene shows the Vulture in prison. He encounters another famous Spider-Man villain, Scorpion (Michael Mando), who reveals that he wants revenge on Spider-Man. Scorpion tries to get the name of Spider-Man’s alter ego from the Vulture, but the Vulture does not share the name, potentially to protect Peter Parker until he can get revenge himself.

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, however, the chaos wrought by an out-of-control spell forces Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell making everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This spell has emotional stakes for Peter and his friends, but it completely eliminates the stakes set up by Spider-Man: Homecoming’s post-credits scene. Making Spider-Man’s true identity a secure secret again renders the Spider-Man: Homecoming post-credits scene completely meaningless and hurts the chances of ever seeing the Scorpion as a main villain in the MCU.

Related: Every MCU TV Show Ranked Worst To Best (Including She-Hulk)

No Way Home Never Followed Through On Scorpion's Threat

Peter Parker says goodbye in Spider-Man No Way Home

Spiderman: Homecoming set up a major threat of Scorpion discovering Peter Parker’s identity and using it to harm him. The following Spider-Man movies never followed through on that threat, but even more than that, they made it inconsequential - twice. When Spider-Man: Far From Home ended with the whole world discovering that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, that danger dwarfed the threat of one villain uncovering Peter’s identity. The big identity reveal created the perfect opportunity to follow through on the Spider-Man: Homecoming post-credits scene. However, despite Scorpion learning the very thing he wanted to learn in order to exact his revenge, his threat was ignored and he was not featured at all in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Then, when Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with everyone forgetting that Peter Parker is Spider-Man – including Peter’s own friends and colleagues – the danger of Scorpion learning Spider-Man’s real identity from the Vulture, or anyone else, became nearly impossible. Scorpion’s threat is now even further from becoming a real danger than when it was first introduced.

What's Next For Scorpion In The MCU?

Scorpion in Spider-Man Homecoming

The MCU Spider-Man films set up a potential future villain, but they have yet to seize any of the opportunities to use him. It’s not too late for the MCU to include Scorpion in future Spider-Man movies, but the threat developed in the Spider-Man: Homecoming post-credits scene cannot now be a part of his storyline. The idea that Scorpion would set about trying to learn Spider-Man’s identity – and have even a tiny chance of succeeding – was killed by the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home. If Scorpion is going to have a future in the MCU, the movies will need to pivot his motivations and strategies in order to pose a believable threat to Peter.

The MCU is not impervious to mistakes, plot holes, or inconsistencies. However, it is disappointing to see a potentially successful villain arc go to waste. The introduction of Scorpion in Spider-Man: Homecoming’s post-credits scene was promising but was quickly made meaningless by the movie’s sequels. Spider-Man: No Way Home officially dismissed any lingering threat that Scorpion posed, making the first MCU Spider-Man post-credits scene pointless.

Next: No Way Home Secretly Continues An MCU Spider-Man Story

Key Release Dates