The original plan for Spider-Man: No Way Home's multiverse was very different, and the movie would have been much worse if the MCU had kept that direction. In No Way Home, Spider-Man's secret identity was outed by Mysterio, and he had to deal with the fallout of the event. During the time when people knew Spider-Man was Peter Parker, those closest to him were put in harm's way, so he decided to go to Doctor Strange to cast a spell on the world for everyone to forget that Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

When Doctor Strange attempted the spell, Peter interrupted him, and the spell went out of control, bringing in Spider-Man villains from other universes. He eventually beat the five villains that came into Earth-616 with the help of other versions of Spider-Man, but none of this was originally meant to happen. In a recent interview, writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers discussed alternate storylines that almost made it into the movie, and some that almost didn't occur, including No Way Home's original multiverse plan.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home almost didn't involve the multiverse as a central focus and was only planning to introduce and tease the multiverse at the end of the movie. The multiverse stood in the center of the film, making the plot, storyline, and the best scenes impossible to have been performed without having the multiverse as part of the film. When the Reptile, Electro, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and the Green Goblin crossed over into Earth-616, it was met with great reviews. The kind of excitement people had for the multiversal moves in the film was unprecedented. The moment when Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield came through Ned's sling ring portal magic was one of the most exciting things to happen in the MCU so far, and without the multiverse as a focus, the movie would have been worse. The movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93% and an audience score of 98%, so whatever this movie had in the works before it turned out the way it did isn't going to be missed by anyone. As writer McKenna said: "Why tease the multiverse when you can just do it?"

Why Spider-Man: No Way Home Had To Become A Multiverse Story

Spider-Man Surprised During Spider-Man No Way Home

Without the multiversal angle, people wouldn't have the movie that they ended up with, which is a movie that is beloved by almost everyone. It broke box office records and was the most watched movie of 2021 by a lot. Without this Spider-Man multiversal angle, No Way Home would be missing some of the returning Sony cast members, a highlight for the movie. Superhero films usually have to introduce the villains at the beginning of the film to build them up for the audience, but No Way Home circumvented that rule by having established villains come into Earth-616. Rehashing the origins of supervillains was the reason why a Sinister Six movie has never been made, and this movie got around the reason why perfectly. It effectively gave people a Sinister Six movie without having to deal with anyone's background.

Spider-Man: No Way Home would have been much worse if it had followed the original plan. It would have needed to introduce a new Spider-Man villain, requiring a lot of legwork that would have wasted time in the movie. The villains from other universes added both danger and comedy to the film. The looming sense of danger coming from the Green Goblin was another huge part of the film since he ended up killing Aunt May. Without the multiverse in the movie, there would be no Green Goblin storyline or opportunities to reunite characters on-screen. By diving into the multiverse at the beginning, the MCU gave Spider-Man: No Way Home a chance to be a groundbreaking event for the franchise.

Next: No Way Home Shows How MCU Spider-Man Has Changed (And It's Not All Good)

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