Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive first look at Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special, arriving February 14 from Titan Comics. The new book gives an inside peak into the making of one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most exciting and surprising films to date. Find out more about what brought former Peter Parker's Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back to their roles, and how Amy Pasqual and Kevin Feige convinced them to do it. The Official Movie Special also features interviews with Spider-Man: No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Jacob Batalon, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, and many more.
Spider-Man: No Way Home begins minutes after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home left off, with Peter Parker's (Holland) identity exposed once he is accused of murdering Mysterio, aka Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal). In order to return to his life of anonymity, Peter requests that Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) cast a spell in order to make the world forget who he is. When Peter interferes and the spell goes wrong it causes a break in the Multiverse, which allows some classic Marvel villains from different Spider-Man iterations to travel to the MCU. It's only when two previous Spider-Men also make the journey across the Multiverse that Peter will be able to set things right, at a great cost.
An Excerpt From Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special
Screen Rant can exclusively reveal some images and excerpts from the book, which includes an in-depth interview with Michelle "MJ" Watson herself, Zendaya. Zendaya gives insight into the audition process for Michelle, creating a new version of Peter Parker's longtime love, and the surprise and excitement she felt when she discovered that Maguire and Garfield would be returning to their iconic roles:
Why did you originally want to take on the role of MJ?
Zendaya: It’s funny, because when I auditioned I just knew it was gonna be a Spider-Man movie. I didn’t really know who the character was. I didn’t know the storyline. I didn’t know what kind of character she would be. So I was going into it with not much information. But I heard before my chemistry read with Tom that there was a potential “MJ situation” happening. Now, I’ve always been a fan of Spider-Man. He’s always been my favorite Super Hero.
At the end of the day, he is just a kid, and has to live this double life. In many ways I can relate to that, having started in the industry so early. Really I’m just a kid. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just figuring it out as I go, but also simultaneously having this other crazy kind of life. So I’ve always connected with Peter Parker in that way. And just upon knowing that it was a Spider-Man movie, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Nobody had to talk me into it!
Once I was cast, [I saw] Jon [Watts]’s vision and his approach to Spider-Man and Peter Parker. The way he was gonna approach them was so exciting and interesting. His fresh take was just making it feel like real life. What New York feels like, what real students and real people feel like, and turning that into what you see. I felt lucky to be able to be a part of this special journey.
How did MJ’s character develop from her first appearance in Homecoming to No Way Home?
Zendaya: It was fun, because it gave us a bit of a blank slate to work with so we could create this new person. I remember the first conversation that I had with Jon. He explained what her character and her dry humor would be like. It’s been really fun, especially [going] from the first movie being this really guarded, quiet, almost mysterious character that we know nothing about to watching the love story begin between her and Peter at the end of Far From Home.
And now seeing how being with Peter has really opened her up. She’s a very “glass half empty,” negative person, but he brings out this hopeful, positive side of her. I think that’s really sweet to watch – how they bring out these different parts of each other and rely on each other in different ways.
How do you feel about meeting the other Spider-Men?
Zendaya: I was quite young when the first ones came out, but I remember going to the movie theater and seeing all of them. I’ve always loved Spider-Man. So when I first heard that this was gonna happen... I mean, this was something that I think all of us on set in the previous movies would have been like, “How cool would it be if this [happened]?” But we knew that that was never gonna happen. So when I get in a room with Jon and our producers, and they’re talking about what the movie is gonna be, and how we’re gonna have Tobey and his Spider-Man and Andrew and his Spider-Man there... I was like, “How are you gonna do that?” They have to put the suit on [again] after all this time, and maybe they don’t want to. Maybe they’re over it. I couldn’t believe it was gonna happen. For all of us, that moment of seeing all three Spider-Men together on set was so crazy. It’s things that you think about in your head but never believe that you’re gonna see in real life
MCU fans can find the rest of this interview with Zendaya, as well as interviews with all three Spider-Men, Holland, Maguire, and Garfield, and Doctor Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch — not to mention many more of the film's stars. The book also includes behind-the-scenes interviews with the creative teams behind the film, including Director Jon Watts, Writers Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, and some of the artists responsible for the film's exciting stunts, special effects, and more.
Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special will be released by Titan Comics on February 14.