Spider-Man: No Way Home has officially hit theaters and Peter Parker is taking the world by storm. The MCU superhero threequel epic has been released in many markets across the globe and fans are having a grand ole' time at the movies.The film sees Peter calling upon the Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Stephen Strange, to erase everyone's memory of his identity as Spider-Man, after it was outed worldwide by the villainous Quentin Beck aka, Mysterio in 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home.
But Strange's spell was botched, wreaking havoc on the Multiverse and causing untold horrors to escape their interdimensional confines.
In the lead-up to the movie's release, rumors circulated that, in addition to all the other potential Spider-Man cameos, Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone (who played Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, respectively, in past Spider-Man film franchises) were expected to reprise their roles in No Way Home.
Too Many Spider-Characters
Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Tom Holland's Peter Parker wasn't the only Spider-Man in No Way Home. Indeed, in addition to Holland's MCU-native Web-Slinger, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield from the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb Spider-Films have returned for a piece of the action. This was certainly a momentous event for fans, to see the Spider-Men that they potentially grew up, brought back to the silver screen yet again, along with their most famous adversaries such as Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and Jamie Foxx's Electro.
But there seemed to be some omissions in the cameo department. Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige himself explains.
Speaking to the New York Times, Feige offers an explanation as to why previous Spider-Man love interests, Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone did not cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, despite rumors and heavy fan speculation:
When people see the movie, they will understand. It’s about the story. It was a big goal for all of us — Amy and Jon and our writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers — that Peter Parker’s senior year in high school didn’t get lost amid the insanity that ensues thanks to his encounter with Doctor Strange. That easily could have happened. And that’s the reason there’s not another 20 people in the movie.
Overcrowding Causing More Spider-Insanity?
Despite the fact that No Way Home dealt with so many characters, it was still firmly a Tom Holland Spider-Man movie through and through. Clearly, Marvel Studios and Sony were careful not to overstuff the narrative with a cavalcade of unnecessary character appearances.
Still, it would have been very cool to see Dunst's MJ and Stone's Gwen again. Especially since Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker hints in the film that he and MJ might still be together, having found a way to make it work and reconcile a romantic relationship with his life and duties as Spider-Man.
Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in theaters in many parts of the world.
