Marvel and Sony's Spider-Man: No Way Home is about to return to prominence thanks to its upcoming home release at the end of March 2022. The MCU's highest-grossing solo film in history is still one of the fandom's hottest topics thanks to new looks into the plot and stories behind the production. Villains like the Lizard and Doctor Octopus have shone in new promo material, as have both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men.
One of No Way Home's biggest challenges came in making sure all five villains from past Spider-Man movies looked the way they did before while also sporting new updates. While part of this came through action beats in the story, such as Doc Ock stealing the nanotech from Peter Parker's Iron Spider suit, others were more subtle and harder to notice at first glance.
One of the bigger changes came with Rhys Ifans' Lizard, who fully embraced his new reptilian even more so than he did during his first run in The Amazing Spider-Man.
Reports teased that this was originally set to include even more drastic adjustments to the Lizard's look, and now, fans have a sneak peek into what that would have entailed.
Photos of Alternate Lizard Look in No Way Home
Ian Joyner, Marvel Studios' visual development supervisor, took to Instagram to share alternate designs for the villainous Lizard from Marvel and Sony's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Joyner revealed an alternate look at the scaly big bad that included Curt Connors' long white lab coat from his first movie and the classic purple pants he wore in the comics:
This version of the Lizard also looks even more evolved and intimidating than before, having grown more into his body and coming off as a more terrifying monster. Joyner explained the reasoning behind this decision in his caption, along with why the look didn't work for his story in Spider-Man: No Way Home:
"Early round of exploration for #thelizard for #spidermannowayhome was to see him in his lab coat (and purple pants!) plus showing that he has grown more beastly and developed some mass and a snout. Really fun to think about how he may look as the Lizard took more hold of him but wouldn’t work for the story.
Joyner also shared an earlier piece he developed for Ifans' original look in 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man. He used this as the ground floor for where to go with the character in the MCU threequel, even sharing that he had the late Stan Lee sign a copy of the art that he has now displayed:
"Recently got permission to share some new work I was able to do for Spider-Man: No Way Home and I will start off by showing… really old work! I worked on The Lizard way back in The Amazing Spider-Man and was able to revisit him for the new film. I will be able to show some of the explorations we did with the character but I thought it made sense to start here! While at legacy I was able to have Stan Lee sign a copy of this for me, one of the few images of my own I have displayed!"
How The Lizard Changed from Original Look
Of all the villains that came into Spider-Man: No Way Home, almost none have had more debated over their updated look than the Lizard. Sure, Doc Ock and Electro got to utilize Stark tech from their new surroundings, and Thomas Hayden Church's Sandman was completely developed through CGI, but the Lizard was another story entirely.
Even more challenging was developing almost two different Lizards for the beginning and end of the film, as No Way Home's VFX supervisors discussed in past interviews. While fans saw a calmer version of Curt Connors upon his arrival, he unleashed his full rage and aggression during the final battle on Liberty Island to take out whichever Spidey was in his way.
These new images confirm that Marvel was considering giving the Lizard an even more comic-book accurate design, largely with his snout and more accentuated claws. In the end, though, No Way Home wanted to ensure that Andrew Garfield's first villain stayed true to his original design from nearly a decade ago, helping to stop time for a moment as he joined the MCU.
As the Spider-Man threequel inches closer to its home release, the movie's cast and crew are opening up more on how heroes and villains from the MCU and past adventures joined forces for this epic story. The Lizard certainly made his mark as one of the more dangerous villains physically, and at the least, he ended up being beaten up by a real Spider-Man instead of by air the way he did in trailers.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will release digitally on March 22, 2022.
