Spider-Man: No Way Home Releases Altered Version of Willem Dafoe Scene

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a massive achievement, opening up the MCU to include characters from across the Multiverse. Bringing back characters from franchises past, the movie includes both Tobey Maguire's and Andrew Garfield's incarnations of the titular web-slinger, alongside some of their fearsome foes, like Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Jamie Foxx's Electro. 

While fans clearly appreciated the film's multiverse-spanning stakes, propelling it to over a billion dollars at the box office, No Way Home was also received warmly by critics. Sony has been pushing for critical acknowledgment with a recent awards campaign, but a recent mistake will keep the film from being eligible at the BAFTAs.

Even with this one roadblock, the future of Spider-Man: No Way Home seems bright, with the film possibly even reigniting hopes for a more permanent return of Andrew Garfield to the role.

Fans excited to rewatch the film can catch Spider-Man: No Way Home on streaming platforms on February 28, though some scenes may be a little different...

Two Versions of a Key Green Goblin Scene

A recently surfaced clip from Twitter account @ThisDrinkIlike1 shows two different edits of a scene in the theatrical version of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The sequence, which sees Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn confront the voice of Green Goblin in his head, is slightly different in the two versions.

The first edit is a bit choppier, cutting more frequently between Osborn and the Goblin mask, the manifestation of the voice in his head. The second version is a bit more restrained, holding longer on Osborn's face and allowing the voice of the Goblin to expand beyond the image of the mask itself.

The two scenes can be viewed in full below.

Why is there 2 slightly different versions of this Goblin scene? I saw the first one in cinemas, but I prefer the second one. pic.twitter.com/JGmKgFVqkh

Why the Update to Green Goblin’s Conflicted Confrontation?

So, why the two scenes? Based on the clear differences between the edits, it seems that Sony is still tweaking elements of Spider-Man: No Way Home.

A post from Twitter user @5150Aamrit supposes that Sony is sending out updated edits for newer copies of the film, leading to the changes fans have noticed. The post also references the extended theatrical version of Spider-Man: Far From Home that was released after that film's success, considering the possibility of a similar re-release for No Way Home.

While no such re-release has been announced or even rumored, it doesn't seem entirely impossible, especially if Sony hopes to expand upon the film's box office success. While the pandemic may hamstring such a move, it has proven successful in the past, helping movies like Avatar and Avengers: Endgame jockey for position as the highest-grossing movie of all time.

The mere fact that Sony is still updating the film is extremely interesting, indicating a desire to fix certain small details within the movie. It's not exactly clear why the company is making these changes to such a commercially and critically successful film, but it's possible, and even likely, that there are other minor details that have been reconfigured in this updated edition of the film. Whether or not No Way Home sees a theatrical expanded cut, it may still be slightly re-edited in the version that makes its way onto streaming platforms in February.