Spoiler Warning: Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man is one of the most popular Marvel superheroes of all time, and Tom Holland has quickly made the web-slinger’s presence felt in a massive way with his rendition of the character in the MCU. First appearing in Captain America: Civil War after Marvel reacquired the right to use the character cinematically, Peter Parker has become a crucial and integral member of the Avengers and the MCU as a whole. The only reason the Avengers were able to travel back in time to get the Infinity Stones in the first place was that Tony felt guilty about losing Peter.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
With the baby-faced Holland all grown up and having three solo films under his belt, Spider-Man is taking his rightful mantle at the forefront of the MCU. Peter Parker unleashed the multiverse in the most recent movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and allowed Marvel to bring back all the villains from the prior Spider-Man franchises, giving audiences and fans an ecstatic two-and-a-half-hour thrill ride of nostalgia. However, even with how successful the film has been and how fantastic it was to see all of the old antagonists, it might have been in No Way Home’s best interest to incorporate an original MCU villain into the mix – and here’s why.
It Didn’t Change Anything (Literally)
Again, we’re not knocking how awesome it was to see Goblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Lizard, and Sandman (not to mention Peter 2 and Peter 3), how well they did in reprising their roles, nor how Peter 1 did the right thing by trying to save them instead of letting Strange send them back to die. That being said, regardless of Peter 1’s pure intentions and the neighborly message of the movie, the previous movies are all still in the past.
RELATED: Spider-Man: No Way Home: 3 Things that Didn’t Work in the MCU Movie
Sure, we fans can use our imaginations to humor a universe where all the above villains return to their movies and instantaneously turn from bad guys to good guys. Still, it’s not like Marvel and Sony will remake five prior Spider-Man films to show audiences those potential outcomes. So, more or less, nothing was really at stake, no matter the outcome of the villain’s fate. Also, the cherry on top, the whole point behind Peter 1 trying to save the villains, was to emphasize that he was a good guy. Despite what J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) was feeding the public, audiences already knew that.
Chameleon
So, with the previous villains being the only ones in the movie, their fate wouldn’t have mattered either way, even though Peter 1 was right for trying to save them. However, if an original MCU villain had been introduced and revealed to be behind the entire scheme, it would have raised the stakes for the prior villains. Their fates would have meant much more as they would have been brought to the MCU for a reason instead of by accident. But which villain should have been chosen? Chameleon would have been a safe bet.
RELATED: Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin Wasn’t Always Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Main Villain
The original Spider-Man villain from the comics has yet to make his MCU debut. Although he was hinted at in Far From Home, it turned out to be a mislead. Chameleon could be one of the web-slinger’s most worthy adversaries to date. When fans noticed in the No Way Home trailers that Doctor Strange wasn’t quite acting himself, there was speculation that it wasn’t Strange at all and someone was impersonating him. Among the most popular guesses were Chameleon; however, the movie later revealed that it was still Strange all along). Chameleon is set to appear in the upcoming Kraven the Hunter movie produced by Sony. It probably would have been a good idea for the two studios to introduce the character and cross him between their cinematic universes, which No Way Home proved they’re capable of doing.
Prowler or Scorpion
With Chameleon appearing in Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, it still might have been tricky for the two studios to work out a deal to have the character appear in both. So, what other villains could have made their MCU appearance in No Way Home? How about villains already “introduced” in the MCU – Prowler or Scorpion. Both of these villains were teased in Homecoming, and sadly, nothing has come from either of them, despite being two prominent Spider-Man antagonists.
Little is known of the MCU Scorpion other than the fact that he has unfinished business with Spider-Man, but the Prowler would’ve been a phenomenal addition to the movie. The character is confirmed as the Uncle of Miles Morales, and that connection could have been a way to easily incorporate both Prowler and another Spider-Man into the film.
