Warning: Spoilers to follow for Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home has passed $1 billion at the box office and has made a significant impact on viewers, but according to an apparent leak, the heartbreaking ending wasn’t always that way.
Taking all of this with a fistful of salt, an anonymous user on 4chan posted several variations and alternate versions of scenes in the movie. Most of these seem fairly obvious and seem to be just recalling scenes and lines from the unused trailers and interviews from the actors.
Last warning: Spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home
However, the final portion of this post is the immensely interesting part. In the cinematic and canon ending to Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker decides to sacrifice everyone, knowing who Peter Parker and Spider-Man are so the multiverse does not collapse in on itself. Doctor Strange casts the spell attempted earlier in the film, and Peter’s loved ones (and the public) have no recollection of who he is.
But perhaps things were not always this way. According to the anonymous user, an alternate ending was considered. In this alleged ending, the multiverse traversing visitors were sent back to their dimensions without Doctor Strange needing to cast the spell. Peter Parker’s identity remains public; he graduates high school but breaks up with MJ and distances himself from his best friend Ned Leeds to spare them from his enemies.
This, if it was ever actually considered or is true, sounds like a bad idea. One would imagine they spitballed this ending before realizing that it sounds incomplete and unfulfilling. What is Peter’s arc if he never has to sacrifice something to protect those he loves and endure personal hell? The true ending allowed for a character reset; this alleged ending is lazy.
The same post also talks of a scene where the three Spider-Men talk about their villains, and Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield‘s Spider-Men warn Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man of how the Green Goblin was always the most dangerous villain they fought.
As far as “leaks” go on the internet, this post seems mostly pretty believable, mainly because the movie had already come out at the time of the post, and there have been so many details made public by the cast and crew.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently in cinemas and will be looking to beat Avengers: Endgame as the highest-grossing Marvel film of all time.
