Kevin Feige has already been the genius creative mind behind many of Marvel’s storylines, so it only makes sense that he dreamed up the return of iconic Spider-Man villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home. According to co-writer Chris McKenna, the returning villains, including Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus were originally going to be introduced via the multiverse in a post-credit scene. However, a suggestion from Feige changed the overall narrative of No Way Home.
In an interview with The Wrap, Mckenna stated that the only story ideas that he and co-writer Erik Sommers had been to carry over from the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home and to include Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the story somehow. The pair then came up with a post-credit scene where past villains from Sam Raimi’s and Marc Webb’s Spider-Man movies were introduced through the multiverse. However, Feige suggested that they utilize the villains as a more central aspect of No Way Home.
“I think it was Kevin who goes, ‘Remember that idea with all the villains that we were talking about for a tag? That Sinister Six idea? Why don’t we just do it in the movie? Make this movie about that?’” Mckenna said. “And then that just sort of blew everything open.”
McKenna and Sommers were already planning on using Doctor Strange and this story idea made it easier to work him into the narrative.
“We were already talking about the idea of It’s a Wonderful Life with Peter going to Doctor Strange and trying to reverse the fallout from everything,” McKenna said, “So it was already in the air that he was going to Doctor Strange to help clean up this giant existential mess that had happened to him, so then it all started coming together
While a post-credit scene with these villains would’ve blown the roof off, thankfully, they went with Feige’s suggestion and No Way Home ended up being incredibly satisfying. Director Jon Watts’ third Spider-Man film is currently in theaters with plenty of villains to enjoy.
