The Spot Nearly Joined the Villain Lineup in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Every great superhero movie has a list of villains that got away. Some are cut for time, some for tone, and some simply because someone else got there first. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ turned out to be one of those movies, and a new behind-the-scenes revelation shows just how different it might have looked.
The 2021 blockbuster was directed by Jon Watts and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It went on to earn $1.921 billion at the box office. Its multiversal reunion of old Spider-Man foes was the whole hook, but that wasn’t the original plan. The Spot was considered to appear in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home.’ It is a tantalizing what-if for a film that was already so packed with characters.
The source is McKenna himself, speaking on The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood podcast. He said the writers repeatedly built the story around Spot, only to learn that the character appeared in the outline for ‘Across the Spider-Verse,’ meaning they couldn’t use him. His account of the fallback plan is just as revealing: “When we lost Spot, it was like, ‘Well, at least we have Kraven.'”
It is easy to see why Spot appealed. He is a dimension-hopping villain who later featured prominently in 2023’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ and ‘No Way Home’ also dealt with the idea of multiple realities. A villain whose body is covered in portals would have been a natural match for a film about universes colliding.
The problem behind the scenes was the tangled arrangement between the studios. McKenna explained that he and Sommers struggled to find the right villains during early development on both ‘No Way Home’ and ‘Brand New Day’ because of the complicated shared-custody agreement between Sony and Marvel Studios over Spider-Man’s extended universe of characters. Even the fallback wasn’t safe for long. Kraven became their backup because Sony had said it wasn’t planning a standalone movie about the character, but then Sony changed course.
“Be careful what you wish for, Parker.”
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 24, 2021
Peter’s world is turned upside down when a reality warping request goes awry in the Spider-Man: No Way Home teaser trailer. Coming exclusively to theaters Dec 17 pic.twitter.com/v47ol7y4QO
The writers ultimately took a different route. For ‘No Way Home,’ McKenna and Sommers opted to bring back villains from older ‘Spider-Man’ movies, including the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina). That decision arguably defined the film and its fan-service-filled appeal.
The same villain hunt returned for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ McKenna said the filmmakers considered Kraven, Chameleon and Shadow King before Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey became the central antagonist. They also cooked up a telepathic take on Chameleon, an idea that shows up in a different form in the final movie.
A Brand New Day starts now.
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) March 18, 2026
Watch the official trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day – exclusively in theatres July 31. pic.twitter.com/O4ryqpTCZX
That gamble paid off in a big way. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ opened on July 31, 2026, and has grossed $2.478 billion worldwide. The Bulwark describes it as the highest-grossing film of all time domestically.
It is a fun reminder that even record-breaking movies are shaped by things fans never see. A villain lost to a rival project, a fallback that never happened, and a studio deal that limited the options all played a part. Spot did eventually get his big-screen moment, just not in the live-action Spider-Man film that seemed to suit him so well.
Would you have wanted to see The Spot as a villain in Spider-Man: No Way Home?
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