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Trivia / Spider-Man: No Way Home

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  • Acting for Two:
    • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Philippe Maia voices both Mysterio and Matt Murdock.
    • In the Japanese dub, Nakamura Shidō II voices both Max Dillon/Electro and Eddie Brock/Venom in The Stinger.
    • The European French dub has Jérémie Covillault voice both Doctor Strange and Eddie Brock/Venom in The Stinger.
  • Acting in the Dark:
    • Tom Holland mentioned that numerous actors would hide themselves in cloaks during production to avoid spoiling their appearances in the movie. One of them was Willem Dafoe, and Holland accidentally bumping into him while cloaked was how the two first met on-set.
    • Meanwhile, Benedict Cumberbatch admitted to not reading the full script, wanting to surprise himself with the final product.
  • Actor-Inspired Element:
    • It was Tom Holland's idea that Peter's suit would get wrinkled beneath the Iron Spider suit when he arrives on the freeway to look for the MIT vice chancellor.
    • Tobey Maguire requested that very little be revealed about the events of his Peter's life since the end of his trilogy. Thus, while Andrew Garfield's Peter speaks of who he became in the aftermath of his duology, Raimi-Verse Peter offers only one personal detail: that he worked things out with Mary Jane.
    • Benedict Cumberbatch suggested Dr. Strange stumble over his words, saying "We" when he mentions everyone who knows and loves Peter (which, naturally, would include Strange himself). In response, Jon Watts plainly said, "That's gonna be in the film."
  • Actor-Shared Background: The film reveals that Ned is of Filipino-descent, much like Jacob Batalon himself.
  • All-Star Cast: MCU mainstays like Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch reprise their roles as superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, respectively. Actors who played integral supporting roles in previous MCU-set Spider-Man films like Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, and Jacob Batalon also reprise their respective roles. And of course, actors who played roles in previous Spider-Man film continuities – like Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans, and J. K. Simmons – reprise their characters in this film too. Previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return too, and to put the cherry on top of it all, Charlie Cox cameos as Matt Murdock and Tom Hardy returns as Eddie Brock and Venom in The Stinger.
  • Approval of God: Sam Raimi was absolutely thrilled to see the actors he worked with on his own Spider-Man trilogy reprise their roles in this film, finding the experience of seeing them on-screen again "refreshing". He also was impressed with Tom Holland's portrayal of Peter Parker, which reaffirmed his love for Spider-Man overall.
  • Awesome, Dear Boy:
    • Andrew Garfield (who has been vocal about his disdain towards the way production was handled for The Amazing Spider-Man Series) openly jumped at the chance to portray Peter Parker again, as he was genuinely excited at the notion of sharing the screen with both Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland as Spider-Man while also eager to tie up loose ends left at the end of his last solo film.
    • In regards to Tobey Maguire, who's generally stayed away from the big screen in recent years, he agreed to portray Peter Parker again as he was intrigued by the pitch to play Spider-Man alongside two other versions of the character and that the movie would be one giant celebration towards what makes the character so beloved.
    • Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, and Willem Dafoe were very excited to get to come back and play their respective villains again.
    • J. K. Simmons had enjoyed playing J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy, and admitted to being heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to revisit the character in a fourth movie. Naturally, when Marvel approached him to reprise his role in Spider-Man: Far From Home's stinger and this film, he jumped at the chance. Simmons also expressed excitement in adapting Jameson to the modern-day era, describing him more as a media blowhard than a newspaper editor.
  • Banned in China: For this film to be released in their country, China demanded that all the scenes that took place on the Statue of Liberty, or otherwise had it in frame, to be removed. Understandably, Sony refused to comply as the entire last quarter of the film takes place on the landmark, leading the film to be banned there.
  • Billing Displacement:
  • Cash-Cow Franchise: The movie smashed the COVID-19 Pandemic era opening weekend record, and it ended up the second-highest of all time globally behind Avengers: Endgame. It then reached $1 billion worldwide by Christmas (the first to do so since The Rise of Skywalker back in 2019-early 2020) and surpassed both of the first Avengers films by mid-January 2022, as a testament to the enduring popularity of Spider-Man. It's especially significant since, up to this point, 2021 had been quite middling for Marvel Studios films outside of the domestic performance of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This time, though, it's Sony Pictures that reaps most of the benefits (and, indeed, the film became Sony's largest ever both domestic and worldwide), though a new deal struck between Disney and Sony in 2019 means that Disney reaps a much larger percentage of the profits than they did for Homecoming and Far From Home (25% vs. 5%). Even more notably, No Way Home didn't make a penny from China, which had helped push Far From Home across the $1 billion mark, but still became the highest-performing Spider-Man film to date.
  • Colbert Bump:
    • Due to the premise of having villains from previous Spider-Man films appearing, numerous fans began watching them to understand the context of the films for a better understanding. Sony anticipated this and rereleased all of the films, including the extended Spider-Man 2.1 and the Editor's Cut of Spider-Man 3, on 4K Blu-Ray for the first time for those who wanted them in that format.
    • Thanks to their song "The Magic Number" being used in the end credits, De La Soul gained a huge amount of recognition from this film.
  • Content Leak: Spider-Man: No Way Home is a serious contender for the dubious honor of being the leakiest superhero movie ever, much to the stress of the cast and crew who had to regularly dance around or falsely deny certain elements that they were asked about pre-release. To wit:
    • Jamie Foxx's involvement was revealed in October 2020, with it being confirmed that he'd return as Electro and starting the trend of people learning things that they weren't supposed to know ahead of the release of the film. Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe's involvement as Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin were also reported by the fansite Geeks WorldWide before later being confirmed by trades, while fellow fansite The Illuminerdi also confirmed the return of Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman. Rhys Ifans was eventually revealed to be involved as the Lizard through later leaks, but his and Church's involvement were only directly confirmed by trades just after the final trailer arrived, about a month out from the film's release.
    • Following the announcement of his involvement, Foxx jumped the gun by revealing fan art of the Spider-Verse-inspired crossover with his character, along with the three live-action Spider-Men, included in the picture. This, of course, gave away Marvel's real intent with the film, and he quickly took it down.
    • The involvement of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield was first reported a full year before the release of the film.
    • The teaser trailer leaked a day before its intended release date, albeit in poor quality and with unfinished visual effects. Weeks before that, a plot leak describing details from the first act — which were later verified by the trailer — got out.
    • Photos of Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, and Max Dillon's new character designs also leaked out around the same time, albeit without digital enhancements. (Octavius, for instance, has four blue bulbs on the back of his trenchcoat where his metal arms would be and no digital de-aging "makeup" applied.) Later, a pre-vis shot of the aforementioned characters, plus CGI versions of Sandman and Lizard, leaked out to the internet.
    • Behind-the-scenes footage of Andrew Garfield in front of a bluescreen — along with a tiny bit of Tobey Maguire's costumed hand — leaked out at a later point. While some attempted to pass the video off as a deepfake, a number of elements in the video were impossible to fake, and the leak was very much real. That very shot was completed months later, and appears in the finished film, as Andrew's Spidey asks Tobey's Spidey if he's ever had a "web block".
    • John Campea leaked out a shot of Tobey, Andrew, and Tom as their respective Spider-Men on the scaffolding of the Statue of Liberty, and a shot of Matt Murdock meeting with Peter Parker, Aunt May, and Happy Hogan, believing them to be fanmade images. They instead turned out to be very real and got a copyright takedown, and Campea fell into hot water with Sony.
    • The film's full soundtrack leaked about two weeks in advance of the release date. The audio that leaked was verified shortly afterward when users tried reuploading music from it to other sites and faced copyright takedowns. It was further verified when some of Michael Giacchino's score was released as singles on Spotify, which proved to be identical to the leaked OST. This doubled as a Musical Spoiler for those still doubting the involvement of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, given that both James Horner's "Promises" and Danny Elfman's "Responsibility" leitmotifs appear in track 19.
  • Creator Backlash: Not so much towards the film itself as the film's publicity tour. Tom Holland stated that he, along with other members of the cast, were annoyed about having to lie about the content of the movie for the sake of artificially preserving secrets that had already leaked onto the Internet and were more or less common knowledge to the fandom at large. Holland has also expressed frustration with the unpredictable filming process caused by both the previously mentioned on-set secrecy and the COVID-19 Pandemic, particularly the constant changing of the third act.
  • Deleted Role:
    • Tom Holland's brother Harry originally had a cameo in the film as a drug dealer that Spider-Man catches before being "rewarded" with a splash of green paint on his suit from a Mysterio believer. The scene itself was cut, but a snippet of Spider-Man getting paint on him was kept in as a newsreel. The full scene was restored in the More Fun Stuff Version, and features various passersby giving Spider-Man comments of both criticism and support after he webs up the dealer.
    • Lexi Rabe revealed on her Instagram that she filmed a scene as Morgan Stark that didn't make it to the final cut of the movie.
  • Deleted Scene: Several, some of which were restored in the More Fun Stuff Version.
    • The movie had an Uncomfortable Elevator Moment filmed, but it ended up deleted. Aunt May, Peter Parker, Norman Osborn, Max Dillon, Flint Marko, and Otto Octavius are taking the lift together to Happy's apartment, making for quite the awkward ride. Especially since Doc Ock, front and center, is still wrapped in his own tentacles, and even one tentacle tip seems to be following the unspoken protocol. This was restored in the More Fun Stuff Version.
    • A second scene with Matt Murdock representing Happy while he's under investigation was also deleted from the original cut. This scene also featured Happy seeing the villains enter his condominium via doorbell camera footage on his phone, which leads to him calling Peter about it later in the movie.
    • Betty Brant's interviews with her fellow classmates and high school faculty on the revelation of Peter's secret identity were originally slated to be in this film as well, as a montage. Most of them ended up being repurposed as episodes of Brant's "Burning Questions" series on the Daily Bugle TikTok account.
    • A fight with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin on his glider was also filmed, but left out of the movie. Unfortunately, this was one of the scenes that wasn't restored in the More Fun Stuff Version.
    • Unfortunately, the home release of the movie doesn't contain any of the known deleted scenes other than using some footage of them in other special features, the aforementioned "More Fun Stuff Version" likely being the reason.
  • Demand Overload: Minutes after tickets went on sale on "Spider-Monday" (November 29, 2021), multiple major movie chains and ticket distributors were completely overwhelmed, with queue lines lasting hours set up moments after sales began, on a scale not seen since Avengers: Endgame. This is particularly impressive considering the fact that the COVID-19 Pandemic, which took a huge toll on the film industry, was very much still a notable threat dampening the overall box office at the time — especially with the rise of the more contagious Omicron variant.
  • Descended Creator: Jon Watts himself did much of the motion capture for Sandman whenever the character appeared.
  • Development Gag:
    • Sony's backup plan was a smaller-scale film with Kraven the Hunter as the main threat. When other Spider-Man villains from the multiverse start to show up in silhouette form, Kraven is the first to appear. Scorpion, who was also rumored to appear in that pitch for the film, appears alongside him.
    • Sam Raimi intended to eventually use Curt Connors/The Lizard as a villain for his film series back in the day. Here, Raimi's Spider-Man is mostly fighting the Lizard (from The Amazing Spider-Man Series) during the beginning of the Final Battle. In fact, Raimi's Spider-Man is Lizard's infamous invisible attacker in the Brazilian trailer.
    • Tobey Maguire suffered a back injury while shooting Seabiscuit that caused problems with shooting Spider-Man 2, enough so that serious debates were had over recasting the role. Apart from Raimi including a bit in 2 where Tobey's Peter hurts his back, it receives another nod here when his Peter discusses the back issues he's developed over the years with Garfield's Peter.
    • When Electro sees his Peter unmasked, he briefly remarks that he assumed Spider-Man was black and is a little disappointed to find out he's white, and remarks that a black Spider-Man has to exist somewhere. Besides being a Mythology Gag towards Miles Morales, it also calls to attention the fact that, prior to Garfield's casting, an online campaign started calling for Marvel/Sony to cast an African-American actor for the role, with Donald Glover being singled out specifically, and it was this that inspired the creation of Miles in the comics in the first place.
    • Back in The '90s, when James Cameron was working on a Spider-Man movie, the main antagonists were supposed to be Sandman and Electro (which resulted in the characters being Adapted Out from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, until the movie was scrapped and a different version of Electro appeared in the final season). This movie has Electro and Sandman chatting and exchanging their respective origins stories in Happy's apartment, seemingly getting along with each other.
    • The first Raimi Spider-Man film had Alex Ross coming up with some concept art for Spidey and the Green Goblin. It seems that No Way Home took heavy inspiration from Ross's design of Goblin because the tattered hood look Dafoe's Goblin sports is remarkably similar. The Goblin also wears a pair of goggles in the climax of this film, which look remarkably similar to Otto's goggles in Spider-Man 2, which Willem Dafoe also wore while pranking Alfred Molina on the set of that movie.
    • The way the movie lingers on Peter 3 (Andrew Garfield) saying that creating an antidote for the Lizard is "no big deal" since he's done it before has led some to believe that the line was a reference to Sony wanting his Spider-Man to have the phrase as a catchphrase in an attempt to make him Younger and Hipper, as revealed in the 2014 Sony data hack.
  • Dyeing for Your Art:
    • Jacob Batalon lost a staggering 102 pounds for his role in this movie, although he's indicated that shedding that weight was also a lifestyle choice.
    • Willem Dafoe has commented that, before there was even a script, when he was approached to reprise Osborn, he agreed — if he could be allowed to perform his own stunts again, as he felt that his performance as the Goblin needed a physical connection to the on-screen image for him to better embody the character. Jon Watts and Amy Pascal had little choice but to agree.note 
    • As usual, Tom Holland had to get back in Spider-Man shape after portraying a heroin addict in Cherry.
    • Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield had to put in a lot of work in order to look good in their suits. Both noted that it was harder for them to get in shape as they're no longer in their 20s.
  • Enforced Method Acting:
    • According to this video, the VFX crew actually built a rig for suspending Paula Newsome in her car mid-air in the Alexander Hamilton bridge fight scene, where Doc Ock tosses the MIT Assistant Vice Chancellor’s car away and Spider-Man catches the car with his webbing. The look of fear and discomfort on her face is very real.
    • According to Zendaya, Tom Holland and Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe's portrayal of the Green Goblin in this movie genuinely frightened everyone on-set, making the characters' reactions to the Goblin's appearance in the actual film all the more real.
    • MJ's crying upon realizing that she has to forget her Peter at the film's climax did have some authenticity to it: Zendaya admitted to have been in tears during much of the filming process because of how tragic the ending was.
    • Alfred Molina admitted that Doctor Octopus's joy upon reuniting with his incarnation of Peter Parker was reflective of his own feelings on seeing Tobey Maguire again for the first time in over a decade.
  • Executive Meddling:
    • The scene where Andrew Garfield's Peter saves MJ originally had a choir providing background music. Tom Rothman requested that the background music be muted entirely during the scene instead, allowing it to be much more impactful.
    • The writers were not allowed to use Kraven the Hunter in this film as originally planned, as Sony was adamant that his solo film be released before he confronts Spider-Man.
  • Fake American:
  • Flip-Flop of God: Around the time of the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Kevin Feige (and even Zendaya herself) confirmed that Michelle "MJ" Jones was not the MCU's version of Mary Jane Watson, but an original character with her nickname serving as a Mythology Gag. His perspective seems to have changed significantly since then, given that it's revealed that her full name is Michelle Jones-Watson in No Way Home, and the denizens of the other universes seem to recognize MJ as this Peter's equivalent of Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy.
  • Hey, It's That Sound!:
  • Lying Creator:
    • Poor Andrew Garfield was flooded with questions about his involvement in the film, which he consistently denied even as they overshadowed the press tours of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and tick, tick... BOOM!. He even had to lie to Emma Stone when she asked him if he was in the film during their private conversations. Tom Holland eventually lied by claiming that he and Tobey Maguire would not be returning when pressed for details, noting that he would hope to make a film with them one day. (And he said this only three days after the soundtrack leak featured their character themes.)
    • Reportedly avoided with Tobey Maguire, as he's much more of a Reclusive Artist in real life, and so never got many instances of being publicly asked about his appearance in the film. Some fans who took photos with him during the lead-up to the film claimed that, when they asked about it, he hinted at his involvement in an off-the-record, NDA-friendly fashion. That said, in a behind-the-scenes interview, he said he had to keep the extent of his involvement under wraps and had to hide the fact that he did wirework and stunts, too.
    • When asked of whether Matt Murdock would appear in this film, Charlie Cox claimed that it was not the case, and speculated that an appearance from the character might be detrimental to him, as it would mean he would have to portray a Lighter and Softer version of Daredevil than what fans were familiar with on Netflix. And yet, Mr. Murdock does appear in this film, albeit only as a brief but meaningful cameo.
  • Meme Acknowledgement: The marketing team released an image of the film's three live-action Peter Parker actors (Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire) recreating the Spider-Man pointing meme◊ by posing similarly to it while in costume.
  • Milestone Celebration:
  • Missing Trailer Scene:
    • The original teaser features Wong telling Strange point-blank not to cast the spell, saying it's too dangerous. Strange assures him he won't, only to wink slyly at Peter once Wong's left through the portal. This was replaced in the movie proper with Strange sincerely pleading to cast the spell on Peter's behalf, saying he's been through enough. Wong relents and tells Strange to leave him out of it before exiting through the portal.
    • When Peter asks if he can call Strange "Stephen", the final film is missing the awkward pause from the teaser trailer before Strange agrees.
    • The line of Jameson saying of the Lizard "Was that a dinosaur?" is not in the final version of the film. In the final film, he says instead "Did you see that?"
    • Peter and MJ's video chat is missing the back-and-forth "How do you tell someone that you're Spider-Man?" portions featured in the trailer.
  • Newbie Boom:
    • The movie's synopsis having the appearance of villains from the previous Spider-Man films has caused a rise of viewers checking them out to get them caught up with who's who. Tellingly, all five of Raimi's and Webb's Spider-Man films filled the top searches on Netflix in certain regions at the time of release.
    • It also gave Daredevil a boost in interest with its Matt Murdock cameo, in combination with Hawkeye featuring Kingpin in two episodes that aired within a week of No Way Home's release.
  • No Stunt Double: Willem Dafoe was adamant to Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige that he wanted a significantly beefy part if he were to reprise his role as the Green Goblin. He was also just as passionate as he was in the first Spider-Man movie about performing his own stunts despite now being in his mid-sixties, and he insisted on doing as many of them as possible.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • In the Latin Spanish dub:
      • Luis Daniel Ramírez does not reprise either of his past roles (Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man from the Spider-Man Trilogy or Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio), due to being banned from the dubbing studio, VSI Mexico City, following several accusations of sexual harassment. Both roles were recast with Víctor Ugarte and Daniel del Roble, respectively.
      • Christian Strempler, who also had conflicts with VSI Mexico City, did not reprise his role of Mr. Harrington, being replaced by Roberto Salguero.
      • Likewise, Matt Murdock is voiced by Sebastián Rosas, instead of Sebastián Plaza or Óscar Olivares who dubbed the character in the Netflix series, which was dubbed Chile, while this film was dubbed in Mexico.
    • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Doctor Octopus' voice in Spider-Man 2, Roberto Macedo, is retired, so No Way Home has Mauricio Berger taking over the role. And like in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, J. Jonah Jameson has a new voice (Carlos Gesteira) because his regular dubber, José Santa Cruz, had injured himself and couldn't go to the studio (even if he was 92 at the time and the studio would probably give him a chance to rest rather than endanger him in pandemic times).
    • In the European French dub, Matt Murdock is voiced by Sylvain Agaësse instead of Bernard Gabay, as the latter already had a prominent role in the Marvel Studios side of the MCU, that of Tony Stark/Iron Man.
    • In the Russian dub, Peter-3 was voiced by Evgeny Rubtsov instead of Sergey Smirnov while Doctor Octopus was voiced by Igor Staroseltsev instead of Sergey Parshin. In the case of the former, it's because Smirnov passed away in 2020.
    • In the Canadian French dub of the Sam Raimi trilogy, the Green Goblin was voiced by Guy Nadon while Doctor Octopus was voiced by Luis de Cespedes. Here, they are instead voiced by Sébastien Dhavernas and Manuel Tadros respectively. In the case of the latter, it's because de Cespedes passed away in 2013.
    • The Hungarian dub had to recast Norman Osborn/Green Goblin as both his original voice actor and his replacement have passed away (in 2007 and 2015 respectively), as well as J. Jonah Jameson, whose original voice died in 2014. Despite their dubbing actors still being available, both Doctor Octopus and Matt Murdock were recast too for unclear reasons, though Octopus' original voice was used in the trailers.
  • Pop-Culture Urban Legends: As a result of certain leaks that claimed Raimi-verse Peter would be Killed Off for Real in the final battle, some people believe that he was originally supposed to die from the Goblin stabbing him, only for it to be changed after negative reactions from test screenings. The leaks themselves are the only ones supporting this claim, and every one that stated this plot point in particular was proven false — for instance, the leaks incorrectly claimed that Ned would also die in the final battle, and while they did accurately predict Matt Murdock's return, not only was this predicted anyways by more accurate leaks, they also incorrectly placed his appearance at the end of the film as opposed to the beginning (and most noticeably completely left out the mass memory wipe that occurred at the end of the film). All in all, there is nothing that indicates Raimi-verse Peter getting stabbed was ever meant to kill him.
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • Jamie Foxx had long been a fan of both Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina, and was nothing short of ecstatic to co-star alongside them in this movie. By his own admission, Foxx would constantly bow every time he would meet up with Dafoe behind the scenes.
    • Both Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland were huge fans of Tobey Maguire and his portrayal of Spider-Man, making their excitement to be onscreen together all the more genuine. By his own admission, Garfield calls Maguire "my Spider-Man."
  • Reality Subtext:
    • When meeting MCU Peter after May's death, the Webb-Verse Peter confesses that he became bitter and disillusioned with his life as Spider-Man after Gwen's death, and doesn't want his younger counterpart to go down the same path. In interviews following the cancellation of the Amazing Spider-Man series, Andrew Garfield frequently expressed sadness and disappointment with how he and those films were treated by the studio, and hoped that Tom Holland would not have to endure the same negative experience with his own films.
    • Meanwhile, the Raimi-Verse Peter telling the Webb-Verse Peter that he is amazing is this, too, as when Andrew Garfield was officially cast as Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire interviewed Garfield and said he thought Andrew was "fucking perfect" for the role.
    • When Webb-Verse Peter bemoans that his counterparts have had much more interesting exploits than he has, Raimi-Verse Peter assures him he's still more than worthy of the mantle, with the subtext that while The Amazing Spider-Man movies aren't as revered as the iterations that sandwich it, Andrew Garfield is still part of the fraternity nevertheless and is treated as such.
    • Likewise, Webb-Verse Peter comes off as the most enthusiastic of the three, extremely fascinated by the multiversal situation he had found himself in and super-jazzed to be meeting the other Spider-Men, especially Raimi-Verse Peter. Andrew Garfield, being a longtime Promoted Fanboy of Spider-Man, revealed on The Graham Norton Show that, while he was in drama school, he watched the Raimi films and often practiced Tobey Maguire's lines — and is now given the chance to not only return as the character, but act alongside the Spider-Man of his young adulthood.
    • Alfred Molina revealed that he really got emotional upon meeting Tobey Maguire again after decades, and their characters have a heartwarming reunion of their own.
  • Real-Life Relative: Tom Holland's little brother Harry was supposed to cameo as a drug dealer in this movie, much like he did in Cherry, but shortly before the film was released Tom revealed in an interview that the scene had been cut.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: According to The Direct, Rhys Ifans and Thomas Haden Church were only able to reprise their respective roles as the Lizard and Sandman as voice actors due to COVID-19 protocols preventing them from physically being on set. This is why Curt Connors and Flint Marko only appear in their transformed states for much of the film, with their reverse transformations into their human forms consisting of Stock Footage from their previous appearances.
  • Real Song Theme Tune: "The Magic Number" by De La Soul plays over the end credits.
  • Referenced by...:
  • Refitted for Sequel:
    • Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire were all considered to have cameos in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where the three live-action Spider-Men would briefly interact, but this idea was scrapped with Sony executives reasoning that it was "too soon". Three years later, the three iterations of the character are properly brought together for a Crisis Crossover in No Way Home.
    • The original plans for the first Spider-Man movie was to feature both Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin as major villains, but only Green Goblin made it to the final cut of the film. Now, this film features both Doc Ock and Green Goblin as major antagonists.
    • There were prior plans to integrate the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy universe early in the MCU, with Stark Industries being involved in the creation of Octavius tentacles in early drafts of Iron Man and there was an attempt to include a cameo of Tobey's Spider-Man in The Incredible Hulk (2008), but rights issues prevented them from doing so, but this film finally gets to incorporate the Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy into the MCU
  • Release Date Change:
    • One of the countless victims of the COVID-19 Pandemic in this regard. Initially slated for July 16, 2021, the film's release shifted twice: first to November 5, and then to the final date of December 17. In the UK this changed for a fourth time, as the release date was moved to December 15 just weeks beforehand.
    • Got significantly worse for Filipino fans (who had to wait until January 8,) as the movie's worldwide release meant that, not even counting the effects of the Pandemic itself, the initial theatrical release ran in conflict with the movie schedules related to the Metro Manila Film Festival.
  • Role Reprise: Tons.
    • From Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy:
      • Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe return as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, from all three films. In doing so, they break the record previously held by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart for the longest run playing a Marvel character in film.
      • Alfred Molina returns as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2. Notably, he confirmed his role in an interview months before the first trailer came out. He too breaks a record, for the longest gap between appearances.
      • Thomas Haden Church returns as Flint Marko / Sandman from Spider-Man 3.
    • From The Amazing Spider-Man Series:
    • The European Spanish dub manages to get back literally all the voice actors from both the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy AND The Amazing Spider-Man Seriesnote , starting with Roger Pera as Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, a.k.a. Peter 2, and Iván Labanda as Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man, a.k.a. Peter 3. Funnily enough, this includes actors who had also voiced other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe beforenote . Pera himself voiced Bruce Banner / Hulk when the character was played by Edward Norton, but more noteworthy would be Juan Antonio Bernal, AKA the Spaniard voice for Tony Stark / Iron Man, who voices Max Dillon / Electro. The cake though is taken by Salvador Vidal as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, who also voiced Hank Pym and General Ross, being the only voice actor in the franchise thus far to have voiced three different characters (although, fortunately, never in the same movie).
    • With the exception of those mentioned in The Other Darrin, the Brazilian Portuguese dub keeps the voice actors the characters above had in their previous appearances, even those who already voice other characters in the MCU (who don't appear in this movie, except for the one mentioned in Acting for Two above), like Márcio Simões (Sandman and Nick Fury), Jorge Lucas (Norman and James Rhodes) and Eduardo Borgeth (Lizard and Vision).
    • Likewise, while Peter 2's original voice didn't come back, the Latin Spanish dub brought back the voice actors for all the villains, as well as Javier Olguín as Peter 3, and Humberto Solórzano as J. Jonah Jameson.
    • In the Japanese dub, Manabu Ino and Tomoaki Maeno reprise their respective roles as Peter-Two and Peter-Three. Naoya Uchida returns as Dr.Connors/The Lizard.
    • Every single European French voice actor from the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series reprised their role, with the addition of Eddie Brock/Venom from Sony's Spider-Man Universe.
    • The Canadian French dub featured nearly all of the voice actors from the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series (as well as Eddie Brock/Venom's voice actor from Sony's Spider-Man Universe), with the only exceptions being the ones for Doc Ock and Osborn. Although in the case of the latter, it still counts as a role reprise given that his voice actor in this movie, Sébastien Dhavernas, also voiced Chris Cooper's Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
      • The same happens in Russian dub, but instead of Osborn, the voice of Peter-3 was replaced.
  • Romance on the Set: Tom Holland and Zendaya began dating at some point during this film's production. This means that all three Spider-Man actors have been involved with their respective leading ladies.note 
  • Scully Box: At 5'10", Zendaya is taller than both Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire (both 5'8") and only slightly shorter than Andrew Garfield (who is 5'10½"). The movie makes her look closer to Maguire's height and shorter than Garfield in the high school lab scenes.
  • Sequel Gap: Being a crossover between multiple versions of Spider-Man, it comes fourteen years after Spider-Man 3, and seven years after The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
  • Spoiled by the Merchandise: The film revolving around the multiverse was meant to be a closely guarded secret, but listings for some tie-in toys that used phrases like "Blast your way into another universe" and "potentially multiversal consequences" made their way onto retail sites a few weeks before the first trailer dropped.
  • Teasing Creator:
    • When asked about his possible involvement in No Way Home, Willem Dafoe refused to confirm or deny whether he was reprising his role as the Green Goblin from the original Spider-Man trilogy. His return was confirmed with the film's first trailer and teaser poster.
    • After The Stinger of Venom: Let There Be Carnage saw Eddie and Venom transported into the MCU, witnessing Spidey's identity being exposed in Far From Home, Kevin Feige did clarify that the No Way Home team collaborated on that particular scene, hinting at Venom's possible involvement. Sure enough, Eddie puts in an appearance proper — albeit in a short post-credits scene teasing a Black Suit arc for the MCU.
  • Throw It In!:
    • The line where Webb-verse Peter spontaneously tells the other Spider-Men that he loves them was not scripted.
      Andrew Garfield: That was just me loving them.
    • Garfield also revealed that MJ throwing bread at him to test his spider-sense was improvised by Zendaya.
    • In an interview with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, Holland confirmed that the three Spider-Men pointing at each other was Garfield's idea. Garfield himself noted that the scene was initially meant to shorter and more sardonic, with Peter-1 originally lampshading the One-Steve Limit trope, but he tweaked it to what we got in the film because he thought the moment was "adorable".
    • Jamie Foxx improvised Max admitting to Peter-3 that he thought the latter would be black, per Tom Holland's words.
  • Trolling Creator:
  • Uncredited Role: Tom Hardy was uncredited for his appearance in the mid credits scene as Eddie Brock.
  • Viral Marketing: In the lead-up to this film, The Daily Bugle created a TikTok account, with Betty Brant running it.
  • Wag the Director:
    • To make up for the fact that his character was now bald, J. K. Simmons insisted on keeping J. Jonah Jameson's cigar and mustache for this film, due to wanting to have some aspects from his portrayal in Sam Raimi's trilogy to carry over in the MCU.
    • Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield gave input on their characters' respective journeys after their previous onscreen appearances, with Maguire specifically requesting that "very minimal" backstory be given on what happened to his Peter Parker after Spider-Man 3.
    • While details weren't elaborated, it is reported that Tom Holland fought for elements in the ending to be included in the final product.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • In August 2019, Disney and Sony Pictures initially declined to continue their agreement to keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and place him in Sony's Spider-Man Universe instead. However, due to Tom Holland's vocal desire to continue negotiations and rabid fan backlash at the decision, the companies came to another agreement which allowed for the titular character to stay within the MCU for multiple films after Spider-Man: Far From Home. The deal also allowed for Spider-Man to be shared with both franchises making them an adjunct universe, and to prevent such a level of backlash again, one of the producers confirmed that more MCU movies were in development before the film was released.
    • The story of this movie was supposed to take place after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but delays caused by COVID-19 forced some rewrites to allow No Way Home to occur before that film.
    • Seamus McGarvey was originally going to be the cinematographer for the film, making it the first Marvel film he had shot since The Avengers (2012) in 2012. However, he was forced to depart the project due to testing positive for COVID-19, and was replaced with Mauro Fiore.
    • The story of this movie was going to focus on Kraven the Hunter hunting down Peter Parker on the run as a "Plan B" if the Multiverse route didn't pan out, since it wasn't clear if key actors necessary to tell the Multiverse story were going to participate. It was ultimately dropped because Sony refused to allow Kraven to appear in a Spider-Man movie before his solo film was released. Had the Kraven story been chosen, the multiversal villains would've only appeared in The Stinger for this movie.
      • One rumored version of this story had Peter arrested and sent to jail for Mysterio's death, where he would have been protected by the Vulture. While being transported to another prison, Peter's bus is attacked and he escapes, initiating the chase between him and Kraven. During this time, Norman Osborn, who is Mayor of New York City here, would be working to get Peter freed and exonerated. Peter and Kraven would have a climatic fight where Kraven reveals that he's dying and wants Peter to kill him. Peter spares him instead and learns that Mysterio is still alive and behind these events. Peter would confront and defeat Mysterio and help clear his name with Osborn's help, whose popularity would skyrocket because of it. The film would end with Peter going to Dr. Strange with the idea of erasing his identity, but would be left on a cliffhanger in case Sony or Marvel decided otherwise.
    • The original plan for the film's marketing was to present the movie as if it were about the conflict between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, keeping the multiverse aspect a complete secret up until the movie's release. But after the leaks started pouring out, Sony changed course and made the multiverse aspect the main selling point, although the "Spider-Man vs. Doctor Strange" angle was still used to an extent, since their confrontation is one of the film's biggest set pieces.
    • Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone were also planned to have cameos as Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy that were cut due to the pandemic and the latter's pregnancy. There were also briefly plans to bring back Rosemary Harris and Sally Field as Aunt May.
    • Rhino was apparently intended to appear in the film as well, so the multiversal villains could form a version of the Sinister Six, but Paul Giamatti was unable to join the production.
    • The writers revealed that Eddie Brock was originally meant to join the final battle, until they realized that Peter Parker doesn't exist in his world, so it wouldn't make sense for him to battle Spider-Man.
    • Apparently, a scene involving Morgan Stark was planned, but got cut.
    • Concept art reveals that Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez was apparently planned to make an appearance, most likely when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was meant to come out first instead of the other way around. It's possible that she could have used her powers to bring the other Spider-Men into the plot instead of Ned. The concept art in question also hints that larger roles were planned for Flash and Betty.
    • Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin were initially going to team up during the bridge battle, and would've attacked innocent civilians who were there in order to make the battle more epic. The initial battle between Octavius and Peter was also going to be much longer, clocking in at around 15 minutes.
    • If concept art is to be believed, Mysterio was going to make an actual reappearance in this film, where he would've engaged in a Wizard Duel with Doctor Strange at the Statue of Liberty. There were also early plans for him to have been the villain who would've murdered Aunt May before the climax of the film before he was excised, with his role being given to the Green Goblin in the movie proper.
    • The possibility of Matt Murdock actually suiting up as Daredevil to help Spider-Man in battle was discussed, but ultimately discarded due to being narratively unnecessary.
    • The Green Goblin wasn't initially planned to be the Crossover Villain-in-Chief of the film, instead merely being part of the Big Bad Ensemble. However, as other plans for returning characters fell through, the writers realized that the Goblin was really the only option they had for an overall Big Bad of the story.
    • Concept art shows that Flint Marko was planned to appear in his human form with a new outfit at some point, notably replacing his striped green shirt with an orange vest. The final product only has him appearing in CGI and Stock Footage from Spider-Man 3 due to Thomas Haden Church being physically unable to appear on-set due to COVID protocols.
    • COVID protocols also affected Aunt May's death scene, which was originally conceived as happening inside of an ambulance rather than in the remains of Happy's condo.
    • MJ and Ned were planned to be at Happy's condo for the scene when the Goblin reemerges and causes Peter's plan to go off the rails. However, the writers eventually decided to remove them as it would've been very difficult to figure out what to do with both of them in the chaos, on top of their presence taking attention away from the villains.
    • Production briefly considered trying to reuse Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's original suits before deciding to make new ones from scratchnote  with slight modifications from the original designs to make them more comfortable for the actors.
    • Early concept art for the Lizard showed that he would've had a more comic-accurate appearance in the film. He would look more beastly, have a more reptilian face complete with a elongated snout, and wear his signature lab coat and purple pants.
    • At one point when trying to incorporate Eddie Brock and Venom into this film, the writers of this film tried to get him to appear earlier in the story, even considering an idea where he gets stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel on the way to the Statue of Liberty fight.
    • VFX supervisor Kelly Port reveals in a video with Corridor Crew that Matt Murdock originally caught a snow globe in his scene, which was changed to a brick in post-production. If you look closely, you can see that both Charlie Cox and Tom Holland's fingers are spread out as though gripping something spherical.
    • Despite being Demoted to Extra in the finished film, Sandman was originally meant to have a subplot of his own about him and his daughter Penny, last seen in Spider-Man 3 (it's unknown whether Perla Haney-Jardine was going to reprise the role or if Penny would have been recast), which would have explained why was Sandman stuck in his sand form for most of the film, but it was dropped from the film to not "overstuff" the story and because of Church not being able to be on-set due to COVID protocols.
    • Spider-Man: No Way Home — The Art of the Movie artbook revealed a number of discussed and drawn out yet discarded ideas. Among them were a possible belt/fanny pack for the Iron Spider armor, more comic accurate costumes for Doc Ock and the Lizard, various designs for Norman's final Goblin armor (including one that used pieces of the Iron Man Mark-VI armor, and one that used salvaged Dark Elf armor with a more goblin-esque mask), Ned riding the Goblin Glider and holding a Pumpkin Bomb (as a nod to his comic role as one of the Hobgoblins) and alternate eye piece designs for Peter's homemade Spidey costume with homages to Alex Ross' old discarded design, Todd Mc Farlane's eye piece designs and Mark Bagley's eye piece design.
    • At some point, MJ was going to be the one who cured Norman Osborne, with concept art showing her stabbing the Goblin with the cure in the neck just as he's stabbing Peter-1 in the chest with his blade.
  • Word of God: A few months after this film's release, Kevin Feige indicated that the events of this film were set into motion due to the season finale of Loki, which is when the multiverse came into existence in the first place.
  • Word of Saint Paul: Two major elements with the returning villains were confirmed by their respective actors before they were officially revealed in the trailers:
    • After The Hollywood Reporter scooped the fact that Jamie Foxx was returning as Electro, Foxx revealed in an Instagram post that the character wouldn't be blue as he was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Foxx soon deleted the post after realizing that he jumped the gun. This was later verified in the teaser trailer, which showed Electro shooting yellow blasts of lightning.
    • In an interview with Variety, Alfred Molina confirmed that the Doctor Octopus in this movie is the same one from Spider-Man 2, with his story picking up directly from his supposed death at the end of that movie.
  • Working Title: Shot under the codename "Serenity Now".
  • Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Due to an expedited production schedule and the nature of the movie bringing back certain cast members who hadn't played their respective characters in years, some of the cast was not signed on when filming began (with Tobey Maguire believed to be one of the last of the major players to sign on), which affected the continuity of certain scenes and when certain characters could first appear in the story. The third act was also heavily rewritten during production for this reason and others, with later reshoots being done to help smooth things over.
  • Written by Cast Member: In a way. Writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers revealed in an interview that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield became de facto creative consultants for the script, specifically what kind of roles their respective Spider-Men play in the film and what should be known about the lives their characters had after the conclusions of their original film series.
  • You Sound Familiar: There are many examples of this in the Latin Spanish dub:

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