Spider-Man: No Way Home Almost Gave Ned And MJ Super Powers (Kind Of)
The team behind "Spider-Man: No Way Home" originally considered giving some of their more grounded characters some extraordinary abilities. Throughout the third solo "Spider-Man" venture set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) loyal girlfriend, Michelle "MJ" Jones (Zendaya), and best friend Ned Leeds prove to be loyal allies yet again, from helping locate the multiverse villains to summoning Peter 1 (Tobey Maguire) and Peter 3 (Andrew Garfield) into their universe. But some newly shared concept art reveals they almost got into the power-packed action themselves.
In Jess Harold's "Spider-Man: No Way Home – The Art of the Movie," one piece of concept art shows MJ in flight with Dr. Strange's Cloak of Levitation. It's unknown if this scene was simply meant to see MJ get saved by the cloak while falling — a concept similar to what happens to Ned in the film — or if this was meant to imply her unlocking similar gifts as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Another piece sees Ned take to the skies on a glider similar to the Green Goblin's while preparing to toss a pumpkin bomb. This piece, in particular, gives fans an idea of what the MCU's Ned would look like if he became the Hobgoblin. In the comics, Ned was initially the first Hobgoblin in 1983's "The Amazing Spider-Man #238" before a retcon bestowed the mantle to Roderick Kingsley. Nevertheless, seeing the MCU's Ned as the Hobgoblin was a tantalizing idea for many fans.
However, while these upgrades would have been interesting to see in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," they ultimately wouldn't have been for the best.
No Way Home was Peter's story first and foremost
While MJ and Ned Leeds' conceptualized upgrades weren't full-on superpowers equivalent to the titular web-crawler, they nevertheless offer an intriguing window into what could have been for "Spider-Man: No Way Home." With all the surprises that the film had in store for moviegoers, this would have certainly been a talked-about addition to the MCU entry — but not for the right reasons.
"No Way Home" was a jam-packed movie to begin with. The literal multiverse's worth of Spider-Man characters from different eras of the character's cinematic history, combined with the already established world of the MCU was expertly balanced in a way less ambitious superhero films have flunked at. Would adding two additional super-powered characters, one of them being another antagonist, have been the smartest move?
MJ and Ned have received development from prior "Spider-Man" films, but these drastic additions may have come out of left field and taken away focus from the larger narrative if not given the proper time to evolve. Just look at how poorly shoehorned villains like Venom and the Green Goblin were handled in "Spider-Man 3" and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," respectively.
More than anything, having Peter Parker's friends suddenly gain extraordinary skills would lessen their impact as characters. Part of what makes Holland's Spider-Man so endearing is his ground-level hero status in the MCU. In this regard, having his closest confidants be ordinary people as opposed to aliens, sorcerers, or Norse Gods adds to the identifiable quality that has kept them so beloved. Maybe this concept would work well in another universe, but we're fine leaving it out of our own.