Tom Holland Teases A Big Change In Spider-Man: No Way Home's Fight Scenes
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" is set to be one of the biggest movie events of the year, especially after it was just recently announced that the third Spider-Man-focused MCU film has the biggest ticket pre-sales on Fandango since "Avengers: Endgame" back in 2019 (via Deadline). Tom Holland's Peter Parker is set to battle some of Spider-Man's greatest foes with the return of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. The Lizard (Rhys Ifans) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) from the two "The Amazing Spider-Man" films starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker have also appeared in the official trailer. Garfield and Maguire's rumored appearances still remain a mystery, albeit many clues that point to the possibility.
Needless to say, Tom Holland's Spider-Man is about to have his hands full, and from what we've seen from the trailers so far, he gets pretty beaten and battered trying to fight off the "visitors," as Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) puts it. Fans are ready for more of the visually impressive fight scenes that have become a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in a recent interview, Holland teased some changes to these sequences.
Less webbing, more fists
In MCU Spider-Man's previous appearances, we've seen Holland's Peter Parker often opt for webbing and suit functions during fights rather than classic hand-to-hand combat. In "Spider-Man: Homecoming," Peter struggles with upgrades given to him by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), and although the suit's internal A.I. nicknamed Karen gives him options of different fighting techniques, he is subsequently overwhelmed by the suits' functions and doesn't make much use of them until the end of the film. "Avengers: Infinity War" sees Peter as Spider-Man get more comfortable, but he still prefers webbing when subduing Thanos (Josh Brolin) on Titan. In "Avengers: Endgame," Spider-Man does access his suit's "instant kill" mode, but the mechanical arms do most of the work. All in all, Spidey doesn't seem to like using his fists much, which fits his character's good heart, plus he doesn't really have expert combat training as far as we know anyway.
However, in TV Globo's Twitter post of their interview with Holland (as translated by Twitter user @ggsquadxoxo), Holland noted that Peter's former preference for suit functions and webbing will change in the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" fight scenes. "There are some fight scenes in this movie that are very violent, and it's a fighting style different from what we've seen before," he said. "But you really get to see Spider-Man using his fists in a 'fight or run' situation."
Hand-to-hand combat was more prominent with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man
If what Tom Holland suggests is to be seen in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," it would be a change that sets itself apart from previous appearances of his version of Peter Parker and a lot of Andrew Garfield's, but not so much of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. Although in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films we often see villains become the cause of their own deaths due to their poorly aggressive decisions and Peter's intellect, senses, or webbing/acrobatic abilities, Maguire's Parker didn't shy away from throwing hands every now and again.
For example, Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin died because of his own decision to remotely fire his glider toward Spider-Man and himself, but just before that, there was an incredibly violent hand-to-hand exchange between hero and villain. After receiving an incredible beating from the Green Goblin, Spidey summons the strength to return some of that beating until the Goblin ultimately causes his own death whilst trying to manipulate him. Even during the famous train scene in "Spider-Man 2," Maguire's Spider-Man opts for exchanging blows with Doctor Octopus before attempting to use his webbing to try and stop his mechanical tentacles and the hurtling train.
It will be interesting to see if there are scenes in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" reminiscent of this kind of fighting from the Sam Raimi trilogy. Given that there have already been many details and call-backs in the official trailer to both Maguire and Garfield's "Spider-Man" movies, it wouldn't be surprising. It will be even more interesting, however, to see if these villains become the cause of their own deaths again, even with Spidey attempting to save them.
"Spider-Man: No Way Home" hits theaters on Friday, December 17.