Marvel Studios artist Phil Saunders’ newly revealed concept art from Spider-Man: No Way Home gives a glimpse into a scene that didn’t make it into the finished film, in which MJ bravely takes on Green Goblin to save Peter (Tom Holland).
Saunders shared the art, complete with several close-up views, on his Instagram, as seen below. The highly kinetic scene in the image shows Willem Dafoe‘s Green Goblin holding Spider-Man by the throat in midair, while scaffolding collapses behind them. Goblin is turning toward Zendaya’s Michelle Jones, who grapples with him from the other side and holds up a syringe, ready to inject him.
“This was one of the most fun keyframes to do for #spiderman #nowayhome,” Saunders writes in his notes on the piece. “In an earlier version of the script, #greengoblin ends up stabbing Spidey, just before MJ drops on his back and manages to plunge the antidote needle into his neck. It was great working out the dynamics of this composition to capture the drama of the moment.”
Spider-Man’s villains bleed through realities in No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home, released in theaters in 2021 to critical and commercial success, is the conclusion to Spider-Man’s first trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the film was also an extended tribute to previous live-action Spider-Man movies, with Holland’s Peter Parker accidentally weakening barriers between dimensions so that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprised their versions of the character and joined him. The same plot point brought several villains from their earlier films into the MCU, including Dafoe’s Green Goblin, and the trio of Spider-Men had to work together to defeat them.
Although MJ didn’t get a chance to inject Green Goblin with a formula as she did in the concept art, she did have a prominent role in the movie, securing her place as Peter Parker’s greatest love even while he was forced to remove himself from her memories.
