Spider-Man: No Way Home screenwriter Chris McKenna recently detailed how the film helped pull Spider-Man out from Iron Man’s shadow.
“I mean, Tony [Stark] cast such a large shadow even after [2019’s Avengers: Endgame], which we dealt with in Far From Home. But I think everyone felt like we can’t just keep on going to the Tony well,” McKenna said during a recent appearance on The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith podcast. “I think what we started realizing as we were writing this is that he wasn’t the Uncle Ben.”
Rather than focusing on Iron Man, McKenna added, the writers wanted to put more emphasis on Aunt May in No Way Home. “I think we start realizing that the moral impetus, the guidepost of his life is May,” he explained. “And that for the first time he is tested about whether he can actually truly live up to this code that she’s instilled in him. That is what this Peter Parker story is all about.”
Marvel fans will recall that Tony played a major role in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man trilogy, primarily in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which saw Tony acting as a mentor for the young Peter Parker as he came to terms with the power and responsibility of being Spider-Man.
Avengers: Infinity War further showcased the close bond between the characters, while Avengers: Endgame focused heavily on Tony’s lingering grief after watching his young protégé being dusted by Thanos’ snap. The second film in the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man: Far From Home, also saw Peter grappling with Stark’s death in Endgame after inheriting both a variety of Stark technology and the weight of the late billionaire’s legacy.
While there have been regular rumors that Tony could be revived in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe project, McKenna clarified, “Honestly, that’s like a non-starter in the halls of Marvel, at least in our experience.”
During the same conversation, the screenwriter also discussed how Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy acts as one whole origin story for the character, noting, “I think in writing this we started realizing that we had an opportunity here to tell a different story for Peter Parker that by the end of this movie, maybe, is a different origin story than everyone else has assumed up to this point. I don’t think having Tony there would have done anything.”
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now.
Source: The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith
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