Spider-Man: No Way Home has now cemented itself in the upper echelons of MCU movies. It delivered on everything it promised, gave us closure on the previous two Spider-Man franchises, and set up an interesting (if somewhat tragic) future for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. We still fondly remember the gasps on opening night as audiences realized that, yes, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were along for the ride.
But could No Way Home have been even better? Well, perhaps it could if they’d have gone with this rejected ‘Iron Goblin’ concept, which combines Stark and Oscorp equipment tech:
This is a particularly cool concept, as within No Way Home, Norman Osborn becomes something of a mentor to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. So, his repurposing tech from Peter Parker’s last mentor Tony Stark has a kind of sadistic symmetry to it.
Plus, it’s just a cool look that brings together some classic MCU costuming with the best of the Raimi era. Perhaps the only problem is figuring out how Osborn would get his hands on Stark tech. Most of this stuff is on lockdown after Far From Home, though we suppose it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say the Green Goblin had raided a Damage Control storage facility to swipe what he needs.
We’re hoping that the MCU eventually gets around to introducing its own Norman Osborn, perhaps going on to adapt some of the excellent comics’ arcs around the character. But, let’s face it, nobody out there is going to bring it as hard as Willem Dafoe. Even if it doesn’t make sense, we want him back cackling on that glider.