‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Screenwriters Recall Massive Changes Following ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Delays
Despite It being one of the biggest films of the year, and one of the most successful films in Sony and Marvel’s history, Spider-Man: No Way Home screenwriters recall massive changes following Doctor Strange 2 delays.
Spider-Man: No Way Home can quite easily be regarded as one of the most successful films in the history of the MCU; with its record-breaking financial, and critical, success, the film stands alone as, far and away, the most successful film of the pandemic era.
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The film ended up being perhaps the greatest Peter Parker story ever told, and gave fans a celebration of the character’s last 20 years of presence on the big screen; while also introducing the vast multiverse to the MCU.
One of the key characters in the film is Doctor Strange, the one who first attempts to help Peter out of his predicament, then partners alongside him to put a stop to the spell’s unintended consequences.
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It turns out, the character’s role in the film was originally a lot different, with writers planning his appearance to take place after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, adhering to the original schedule Marvel envisioned for Phase Four.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, and forced the films to all switch the order of release, with Spider-Man: No Way Home remaining as the final film of 2021.
Source: Marvel Studios
Because of this shifting schedule, the Spider-Man: No Way Home screenwriters recall massive changes following Doctor Strange 2 delay.
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the writers for the film, spoke to Variety about how this shift in schedule forced the adjustment to the ways in which Doctor Strange was portrayed in the film. Specifically in the things that he knew and understood as the Sorceror Supreme.
Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Photo: Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures
McKenna stated, “We were actually working off of things that were happening in ‘Doctor Strange 2,’ and trying to incorporate them into our script.”
“When we started writing, [Strange] knew firsthand the dangers of screwing with these things. then we changed it so he was a person who doesn’t know that much about the multiverse.”
Source: Marvel Studios
McKenna added, “But that makes it even more frightening, to start fooling around with these things because it’s the fear of the unknown. Either way, he was the voice of reason going, ‘You don’t mess with the fate of an individual’- and Peter Parker being naive enough to go, ‘Why not?'”
The result was an incredibly compelling back and forth between a veteran magic-user, and a young, brash hero trying to do his best with the powers he had been given.
Source: Marvel Studios
