Spider-Man: No Way Home Deleted Scenes Reveal Cut Mysterio Return, Bigger America Chavez Role And A Matt Murdock Courtroom Scene

Several deleted scenes from Spider-Man: No Way Home have hit the web in the lead up to the digital release, and I now have a lot of details on what was originally supposed to be in the movie. This matters because it shows just how packed the script was before the final cut, with entire subplots involving Matt Murdock, Mysterio and America Chavez left on the cutting room floor.

Matt Murdock and Happy Hogan get a deleted courtroom scene called "Happy's Very Good Lawyer"

The first major deleted scene features Matt Murdock and Happy Hogan. In the film we get a brief scene in which Matt tells Peter that the charges will not stick, but says Happy is going to have to lawyer up because the feds are still coming for him. The deleted scene, titled Happy's Very Good Lawyer, was going to take more of a focus on Matt and Happy discussing his apparent illegal acquisition of Stark tech and how it helped fund Peter's alleged terrorist attacks, essentially reviving the "Mysterio was right" narrative from the internet. We do not have the full ins and outs of this scene, but it is theorized that there is someone else opposite the pair, possibly Foggy Nelson himself, played once more by Elden Henson. With Daredevil now on Disney Plus and Kingpin showing up in Hawkeye, it would make sense for Foggy to pop up too, though we will have to wait until the full scene is released to know for sure.

Morgan Stark's cameo and an expanded Damage Control interrogation were also cut

It has been confirmed that Morgan Stark would have made an appearance during the scene that goes over the stolen Stark tech, with Lexi Rabe returning as the character in flashes during the montage. There was also going to be more focus on the interrogation scene with Damage Control, fleshing out Peter's interaction with them, his search for legal help, and some of the questioning put toward Ned, MJ and Aunt May. Personally, I think the way they introduce Matt Murdock in the finished film, with a hard cut and a bit of a mic drop, works a lot better and is way more impactful than anything else we could have got.

Other early deleted scenes include an undercroft montage, graduation day and an extended Doctor Strange entrance

Most of the other deleted scenes centered on things early in the movie, including an undercroft montage, graduation day, an extended Doctor Strange entrance, and a couple more Daily Bugle reports. As a side note on the Midtown High entrance, it is meant to parallel Peter's entrance to the school in Homecoming, where he was a complete unknown, whereas in No Way Home everyone stares at him and films him on their phones.

The cut Daily Bugle reports poke fun at conspiracy-style witnesses

The extra Daily Bugle reports had people calling in to J. Jonah Jameson about Spider-Man saving the day. One, set after the fight with Electro, has a witness claim Spider-Man stayed all night helping fix the power lines, only for Jameson to point out "he did destroy those power lines" in the first place, before the witness clarifies Spider-Man stopped the villain absorbing the energy and then spent the night repairing the damage. There is also a bit referencing the Bugle's Flashpoint book and a joke about a four-part expose on dailybugle.net covering lead paint, asbestos and "salisbury steak made from military horses" in public schools. The movie's villain rundown gag from Peter also survives from this stretch of material, with Peter listing off "an electric man, a sound man, a dinosaur man, an octopus man, and then this old man," which I think adds nicely to the comedy of the film with its constant use of "man" attached to a silly descriptor.

A deleted elevator scene would have given the cast one quiet moment before the multiverse chaos

A short clip shows the villains, Peter and May all standing in an elevator together as they head to Happy's apartment. It is a fun moment with the full cast on screen together, and I like it because it shows them having a calm, normal ride up before everything kicks off, in contrast to the chaos later when the power cuts, May cannot reach the elevator, Doc Ock, Sandman and Electro go out the window, and Peter and Goblin crash through several floors. Apparently this was cut because director Jon Watts wanted to keep up the pace of the film, moving straight from the Sanctorum to the apartment after the Murdock chase, rather than slowing things down. I would have liked to have seen it play out, since it is a before-the-storm moment that I think would have balanced the drama with a quick breather.

Mysterio was supposed to return and duke it out with Doctor Strange at the Statue of Liberty

Concept art and interviews with the creative team confirm Mysterio was supposed to return in the movie. In the shot where the multiverse cracks open and we see Craven the Hunter and Scorpion, you can also catch the distinctive fishbowl head of Mysterio, and the creative team confirmed it was indeed meant to be him. Since Mysterio exposed Peter's identity to the world, it makes sense he would have been a villain in this fight. Concept art shows he was supposed to face off against Doctor Strange at the Statue of Liberty, which tracks given his illusion powers in Far From Home were based on Strange's magic. Speaking at IGN Fan Fest 2022, the creative team explained that opening the multiverse at the end meant opening infinite possibilities for who could come through. They really wanted Mysterio back, but realized that bringing in one character from the multiverse meant they would need a handful more for it not to feel disappointing, while also risking it feeling overwhelming and distracting from the main battle. In the end they kept it simple with a focus on the five villains.

America Chavez had a much bigger role before the film's release order changed

Concept art also shows America Chavez was supposed to appear and be the one who brought Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men across, with a scene at the dungeons showing her standing in the middle of several characters, and America can also be seen at the Statue of Liberty battle. I have already covered this in a full video, so I do not want to go over old ground, but she had quite a substantial role in the film. America has the power to open portals across the multiverse, but due to the release order of the films being flipped, this did not happen, and instead we got the charming scene of Ned discovering he is a wizard and bringing the other Spider-Men across in the kitchen, which I do quite like.

Harry Holland's cut cameo and Tobey Maguire's unseen Green Goblin glider duel

If you remember the build up to the movie, Tom Holland's brother Harry was supposed to appear in a scene as a thief who robs a store before Peter catches him and strings him up, which is when the green paint gets thrown over Peter, forcing him to turn his suit inside out for the fight with Electro. It is also known that Tobey Maguire was supposed to fight the Green Goblin while both stood on his glider together, in a battle somewhat reminiscent of the PlayStation 2 game. One of the big disappointments about No Way Home for me was that Tobey and Goblin did not really interact all that much, and though they could still face off in a future film given Goblin survives, I did want to see them have at least a toe to toe moment in this one.

The Sandman and Lizard rivalry face-off was also cut from the finished film

Spider-Man fought Sandman and the Amazing Spider-Man fought Lizard, but the face-off between Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and the Lizard was sadly missing. Their rivalry was one of the most memorable things about the original Spider-Man films, and I hope we at least get to see them on screen together again at some point. On top of all this, a bloopers reel has also surfaced from the shoot.

Which of these cut scenes do you most wish had made it into the final version of No Way Home, the Mysterio and Doctor Strange showdown, or Tobey Maguire's Green Goblin glider fight?