Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Comic book fans were treated to a massive new blockbuster when Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters ahead of the holidays. The massive crossover movie included a ton of returning actors from the previous two franchises, including Spider-Man 2’s Alfred Molina. It turns out that No Way Home’s Doc Ock fight could have been “way longer”, so bring on the deleted scenes.
Doc Ock is the first character to start the multiverse madness of Spider-Man: No Way Home, clashing with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker on a bridge. This fight was teased throughout the movie’s trailers, which is why some fans noticed that certain shots were missing from the theatrical cut. This is because the action sequence could have been way longer, as VFX supervisor Kelly Port recently explained,
There’s so many cool iterations of that sequence that will never see the light of day. It was way longer. At one point in its longest iteration, it was 15 minutes long.
Well, I’ve got FOMO. Seeing Doc Ock back on the big screen and throwing cars at the likes of Spider-Man was definitely thrilling for moviegoers in No Way Home. But it turns out that plenty more of this fight was left on the cutting room floor. Let’s just hope that Sony and Marvel end up revealing some of this bonus content once the blockbuster is available for home purchase.
Kelly Port’s comments to BeforesAndAfters helps to peel back the curtain on what it was like bringing Spider-Man: No Way Home together in post-production. It’s common for some material to end up cut, but it turns out that the record breaking threequel actually had to shave down some of the thrilling action. After all, there were a ton of characters from Spider-Man lore to service throughout the course of its 148-minute runtime.
Doc Ock’s first big scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home ends up greatly changing the character throughout the course of the movie’s runtime. Because when his mechanical arms connect with Tony Stark’s nanotech, Peter Parker is able to pretty much immobilize the villains. This allowed for Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius to play a less threatening role until eventually being cured by Holland’s title character.
Given just how much narrative ground had to be covered throughout the course of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it makes sense that plenty of material ultimately had to be cut for time. While a 15-minute opening battle would no doubt be thrilling for hardcore fans, it might have interrupted the pacing of the movie. Those tough calls seemingly paid off, as Jon Watt’s third Spidey film has broken records at both the box office and on Rotten Tomatoes.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now. Be sure to check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
