Emma Stone Was Surprised By Spider-Man: No Way Home Gwen Stacy Rumors
While a fair share of problems can be found in Sony's short-lived "The Amazing Spider-Man" duology, one aspect they succeed in is gifting audiences with the first substantial take on Gwen Stacy in film. Emma Stone's witty and heartfelt portrayal of the iconic comic book heroine remains a favorite among fans. As a result, it may seem odd that she is absent from the multiversal shenanigans in 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
It turns out that screenwriters Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna had incorporated more characters from both Sam Raimi's and Marc Webb's "Spider-Man" series, including Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson and Stone's Gwen Stacy, in one of the initial drafts of the script. However, in a movie already balancing five bad guys, three Spider-Men, and the expanses of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these concepts pushed the already jam-packed narrative to its breaking point and were ultimately dropped.
Indeed, they seemingly never even made it past the page since Stone admitted to being completely unaware of this tidbit in an interview with ComicBook.com during the red carpet premiere of "Poor Things." "I have never heard that before," the "La La Land" star stated. "This is awesome. This is a big moment for me. Thank you for telling me." Perhaps even more surprising, though, is another cut concept from the film involving a key Gwen Stacy moment from the Webb duology.
Spidey and Doctor Strange nearly visited the Amazing Spider-Man universe
It's unclear what Gwen Stacy's role in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" would have been had Emma Stone reprised her beloved part, but concept art from the film teases another unrealized idea involving one of the character's key scenes in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" that may give us some clues.
On ArtStation, concept artist Phil Saunders shared a selection of keyframes depicting the fight between Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for the Book of Vishanti, including several scenes from prior "Spider-Man" movies. Among them are Peter Parker's (Tobey Maguire) fight with Bone Saw McGraw (Randy Savage) in "Spider-Man," the Oscorp-set finale of "The Amazing Spider-Man," the church where Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) turns into Venom in "Spider-Man 3," and the clock tower where Gwen Stacy meets her demise at the hands of the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) at the end of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."
Whether or not this would have been where Stacy shows up, it would have made for some subtle foreshadowing for Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man saving MJ (Zendaya) from meeting a similar fate. Ultimately, we may never know how the actor would have fared in the MCU, but with "Madame Web" introducing a new family of Spider-Women to the big screen, fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, are buzzing for Stone to appear as a live-action Spider-Gwen.