Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home is out breaking records at the box office, we’re finally starting to learn some of the secrets behind making the movie. We saw in-depth interviews with some of the film’s stars who didn’t have to lie anymore about the big No Way Home revelations. Also, the Spider-Man writers have explained the thinking behind No Way Home and addressed some of the script decisions that fans might question. And we’re learning more secrets about making No Way Home, like the brilliant line that wasn’t even in the script initially. On top of that, it turns out No Way Home was supposed to have a great cameo that ended up being cut: America Chavez, aka Miss America.
Not only that, but this new Avenger would have been responsible for one of the movie’s iconic scenes. Unfortunately, it’s a character that Sony and Marvel eventually had to cut, as it didn’t make sense for the script. Before we explain, you should know big spoilers might follow below.
MCU timeline and the pandemic
Before we look at America Chavez and her potential role in No Way Home, we must remember what happened in recent years. The plot had to change quite a few times. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic played a huge role in the No Way Home script changes. That’s something we have to keep in mind before looking at this new No Way Home revelation.
The movie initially had a July 16th, 2021, release date. Sony and
In other words, No Way Home should have come after Multiverse of Madness. Knowing what we know now about No Way Home, it would have made sense for the events in Doctor Strange 2 to influence the No Way Home script. It’s also why having America Chavez in a multiverse film like No Way Home would have made sense.
Marvel’s movies and TV shows are not always released in chronological order. You should check out the actual MCU timeline if you’re considering rewatching the films or seeing them for the first time.
But considering that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a major character in No Way Home, it makes sense to assume that No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness are connected. Both of them are multiverse movies that involve this powerful Avenger. We wouldn’t have known this back in 2019, of course.
The No Way Home script changes
What happened in real life is that the pandemic hit. Marvel had to postpone all movie and TV show productions and delay releases. The No Way Home premiere landed in mid-December 2021. Doctor Strange 2 got a late March 2022 release date. Then Marvel pushed the sequel to early May 2022.
As a result, Multiverse of Madness is now a “sequel” to No Way Home. And some leaks did say that WandaVision, Spider-Man 3, and Doctor Strange 2 could be considered a sort of mini-trilogy of multiverse events in Phase 4.
No Way Home writers Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna already confirmed in an interview with Variety a few days ago that the pandemic had indeed changed the script. They made a direct reference to Doctor Strange 2, without mentioning America Chavez’s role in No Way Home:
“We were actually working off of things that were happening in ‘Doctor Strange 2,’ and trying to incorporate them into our script,” McKenna says. “When we started writing, [Strange] knows 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. 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? Why can’t we save these people?’”
America Chavez and the key No Way Home scene
This context is important to understand why America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) never showed up in No Way Home.
The web is buzzing, as the official concept art for No Way Home made its way online. The images above come from that art collection and highlight a pivotal moment in the No Way Home script.
At some point in the movie, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker gets unexpected help from Sony’s other Spider-Man variants. Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire show up in this order. And that’s the moment when the audience goes wild. Hilariously, it’s Ned (Jacob Batalon) who brings the two Spider-Man in. He does it by accidentally opening up portals to “Peter Parker.” Little did Ned know that he could do magic. Or that there are multiple Peter Parkers in New York.
But in an earlier No Way Home script version, it would have been America Chavez introducing Tobey and Andrew. As the No Way Home writers explained above, in that version of events, Strange would have already known about the dangers of the multiverse.
America Chavez and the future Avengers
Chavez is a teenager superhero who can travel to other timelines. It should be similar to how Strange and Wong (Benedict Wong) use portals to travel anywhere inside this reality. We saw this sort of multiversal travel in What If…? from The Watcher and that dangerous Infinity Ultron.
After her introduction in Multiverse of Madness, we might see Miss America team up with other teen superheroes in the Young Avengers. In other words, America Chavez might work with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker beyond No Way Home. She’s also affiliated with the West Coast Avengers if Marvel goes that route. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. As impressive it would have been to have Miss America show up in No Way Home, the script change might have benefited the movie. And Ned.
Multiverse of Madness opens on May 6th. That’s when we’ll get to see this new Avenger in action for the first time.
