Spider-Man: No Way Home brought back a lot of familiar faces from the web-slinger's past, including Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin. As the returning Norman Osborn, the actor stole the show with a deranged and sinister performance which saw the MCU's Peter Parker pushed to his limits.
Now, thanks to Phil Saunders (who is quickly becoming our favourite MCU concept artist), we have a new look at some of the alternate costumes considered for the Goblin in the Marvel Studios threequel.
"A few of my earliest concepts for [an] updated Green Goblin and Glider in Spider-Man: No Way Home," he says on ArtStation. "The first is just a slight 'MCU' update to the existing Sam Raimi movie suit. The second was a whole new 'upgrade' Osborn might have printed using Stark Tech (This was very early in development, so the details of how the characters upgraded their tech were not fleshed out yet)."
"The final one is a bit of a hybrid, having Norman use Stark Tech to add a layer of armor on top of the existing suit, which gave me a chance to introduce the classic purple/green color breakup. This version of the glider also had swing-wings, so that it could easily fly through windows to chase Peter into a building."
We'd argue that these are actually better than what ended up in the final cut of Spider-Man: No Way Home, though the Green Goblin still looked suitably formidable when he clashed with the wall-crawler at the Statue of Liberty.
Saunders has also shared a couple of alternate takes on Sandman's first meeting with Spidey. Explaining those, the artist says, "A couple of variations on Sandman protecting Peter from Electro's lighting bolts. I tried to convey the idea that Sandman was letting parts of himself be fused into glass, creating a protective barrier around Peter."
Be sure to head to Saunders' ArtStation page to see more of his amazing work in both the MCU and beyond.
In Spider-Man: No Way Home, for the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighbourhood hero's identity is revealed, bringing his superhero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk.
When he enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.
The movie stars Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, J. B. Smoove, Benedict Wong, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now available to buy wherever you get your movies.