Spider-Man: No Way Home reunited the three Spider-Man films, but it neglected many of Tobey Maguire’s favorite Marvel characters. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, dubbed “Peter-Two” in the film and dubbed the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” now, had a slew of Marvel characters in his personal universe thanks to three films and canonical spinoffs like video games, novels, and one-shot comics. “Peter-Two” and his bad guys ignore the fact that three of the characters in NWH are based on Raimi characters.

Garfield’s Peter-Three

Spider-Man has appeared in three different universes, each of which contains a diverse cast of Marvel characters. Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man battled a slew of Marvel Comics villains in his video games. This is in addition to those who appeared (or were mentioned) on NWH. Other superheroes, such as Doctor Strange, Captain America, Mr Fantastic, Ant-Man, and The Punisher, appear in the Raimi universe video games and novelizations. In No Way Home, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, known as “Peter-Three,” features a slew of other Marvel characters in his universe.

Regarding the Raimi universe, Peter Parker meets Curt Connors multiple times in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. This, and that Connors is said to be close friends with Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 3 as well. When they meet Peter-Doctor Three’s Connors, neither Octavius nor Peter-Two brings it up. Octavius and Peter-Two hear from Doctor Strange in Spider-Man 2. However, he doesn’t mention that there is a Doctor Strange in their universe. One possible reason for not acknowledging this in-universe is that the decision was made to avoid confusing audiences behind the scenes.

Raimi Universe’s Marvel Characters

As a friend of Curt Connors, Octopus never got to see the Lizard become Curt Conners’ alter ego (which occurred in the Spider-Man 3 video game). A reptilian creature in another cell may have been his friend—or at least a variant of it—despite him hearing the name of his friend while imprisoned in the Sanctum Sanctorum. It’s possible that Octavius is unfamiliar with Dr. Strange depicted in his own universe.

In the Raimi universe, Dr. Strange may look and sound different from his MCU counterpart. J. Jonah Jameson in the MCU is very similar to his Raimi counterpart, but two actors portray Dr. Connors in the two universes. Because of this, it’s possible that Maguire’s Spider-Man was unfamiliar with the MCU’s Doctor Strange during the film’s premiere. The Raimi Spider-Man, in both human and Lizard forms, interacted with Doctor Connors in the Raimi universe.

By contrast, Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man approached his multiverse foes with the ease of a superhero who has dealt with numerous threats in the past. Peter-casual Two’s acceptance of the alternate universe Lizard and Electro is because he has already fought his reality’s Lizard and Electro. The Raimi universe’s Marvel characters may have been ignored in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but the film did not contradict any of its lore.