The famously tight-lipped Tom Holland is teasing a mystery character for Spider-Man: No Way Home – here’s why it must be the MCU’s Uncle Ben. Released in 2017, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming deliberately steered away from the origin tropes of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s respective eras. Jon Watts neglected to show Peter Parker receiving his radioactive spider bite, and completely ditched Uncle Ben, who is implied to have already died some time before Spidey’s MCU debut. Fortunately, Spider-Man: No Way Home brings the multiverse into play, and the emergence of an MCU Uncle Ben is one of the less wacky theories doing the rounds.

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The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer already confirmed Tom Holland’s Peter Parker faces off against Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin from the Sam Raimi trilogy, while Jamie Foxx’s Electro is confirmed to be representing the Marc Webb movies. With different universes (and different franchises) crossing over thanks to Doctor Strange’s botched spell, an Uncle Ben appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home is more than feasible. Rather intriguingly, Tom Holland recently described one of the “coolest” scenes he’s ever shot, which features 4 characters conversing around a table – Peter Parker, Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May, Jon Favreau’s Happy Hogan, and a fourth individual Holland enigmatically neglected to name.

All signs point decisively toward this mystery fourth guest being the MCU’s Uncle Ben. Consider the situation – out of everyone that might spring from the multiverse, who else sits for a heart-to-heart with Peter and May? Doc Ock and his fellow villains won’t be stopping for coffee, and while Tobey Maguire/Andrew Garfield are plausible, those meetings would pack more punch one-on-one with Tom Holland. If other cinematic Spider-Man actors are appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans will also be expecting them to be among the action, rather than chatting over brunch. Uncle Ben, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. He’s no action hero, so the relaxed setting works fine, and as a relative of Peter and May, both characters require Uncle Ben closure. Happy Hogan could represent Peter’s surrogate father figure – someone Ben can thank for taking care of his nephew.

Another important clue is the conversation topic during Tom Holland’s “coolest” Spider-Man: No Way Home scene. According to Holland, the quartet discuss what it means to be a hero. Again, Maguire or Garfield could teach the MCU’s younger Peter a thing or two on that subject, but the setup sounds suspiciously like Uncle Ben’s classic “power and responsibility speech” from 2002’s Spider-Man (and paraphrased by 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man). Who better to reaffirm the virtues of heroism to MCU Peter Parker than Marvel’s foremost authority on the topic, Uncle Ben?

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The scene Tom Holland describes might even be featured in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer. A brief shot depicts Peter and May in their apartment watching J. Jonah Jameson’s neck turn red on TV. They’re interrupted by an unseen figure, leaving Holland and Tomei’s characters surprised, but not threatened, suggesting an unexpected friendly face has entered the room. At the time, many MCU fans suspected Uncle Ben may have been the unidentified intruder. One phone call to Happy later, and this trailer scene could be the same sequence Tom Holland is talking about. Uncle Ben’s rumored inclusion in both could prove incredibly telling..

If Uncle Ben does feature in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the character would benefit from a huge, surprise stunt-casting. Perhaps Jon Watts can borrow Matt Damon (prosthetics included) from the Thor: Love & Thunder set, or maybe Bruce Campbell (who famously cameoed in each Sam Raimi Spider-Man effort) could become the MCU’s Uncle Ben. Whoever assumes the power and responsibility of playing him, the evidence for Uncle Ben’s MCU debut is beginning to mount.

Key Release Dates
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
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About The Author


Craig Elvy
(3637 Articles Published)

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Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig’s interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.
Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS.

Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer.
Jim Carrey is Craig’s top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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